Best Cell Phone Plans for Students

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Students these days need cell phones to function. Kids are in almost constant communication with one another, and cell phones make that possible. Kids should have a phone and a phone plan, but that does not mean their parents need to pay for a premium plan. There are lots of excellent affordable options that connect your student to the wider world without paying a lot extra on your phone plan. Likewise, if you are an older student getting a phone plan on their own for the first time, these plans are excellent ways to get great service without taking up too much of your budget.

For a quick analysis of the phone plans in your area, check out the Really comparison tool, which shows you the price and features of all nearby plans.

This article will talk about how to get everything you need in a phone plan without overpaying for your service. Read on for information about:

The cost of cell phone plans
Saving money with MVNOs and student deals
Some of the best phone plans for college students

Find the Right Plan for You

A fine line denotes the difference between a plan that’s too expensive and one that’s not expensive enough.

Knowing what features and services you need in a phone plan is step one to finding the right plan for you. Expensive plans give users a ton of stuff, but if all that stuff is more than you need you’re stuck overpaying for the plan. Once you start a plan it is rather challenging to switch to another carrier. There are many hidden binds tying you to your current plan. For that, it is essential to choose the right plan on the first try.

This section covers how to pick the right plan for yourself or a student in your family, particularly finding a plan that fits your needs.

Limited Versus Unlimited Plans

To find the best cell phone plan you first need to know how much you use your phone. Particularly the amount of data you use. There are available plans that come with limited talk and text, and while that saves you money on your cell phone plan, the real money-saver is limiting data in a plan.

We recommend taking a plan with unlimited talk and text just to rest easy knowing that high-volume phone use won’t cut you off from calls and texts, especially when you can get it so cheap. One of our plans later in this list is Tello’s 1 GB plan, which gives you unlimited talk and text and 1 GB of high-speed data for $10 a month. Ten dollars a month is very affordable, and that comes from the low data as a part of this plan.

Marketing is all about the latest and greatest unlimited plans on the new 5G networks. They are pretty great but put you out $50-$80 a month for your service. If you really want to save big on your phone plan then limiting your data is the way to go.

Note: Look carefully at unlimited plans, particularly unlimited MVNO plans. They oftentimes provide a limited amount of high-speed data and then unlimited data at 3G speeds. Part of the reason they are so inexpensive is that you do not get unlimited high-speed data which is common in major wireless unlimited plans.

Best Cell Phones for Students

Companies spend lots of money marketing their newest phones and new releases. They are getting more and more expensive, and the option to pay them off over two or three years makes the phones seem way cheaper than they are in reality. Lots of new phones are upwards of $600, some over one thousand dollars. That’s a lot of money! It is purposefully easy to commit to a large phone contract like this one. If you have an expensive phone and a plan to pay it over a few years, it makes it almost impossible to move to a new carrier, serving as another kind of contract.

Providers lock phones while their customers are paying them off so you can’t use them on any other network. We recommend purchasing an older, cheaper phone and paying it off quickly so it becomes “unlocked.” At that point, you can bring it to a new carrier if you decide another plan is better. Looking at the best cell phone plan for students might not be the right plan a year or two in the future, and an unlocked phone means you can jump to a new carrier when the time is right.

Take Advantage of Wi-Fi Coverage on Campus

With limited plans, each MB might feel like an investment. There is, fortunately, a lot of Wi-Fi available to students. You can use as much Wi-Fi as you want, and making sure to do as much calling and texting as you can in areas with Wi-Fi connections can make limited data plans go a long way.

Unlimited Plans

While more expensive, unlimited plans take that worry away. With unlimited talk, text, and data, Wi-Fi is nice because it is usually faster than cell service, but there’s no danger of going over and having to pay an overage fee if one month is particularly packed with phone usage on the network.

Save Money With MVNOs and Student Deals

MVNOs are spectacular alternatives to major wireless networks, especially for students.

MVNOs are companies that rent bandwidth from the major wireless networks, and they offer affordable limited plans, perfect for students. There are pros and cons of MVNOs, just as there are pros and cons of getting a plan with a major wireless company.

Why are MVNOs so Cheap?

The low price of MVNOs sometimes negatively affects people’s perception of their service. With plans so inexpensive, it must mean there’s something off about the service, right? Nope! Since they don’t have to maintain a cellular network their running costs are way down, and on top of that their plans offer a lot less (usually) than major wireless network plans so they can be a lot less expensive. An MVNO has a lot of great advantages for students, especially ones who aren’t currently tied to any other carrier.

Multi-Line Plans

Whether you use a major wireless network or an MVNO, multi-line plans are a great way to add on extra savings. If your family is looking to be on the same plan or you have a few trusted friends with whom you could share a plan you can save some serious money, lowering your cell phone bill even more.

Popular Student Deals

While we tend to recommend MVNOs, some of the major wireless networks have student deals that make their service more affordable, especially when paired with multi-line plans. Verizon has a student deal right now with their unlimited plan. It allows students to save $10 on all of their unlimited plans, including their welcome unlimited plan, which is their lowest-cost unlimited. It is normally $65 a month for unlimited talk, text, and data.

US Mobile offers 20% off of any plan for college students and one month free, and there are a handful of schools that offer extra perks on top of the discount. Student deals offer better prices than normal, but there are always extra steps to verify that you are a student and apply the deal to your plan. So while they are a nice bonus to lower costs, there are many other plans that offer similar amounts at similar price points that might be a better fit.

