Is Boost’s network ready for the limelight?

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  Truly unlimited data

  Verizon

  Verizon is one of the Big Three carriers with its own LTE and 5G coverage and a handful of plans that can take advantage of that network with unlimited data and add-on streaming perks. Verizon has multi-line discounts for families as well.

  Pros

  • Strong LTE and 5G coverage nationwide
  • Multi-line savings for families
  • Simple postpaid plan structure

  Cons

  • Taxes and fees are extra
  • Expensive for a single line
  • Auto-pay required for the best prices

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  Get a new phone with your plan

  Boost Mobile

  Boost Mobile is also building its own network, but for the time being, still largely relies on AT&T for coverage outside of the cities it has coverage. Boost Mobile offers multiple unlimited options including a couple of plans that come with a new phone.

  Pros

  • Strong coverage with both Boost 5G and AT&T
  • Solid international usage with North America Connect
  • New phone bundles available

  Cons

  • The base unlimited plan doesn’t get hotspot data
  • Taxes and fees are extra on the base unlimited plan
  • No truly unlimited plan

Boost Mobile has had an interesting journey, going from a Sprint-owned prepaid carrier to a full-blown carrier with its own 5G coverage. Its most recent plan updates bring an end to cheap limited data plans in favor of a handful of unlimited plans, but Boost even has a couple of plans with phones included, either iPhone or Galaxy, for those who want a new phone every year.

Verizon has been around for a while, and while its simple plans help it stand out from AT&T and T-Mobile, it’s still one of the pricier options available. Still, with a selection of truly unlimited plans and affordable add-ons, Verizon can be an excellent choice for streamers who need a ton of data. Verizon also makes it easy to bring the family with multi-line savings to bring the price down.

Mobile carrier features

Verizon offers three postpaid plans, all of which come with multi-line discounts for families, plus other discounts for first responders, veterans, and more. Verizon also offers a solid range of international options, including usage in Mexico and Canada on all of its postpaid options. The top Unlimited Ultimate plan even gets roaming in $210 countries.

As far as phones, you get more savings on the more expensive plans for both new models and when you bring your own phone. Verizon’s more expensive plans also come with high-speed hotspot data.

But Verizon’s most interesting feature is its add-ons. Verizon offers a range of add-ons that cost $10 per month and are often cheaper than paying for them individually. For example, there’s a Disney Bundle with Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ that can cost up to $25 per month separately. Apple One is also available at $10, which is about half off. You can get other add-ons, too, like 100GB of hotspot data or three TravelPass days, all for $10 per month.

Boost Mobile’s new plans are all unlimited with a set amount of high-speed data each month. The larger plans get more high-speed data, as well as hotspot usage that is shared from your primary pool of data. One interesting inclusion is device savings each year, so you can save on your next upgrade.

There’s no contract required with Boost Mobile, but if you want to buy a new device on a payment plan, you will need to go through a soft credit check, which is par for the course. Monthly taxes and fees are also included with all but the base unlimited plan, which also includes the iPhone and Galaxy bundle plans.

True to its old identity, Boost Mobile offers some solid plan add-ons. For one, you can add the hotspot feature to your plan for $10 per month, or more high-speed data for $10 for $10GB. For international features, you can get international talk and text to 200 countries for $10 per month; if you want the old Todo Mexico add-on, it’s now North America Connect, and comes with the same 5GB of data while roaming in Mexico and Canada.

You can also get security add-ons like Boost Protect for damaged phones, and Boost Family Guard to help you keep track of your family.

Coverage and reception

The Verizon Wireless network is known for excellent coverage in both rural and urban areas, so if you sign up with Verizon, there’s a strong chance you’re covered. Verizon’s 5G network was slow to get going, but the carrier has kept pushing forward with coverage that improves all the time.

Verizon’s 5G coverage is largely made up of its C-band spectrum at around 3.7GHz, which means that in some areas, new towers are required. There’s some mmWave coverage in urban areas as well. It offers some low-band 5G coverage with LTE-like speeds, but unlike T-Mobile, Verizon hasn’t rushed into expansion with most of its new 5G coverage sticking to C-band.

Check Verizon’s coverage map to get an idea of the coverage you can expect. With Verizon, most people can expect solid coverage, but if you’re looking for the best 5G experience, Verizon may not be the way to go.

Meanwhile, Dish Wireless owns Boost Mobile and is building its own 5G network, Boost 5G. While Boost 5G has made good progress in many cities, there are still quite a few gaps nationwide that are being filled by AT&T and T-Mobile coverage. With all of these networks, Boost Mobile actually has some of the best nationwide coverage with quite a lot of 5G.

You can check out your coverage using Boost Mobile’s coverage map. If you want to see how much coverage the native Boost network has, you can check the FCC’s data at a site like CoverageMap.

Phone compatibility

When it comes to phone compatibility, both carriers are fairly strong. Verizon supports most phones made for the North American market, including the best Android phones, like the Google Pixel 9 and the Galaxy S24+. For Verizon, your phone should support 5G on bands n2, n5, n66, n77, n260, and n261 to get the best coverage. Band n77 is perhaps the most important as that includes most of Verizon’s Ultra Wideband coverage.

If you’re ready for a new phone, Verizon sells a wide range with greater savings on its more expensive plans. With a 36-month payment plan, you can save on a new phone and may be able to save even more with a trade-in. Just keep in mind that since the savings are tied to a plan, you’ll need to pay off the device before switching to another carrier.

Similarly, Boost Mobile sells a solid range of new phones with differences in savings depending on your plan. For example, with the Infinite Access for iPhone and Infinite Access for Galaxy plans, you can save on a new phone with the base model costing $0 per month, with upgraded models costing a bit more. After a year, you can upgrade by sending your old phone back in.

