Best Cell Phone Plans of 2024: Our Top Picks for November, Black Friday and the Holidays
This is a bit complicated. Verizon is our top pick, with its Play More plan bundled in the Disney Bundle (ad-free Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, and ad-supported Hulu) and bundling services like Google Play Pass or Apple Arcade into the plan’s list price .
Now, the carrier has updated its wireless plans, removing perks like Disney bundles or Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass that were automatically included with its service. Even with the new plan, it’s still our pick for the best benefit, but that requires more explanation.
Instead of automatically adding services, it offers a variety of benefits, each priced at $10 per month, allowing users to pick and choose the services they want. Now, it also allows participation in its low-cost plan called Unlimited Welcome.
Unlimited Welcome is $65 per month for one line and $120 per month for four lines. You get unlimited talk, text and data, but no access to Verizon’s fastest 5G network (so-called “5G Ultra Wideband”) or hotspot data. To do that, you’ll need to upgrade to the pricier Unlimited Plus plan ($80 for one line, $180 for four lines).
Both the Welcome and Plus plans can add additional benefits at a rate of $10 per month. These include Disney Bundle (usually $15 per month), Apple One Personal (usually around $17 per month), Apple Music Family (can be shared with 5 people, usually $17 per month), and Walmart Plus (usually $13 per month , but also includes Paramount Plus Essential).
There are other benefits, including an additional 100GB of hotspot data (usually $45 per month), 2TB of Verizon cloud storage (usually $15 per month), three days of international data (the carrier calls it TravelPass, usually $10 per day) Dollar).
All perks can be turned on or off at will, or you can forego them entirely. If you want, you can even get multiple benefits in one line.
Whether this makes sense for your situation, it may take some time using a spreadsheet to understand which services are right for you and how much you’re willing to pay for them. If you pay directly for some of these services, the savings may increase, but they may also be more expensive than your existing plan.
It’s also worth mentioning that Verizon allows you to “mix and match” lines, so if not everyone needs a faster 5G connection, they can use Unlimited Welcome, and those who do can use Unlimited Plus.
AT&T allows similar unlimited plans, but it currently no longer offers any streaming benefits. In order to receive T-Mobile benefits, everyone must be on the same plan.
If you want to save on one or two services more cheaply (like a Disney bundle), you can buy 4 lines for $120 per month, plus $10 in Disney benefits, and then pay $130 per month for the entire package.
Oh, and you can combine these plans with other Verizon discounts for teachers, nurses, military members and first responders to save even more.
