What your phone plan costs in month 13

Many budget phone plans sell you a first-year price. This site records the other one: the regular price, for 11 US carriers from Verizon and T-Mobile to Mint, Visible and Cricket, read off each carrier's own plan page and re-checked by a script every day. I built it after moving my own line from Xfinity Mobile to US Mobile.

14 of the 29 plans on file do some version of this. See every one, ranked by the size of the jump.

• The price cliff

  Every plan ranked by how much it jumps when the intro ends, with what two years actually costs.

• Switch calculator

  Put in your bill, your lines and your data. Every budget carrier is priced at its regular rate, with the intro shown beside it.

• Cheapest unlimited plan

  Every unlimited plan ranked at the price you keep paying, with how much full-speed or priority data each one states.

• Roaming by trip length

  Ten days abroad is included on Xfinity Mobile and T-Mobile's Experience plans, $20 on Mint Mobile, and $100 on Visible's base plan. Every carrier, three days to a month.

• Keep your network for less

  Every plan on Verizon, T-Mobile or AT&T's network, cheapest first at the price after the intro ends.

• Carriers at a glance

  One row each: cheapest regular price, network, the jump, and what a trip abroad costs.

• Price log

  What each carrier's plan page said, every day, including the days it blocked the reader. Free to reuse as JSON.

Every article

Leaving a carrier

• AT&T's advertised price is a four-line price with two discounts built inAT&T, read from published terms
• Cricket's monthly plans cost $5 more in month one; paying for a year upfront costs $25 a monthCricket Wireless, read from published terms
• Mint's renewal doubles the price, and that's the business modelMint Mobile, read from published terms
• Spectrum Mobile's first line is free or discounted for a year, then $30 more, and only while you keep the internetSpectrum Mobile, read from published terms
• T-Mobile quotes three lines at once, and adds $35 per line at the doorT-Mobile, read from published terms
• T-Mobile's 5-Year Price Guarantee covers the plan price, not the $4.49 feeT-Mobile, read from published terms
• Total Wireless: $20 a month for new customers, $25 on the grid, and a second line that costs more than the firstTotal Wireless, read from published terms
• Verizon's $30 plan costs $30 only if you're leaving someone elseVerizon, read from published terms
• Visible after the first year: $19 becomes $25, and Visible+ Pro's annual deal doublesVisible, read from published terms
• Xfinity Mobile after the free year: $0 becomes $30 a line, plus taxXfinity Mobile, read from published terms

How-to

• Get these four things from your current carrier before you switchAny carrier, read from published terms
• How to get a number transfer PIN from Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket, Xfinity and SpectrumAny carrier, read from published terms
• When your phone unlocks: seven carriers' rules, side by sideAny carrier, read from published terms

Using your carrier abroad

• AT&T abroad: the Day Pass is $12 a day, and stops charging after 10 days in a bill cycleAT&T, read from published terms
• Does your US phone plan work in Mexico and Canada?Any carrier, read from published terms
• T-Mobile roaming: 5 GB abroad on Experience More, 15 GB on BeyondT-Mobile, read from published terms
• Does US Mobile work abroad? What the roaming actually includesUS Mobile, read from published terms
• Verizon abroad: TravelPass is $12 a day, and from nine days the $100 monthly plan costs lessVerizon, read from published terms
• Visible abroad: $10 a day in 140+ countries, and Mexico and Canada priced separatelyVisible, read from published terms
• Xfinity Mobile abroad: 215+ destinations included, slowed after 10 GB a monthXfinity Mobile, read from published terms
• Mint abroad: $20 buys ten days and 10 GB in 180+ countriesMint Mobile, read from published terms

How this site works

Every page says at the top whether I actually used the service, whether its links pay me, and what is a real bill versus a published price. My own switch, Xfinity Mobile to US Mobile, gets its own write-up once the bills and dates are in; everything published so far is research. Pages read off carrier sites carry the date they were read. Plan prices were checked by hand on September 21 to 22, 2026.

Prices come from a script that reads each carrier's plan page every day, including the days a carrier blocks it. When a number moves, I check it by hand and note the date. The log is public, and the method is written down.