If you're looking for the best cell phone plan on a budget, your search may end with US Mobile.
US Mobile offers single-line users, and even families and groups, a more affordable alternative to major carrier plans, much like popular budget-friendly mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) like Mint Mobile, Tello Mobile, or Visible Wireless. However, US Mobile offers some of the best value, flexibility, and plans we've seen and experienced with MNVOs. In several respects, US Mobile puts these popular choices on notice among the best cheap cell phone plans.
In fact, with full access to Verizon's, AT&T's, or T-Mobile's 4G and 5G networks, identical coverage, identical or comparable speeds, generous amounts of high-speed data, and surprisingly good prices, major carriers don't have much to boast when compared to US Mobile, either.
US Mobile's plans are incredibly inexpensive, considering the amount of data you get with access to Verizon's, AT&T's, and T-Mobile's full networks, including high-band 5G. Starting at $25/month for 70GB of prioritized data, the Unlimited Starter plan offers the best value of US Mobile's plans and stands out among comparable plans from MVNOs.
What we like
What we don't like
Plan offerings and flexibility
US Mobile has three unlimited data plans, a "By the Gig" option for customizable data allotments and those looking to share data across multiple lines, and a "Light Plan" for limited data without hot spot connectivity.
US Mobile's unlimited plans are among the best in the industry in terms of value and features. They're offered in either monthly or annual options; as expected, the annual option is better value. Still, US Mobile's monthly plans put forward incredible value, with among the highest data per dollar plans you can find.
Only the Visible Wireless base unlimited plan offers more data for $25/month than US Mobile's Unlimited Starter plan at the same price. However, Visible's base plan provides deprioritized data, which could become slower if their networks are congested with people using prioritized data. Meanwhile, US Mobile includes 35GB of prioritized data, at least on its Warp network option (more on this below).
When you've used up the allotted data in any of US Mobile's unlimited plans, data speeds are significantly reduced, which is common practice for budget-friendly and MVNO carriers. However, US Mobile's plans reduce speeds to 1Mbps, which gives you some semblance of usability, at least for basic data needs, compared to the typical 256Kbps reduced speeds on many other carriers.
| Plan | Data on Warp / Light Speed / Dark Star | Starting price for monthly or annual payment | 5G access | Mobile hot spot |
| Unlimited Premium | 100GB prioritized premium data (Warp) or deprioritized high-speed data (Light Speed); Unlimited deprioritized data (Dark Star) | $44/month or $390/year ($32.50/month) | Standard and high-band | 50GB (Warp, Light Speed) or unlimited (Dark Star) |
| Unlimited Starter | 35GB prioritized premium data (Warp) or deprioritized high-speed data (Light Speed, Dark Star) | $25/month or $270/year ($22.50/month) | Standard and high-band | 10GB |
| Unlimited Flex | 10GB prioritized premium data (Warp) or deprioritized high-speed data (Light Speed, Dark Star) | Annual only. $210/year ($17.50/month) | Standard and high-band | Optional extra |
| Shareable Data ("By the Gig") | From 2GB to 200GB prioritized premium data (Warp) or deprioritized high-speed data (Light Speed, Dark Star) | From $10/month | Standard and high-band | Pulls from plan data |
| Light Plan | 2GB | $10/month or $96/year ($8/month) | Standard and high-band | N/A |
The most distinctive thing about US Mobile is its "Warp," "Light Speed," and "Dark Star" network options, which are US Mobile's nicknames for Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, respectively. No other carrier we've encountered gives you a choice between three major networks and lets you switch, making US Mobile particularly flexible.
The main differences between the three options are the major networks' respective coverage and data prioritization. Only the Warp (Verizon) network includes prioritized premium data. In contrast, the Light Speed (T-Mobile) and Dark Star (AT&T) networks include deprioritized data, though the Dark Star option offers prioritized data as an add-on to certain plans, which we detail in the section below.
Which network is the best for you essentially depends on which network has the best coverage in the places you usually need. If Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all serve you well, the Verizon option (Warp) will consistently offer faster speeds by default within your data limit, as it isn't subject to deprioritization.
You can easily switch network options ("network transfer") through the desktop site or mobile app once every three hours and up to eight times a month. The Unlimited Premium plan includes free network transfers, while other plans include two free transfers (all time) and $2 transfers afterward.
Unlike many MNVOs, US Mobile directly supports smartwatch connectivity with dedicated plans, though currently only for Apple Watches on the Warp (Verizon) network.
