If you’re willing to sacrifice internet speed in exchange for unlimited hotspot data, you should consider Visible’s $40 Unlimited Plan. Visible’s plan offers unlimited 5 Mbps data and reliable coverage, and it’s about half the cost of both AT&T’s and Verizon’s plans. But you won’t be able to stream or game at such a slow speed. If reliable coverage matters most to you, then Verizon’s Do More Unlimited is your best bet. But it’s not a great deal considering Verizon’s plan gives you only half the data as AT&T’s but at almost the same price. If you want lots of high-speed hotspot data and are willing to pay for it, AT&T’s Unlimited Elite is the plan for you. Meanwhile, smaller MVNO carriers like Mint Mobile and Visible Wireless are offering $50 virtual gift cards or discounts on select phones to entice new customers interested in more budget-friendly smartphones like the iPhone SE (2020) or Google Pixel series. Find these and other offers in our monthly roundup of the best cell phone deals. At only 5 Mbps, you will, however, definitely struggle streaming video, gaming, or doing any other data-heavy activities with 5 Mbps of hotspot data. Check out our rankings of mobile hotspots for gaming, if gaming is your main online activity. Take a look at the coverage map below to get an idea of what to expect with Visible: So if you go with Visible and you notice your signal drops during rush hour, it’s because the Verizon network is prioritizing its own customers during a peak usage period. Get more information on deprioritization and other details you’ll want to know before signing up for Visible. If you need more, you can double your hotspot data allotment to 30 GB by opting for Verizon’s Get More Unlimited plan, but it’ll cost you an extra $10 a month. So if you’ve got Shining-like aspirations of working in the woods somewhere with your mobile hotspot, Verizon is your best bet. Seriously, look at the coverage map below—you could get a Wi-Fi hotspot signal on some remote lake in Michigan … if that’s where you wanted to be, for whatever reason, and you’d still have the ability to answer emails, watch YouTube videos, or post to your Insta feed. For folks who travel often or live in more rural areas, that tradeoff between a smaller data allotment and broader coverage might be worth the cost. Want to get all the details on why its coverage can make it worth the price? For context, Verizon’s über-expensive Get More Unlimited Plan almost competes with 30 GB of hotspot data, but it costs $90 a month. As for T-Mobile, the Magenta Plus plan only gives you 20 GB of hotspot data for the same price as AT&T at $85 a month. If you’re all about getting the most hotspot data for the best price, AT&T takes the crown. It’s just simple math. So if the AT&T Unlimited Elite plan seems a little pricey to you at $85, don’t forget to consider that HBO Max would normally cost you $15 per month. However, our own research has shown AT&T has the worst up- and download speeds of the Big Three. That’s bad news if you’re trying to stream video or game with your mobile hotspot. Get all the details before making a final decision. The premium T-Mobile Magenta Plus plan costs the same as AT&T’s Unlimited Elite 30 GB plan, but T-Mobile offers only 20 GB of high-speed hotspot data. Verizon’s Do More Unlimited plan gives you less mobile hotspot data than T-Mobile’s Magenta Plus, but Verizon’s plan also costs less and operates on a better network. That means T-Mobile’s Magenta Plus plan has the lowest value, the least-impressive data allotment, and the worst network coverage. That’s a real Triple Frown. We hope that T-Mobile steps up its hotspot data game, but in the meantime, we can’t in good conscience call them one of the best carriers for mobile hotspots. From there, we narrowed down our list by filtering it through our own extensive research into cell phone carriers and their networks. We’ve reviewed cell phone plans from all the major carriers and most of the smaller ones. We’ve conducted our own tests to determine network upload and download speeds. We used this knowledge base to look at each mobile hotspot plan and weigh its data allotment, data speed, and network coverage against the cost. This allowed us to determine which plans offer the best mobile hotspot services according to each of the key factors. If you still have doubts and you want to do your own research (or if you want to check our math), you can use the same online comparison tool here.
