What’s the Best Phone Plan for College Students?

College students need cell phones and mobile plans. Clubs, classes, and friends are all digitally connected. Cell phones are an integral part of life on a college campus. Alas, carriers, plans, and phones are complicated and challenging to navigate. This is the place to be if you are trying to find the best phone plan for college students. College students are always looking for ways to save money, and phone plans are no exception. If you want a simple way to find the best phone plan for college students, check out the Really comparison tool!

We’ll dive into ways to save money on your cell phone bill before discussing some of our favorite plans for college students organized by monthly payment. 

What Makes a Great Phone Plan for College Students?

Finding the right phone plan comes down to your taste. There is, alas, no one-size-fits-all phone plan. The main cost of phone plans is in the data. How much data do you need? Once you figure that out, you will better understand what plan is best for you. Before we get into our top eight cell phone plans for college students, let’s dive into which phone plans are best for what kind of people. We will cover contracts, student deals, limited versus unlimited data, and MVNOs. 

No-Contract Cell Phone Plans

No contract cell phone plans are those where you prepay for service month by month. This provides you with a lot more flexibility at the cost of some savings. A few companies have savings baked into plans that are contracted for several months. The savings, however, are not worth it if you aren’t sure what kind of service you need or plan you’ll want in the short term. Finding the right plan is always more important than saving five or ten dollars a month for a service that does not suit you well! 

When looking for the best phone plan for college students, think about whether or not you want the flexibility of a no-contract phone plan, which lets you switch carriers or plans at a moment’s notice. 

Student Deals

This category, we are sad to say, is nothing to write home about. Some carriers have student deals, but none of them have deals impressive enough to put front and center whenever we talk about the best phone plans for college students. Many MVNOs offer better overall deals than the few college student discounts from major wireless networks. If you find a company you like, do some research to see if they have a student deal that grants you any savings, but we do not recommend searching out college deals specifically because of how much it will limit your search. 

Affordability Versus Unlimited Data

One essential impact on the cost of phone plans is whether or not you want unlimited data. There’s a plan for $10 a month with unlimited talk and text and 1 GB of high-speed data. Ten dollars a month is an exceptional deal. There are a ton of plans priced between zero and $20 a month and the one thing they all have in common is that they only come with a tiny share of data. If you can create a month around only using your phone in WiFi zones, a plan like this saves you a tremendous amount of money every month. Saving a few dozen dollars every month adds up fast. 

Mobile Virtual Network Operators

Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) are phone companies that lease bandwidth from major wireless networks. They offer much more affordable plans to customers all over the United States, connecting them to the same service that major wireless networks use. There are two major drawbacks to MVNOs. Data speeds are not guaranteed. MVNO customers have their data slowed before anyone else if the bandwidth is stressed. On top of that, MVNOs often offer cheaper plans with much fewer data than unlimited plans from major wireless networks. These companies can save you a lot of money, but they can cause a big hassle if you don’t plan out your data correctly. 

Best Phone Plans for College Students, Ranked by Monthly Cost

There are a lot of factors regarding the best phone plans for college students. Data and cost are at the top of our list, but coverage, customer service, available phones, and whether or not they have contracts are factors. Once you find the plan you like the most from this list, we recommend checking out their website to ensure everything looks good. Once you are there, check out their plan, add it to your cart, and get ready for some excellent service on the right plan. 

Freedom Pop’s Free Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $0 a month
• 10 minutes of talk, 10 texts (unlimited WiFi calling and texting)
• 25 MB high-speed data
• No contract 
• Runs on AT&T network

The free plan at Freedom Pop is uniquely cost-effective — it’s free. As a college student, jumping onto Freedom Pop’s free plan is great if you can limit your phone usage to WiFi zones and your phone has reliable WiFi calling and texting. This plan lets you keep the lights on, so to speak, but with everything this limited you should not count on any mobile usage for anything but emergencies. This is the best phone plan for college students on a tight budget. 

Tello Economy

Quick Facts: 

• $10 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• 1 GB high-speed data
• No contract 
• Runs on T-Mobile’s network

Stepping it up a tad is the Tello Economy phone plan. Tello’s service lets you mix and match your phone plan, building a plan with the amount of data, talk, and text you want. We recommend this one, but they have various options on their website. The ten dollars of this plan goes a long way, giving you unlimited talk and text with a small amount of data. This plan also revolves around sticking in WiFi whenever you are using data. Still, the talk and text add excellent flexibility whenever you are on the move, so you don’t have to worry about calls and texts on the network.

In terms of data, downloading songs, podcasts, and waiting to boot up social media are all crucial changes when you are on a plan with just a bit of mobile data. If you go over your data allotment for the month, you get throttled down to 2G speeds. These speeds are very slow. You can add on data at an increased price in an emergency. 

This is one of the best phone plans for college students who want to save money. It is a no-contract plan, allowing you to switch plans and carriers if needed. New users can bring their phones along if it is unlocked and compatible with Tello’s service. Almost every phone is, but it is worth double-checking. 

Twigby’s 4 GB Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $20 a month
• Unlimited talk and text 
• 4 GB high-speed data. 
• No contract 
• Runs on Verizon’s network

For $20 a month, Twigby’s phone plan offers unlimited calling and texting with 4 GB of high-speed data. This plan or one of Twigby’s other limited-data plans (all well-priced) is an excellent way to save for college students who don't need a lot of data. All of these plans with less than 15 GBs are designed for users who are okay without using their phone a lot on mobile data. 

