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How to save money on your cell phone bill by going prepaid
July 07, 2025
Most adults now own at least one smartphone, and with that ownership comes the monthly ritual of paying the bill for cellular service. Even though there are plenty of promotional discounts and deals from carriers, a recent survey fromMoneySavingPro.comclaims that the average individual cell phone bill in the U.S. in 2018was $80.25 a month, up from $63.33 a month in 2010.
There’s no doubt that many people pay too much money for their monthly cell phone bill, but thankfully there are ways to cut the cost of that payment. Let’s take a look at the best methods for reducing bills. Keep in mind that not every method mentioned will be for everyone; some people may have cell phone needs that are different than others, such as the need for unlimited high-speed data.
Prepaid plans from the major carriers
All four major U.S. carriers offer prepaid plans to some degree. Here’s a quick look at what you can expect from these companies:
Verizon Wireless
Verizon currently offers anumber of different pre-paid plans, but at the moment the carrier currently has a special promotion which offers unlimited talk, unlimited text, and 15GB of LTE data for just $45 a month. That should save many people a lot of money, as most of them will not go over that 15GB of 4G data before their billing period ends.
If you need really unlimited data, Verizon also offers that option in a pre-paid plan for $65 a month. The carrier hasquite a few prepaid phone options as well.
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AT&T also has itsown prepaid plans, including one that offers unlimited talk, text and 8GB of high-speed data for $50 a month. It also includes unlimited talk from the U.S. to Mexico and Canada, along with roaming in Mexico and Canada for talk, text, and data. If you have to have unlimited data, you can get that as well, but the price goes up to $65 a month.
T-Mobile has itsown prepaid plansand the one that’s perhaps the best for the money offers unlimited talk and text in the U.S, plus 10GB of high-speed data, for $50 a month. It also includes high-speed mobile hotspot data that uses your monthly data allotment. you’re able to add unlimited calls, text, and your plan’s data amounts in Canada and Mexico for an extra $5 a month. If you need unlimited data, T-Mobile also offers its Essentials Prepaid plan for $60 a month.
The nation’s fourth-largest carrier currently doesn’t have a lot to offer in terms of prepaid plans. The only one it currently has includes unlimited talk and text, but just 2GB of high-speed data, for $40 a month. However, it does offer a $10 discount on its post-paid Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Premium plans if you bring your own unlocked phone to Sprint, so that’s something.
Sprint also has only afew limited options for prepaid phonesat the moment as well.
Prepaid plans from other carriers
There are also a ton of other carriers that offer prepaid plans. These companies typically connect to one or more of the major carrier’s networks. Indeed, some of these carriers are actually subsidiary companies owned by the major networks. Let’s look at just a few of these companies and the money that you’re able to save on your monthly cell phone bill by using one of them.
Metro by T-Mobile
The recently renamed carrier (previously known as MetroPCS) is obviously owned by T-Mobile, and uses its network. Thebest plan for the moneyfrom Metro by T-Mobile costs $50 a month and offers unlimited talk, text and LTE data, although your speeds may slow down if you go over 35GB of data a month. You also get 5GB of high-speed hotspot data a month with this plan, plus access to 100GB of Google One cloud storage that normally costs $1.99 a month.
This carrier uses Verizon and T-Mobile’s networks, but more importantly, it also offers tons of customized billing plans that you’re able to select from, starting at just $4 a month. You can choose how much talk, text and data you want to pay for each month, or you can pick from the carrier’s unlimited plans, which cost between $40 to $65 a month, depending on the speed of the data downloads. It even offers the option to hold your number for just $2 a month, in case you know you won’t be using your phone for a while.
If you want to customize your plan and have access to the world’s largest network, as well as the massively growing T-Mobile, you arguably can’t do better than US Mobile.
Mint Mobile
One of the most innovative carriers, at least in terms of billing, is Mint Mobile. Instead of paying by the month, you get billed every three, six or even 12 months, depending on the plan that you pick. All of Mint Mobile’s plans include unlimited talk and text in the U.S. Our pick is the three-month plan with 10GB of LTE data per month for just $75. You will pay the equivalent of just $25 per month for this plan.
Family and shared data plan discounts
All of these prepaid plans we have mentioned before assume you are the only one paying the bill, and that you are only paying for your line. However, if you are a mother or father, you typically have to pay for lines that are used by your spouse and kids as well. It used to be that you had to pay the full monthly price for each of these extra lines, but now there are lots of family discounts that you’re able to take advantage of from the major networks, along with many of the smaller prepaid carriers as well. You can also use shared data plans for multiple lines as well.
Special perks with your plans
It used to be that carriers offered just talk, text and data with their plans, but with the new popularity of Internet-basedstreaming videoand audio services, most carriers offer ways to access one or more of them for free with your paid monthly plan. If you use one or more of these services, you could save some money from your overall monthly budget.
Other ways to save money on your phone bill
There are other things you can do that can shave some more bucks off your monthly smartphone bill, depending on which carrier you might use.
Conclusion
As you can see, if you feel that you are spending too much on your monthly cell phone bill, there are plenty of ways and plans that could reduce that cost by a considerable amount, which means more money in your bank account. Are there any other suggestions for cutting down your phone bill?
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