Best Simple Mobile Plans: No Contract, No Credit Checks

Simple Mobile is an MVNO (or mobile virtual network operator) prepaid carrier that offers cheap unlimited plans for a fraction of the price compared to major carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Rather than running its own network, Simple Mobile uses Verizon’s network to provide cellular coverage. In a way, a Simple Mobile plan is like a more affordable Verizon plan. Previously, T-Mobile owned Simple Mobile, but after an acquisition by Big Red, Simple joins the ranks of other Verizon MVNOs like Total Wireless and Xfinity Mobile.

We narrowed down the five best Simple Mobile cell phone plans to help make your decision easier. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or your whole family, Simple Mobile offers some pretty killer deals. Let’s find out if it’s worth switching to Simple Mobile.  

*Once you pass the monthly data allotment, your data speeds can slow down.

**Once you pass your data cap, your data slows down to 2G speeds.

Best Simple Mobile Plans

Simple Mobile’s $50 Unlimited phone plan gives you unlimited data, a high data cap, and international coverage for a solid price.

$50 Unlimited plan | $45/month—Best overall unlimited plan

The $50 Unlimited plan from Simple Mobile is the best bang-for-your-buck option. Before we get into why it’s the best option, let’s deal with the elephant in the room: are all these Simple Mobile plans really unlimited? Not really. Once you run out of high-speed data on your Simple Mobile plan, your data speeds drop down to 2G speeds, which is like surfing the internet in the early 2000s. The $50 Unlimited plan is the most affordable option that’s actually an unlimited plan.

There’s no hard data cap with the $50 Unlimited plan. However, you can hit a soft cap if you’ve used 40GB of data in a month, and your data speeds can slow down. Most folks won’t come close to using that much data in a month, so you likely won’t need to worry about your soft data cap either.

Along with the unlimited talk, text, and data, you get 5GB of mobile hotspot data, as well as unlimited international calling to landlines and mobile numbers in over 60 countries. The $50 Unlimited plan feels like the perfect sweet spot where you get all the features you’d want for a solid price. The $50 Unlimited plan wins our top recommendation for Simple Mobile plans, but check out how well the plan compares to other Verizon MVNO carriers.

• Pros: Unlimited talk/text/data (40GB high-speed data guaranteed), 5GB of mobile hotspot data, unlimited international calling
• Cons: Soft data cap at 40GB where your data speeds can slow down

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$60 Unlimited plan | $57/month—Best plan for extra features

The Simple Mobile $60 plan costs the most but has the most features. If you want a plan with mobile hotspot data and cloud storage, the $60 Unlimited plan can work for you. Three main features set the $60 plan apart from all other Simple Mobile plans: 15GB of mobile hotspot data, 50GB of cloud storage data, and truly unlimited data.

First, this plan triples the amount of hotspot data you can use in a month compared to the $50 Unlimited plan. Every gigabyte of mobile data you use equates to about an hour of streaming a show. With the $50 Unlimited plan, you could stream about five hours of content with your mobile hotspot data. On the $60 Unlimited plan, you could stream an entire season of a favorite show.

Secondly, you get 50GB of cloud storage included with your $60 Unlimited plan. That might sound like a deal, but considering the fact you can get the same amount of storage from Apple iCloud for $0.99/month, you don’t save much. Still, extra storage on your device for free never hurts.

Last but certainly not least, you get truly unlimited data with the $60 Unlimited plan. You don’t have to worry about data caps of any kind, so you can just use your mobile data to your heart’s content. Go ahead, scroll through TikTok while you wait in a long line at the grocery store; you’ve got plenty of data to spare. If you’re going to spend nearly $60/month on an unlimited plan, you might want to check out other options that may offer features you’ll like better.

• Pros: Unlimited talk and text, unlimited data with no cap, 15GB of mobile hotspot data, 50GB of cloud storage
• Cons: Most expensive data plan from Simple Mobile

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$40 Unlimited plan | $37/month—Best value plan

You can save a few bucks every month by going for the $40 Unlimited plan rather than the $50 or $60 Unlimited plans—but you’ll have to live with a hard data cap. Don’t really care about having truly unlimited data? The $40 Unlimited plan is the sweet spot where you still get plenty of data (15GB), but you don’t have to pay as much every month. Before committing to the plan, let’s ensure that you won’t use over 15GB of wireless data each billing cycle. Take a look at the chart below to get an idea of how much data-per-hour you use with different apps:

	Data per Hour	Risk	Suggested Plan
Online gaming	From 3MB		At least 1GB
Podcasts	Approx. 60MB		At least 2GB
Web Browsing	Approx. 60MB		At least 2GB
FaceTime	Approx. 85MB		At least 3GB
Facebook	Approx. 80MB		At least 3GB
Music Streaming	Up to 150MB		At least 5GB
Snapchat	Approx. 160MB		At least 5GB
Facebook Video	Approx. 160MB		At least 5GB
YouTube	Approx. 300MB		Unlimited
Netflix	From 250MB		Unlimited
Lossless Music Streaming (Tidal)	Approx. 640MB		Unlimited
Instagram	Approx. 720MB		Unlimited
TikTok	Approx. 840MB		Unlimited

The two biggest culprits of data drainage are Instagram and TikTok. If you think you spend more than 15 hours a month on either app while using wireless data, you’re better off sticking with the $50 or $60 Unlimited plans. But if you mostly browse social media apps at home while connected to Wi-Fi, you can probably make the 15GB data cap work and save yourself money every month.