Pros and Cons of MVNOs

This article has talked a lot about MVNOs, also known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators. They offer lower prices, yes, but there are reasons that they haven’t boomed to become the leading source of wireless plans across the country. This section will discuss the pros and cons of MVNOs. Spoiler: most of the cons don’t affect students!

Pros

MVNOs offer cheap plans, contributing to overall savings on wireless bills every month.
MVNOs offer service on major networks, using the same coverage nationwide. Some even use multiple networks!
MVNOs love it when you switch. The nicest a phone company will ever be to its customers is the moment they say they’re joining the party. All phone companies are looking to get new business, and you can also find the best deals as a first-time customer.

Cons

MVNOs have slower service. While they use major networks, their customers have less priority over the bandwidth, so in times of heavy use, MVNO customers will lose data speed.

Best Phone Plans for College Students

Finding the best phone plan for students lets them use their phones as often as they want.

After all this talk about how to save money on phone plans for college students, this list is some of the great plans out there. Finding the best cell phone plan for students is all about figuring out a plan that’s not too little and not too much. We’ll list these plans starting with the least expensive and moving up from there.

Freedom Pop’s Free Plan

Quick Facts:

Zero dollars a month
10 minutes, 10 texts
50 MB high-speed data
Runs on AT&T’s network

The free plan at Freedom Pop is uniquely cost-effective and must be recommended for college students looking to save money on their phone bills. This plan is for those who are willing to make sacrifices to keep their cell usage down since their plans for a few bucks offer more than if you get those overages each month.

Freedom Pop’s limited plans are great for those who are able to take advantage of Wi-Fi on their campus. Wi-Fi is free, and it can be used in unlimited amounts no matter what the plan is. To this degree, a good way to limit usage is to tie certain talk and text apps to Wi-Fi so they don’t use any data while you are going between Wi-Fi zones.

Tello Economy

Quick Facts:

$10 a month
Unlimited talk and text
1 GB high-speed data
Runs on T-Mobile’s network

Tello Economy is a great plan for people looking to save big time on their cell phone bills. We have it as one of the best cell phone plans for students because it comes in at only $10 a month, runs on a great network, and comes with a little bit of data. With only 1 GB, this plan is for students who are able to spend most or all of their days within Wi-Fi zones and don’t plan on using too much data when they are out and about. Tello offers a mix-and-match set of plans so you can add or subtract data from your plan at any time.

Twigby’s 4 GB Plan

Quick Facts:

$20 a month
Unlimited talk and text
4 GB high-speed data.
Runs on Verizon’s network

For $20 a month, Twigby’s phone plan offers unlimited calling and texting with 4 GB of high-speed data. For users who don’t need a lot of data, this plan or one of Twigby’s other limited-data plans (all well-priced) is an excellent way to save. Twigby is one of the carriers that have a lot of options for low-data plans, and plans get much cheaper when you are getting such a small amount of data. Unlimited talk and text are pretty common now among plans, and the talk and text portion of plans generally do not add much to the total bill.

We think that these plans work fantastically well if you are in a WiFi zone most of the day. We have a variety of those as a part of this list with different MVNOs at slightly different price points, giving slightly different things to the user. There is no true best cell phone plan for students because there are so many MVNOs that offer similar plans on the market. Once you have a subset of plans that catch your eye, we recommend looking into each MVNO and finding the one that you think you will like the best.

Unreal Mobile’s 12 GB Plan

Quick Facts:

$40/$30/$25 a month
Unlimited talk and text
12 GB high-speed data
Runs on T-Mobile and AT&T’s network

Unreal Mobile has a tremendous list of plans but we want to highlight their 12 GB plan. It is a great mix between value and a good amount of data. Things are getting more and more data-heavy, and a 12 GB pool offers much more leeway in how much you are able to use your data each month. Somewhere between 10 and 30, we think, is the sweet spot. Twelve is on the lower end, but the nice thing about this plan is the discounts that come in when you take a contract. Going month by month is $40, taking three months at a time brings it down to $30 a month, and taking a year at a time brings it down even further to $25 a month.

Mint Mobile’s Unlimited Plan

Quick Facts:

$40/$35$30 a month
Unlimited talk and text
35 GB of high-speed data
Runs on T-Mobile’s network

Mint Mobile’s Unlimited Plan slides in at $30 a month In order to stay at the price point, you have to purchase the plan twelve months at a time, but the prices are excellent. Mint’s plan puts unlimited on the table if you are concerned about data usage. Their unlimited plan offers 35 GB of high-speed data, which opens up a lot of doors for you if you want to use a lot of data when out and about.

Visible Wireless Unlimited Plan

Quick Facts:

$30 or $45 a month
Unlimited talk and text
Unlimited high-speed data
Runs on AT&T network

Visible has two plans, each with unlimited talk, text, and data. Understanding the ins and outs of Visible Wireless phone plans are a great place to start because they offer pretty robust plans for the price. The two visible wireless phone plans are as follows:

$30 per month for Unlimited
$45 per month for Unlimited plus

Choosing Visible Wireless is a bit pricier, but the ability to get truly unlimited data for a price as low as $30 a month is a fantastic deal. Processes on smartphones chew through a wild amount of data, and unlimited high-speed data for $30 is spectacular.