Coverage and data speeds
On US Mobile, the Warp network provides Verizon's coverage, Light Speed provides T-Mobile's coverage, and Dark Star provides AT&T's coverage.
As such, the Warp (Verizon) and Dark Star (AT&T) networks have better overall coverage that reaches deeper into rural areas, whereas the Light Speed (T-Mobile) network has excellent coverage in cities, towns, and highways, but it can start to decline the further you get from densely populated areas.
I mainly tried US Mobile with the Warp network, as I'm a Verizon customer myself and know exactly where to expect coverage and where the dark zones lurk. During my testing and general experience, I found US Mobile on Warp to offer identical coverage as full-fat Verizon, including Verizon's Ultra Wideband (UW) 5G network.
As far as data speeds go, US Mobile offers the full breadth of Verizon's, T-Mobile's, and AT&T's 5G networks, including their fast high-band 5G networks.
On US Mobile's Warp network, I reached the same data speeds I did on Verizon's 4G and 5G UW when I tested my own plan and phone against US Mobile on a separate phone at different locations. That's to say, US Mobile offers high-end, fast data. On the Light Speed network, I found that data speeds were also exceptionally fast.
US Mobile's Warp network has an advantage when it comes to data prioritization. Only the Warp network includes prioritized "premium" data, where a user's data isn't deprioritized and slowed down against prioritized Verizon customers during times and places where there's network congestion. That's not to say that you'd always get the top speeds available on the Warp network; network congestion can slow down a connection, even with premium prioritization, as shown by the last speed test result in the image above.
Meanwhile, US Mobile's Light Speed and Dark Star networks include T-Mobile's and AT&T's high-speed data, respectively, which are deprioritized against T-Mobile and AT&T customers with prioritized premium data. If T-Mobile's or AT&T's network is congested at a certain location and time, data speeds on the Light Speed or Dark Star network can be affected. However, with the AT&T-backed Dark Star network, you can purchase prioritized data separately for $12/month (or $120/year) on the Unlimited Flex or Unlimited Starter plan or $4/month on a "By the Gig" plan.
Deprioritization is standard business for MVNOs, and we haven't found that it poses much of a problem, specifically in testing T-Mobile and MVNO carriers that run on T-Mobile's network. Additionally, US Mobile has no indicator that suggests data is being deprioritized, and it can be hard to tell.
You can compare Verizon's coverage map against T-Mobile's and AT&T's to see which option better suits your area.
Customer support
I tried US Mobile's customer chat support via the app, and I was pleasantly surprised by the responsiveness and ability to exchange messages with a real person.
I didn't run into experience-breaking issues, so I couldn't test the effectiveness of US Mobile's support to fix a problem that affected connectivity. Still, there's a support phone number you can call to speak to someone, which can prove to be more efficient than a text-based chat service.
The US Mobile app is well-designed and simple to navigate. It lets you easily manage your plan, switch networks, or check data usage.
Should you sign up for US Mobile?
For those covered by Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile in the US, we enthusiastically recommend US Mobile's offerings as among the best cheap cell phone plans on the market.
While US Mobile's Unlimited plans aren't the absolute cheapest, they're not far and are an exceptional value. The small extra cost relative to other MVNO plans can easily be justified by the astounding option to switch between Verizon's, T-Mobile's, and AT&T's networks. It's a singular and useful feature I've never seen before or since, whether on a budget or premium carrier, and it actually works.
The fact that US Mobile doesn't utterly deaden your data speeds after using up a month's data allotment, like most other carriers, is also a major benefit. Your speeds are reduced to a slow 1Mbps, but it's still usable for basic functions. To be sure, it's unlikely that most people would ever exceed 35GB in a single month, but it's nice to know you won't be totally disconnected if you do.
FAQs
Which networks does US Mobile use?
US Mobile runs on Verizon's, T-Mobile's, and AT&T's 4G and 5G networks and offers the unique ability to switch between them.
The MVNO's Verizon-backed network is called Warp, its T-Mobile-backed network is called Light Speed, and its AT&T-backed network is called Dark Star.
Is US Mobile data deprioritized?
US Mobile includes allotments of prioritized data through its Verizon-backed Warp network.
In contrast, included data on its Light Speed and Dark Star networks are subject to deprioritization behind T-Mobile's and AT&T's premium customers, respectively. However, you can additionally purchase prioritized data with the Dark Star network.
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Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at reviews@bjinnox.com.
