Do you need international calling?

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  T-Mobile

  Unlimited 5G data

  T-Mobile’s unlimited plans make great use of the carrier’s vast 5G coverage with travel and streaming perks included with premium plans. The best way to save with the carrier is by bringing multiple lines; folks with single lines might consider looking elsewhere.

  Pros

  • Postpaid plans come with truly unlimited 5G data
  • Solid savings for families
  • Additional savings for military, veterans, seniors, and first responders

  Cons

  • Expensive for a single line
  • Taxes and fees are extra on the Essentials plan

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  Ultra Mobile

  Smaller plans with multi-month savings

  With plans available for just a single month or at a discount with a 12-month payment, Ultra Mobile could be a good pick for someone with a single line. Light users could also save with smaller plan options available with the same multi-month savings. There’s even an unlimited family plan available.

  Pros

  • Wide plan range available with full 5G access
  • Multi-month savings available on all plans
  • Multiline savings available with the unlimited plan

  Cons

  • Taxes and fees are extra
  • Not a great value if you don’t need international support

With its vast 5G coverage and varied phone compatibility, T-Mobile has become the primary coverage provider for many prepaid carriers, including Ultra Mobile. Ultra Mobile offers a wide range of plans, starting with a simple talk and text plan, and ending with a top unlimited plan featuring 60GB of high-speed data. At Ultra, you can pay monthly or in 3-, 6-, or 12-month increments with more savings for longer periods.

T-Mobile, on the other hand, sticks mostly to unlimited data on its postpaid plans, the variants between them amounting to international features, premium data, hotspot data, and streaming perks. T-Mobile also has a few prepaid plans providing quite a bit of data, plus smaller prepaid T-Mobile Connect data plans. With such a huge range of prepaid and postpaid offerings, T-Mobile’s plans can be a bit overwhelming. To help determine which offers the best-suited option, the carriers are compared below.

Mobile carrier features

T-Mobile is a fairly straightforward postpaid carrier focusing on unlimited postpaid plans with multiline savings for the whole family. T-Mobile also offers discounts for seniors, military members, veterans, and first responders, which can reduce the cost even further for qualifying users. Taxes and fees are also included with all but the cheapest postpaid plans, so cost can easily be assessed when it’s all said and done.

When it comes to entertainment, some T-Mobile plans come with streaming services like Apple TV+, Netflix, and Hulu. Streaming video quality can also vary across plans, with cheaper options defaulting to SD quality and premium options offering full 4K quality.

Last but not least, T-Mobile offers international service on its plans with most plans including usage in Mexico and Canada, while pricier plans include more high-speed roaming data. Some T-Mobile plans even offer in-flight Wi-Fi for convenient travel coverage.

Ultra Mobile only offers prepaid plans, but provides payment flexibility. Plans are available in one-, three-, six-, or 12-month increments. Similar to Mint Mobile, Ultra Mobile plans are cheaper when a longer term is paid upfront. Taxes and fees are extra with Ultra, so don’t be surprised to see a couple of extra dollars tacked on before checkout.

While Ultra doesn’t offer multiline discounts on all of its plans, you can get its Family Plan for $49 for the first line, with each additional line costing $24 per month. This is Ultra’s 40GB Unlimited plan, so there should be enough data for most users. There’s also a cheaper unlimited plan available at Walmart for single-line users looking to save. Similar to the Unlimited plan, the Walmart Unlimited plan offers extra hotspot data and a lower $40 one-month price.

For a prepaid carrier, Ultra Mobile has some nice international features, with unlimited talk and text in Mexico and Canada, unlimited talk and text to 90+ international locations, and international credits with some plans.

Coverage and reception

Both carriers use the T-Mobile network for coverage, so for the most part, coverage and speed will be about the same. T-Mobile doesn’t limit access to the mid-band 5G, so you should get T-Mobile’s best coverage if it’s supported by the phone. On the other hand, that also means you’ll get all of T-Mobile’s rural shortcomings, so be sure to check the coverage map before signing up. While T-Mobile has continued to improve its rural coverage over the past few years, it’s still got some dead zones where the competition does not.

If you haven’t used the T-Mobile network before, you can get a free trial of the network if your phone is unlocked and supports eSIM. Download the T-Mobile app on Android or iOS to try the network with a three-month Network Pass. The best part is you can keep your old data plan on standby while you decide if T-Mobile is a good fit.

Phone compatibility

Most unlocked phones and all the best Android phones will work just fine on the T-Mobile network. T-Mobile’s 5G network consists mainly of low-band coverage on band n71, mid-band coverage with band n41, and some additional 5g coverage with carrier aggregation using band n66. For the most part, you’ll want a phone that supports bands n71 and n41 to get most of T-Mobile’s network performance, but in some areas, T-Mobile uses all three bands at once to improve speeds on compatible phones.

T-Mobile sells the biggest brands, including Apple, Samsung, Google, Motorola, and OnePlus. Savings may even be achieved, with some deals available via monthly bill credits for customers on a qualifying plan. Note that a free phone with 24 monthly bill credits must be paid if you want to upgrade early or switch carriers.

