Both AT&T and Verizon offer wireless plans with premium and unlimited data plans. While both carriers’ plans are on the expensive side, their vast coverage, international perks, and multiline savings make them appealing to many users. Besides that, if you want one of the latest flagship phones for the whole family, 36-month payment plans and upgrade discounts can take the sting off of the price. Most users will have excellent coverage on either carrier, so really, the choice comes down to which plans give you the best value.
Verizon’s streaming-focused customizable plans can make a lot of sense for those with lots of subscription services looking to simplify and reduce costs. At Verizon, you start with one of three base plans and add the subscriptions that are most important to you. AT&T, on the other hand, sticks to more conventional plans with a focus on data with more postpaid value on the low end.
When it comes to plan features, these two carriers stand toe to toe, with both focusing mostly on unlimited plans with data and international features making up the biggest differences. Both carriers offer unlimited premium data to add value to their most expensive plans, which is higher-priority data that stays fast, even when the network is congested. Hotspot data also scales with these plans, featuring up to 60GB on AT&T and Verizon’s top plans. Hotspot data can be shared with other devices like a tablet or laptop, which is helpful for those who need internet access to work or play on the go.
AT&T and Verizon both offer discounts on new phones for new customers and BYOD credits for those who want to keep using their old phones. This can be a big help to those who prefer to buy the best Android phones unlocked since they won’t need to sign up for a three-year payment plan for a new phone. For example, if you bring your own phone to one of AT&T’s top plans, Unlimited Premium PL or Unlimited Extra EL, you can get $10 off per month in bill credits for 36 months. On the cheaper Unlimited Started SL or Value Plus VL plans, you can get $5.99 off per line for 36 months.
Verizon offers similar BYOD savings with $15 per month on its top Unlimited Ultimate plan, $10 per month on Unlimited Plus, and $5 off per month on the cheaper Unlimited Welcome plan.
Furthermore, both carriers offer savings on new phones depending on the plan. AT&T’s best discounts are available on its Unlimited Extra EL and Unlimited Premium PL plans. Verizon also offers its best phone savings on its pricier plans with tiers for each of its three plans. One thing to keep in mind about these discounts is that they’re applied via 36 bill credits over 36 months. If you want to upgrade more frequently, you may need to pay off your phone before doing so. AT&T has an early upgrade program called Next Up for $6 per month that allows you to upgrade early after paying off 50% of your device.
Finally, neither AT&T nor Verizon include taxes and fees in their plan pricing. Just keep in mind that your monthly cost may actually be a bit more than the base plan price.
One place where Verizon has differentiated itself is with home internet. Verizon offers home internet using 5G or Fios fiber optics. If it’s available, Unlimited Ultimate and Unlimited Plus subscribers can get 300Mbps Fios for $25 per month, or 5G Home for $35 per month. For Unlimited Welcome, that’s $40 for Fios and $45 for 5G Home. If you can get Fios, you can also upgrade to a faster internet package, though 300Mbps is plenty for most families.
AT&T and Verizon are known for their excellent coverage with wide rural LTE coverage and growing 5G coverage. Reliability is also a strong point, with analysis from Ookla showing strong media speed results for the carriers. It must be mentioned, though, that AT&T customers were recently without service for hours as the carrier scrambled to get its service back online, prioritizing FirstNet. FirstNet is a high-priority service built on the AT&T network for first responders.
Both carriers are rapidly expanding their 5G coverage in pursuit of T-Mobile, which achieved an early lead on the mid-band spectrum. AT&T and Verizon both needed to wait for spectrum auctions to get started on 5G and have been working fast ever since. The carriers have solid 5G coverage in cities, but it falls off quickly as you head into the suburbs and country.
AT&T’s 5G network is made up of a dedicated low-band spectrum that has enabled the carrier to get millions of people on 5G rather quickly but doesn’t offer speeds much higher than LTE in many cases. AT&T’s mid-band 5G network along with its mmWave 5G is called 5G+ and is steadily making its way to more people. This 5G+ coverage is much quicker than LTE and is what most people expect when they think of 5G. To determine which kind of coverage AT&T has in your area, be sure to check the carrier’s coverage map. The darker the blue in your area, the better your 5G speeds should be. AT&T includes full 5G access on all of its unlimited plans.
