Are prepaid savings worth it?

• Vast nationwide coverage

  AT&T

  AT&T is one of the Big Three postpaid carriers with strong nationwide LTE coverage and a growing 5G coverage area. AT&T has both prepaid and postpaid plans with solid multi-line discounts.

  Pros

  • Truly unlimited data on postpaid plans
  • Usage in Mexico and Canada is included
  • Mix and match for postpaid plans

  Cons

  • Taxes and fees are extra
  • AT&T?s best data speeds require an add-on
  • SD streaming on most plans

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  MobileX

  MobileX is a prepaid carrier focused on eliminating waste. It pulls this off by giving a free phone service while its app tracks your average usage to suggest a plan tailored to your needs. If you need more data, you can easily add some until you get another refill at the end of the month.

  Pros

  • Pay only for the data you need
  • Bill credits for unused data
  • Strong coverage on Verizon 5G

  Cons

  • Taxes and fees are extra
  • The largest 30GB plan may not be enough for some
  • No multi-line or multi-month discounts

MobileX and AT&T have very different approaches to their plans and services, with MobileX sticking closer to the basics while helping people realize they don’t really need unlimited data. MobileX lets you pick how much data you need and even credits your account if you pay for data you didn’t use.

AT&T sticks to a more traditional plan structure that encourages people to bring multiple lines with solid discounts. AT&T also mostly sticks to unlimited data plans, which MobileX isn’t even interested in offering.

Mobile carrier features

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are known as the Big Three carriers that build and maintain their own networks. Since AT&T has full control of its network, it offers unlimited data on all but one of its postpaid plans and even includes mobile hotspot data with some of them.

On AT&T’s postpaid plans, you get unlimited talk and text in the US as well as in Mexico and Canada. Unlimited texting is also included in 200+ other countries. These plans also get data usage in Mexico and Canada if you plan on traveling abroad. AT&T’s top plan even includes unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data in 20 Latin American countries.

One way AT&T differentiates its higher-tier plans is through high-speed data. With unlimited high-speed data with its top plan and 75GB with its next cheapest plan, these may seem like an obvious upgrade, but it’s not quite that simple. All carriers offer different prioritization tiers, with the highest tiers reserved for first responders and businesses. This high-speed data is simply a higher tier and will remain fast even when a tower is congested.

AT&T offers multi-line discounts for those bringing the whole family along, as well as discounts for members of the military, veterans, AARP members, teachers, students, first responders, nurses, and physicians. You may even get an AT&T discount through your job, union, or organization. All that to say, if you’re signing up for AT&T, make sure you check for discounts.

MobileX keeps things simple, and that’s perhaps the prepaid carrier’s best feature. With MobileX, you simply choose how much talk and text you need, followed by how much data you think you’ll need. The unlimited plans come with some hotspot data, while the custom plan simply shares hotspot data.

You can also get unlimited talk and text to Mexico and Canada with an add-on. If you need more data on MobileX, you can add it from the app. If you end up not using all of your data, fret not, as MobileX will credit your account for the remaining balance.

As we saw in our MobileX review, the app is the star of the show, allowing you to clearly track usage, and add more features if needed. MobileX even allows you to choose the streaming resolution for video, so you can waste your data on a 4K stream on a small phone screen if you darn well please. It’s your data, after all.

Coverage and reception

A carrier’s coverage isn’t consistent across the country; there are a lot of factors at play, including local approvals, component availability, height limits, and the terrain. That’s why it’s important to check each carrier’s coverage before signing up, so you know what you’re getting in your area.

In some areas, AT&T has the best rural coverage, while in others areas, Verizon is the better choice. When it comes to these fringe areas, there’s a lot more variability than you’ll find in a populated suburb, for example.

As you might have guessed, AT&T uses its own network exclusively for coverage, which generally means strong LTE with solid 5G in many towns and cities. AT&T also has a 5G+ network using mid-band and mmWave spectrum for faster speeds in some areas. This hasn’t been around as long, but AT&T has made solid progress in its expansion. Overall, you can expect strong coverage on AT&T with plenty of speed for browsing and streaming.