Ultra Mobile mostly sticks to budget phones, but you can bring just about any phone you want to the carrier if you already own it or are making payments to the manufacturer, like Google or Samsung, instead of a carrier. Ultra has a few high-end devices, like the Galaxy S24 series, but doesn’t have any iPhones. If you’re ready for a new phone and Ultra stocks the one you like, you can save a bit on service if you buy a 12-month plan with the phone.

Plans

Since the two carriers use the same network, the biggest difference you’ll find between the two is the plans. T-Mobile has a wide range of postpaid and prepaid plans available, while Ultra Mobile mostly sticks to variants of its data plan, with a couple of unlimited plan offerings. Note that T-Mobile offers a wider range of multiline discounts, so if you’re bringing the family, you’ll need to do a bit more math.

T-Mobile’s plans

T-Mobile’s main postpaid plan selection starts with its Essentials plans, Essentials, and Essentials Saver. They include 50GB of premium data and unlimited 3G-speed hotspot data. The video quality is just 480p, and taxes and fees are extra. This is a good entry-level plan for families looking for the basics, but keep an eye on the pricing. While Essentials Saver is cheaper with a single line, at three lines, Essentials becomes cheaper, and the Saver doesn’t even support four lines. The Essentials Save plan starts at $50 per month for one line, but the Essentials reduces to $100 for four lines if you bring the family.

Go5G increases the premium data to 100GB and comes with 15GB of mobile hotspot data. Taxes and fees are included, and Netflix with Ads is included. Streaming is also unlocked to 720p. International travel is another improvement; it gets a bump to 10GB of high-speed data in Mexico and Canada, with 5GB in 11 other countries. And there are four in-flight Wi-Fi sessions. This plan starts at $75 per month with multiline discounts available.

Moving up, Go5G Plus and Go5G Next increase the premium data to unlimited, with 50GB of hotspot data. Apple TV+ and Netflix with Ads are included with Plus, while Hulu is added to Next. Streaming has no limits, with 4K quality available. For international coverage, 15GB of high-speed data in Mexico and Canada with 5GB in 215+ countries is provided. The biggest difference between the two plans is that Go5G Plus customers are upgrade-ready every two years, while Go5G Next customers are ready every year.

These prices also include a $5 auto-pay discount.

T-Mobile also offers a few prepaid plans. You can get a basic 10GB plan starting at $40 per month, an unlimited plan with 3GB of hotspot data for $50 per month, and an unlimited plan with 10GB of hotspot data for $60 per month. These plans don’t include taxes and fees, but multiline discounts are available.

T-Mobile Connect plans are also available with unlimited talk and text, plus 5GB, 8GB, or 12GB of data. The two smaller plans also grow by 500MB every year until March 2025. These plans cost $15, $25, and $35, and there aren’t multiline discounts. Taxes and fees are also extra, so these plans aren’t quite the good deal they were when they were first announced. If you’re looking for a cheap, light plan, you may find a better deal with another of the best value data plans.

Ultra Mobile’s plans

Ultra Mobile’s plans, by comparison, are a lot simpler. There are seven plans to choose from, not including the Walmart plan. The cheapest plan is just talk and text, with 250MB of data for $15 per month, or $10 if you pay for the year. Next up are the 3GB, 5GB, 10GB, and 15GB plans costing $19, $24, $29, and $39. Like all Ultra Mobile plans, you can save by paying for multiple months at a time.

Ultra has two unlimited plans, with cheaper plans including 40GB of high-speed data starting at $49 per month. For $10 more per month, there’s also a 60GB Unlimited+ plan.

All of Ultra’s plans include unlimited talk and text in 90+ countries, the 3GB plan or higher comes with roaming in Mexico and Canada, and data can be used as a mobile hotspot if necessary. All video streaming is also limited to 480p.

If you’re bringing the family, Ultra’s family plan is just its unlimited plan with discounted lines. It’s a fairly good deal with the first line costing $49, while additional lines are just $24 per month. You can get up to five lines with this plan.

There are a couple of other plan variants available, such as an unlimited plan at Walmart that includes 15GB of hotspot data instead of 10GB. You can also get it for a single month for $40 per month, which is the same as the unlimited plan’s 12-month rate on Ultra’s site.

Which should you pick?

T-Mobile, overall, comes out ahead with its wide plan range and multiline savings for families on most of its plans. T-Mobile is more expensive for a single line, but if you bring the whole family, you’ll see the prices even out with three or more lines. Furthermore, T-Mobile includes taxes and fees for many of its plans, which can add up with multiple lines. As far as prepaid goes, T-Mobile doesn’t compare well with single-line pricing but offers stronger multiline options than Ultra.

If you’re bringing multiple lines, or just need a lot of data, T-Mobile will likely come out ahead for your needs. T-Mobile also has a few more bells and whistles available with more streaming and travel perks than Ultra.

If you’re a lighter user or only have a single line, Ultra Mobile and its multi-month savings could be a good option. Ultra’s plans are a bit of a hard sell if you don’t need any international features, with carriers like Mint Mobile coming out a bit cheaper for comparable plans. That being said, if you want unlimited talk and text in Ultra’s 90+ countries, and mostly international credits with some plans, Ultra Mobile could be a good pick.