You still get unlimited talk and text (of course), 5GB of mobile hotspot data to use every month, and unlimited international calling to supported lines.

• Pros: Affordable data plan with 15GB of data, unlimited talk and text, 5GB of mobile hotspot data, unlimited international calling
• Cons: Data cap set at 15GB, speeds will slow down dramatically once you hit the cap

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$30 Unlimited plan | $28.50/month—Best budget plan

For those of you who can work with strict data caps, you can score a cheaper cell phone plan from Simple Mobile. You can cut down on your Simple Mobile bill even more if you can swallow the data caps for the $25 and $30 Unlimited data plans. The $25 Unlimited plan comes with a 3GB data cap, and the $30 Unlimited plan comes with a 5GB data cap. To make either plan work, you’ll need to stay diligent about your data usage. That means you’ll probably need to resist browsing Instagram while waiting in the drive-thru, for example. You don’t want to run out of wireless data so quickly that you can barely use essential apps like your GPS. 

To make sure your speeds don’t get throttled too early, we recommend going for the $30 Unlimited plan over the $25 Unlimited plan. It’s only a few dollars difference to nearly double your data allotment for the month.

Suppose you’re the type of person who rarely pulls out their phone to kill time while out in the wild; you can make a very budget-friendly Simple Mobile plan work. Don’t forget to connect to public Wi-Fi spots wherever you can to help stretch out your data allotment. Check out our guide to the cheapest cell phone plans and compare the $30 Unlimited plan to what other carriers offer.

• Pros: Affordable plan, unlimited international calling to supported lines, unlimited voice and text
• Cons: 5GB data cap, data speed throttling once you pass the cap, no perks

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Keep in mind that Simple Mobile isn’t your only option if you want to get an affordable plan on Verizon’s network. See our Verizon MVNOs roundup to get an idea of what other options you have.

Best Simple Mobile Unlimited
Family Plan

You can save the most money on a Simple Mobile data plan by signing up for three lines at once.

$50 Unlimited plan | $100/month for 3 lines—Best family plan

We recommend that you always go the family plan route when it comes to cell phone plans. You can find two other trusted people to go in on a Simple Mobile family plan, and you can all get the $50 Unlimited plan for about $33.33/month each. This deal will save all three people a little over $10/month on each line, which adds up to $120 in savings every year. You don’t always have to compromise and get a worse cell phone plan to save money, just get a family plan together, and everyone saves.

• Pros: Discounted price, 40GB data cap per line, unlimited talk and text, unlimited international calling
• Cons: Speeds can slow down after you surpass 40GB of data in a month

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Family plans are the way to go to save money on your cell phone plan, check out our picks for the best family plans.

How to choose a cell phone plan

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Before committing to a cell phone carrier like Simple Mobile, you’ll want to make sure to get the best experience possible.

Simple Mobile uses Verizon’s network

Simple Mobile exclusively uses Verizon’s network to provide wireless coverage for its customers. As it stands right now, here’s what the coverage looks like between the three major networks. 

Currently, Verizon (and by extension, Simple Mobile) boasts more overall coverage than T-Mobile and AT&T, but it doesn't offer the most 5G coverage (that honor goes to T-Mobile with AT&T in second). In case you’re wondering, yes, Simple Mobile plans do support 5G speeds as long as you have a 5G-capable phone. You can make sure you’ll have reliable Simple Mobile coverage by finding your neighborhood on the map below:

If you don’t see nearly enough purple in your neck of the woods, you can still find cheap cell phone plans from other carriers. Consider going with an MVNO carrier that uses AT&T or T-Mobile networks. 

Major carrier vs. small carriers

You’re probably wondering how small MVNO carriers like Simple Mobile can get away with such affordable prices compared to the big carriers. The main catch with MVNOs is that your data speeds can throttle when the network gets overly congested.

For example, let's say you (a Simple Mobile customer) and a friend (a Verizon customer) try to check-in at the airport from your phones. Tons of other people around you are doing the same thing, but you can't get your email to open up with your boarding pass. On the other hand, your friend doesn't have a problem opening up email or loading messages.

This situation can happen because, as an MVNO customer, your data speeds slow down to give priority data speeds to customers from the big networks. If you don’t go out in crowded areas very often, it’s possible that the data throttling won’t ever affect you. But if you live in a big city or frequent big events, you’ll likely run into problems.

Best Simple Mobile phone plans: FAQs

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Does Simple Mobile have unlimited data?

Yes, but there's a catch. All the Simple Mobile plans fall under the "unlimited plans" category, but almost all come with a data cap. The only exception is the $60 Unlimited plan, which doesn't come with a data cap, but your data speeds can still slow down when the network gets congested. Once you pass your data cap, your data speeds slow down to 2G speeds, which is barely enough internet power to open an email on your phone.

What carrier does Simple Mobile use?

Simple Mobile uses Verizon's network to provide cellular coverage for its customers. Verizon offers reliable 4G coverage and currently has blazing-fast 5G mobile data speeds.

How long does a Simple Mobile hotspot last?

That depends on which Simple Mobile hotspot plan you choose. The top-tier $60 Unlimited plan comes with 15GB of mobile hotspot data every month. Every other Simple Mobile data plan comes with a 5GB mobile hotspot data limit.

How do I make my Simple Mobile a hotspot?

The process for turning on your mobile Wi-Fi hotspot depends on whether you have an iPhone device or an Android device. Find instructions for how to create hotspots for iPhone and Android devices here.