MobileX, on the other hand, uses Verizon’s network for all of its coverage, which is a strong choice for prepaid carriers. MobileX gets the full experience with both 5G and Ultra Wideband 5G; the latter, like AT&T’s 5G+, uses mid-band and mmWave spectrum to improve speeds, but Verizon is a bit further along in deployment than AT&T.

Still, for most people, either carrier will offer more than enough speed. You can check out AT&T’s coverage map to see what kind of signal you can expect in your area.

MobileX doesn’t offer a coverage map and instead encourages you to use its 10-day data forecaster trial period to see if MobileX is a good fit. If your phone is unlocked and eSIM-compatible, you can use MobileX’s data forecaster by downloading the MobileX app. Otherwise, you’ll need to order a SIM kit or pick one up from Walmart, to get started.

Phone compatibility

Since Verizon and AT&T are two of the biggest phone carriers in the world, there are plenty of phones available for both of them and just about any phone made for the North American market will work.

At AT&T, you can check a list of compatible devices (PDF) while at MobileX, you can enter your IMEI number on the website to see if your phone is compatible. Keep in mind that if you’re bringing your phone to either carrier from another, it will need to be paid off and unlocked.

If you’re ready for a new phone, both carriers sell new devices, though MobileX skews more toward budget-oriented phones. There are a few flagships available, like the Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra, but both Apple and Google phones are a generation behind. Financing is available through Affirm as well.

If you want a new phone on MobileX, your best bet is to buy it separately. If you need monthly payments, online stores for phone brands like Samsung, Google, OnePlus, and Apple have payment options.

AT&T has a lot more phones available for purchase with a lot of options from big names like Samsung, Google, and Apple. AT&T offers solid discounts for trade-ins, as well as buy-one-get-one deals on some models. Luckily, however, AT&T has the same discounts for all of its unlimited plans, so you’re not pressured into a more expensive plan to save on your phone.

Plans

The biggest difference between AT&T and MobileX are the plans available. AT&T has a wide variety of prepaid and postpaid options, with most of its postpaid options sticking to unlimited data with multi-line discounts for families. MobileX, on the other hand, really only has three plans, with one offering a custom setup of minutes, texts, and data. MobileX is generally cheaper, but with multi-line discounts, AT&T closes the gap for families.

AT&T’s plans

Starting with AT&T’s prepaid plans, there are two multi-month plans and five other monthly plans. Taxes and fees are extra on all plans, and in order to get the advertised price, you must sign up to auto-pay. On the low end, AT&T’s 5GB plan is its cheapest with unlimited talk and text for $30 per month. Unlimited texting to 230 countries is included, and if you don’t use all of your data, it rolls over to the next month with Rollover Data.

Moving up, the 15GB plan looks very similar with a starting price of $40 per month. It’s largely the same as the 5GB plan, except it comes with usage in Mexico and Canada at 2G speeds. While slow, it’s nice to know you can keep using your phone while traveling abroad. If you’re willing to pay for three months at once, you can get a nearly identical 8GB plan for $33 per month. Interestingly, this 8GB plan includes HD streaming.

Moving up, there are four unlimited plans. First, a 12-month-only plan for $300 that comes with 16GB of high-speed data each month, slowed to 1.5Mbps after that until the end of the month. This plan also comes with 10GB of hotspot data, though usage in Mexico and Canada is not included.

Above that, there’s a monthly unlimited plan that comes with 30GB of data at 3Mbps, which is slowed to 1.5Mbps if you somehow manage to use it all. While it’s nice to see AT&T still offers internet at DSL speeds for those who want to know what the internet was like in 2005, it’s hard to recommend this plan at $40 per month. For $50 per month, you get unlimited data at 5G speeds, and 5GB of hotspot data, with no arbitrary speed limit.

At the top of the prepaid stack, Unlimited MAX + 25GB hotspot data comes in at $60 per month with 50GB of higher priority data. This plan gets HD video streaming as an option, and 100GB of cloud storage as well.