Phone activities eat through data like it’s nobody’s business. If you are scrolling through social media or streaming just audio the data consumption adds up fast. These low-cost plans on different MVNOs deliver similar amounts of data at similarly awesome low costs, so we recommend looking around at all the other plans offered by a company. 

While this is a no-contract plan, and you have the flexibility to go from carrier to carrier, the switching process is always a hassle. Switching between plans within the same carrier is easy. With no-contract plans, you have the opportunity to add or subtract data based on your usage to stay in the sweet spot where you have enough data to get you through the month without overpaying.

Mint Mobile’s 10 GB Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $20, $25, $35 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• 10 GB high-speed data
• Three, six, or twelve-month contract 
• Runs on T-Mobile network

Next on our list are two plans from Mint Mobile. They have a good set of plans within the company. We are highlighting their 10 GB plan and their unlimited plan as the best phone plans for college students. The big pro/con of Mint Mobile is that their savings come through extending your contract. As you can see, paying for Mint Mobile’s 10 GB plan three months at a time gives you a $35 monthly phone bill. That’s nothing special compared to the competition. If you can justify extending it to six months that saves you $10 a month, bringing the cost down to $25 for 10 GB high-speed data. We like that price. Doubling the contract length saves you even more money, bringing it down to $20, the same cost as Twigby’s 4 GB plan. 

The downside is, of course, that you are locked into Mint and this plan for the length of the contract. A lot can change in six or twelve months of your college career. If you are confident that this is a good plan now and will be in the future, then Mint Mobile is your carrier. Their new-customer deal lets you enjoy three months of service at the lowest price point, giving you plenty of time to try it out before you make the longer commitment. 

Mint Mobile’s Unlimited Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $30, $35, $40 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• 35 GB of high-speed data
• Three, six, or twelve-month contract
• Runs on T-Mobile network

At its cheapest, Mint Mobile’s Unlimited Plan delivers outstanding service for $30 a month. This range of data is excellent for people who like to use a fair bit of data every day but don’t go overboard. While 35 GB is a lot, if you hit your maximum, they slow your data for the remainder of the month. There are a few other entries on this list that deliver unlimited data, but this, and other plans that provide 25 to 50 GBs of high-speed data, are a great middle-ground that still lets you save money on your monthly phone bill while giving you a big bank of data to use each month. If you don’t think 35 GB is enough, let’s look at some unlimited plans.  

Visible Wireless Unlimited Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $30 or $45 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• Unlimited data
• No contract 
• Runs on AT&T network

Visible has two plans, each with unlimited talk, text, and data. Understanding the ins and outs of Visible Wireless phone plans is a great place to start because they offer robust plans for the price. The two visible wireless phone plans are as follows:

• $30 per month for Unlimited
• $45 per month for Unlimited plus

Visible Wireless offering an unlimited plan for $30 is an unbelievable deal. Smartphones chew through data, and heavy users will find that they need an unlimited plan to keep up with their phone usage throughout the month. This plan is excellent. The only downside to Visible is that they don’t offer any multi-line savings or limited-data plans, so their cheapest plan is $30 a month. 

There are various factors to consider before picking out your best phone plan, but keep Visible Wireless on your shortlist. This plan comes with a great deal of good and a little bad, providing great coverage, network speeds, and unlimited data for $30 a month. Their more expensive option even gives 50 GB of premium data, circumventing the one big downside of using an MVNO. 

That downside is that the major wireless networks reserve the right to slow down data speeds whenever there is high traffic on the network. This is common at all events where many people use their devices simultaneously. MVNOs are the first group to get slower data speeds, so the users on the major wireless network can enjoy high speeds even when the network is almost maxed out. With premium data, however, Visible+ college students enjoy the first 50 GB each month with that same protection before their speeds can be slowed. 

T-Mobile Essentials

Quick Facts: 

• $60 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• 50 GB premium data (Unlimited high-speed data)
• No contract 
• Runs on T-Mobile’s network

This plan from T-Mobile and the following plan from Verizon are the two major wireless network plans we have on this list. They are at a reasonable price point for people who want premium wireless data at its most affordable price. T-Mobile Essentials offers 50 GBs of premium wireless data, which will never slow, before transitioning to unlimited regular high-speed data. This plan is best for college students who need a lot of data. Deciding to pay $60 a month for your cell phone service as a college student is hard to swallow, but if you are getting enough value from the plan and its offerings, then this could be the plan for you. 

Another benefit of switching to a major network is that they often have a good new customer deal waiting. Don’t fall for something that will result in you getting locked into paying more than you want to, but enjoying some savings is always nice. That being said, many of the options on this list regularly run promotions that result in significant savings for a few months after joining their service. Use whatever you can find to optimize your low-cost cell phone plan. 

Verizon’s Welcome Unlimited Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $55 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• Unlimited high-speed data
• No contract 
• Runs on Verizon’s network

Verizon’s Welcome Unlimited Plan is an excellent choice for students looking to get that major carrier service while still saving some money. It is a premium plan at $55 a month, but access to Verizon’s library of phones and high-speed network might be worth the cost. 

If you have decided on an unlimited plan, Verizon’s welcome unlimited is suitable for students because it doesn’t have anything added on that will drive up the plan’s cost. That being said, it is still quite expensive compared to the MVNO options on this list. Student deals, overall, leave something to be desired when it comes to phone plans. 

These are the best phone plans for college students

Finding the best phone plan for college students is a tall order. There are a lot of factors dependent on the student’s phone usage, but we hope that we’ve covered a wide enough variety of plans that you’ve found the one for you.