AT&T is a well-known carrier that offers a lot of great cell plans, but they aren’t always the most affordable. I think anyone would be happy with a lower price point. To get one, all you have to do is consider an MVNO, and there are plenty of popular options that run on AT&T’s respectable network.

1 What Are MVNOs?

A Mobile Virtual Network Operator, or MVNO, is a company that rents network usage from a major carrier. Basically, AT&T is a property owner; an MVNO pays them to use some of that property, and then they rent it out like a landlord. It might sound a little suspect, but for you as a consumer, this means you can score a cheaper price for your cell plans.

MVNOs aren’t paying for all of the infrastructure that the big companies are, and they usually offer their customers secondary data priority or lower. Ultimately, this means your service won’t be quite as good as with AT&T itself, but it will be a lot cheaper, and most of the time, the difference in quality is small enough that it won’t affect you.

Of course, like cell companies, there are many different MVNOs, and some might be more appealing to you than others. For your consideration, these are all of the MVNOs using AT&T’s network in 2024.

2 Boost Mobile

Boost Mobile is popular enough that you’ve probably seen some commercials for it on TV. Currently, they offer five different plans for you to choose from, two of which are device-specific. The ‘Unlimited’ and ‘Unlimited+’ plans are $25 and $50 per month, respectively. Or you can get the ‘Unlimited Premium’ plan for $60 per month. All three of these plans have unlimited talk, text, and data.

For $65 a month, you can get device-specific plans for either a Samsung Galaxy or iPhone, which come with unique upgrade options. Finally, if you were a user of Republic Wireless, Boost Mobile is hosting those refuges now, and you can lock in your monthly service at just $25 a month. All in all, pretty good prices for one of the best MVNOs out there.

3 Black Wireless

Black Wireless is not as recognized as Boost Mobile, but you can count on them for one thing: they will save you the most money. Black Wireless has some of the most affordable plans out there, starting at just $15 a month, though you’ll likely end up paying $30 or $40 a month instead. There are even some pay-as-you-go plans at Black Wireless.

Of course, there are some caveats to keep in mind. Black Wireless does offer unlimited data plans, but there’s a catch. You get an allotment of high-speed 5G data each month, but once you go over the allotment, your speeds will get cut to 128Kbps. The same setup holds true for all of the other plants, too.

So, Black Wireless is definitely super affordable, but it does have some drawbacks to consider.

4 Cricket Wireless

Cricket Wireless is arguably the most popular MVNO that uses AT&T. Plans start at $15 a month, and every single plan offered includes 2GB of free cloud storage. If you go for their most expensive plan, you get 150GB of cloud storage instead. Most MVNOs don’t offer 5G on their data-only plans, but you don’t have to worry about that with Cricket Wireless.

You can get an unlimited plan with this MVNO. Still, they offer a variety of value plans, including a few options with multi-line discounts if you need to get affordable coverage for the whole family. You really can’t go wrong with Cricket Wireless, though it all depends on their coverage in your particular area.

5 Consumer Cellular

As far as MVNOs go, Consumer Cellular is pretty basic: it doesn’t offer anything special, but it does offer what you expect it to. Honestly, the most impressive thing about it is how many times it’s been recognized by J.D. Power and Associates for its customer service. Oh, and the 5% discount you can get if you happen to be an AARP member.

With Consumer Cellular, you can build your own plan, choosing different numbers of lines, available talk minutes, and various data limits. You can even skip texting and data entirely if you just use your phone to talk to people. Though you’d have to go as basic as possible, their cheapest plans start at $20 per month.

6 FreeUp Mobile

Now, we’re falling into some lesser-known MVNO territory, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth your consideration. FreeUp Mobile is a pretty standard MVNO, offering four data plans: 5GB, 15GB, 20GB, and Unlimited. All plans come with unlimited calls and text as well. Not including the Unlimited plan, your speeds will be reduced to 2G after your data allotment for the month is used.

Obviously, 2G speeds aren’t very good when we’re up to 5G these days, but you won’t have to worry about that as long as you stay within your means. If you can do that, then you can get quality data limits, unlimited talk and text, and international calling to more than 150 countries for as low as $15 a month.

7 FreedomPop

FreedomPop is interesting because it only sells two plans, both of which include unlimited talk and text. The basic plan only comes with 1GB of data for $10 a month, and the more expensive plan includes 10GB of data for $30. That said, you can keep your existing phone number if you switch to this MVNO, which is a nice little bonus.

That said, there’s nothing else appealing about FreedomPop. The main selling point is that you could have a $ 10-a-month phone bill if you really want to, which is a tiny fraction of what most people pay. If you don’t lead a data-hungry life, FreedomPop might be a good, affordable fit for you.

8 Other MVNOs on the AT&T Network

There are a few other MVNOs that use the AT&T network, but they are a little niche. If you want to check them out just to compare them to the ones we’ve already talked about, this is an exhaustive list of those other MVNOs:

• H2O Wireless
• PureTalk
• RedPocket Mobile
• Unreal Mobile
• Wing

AT&T does not have quite as many MVNOs as more popular networks like T-Mobile, but as you can see, there are still plenty of options to choose from. Though, of course, if you are willing to switch to a different network, there are always even more MVNOs to consider from Verizon or T-Mobile.