Similarly, Verizon has low-band 5G combined with mid-band and mmWave coverage. While Verizon didn’t focus as much as AT&T on low-band 5G, its LTE speeds in these areas should still be fine for most people. That being said, Verizon is rapidly expanding its mid-band coverage with many cities fully covered by now. Verizon’s mid-band and mmWave coverage is referred to as Ultra Wideband, UWB for short, and is available with its top two unlisted plans with slower 5G on Unlimited Welcome. Check Verizon’s coverage map to determine the coverage level you have in your area; the darkest red parts represent the fastest 5G.
Most of the best Android phones, including the best budget phones, work on Verizon and AT&T. While some users have reported issues activating phones like the OnePlus 12 on Verizon, the phone supports all the required bands to work on the carrier. If you want to be sure your phone will work with a carrier, the best way is to buy it directly from that carrier. That being said, some of the most popular devices, like Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, should connect to either carrier just fine.
For AT&T, your 5G phone should support bands n5 for low-band 5G, n77 for mid-band, and n260 for mmWave coverage. The most important bands are n5 and n77 as that’s most of AT&T’s 5G coverage footprint, but having the mmWave band can be helpful in very crowded areas, such as sitting in the stands at a football game.
Verizon uses bands n2, n5, and n66 for low-band 5G, n77 for mid-band coverage, and n260 and 261 for mmWave 5G. Like AT&T, Verizon’s low-band support is great for coverage, but band n77 will give you Verizon’s faster UWB 5G speeds. Verizon has built a sizable mmWave network, which helps with its 5G Home Internet service, but it shouldn’t be your main concern when looking for coverage.
However, all of this coverage doesn’t mean anything if you can’t get the right plan. There’s no getting around the fact that AT&T and Verizon have some of the most expensive plans you can get, but if you need their features and can take advantage of multi-line discounts, they can make sense. AT&T makes it easier to save with mix-and-match plans, so you can choose a bigger plan for someone who needs it, but stick to cheaper plans for those with typically lower usage.
AT&T and Verizon both have auto-pay and paper-free billing discounts and are required to get their best rates. You’ll need to wait a couple of bill cycles for all of these discounts to kick in. If you’re looking for a new phone, it’s a good idea to check out which deals are available to new customers because some of the best phone deals require you to be on a bigger plan.
If you’re bringing your phone and your number, you can get some discounts as well. At Verizon, it works out to $15 per month on Unlimited Ultimate, $10 per month on Unlimited Plus, and $5 per month on Unlimited Welcome. On AT&T, you can get $10 per month off on its two larger plans and $5.99 off per month for its cheaper plans. These discounts only last 36 months, but that’s plenty of time to upgrade.
AT&T has five plans in total, with four unlimited options and one limited 4GB plan. Starting with its worst plan, the $50 AT&T 4GB comes with just 4GB of high-speed data with video streaming limited to SD resolutions. Like AT&T’s other postpaid plans, however, usage in Mexico and Canada is included. This plan also qualifies for Signature program member discounts. Signature program discounts are available from partnered employers or organizations and can save customers $10 per line. Despite this, this plan is very expensive for a single line and still not a great value with three or four lines at $40 per line.
Moving up, AT&T Value Plus VL comes in at $50.99 and is a much better value for most people than the 4GB plan. Value Plus is unlimited, so it gets 5G data but lacks any hotspot data. This plan gets solid multiline discounts with the per-line cost decreasing to $37.99 per line for three lines and $30.99 for four lines. AT&T Unlimited Starter is pricier at $65.99 to start with 5GB of hotspot data added in but is actually cheaper than Value Plus with four lines. For two lines, it’s $60.99 per line, $45.99 for three lines, and $35.99 for four lines. If you’re bringing the whole family, this plan is a solid value.