Moving on to postpaid, AT&T’s cheapest option is the 4GB plan. This plan starts at $50 per month and comes down to $40 per line with three or more lines. Unlimited talk and text is included and you can use your data as a mobile hotspot if you please. This plan also comes with usage in Mexico and Canada.

Next, AT&T Value Plus VL comes with unlimited data and 5G access for $50.99 per month. With three lines, this plan comes down to $37.99, and with four lines, it’s down to $30.99. If you’ve got multiple lines on a budget, this is one of your best AT&T options. You could, however, add 5GB of hotspot data with Unlimited Starter SL for $65.99 per month. With four lines, it comes down to just $35.99 per month.

Unlimited Extra EL comes in at $75.99 for the first line, but it gets a few nice upgrades over Unlimited Starter. For one, you get 75GB of priority data on AT&T’s network, but if you use all of that, your speeds could be slowed if a tower is congested. This plan gets 30GB of hotspot data as well. If you’re bringing four lines, this plan comes down to $40.99 per line.

AT&T’s top plan, Unlimited Premium PL, starts at $85.99 per month and has unlimited priority data with 5G speeds and 4K video streaming. With four lines, it comes down to $50.99 per month. This plan comes with a fairly massive 60GB of hotspot data, so you can keep your other devices connected while you’re on the go. This plan also gets unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data in 20 Latin American countries.

AT&T allows customers to mix and match postpaid plans with discounts intact, so you can tailor your plan to fit your family’s needs without paying for features some members of the family won’t use.

Keep in mind that with all AT&T plans, both prepaid and postpaid, taxes and fees are extra. You’ll also need to sign up with auto-pay and paperless billing to get the advertised price. On top of that, your auto-pay method needs to be a checking account or debit card rather than a credit card.

MobileX’s plans

By comparison, MobileX is a lot simpler with just three plans to talk about. Starting with the custom Personalized Access plan, you start with a $1.98 platform fee and add the features you want. To get 50 minutes and 50 texts, you’ll pay $1.50; 150 costs $2.50; unlimited talk and text comes in at $4.50.

You can also skip talk and text and just get data if you want. For data, it costs $2.10 per gigabyte, which is fairly cheap compared to other pay-as-you-go options like Google Fi Flexible. There’s also an unlimited talk and text to Mexico and Canada option for $4.50.

If you need more than 4GB in a month, the Basic Unlimited 5 plan is a better value at $14.88 per month. Beyond that, Basic Unlimited 30 gets you 30GB of data with talk and text to Mexico and Canada for $24.88 per month. If you use up your data, your speeds will be slowed until the end of the month.

Keep in mind that there are a few taxes and fees added at the end of all MobileX plans, so plan for another dollar or two per line. It’s also worth mentioning that there are no multi-line discounts, so if you want multiple plans, you’ll need to pay the same for all of them. Luckily, MobileX still works out cheaper than most AT&T plans.

Which should you get?

If you can take advantage of multiple discounts and bring multiple lines, AT&T could come out ahead, but for most people, MobileX’s prices are unbeatable. Even if you stick with MobileX’s more expensive unlimited plans, they still end up cheaper than AT&T’s postpaid options. If you can get by with less than 30GB of data per month, which most of us can, MobileX has one of the best value data plans.

Some other nice MobileX features are the ability to stream in HD resolutions if you want with a simple toggle in the app, a simple and easy-to-read data usage tracker, and straightforward hotspot data usage. Even with just a handful of plans, MobileX stands out as the better overall value.

MobileX

Build a custom plan and only pay for the data you need with MobileX’s personalized plan, or get up to 30GB of high-speed data with an unlimited plan.

If you’ve got multiple lines and need a ton of data, AT&T can still be a good choice with unlimited data on plans like Value Plus and Unlimited Started. AT&T also lets you mix and match plans, so if you want one of the bigger plans, you can get it while keeping the kids on a cheaper plan. AT&T also has better international roaming support with unlimited talk, text, and data in Mexico and Canada on all postpaid plans.

AT&T

If you have multiple lines and need a lot of data, AT&T’s unlimited plans could be the right option for you.