If you want one of Boost’s other plans or another brand of phone, Boost’s online store still offers discounts based on certain plans. You can pay for phones outright, or sign up for a 36-month payment plan, much like Verizon.

Plans

A carrier is nothing without the right plan, and Verizon and Boost Mobile both have competitive unlimited plans. Verizon’s plans focus more on multi-line discounts, so people bring their whole families to the carrier, while Boost keeps its plans simple with just a handful of unlimited options and straightforward pricing. Boost’s most unique plans, however, are its Infinite Access plans, which come with a new iPhone or Galaxy S phone every year.

Verizon’s plans

Verizon’s postpaid plan layout is fairly simple with just three unlimited options: Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, and Unlimited Ultimate. Unlimited Welcome is the cheapest, starting at $65 for the first line, but drops to just $30 per line if you bring four lines.

This plan doesn’t get Verizon’s full 5G speeds and video streaming is limited to 480p, but it should be fast enough for most people. It also doesn’t get any hotspot data. Calling, texting, and roaming in Mexico and Canada are included.

If you plan to upgrade your phone through Verizon, keep in mind this plan gets the lowest new device savings, if any at all. It also gets the smallest BYOD credit if you bring your own phone. Luckily, it still gets savings on Verizon home internet, so if you can bundle 5G Home Internet or Fios, you can save.

Unlimited Plus comes in at $80 for a single line and $45 per line with four lines. This plan gets unlimited premium data, including Verizon full Ultra Wideband 5G speeds and 720p video streaming. It comes with 30GB of mobile hotspot data and gets the same talk, text, and usage in Mexico and Canada as the cheaper plan. This plan is eligible for some new device offers for upgrades, and gets up to a $360 promo credit if you bring your own phone.

Verizon’s top postpaid plan is Unlimited Ultimate, coming in at $90 for the first line, or $55 per line with four lines. You get all the perks of Unlimited Plus, but hotspot data is bumped up to 60GB and videos can stream at 1080p. International coverage is also improved with talk, text, and data in 210+ countries, and you get an additional talk and text country to call from the US.

Unlimited Ultimate gets Verizon’s best new device savings with the best discount available, as well as the largest BYOD promo credit at up to $540.

Keep in mind that taxes and fees are extra at Verizon, and you’ll need to sign up for auto-pay to get these rates.

If you’re looking for prepaid service, Verizon has four plans, including an unlimited plan with Ultra Wideband 5G support. Most of these have multi-line discounts as well.

On the low end, you can just get talk and text for $35 per month, or a plan with 15GB of data for the same price with auto-pay after the first month. A $50 unlimited plan is available with basic 5G speeds and 5GB of hotspot data, while Unlimited Plus comes with 50GB of premium data, full 5G speeds, and 25GB of hotspot data for $60 per month.

Boost Mobile’s plans

Boost Mobile’s plans are fairly simple and break down into just three base plans. At the bottom, a $25 unlimited plan sticks to the basics with unlimited talk, text, and data with 30GB of it being high-speed. There’s no hotspot data, but the $25 price is locked in as long as you want to keep it. Keep in mind that this is Boost’s only plan where taxes and fees are extra.

Based on this plan, Infinite Access for iPhone costs $65 per month, but comes with a new iPhone every year with $830 in device savings. This plan gets the same 30GB of high-speed data, but also comes with Global Talk and Text, so you can stay in contact with those in other countries. It also comes with North America Connect, previously Todo Mexico, which comes with unlimited talk and text, plus 5GB of high-speed data in Mexico and Canada.

Infinite Access for Galaxy is essentially the same as the iPhone plan, except you can choose a Galaxy S phone. On these plans, the base phone is free — that’s the iPhone 15 with 128GB and the Galaxy S24 with 128GB. You can get an upgraded model, but you’ll need to pay the difference. These are also subject to availability and at the time of writing, the base iPhone 15 is out of stock, so only more expensive models are available.

If you’re looking for a more premium plan, Unlimited+ comes in at $50 per month and comes with an upgraded 40GB of high-speed data, Global Talk & Text, and hotspot data. Taxes and fees are also included in this plan. While it doesn’t come with a phone, you can still save $300 on a new device.

Boost’s top plan is Unlimited Premium. This plan gets 50GB of high-speed data, hotspot data, Global Talk & Text, and the North America Connect add-on. Taxes and fees are included, and if you’re ready for a new phone, you can save $430 on it.

Which should you get?

If you’re looking to save money and only have a single line, Boost Mobile stands out as the overall better value. Even Boost’s Unlimited+ plan comes in cheaper than Verizon’s cheapest single-line postpaid plan. With new device savings, shared hotspot data, and taxes and fees included, Boost’s plans stand toe-to-toe with some of the best value smartphone data plans you can get.

While most of us recognize that we don’t need a brand-new phone every year, some people still want to be on the latest and greatest hardware. With Infinite Access for iPhone or Galaxy, you can bundle in the cost of your phone with your plan while upgrading every year. You’ll have to pay a little more if you want an upgraded model, but it’s still a solid deal for the right customer.

For those looking for service for the whole family, Verizon makes a lot more sense, as its plans are at their best with four or more lines, due to their multi-line discounts. Verizon also offers a few other discounts for first responders, members of the military, veterans, teachers, and nurses.

If you can take advantage of Verizon’s discounts, its postpaid plans offer truly unlimited data with priority access to the network, and if you get one of the top two plans, you’ll get fast Ultra Wideband 5G speeds to boot.