Unlimited Extra EL is perhaps the most balanced plan on AT&T with 75B of high-speed premium data, 30GB of hotspot data, and usage in Mexico and Canada. Videos stream at SD resolution, which is below par for a plan at this price. This plan is $75.99 for a single line, $65.99 for two lines, $50.99 for three lines, and $40.99 for four lines.
Moving up, the top Unlimited Premium PL plan makes all data premium with no slowdown as long as the network can handle it. Hotspot data is upgraded to 60GB and usage in 20 Latin American countries is also added. Video streaming is upgraded to 4K as well, so if you like to watch videos on your phone, you get full quality. This plan is expensive, at $85.99 for the first line, $75.99 per line with two lines, $60.99 per line with three lines, and $50.99 per line with four lines.
The top two plans also have AT&T ActiveArmor Advanced, which includes features like identity monitoring and a VPN for public Wi-Fi. The unlimited plans also include unlimited texting to more than 200 countries. Naturally, all unlimited plans also have 5G access.
Comparatively, Verizon’s plans are a lot simpler. Verizon sticks to three main plans as starting points: Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, and Unlimited Ultimate. Unlimited Welcome includes unlimited data, but no premium or hotspot data. Talk, text, and data are included in Mexico and Canada, and streaming quality is limited to 480p. Unlimited Welcome also has no UWB 5G access. The first line is $65 per month, with $55 for two lines, $40 for three lines, and $30 for four lines.
Next, Unlimited Plus comes with premium data that isn’t slowed during network congestion, as well as 30GB of mobile hotspot data. Video streaming quality gets a bump to 720p, and international talk, text, and data in Mexico and Canada is still included. This plan costs $80 per line with a single line, $70 per line with two lines, $55 per line with three lines, and $45 per line with four lines. You can also get 50% off on a connected device plan for something like a watch or a tablet.
The top plan is called Unlimited Ultimate, and as the name implies, it’s a little more of everything. This plan has unlimited premium data and 60GB of mobile hotspot data. Unlimited talk, text, and data is expanded to 210+ countries, and talk and text from the US includes an additional country of your choosing along with Mexico and Canada. Finally, this plan has its video streaming resolution unlocked to 4K, so streamers can get full quality.
These Verizon plans are all designed as starting points that you can expand with plan add-ons. These add-ons are more than just extra hotspot data, though you can add that, too, and also include streaming service and subscription memberships to stores. Each add-on perk costs $10 per month, which makes some, like the Disney Bundle with Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ a nice bargain. You can even get a Walmart+ or Apple One membership. If you’re interested in extra plan perks, you can save some money by adding them to your Verizon plan, and it can even be easier to keep track of all the small subscriptions you pay for.
When it comes down to it, both of these carriers are rather expensive. That being said, Verizon’s plan add-ons and simplified starting points make it a more compelling option for many. While it’s a bit of a drag that Verizon’s cheapest Unlimited Welcome plan can’t access the faster UWB 5G, it is nice that it has access to the same add-on perks as the biggest plans. If you don’t mind the slower 5G speeds, which are fine for just about anything you do on a phone, including streaming video and social media, this plan can be an excellent option for a family looking to save.
If you want a bit more speed, Unlimited Plus with unlimited premium data on Verizon’s fastest 5G connection and 30GB of hotspot data makes more sense. This plan even gets a bump to 720p video streaming, which should look nice and sharp on a phone screen. With the increased BYOD discount as well, Unlimited Plus could be perfect for families that use a lot of data.
AT&T could still be the right choice for some people, and even with every discount applied, it still has the best single-line value of either carrier with AT&T Value Plus VL. This plan is simple, but it still has unlimited data and 5G access. If you just want the simplest value without worrying about streaming services or bill credits, this plan costs just $50.99 for a single line with auto-pay.
For family value, AT&T still holds its own with Unlimited Starter at just $35.99 with four lines. It’s even better when you remember that you can easily mix and match plans, so you can upgrade your phone for faster data while keeping the kids on the lower-priority and cheaper plan.
Maybe if we start telling people the brain is an app they will start using it!
