The Best Phone Plans for Under $30 a Month

It’s actually much easier than you probably think to get your cellphone bill at, or under, $30 per month.

You can easily find data plans with unlimited talk and text for under $30 per month, but if you know where to look, you can also get unlimited data.

Here are the best cellphone plans that you can get for under $30 per month.

Mint Mobile $30 Unlimited Data Plan

Arguably the best deal in the wireless world is Mint Mobile’s $30 Unlimited Data plan. You get unlimited talk, unlimited text and, best of all, unlimited data for just $30 per month.

This price point isn’t any temporary offer, either; your price will stay the same going forward.

Mint Mobile is kind of like a discount version of T-Mobile. Mint uses T-Mobile’s network to provide wireless coverage to its customers, with the caveat that your data speeds can throttle when the network is congested.

For example, you might find you suddenly can’t refresh your Twitter feed while at a crowded grocery store. If you can live with the occasionally annoying downsides, Mint Mobile offers some of the best value in the wireless world.

Ting Unlimited Plan

Technically, you can get an even cheaper unlimited plan by going with Ting wireless, but the $25 per month price tag only lasts for the first three months of your service.

After the three-month promotion ends, your price will jump to $45 per month, and then you’d be wise to find a cheaper unlimited plan like Mint Mobile.

Ting uses both T-Mobile and Verizon networks to provide 4G LTE and 5G coverage to its customers. However, it’s the same story as Mint Mobile with data throttling. You could be trying to use the Lyft app after a crowded concert but your data speeds are so slow that you can’t input your pickup location.

That may sound extreme, but I can speak from personal experience that data throttling tends to come at the worst times. But, hey, you’re still paying well under $30 per month for an unlimited data plan (at least for the first three months).

T-Mobile Essentials Family Plan

If the two cellphone plans above don’t speak to you, and you still want to keep your monthly price below $30 per month, your best bet is to go with a family plan.

Family plans are like the Costco (wholesale store) of cellphone plans in that when you buy in bulk, the price you pay per item decreases.

In this case, if you get a group of four lines together under T-Mobile’s Essentials Unlimited plan, you only pay about $26 per month per line.

As opposed to Mint Mobile and Ting, T-Mobile owns its own wireless network and should provide more consistent data speeds.

Along with the reliable data speeds, going with a big postpaid carrier like T-Mobile allows you to take advantage of cellphone deals that can get you huge discounts on new phones.

If you can get three or four people together on a family plan, T-Mobile offers a super affordable unlimited data option.

Visible Party Pay Plan

If you want to keep your costs even lower with the family plan route, Visible wireless can get you unlimited talk, unlimited text and unlimited data for $25 per month per line.

Visible is owned by the Verizon network, which just so happens to provide the most reliable 4G coverage around the country. The Visible Party Pay plan allows you exclusive access to Verizon’s awesome network for the cheapest price available.

If you spend a lot of time traveling or backpacking in more rural areas, you’ll be grateful for the access to Verizon’s network.

Though Visible is owned by Verizon, it’s still possible that your data speeds can throttle when the network is congested. But it’s definitely possible that Visible users would experience less throttling than other smaller prepaid carriers due to its relationship with Verizon.

Other cellphone plans under $30

If none of the above cellphone plans speak to you, there are plenty of options below the $30 per month threshold.

To give you an idea of what other options are out there, here are the most popular cellphone plans under $30 per month (not including the plans mentioned previously):

As you can see, you can get well below $30 per month if you are willing to live without an unlimited data plan.

For example, one of the cheaper options from Tello can get you unlimited talk, unlimited text, and 4GB of data for just $12.75 per month.

Another option from US Mobile can get you 12GB of data for just $15 per month.

The less data you can live with, the cheaper your cellphone bill gets. Thankfully there are solid plans out there that strike the balance between data allotment and monthly price.