Finding a good mobile hotspot plan can be tough. Below, I share my favorite options on the market. I try to keep the list updated.
Best add-on plans
Great coverage and prices: Verizon
Verizon’s Unlimited and Unlimited Plus plans are well-priced and offer decent allotments of hotspot data from the largest network in the nation. Unfortunately, the plans are only available as add-ons for subscribers that have phones on certain postpaid Verizon plans.
The word “unlimited” is a bit misleading in the plans’ names. Full-speed data is limited:
- Unlimited: 15GB per month of full-speed data
- Unlimited Plus: 30GB month of full-speed data
Subscribers that use up all of their regular data will be throttled to 600Kbps, a sluggish speed.
The Unlimited plan costs $20 per month, and the Unlimited Plus plan comes in at $30 per month. Subscribers on Verizon’s Do More Unlimited or Get More Unlimited plan can get the Unlimited plan for $10 per month and the Unlimited Plus plan for $15 per month (a 50% discount).
On another page, I go into more detail about Verizon’s hotspot plans.
Best standalone plans
Low cost: Boost
Boost offers 50GB of hotspot data on a standalone plan that only costs $50 per month. The plan works with Boost’s Coolpad Surf, which is well-priced at only $49.99. While Boost doesn’t offer the most extensive coverage, the Boost plan offers an outrageously low cost per gigabyte of data.
Good coverage: Cricket
If Boosts plan doesn’t offer sufficient coverage, Cricket wireless runs over AT&T’s extensive network and offers three well-priced hotspot plans.
- 20GB – $35 per month
- 40GB – $50 per month
- 100GB – $90 per month
More information about Cricket’s data-only plans is shared on the carrier’s website.
Rest of the market
AT&T
AT&T offers two postpaid plans for hotspots. AT&T calls these DataConnect plans. With these two plans, additional data is available at a rate of $10 per 2GB of data.
- 15GB – $60 per month
- 35GB – $85 per month
Three prepaid plans are also available from AT&T:
- 3GB – $25 per month (additional data for $10 per 1GB)
- 10GB – $50 per month (additional data for $10 per 1.5GB)
- 18GB – $75 per month (additional data for $10 per 2GB)
Further details: Dedicated article on AT&T’s hotspot plans
Straight Talk
Straight Talk offers five mobile hotspot plans. Two come with monthly (30-day) terms:
- 1GB – $15
- 2GB – $25
Straight Talk also offers three plans with 60-day terms:
- 4GB – $40
- 5GB – $50
- 7GB – $75
T-Mobile
T-Mobile offers six plans that work with standalone mobile hotspots. Here are the plans monthly prices and high-speed data allotments:
- 2GB – $10
- 6GB – $25
- 10GB – $40
- 14GB – $55
- 18GB – $70
- 22GB – $85
Once high-speed data allotments are used, all of these plans allow additional data use at a sluggish 600Kbps (what T-Mobile calls “3G speeds”). Unlike most other plans on this page, T-Mobile includes taxes and fees in the list prices of these plans. Subscribers on T-Mobile’s hotspot plans may be eligible for some data use when roaming in Mexico and Canada.
Further details: Dedicated article on T-Mobile’s hotspot plans
Last updated: 10/25/2020