Tracfone is the largest prepaid wireless provider in the United States, and historically offered plans on all of the major cellular providers. They own several other brands that operate under other names.
In November 2021, Tracfone was purchased by Verizon. As of July 1, 2022, new customers signing up for service can only activate plans on the Verizon network.
Existing customers on other networks will be able to continue to use those networks for now, but we expect that eventually Verizon will move all customers over to their network.
Tracfone's current plan options are limited, and they really aren't sufficient or large enough for our audience of mobile users. However, some of their other brands do provide some attractive plan options.
Tracfone Owned Brands
Straight Talk
Straight Talk
Straight Talk is one of TracFone's brands partnered with Walmart to provide prepaid phone and hotspot service.
Before Verizon's purchase of Tracfone, Straight Talk offered plans on Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.
As of July 2022, new activations will only happen on the Verizon network, but customers on plans on other networks will be able to continue to use those plans until 2024.
Currently Available Plans:
- Smartphone Plans
- Platinum Unlimited - $65/month
- Gold Unlimited - $55/month
- Silver Unlimited - $45
- Bronze Unlimited (10GB high speed) - $35
- Unlimited International - $60/month
- Data Only Plans for Hotspot or Tablet
- 10GB/60 days - $50
- 20GB/60 days - $75
- Home Internet Plan
- Unlimited - $45/month (Speed capped at 100 Mbps on 5G and 50 Mbps on 4G)
- Mobile use prohibited.
- Unlimited - $45/month (Speed capped at 100 Mbps on 5G and 50 Mbps on 4G)
Plan Specifications:
- Carrier Networks Used: Verizon
- Carrier Relationship: Prepaid subsidiary
- Plan Types Available: Smartphone, Data only
- Device Types Permitted: Phones, hotspots, tablets. Phone plans cannot be used in a data-only device. Home Internet plan must be used with Home Internet router.
- Unlimited: Yes
- High-Speed Mobile Hotspot Use:
- Platinum Unlimited - 20GB
- Gold Unlimited - 15GB
- Silver & Bronze Unlimited - 5GB
- Unlimited International - 5GB
- Throttling: Yes, after high-speed data caps are met on plans with data caps
- Network Management: Always prioritized behind postpaid plan customers on that carrier.
- Video Streaming Resolution: 480p
- 5G Access: Yes
- eSIM: Yes, on phone plans and iPhone 12 or newer
- Device Purchase Required: No, except for Home Internet plan
- Plan Period: 30days, 60 days, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year
- International Roaming: None, even for the 'International' plan. The International plan includes calls from the U.S. to other countries.
- Domestic Roaming: Depending on the Carrier network, it is possible that under certain circumstances your phone may roam if you are outside of your network coverage area and within the United States. Straight Talk does not guarantee your ability to roam nor the availability and/or the quality of Service. Due to Carrier restrictions, Straight Talk reserves the right to terminate the Service of any customer whose roaming usage exceeds 50% of their total usage in any three (3) Plan cycles within a 12 month period.
- Data Roll Over: No
- Overage Charges: None
- Lines permitted per account: Two
- Extras: Platinum Unlimited includes 100GB of Cloud Storage and a Device Protection Plan
- Data Add-Ons available for $10/2GB
Total by Verizon
Total by Verizon
Total by Verzion was formerly Total Wireless, but was rebranded as Total by Verizon in September 2022.
Currently Available Plans
- Unlimited w/ 20GB hotspot - $60/month
- Unlimited w/ 10GB hotspot - $50/month
- 15GB - $40/month
- 5GB - $30/month
Plan Specifications
- Carrier Networks Used: Verizon
- Carrier Relationship: Prepaid subsidiary
- Plan Types Available: Phone
- Device Types Permitted: Phones
- Unlimited: Yes
- High-Speed Mobile Hotspot Use:
- Unlimited $60 Plan: 20GB
- Unlimited $50 Plan: 10GB
- 15GB: All data can be used as hotspot
- 5GB: All data can be used as hootspot
- Throttling: Yes on 15GB and 5GB plan - 2G speeds after cap
- Network Management: Always
- Video Streaming Resolution: 480p
- Data Optimizer can be turned off at any time
- 5G Access:
- Unlimited $60 Plan: 5G UWB and 5G NW
- Unlimited $50, 15GB, and 5GB Plans: 5G NW
- eSIM: No
- Device Purchase Required: No
- Plan Period: 30 days
- International Roaming: Yes, for customers who purchase 2+ lines with the $40, $50 and $60 plans.
- Domestic Roaming: Not specified
- Data Roll Over: No
- Overage Charges: No
- Lines permitted per account: Up to 5
- Extras:
- Unlimited $60 Plan: Disney+ for the life of the plan
- Unlimited $50 Plan: Disney+ for 6 months
Simple Mobile
Simple Mobile
Simple Mobile originally provided plans on the T-Mobile network, but now offers Verizon plans.
Customers who signed up on T-Mobile based plans before Verizon's purchase of Trafone can continue to use those plans until the end of 2024 if they choose to do so.
Simple Mobile sells phones and a hotspot device, but you can also bring your own device.
In January 2021, Telcel USA - a branch of Telcel, which is the leading wireless provider in Mexico, was absorbed by Simple Mobile.
Currently Available Plans
- Smartphone Plans
- Truly Unlimited with 15GB mobile hotspot use - $60/month
- Truly Unlimited with 5GB mobile hotspot use- $50/month
- 15GB - $40/month
- 5GB and 3GB plans - $25-$30/month
- Data Plans
- 40GB - $49.99/month
- 15GB - $34.99/month
Plan Specifications
- Carrier Networks Used: Previously, T-Mobile. As of 2022, Verizon.
- Carrier Relationship: Prepaid subsidiary
- Plan Types Available: Phone, Data
- Device Types Permitted: Phones, Hotspot Devices
- Unlimited: Yes - on device for phone plans
- High-Speed Mobile Hotspot Use:
- Truly Unlimited $60 Plan - 15GB
- Truly Unlimited $50 Plan - 5GB
- Throttling: Yes, on capped data plans. 2G speeds after data cap is reached.
- Network Management: On unlimited plans, possible after 40GB. Always behind native T-Mobile/Verizon customers.
- Video Streaming Resolution:
- Unlimited plans - 480p
- Capped data plans - 1080p
- 5G Access: No
- eSIM: No
- Device Purchase Required: No
- Plan Period: 30 days
- International Roaming: Yes, in 16 Latin American countries on smartphone plans.
- Domestic Roaming: No domestic roaming for data use.
- Data Roll Over: No
- Overage Charges: No
- Lines permitted per account: Up to 4
- Extras:
- Can top-up capped plans with 'data add-ons'
- 2GB/$5, 5GB/$10, 10GB/$20
- Usage begins after all the data on your active plan is consumed
- Balance does not carry over
- Remaining Data Add-On balance will be lost
- 2GB/$5, 5GB/$10, 10GB/$20
- $60 'Unlimited' plan includes 50GB of Cloud Storage
- Can top-up capped plans with 'data add-ons'
Walmart Family Mobile
Wal-Mart Family Mobile
Walmart Family Mobile is Walmart's cellular phone service division and offered plans on the T-Mobile network prior to Verizon's purchase of Tracfone. They now offer Verizon plans.
They offer plans that are intended for phone-based use, all of which include talk and text, and some of which include data. Some of the plans with data permit limited amounts of that data to be used via hotspot.
They also offer an unlimited plan for phone devices, with a capped high-speed hotspot data bucket.
Other Tracfone Brands
Effective November 1, 2024, Net10, Page Plus, and Go Smart will no longer available for new customer activations.
Net10 Wireless
Net10 Wireless offers phone and data-only plans on the Verizon network. They offer two truly unlimited phone plans, one with 10GB of hotspot data for $65/month, and one with 5GB of hotspot data for $50/month. They have other phone plans with high speed data caps. They also offer data-only plans, but their biggest data plan has only 10GB of data.
Page Plus
Page Plus
offers prepaid plans on the Verizon network. They have three plans described as "unlimited", but in actuality, the lower two plans have caps on the amount of high-speed data that can be used. The $29.95 plan caps high-speed data at 3GB, and the $39.95 plan caps high-speed data at 8GB.
Their third unlimited plan does not have a hard cap on high speed data, and is $55/month. However, the fine print on this plan states that "At 60 GB, we reserve the right to review your account for usage in violation of Page Plus's terms and conditions." It's not clear how strictly this requirement is enforced, and we don't have many user reports from people using this plan. We would recommend using caution with this plan if you feel you will use more than 60GB of data per month.
GoSmart Mobile
GoSmart Mobile TracFone was acquired by Verizon Wireless in late 2021. New customers signing up with Simple Mobile must now activate on the Verizon network, but existing coffers phone plans only. One interesting perk of the GoSmart plans is that they all come with unlimited 4G access to Facebook. However, the other aspects of their plan offerings are rather underwhelming.
The two plans they offer of note are a 20GB plan for $45/month, and a Completely Unlimited plan for $55/month with 10GB of mobile hotspot, which sounds great - until you read the fine print. ALL of the data on this plan is capped at 3G speed.
SafeLink
SafeLink Wireless is a program provided by Tracfone for "eligible households." It supports LifeLine, a government-sponsored service for low-income consumers. In order to qualify, customers must have income that is "at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines", or participate in a government assistance program. You can get more information on qualifications on their website.
News, Videos, & Status
Alternatives to Consider
Also consider some of our other top pick data plans:
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Thoughts & Analysis
Favorite Features
- Some of these brands have been around for a long time with decent track records for stability and customer servcie
- Tracfone is a large, stable company that has been in business for many years, and now is owned by Verizon
Potential Downsides
- Some of these brands have very small plan offerings and are not suitable for users who want large buckets of data
Retired Brands
Clearway Wireless
Clearway Wireless was a Tracfone owned brand that was aimed at businesses. They offered phone and data plans as well as wireless failover services.
As of September 1, 2022, the Clearway brand is no longer operational.
Purchasing Options
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Tracfone | Straight Talk | Total by Verizon | Simple Mobile | Net10 Wireless | Walmart Family Mobile | Page Plus | Clearway Wireless | GoSmart Mobile | SafeLink Wireless
Shopping for Cellular Data Plans
Finding the right plans for your needs is no easy task - quite simply mobile travelers using cellular data as their primary way online is not how most carriers have designed their plans. Many of us want plans that provide copious amounts of data.
Here's our video going over ways to get LOTS of data for use in your travels:
But a data plan alone will not keep you online. You also need the right gear, signal enhancing strategy and planning your travels around the options you carry with you. Head on over to our collection of guides:
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Selecting Data Plans
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Data Plan Pricing Grid
Our always updated spreadsheet comparing all data plans suitable for mobile internet.
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Getting LOTS of the Data
Learn how to get lots of cellular data in your mobile internet arsenal.
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