T-Mobile is one of the major cellular carriers in the US.
T-Mobile's prepaid plans are designed for those who don't qualify for postpaid T-Mobile plans, want more flexibility, or who don't need all the features of a postpaid plan. Prepaid plans do NOT include the added perk of having fees and taxes included in a plan's base price, as T-Mobile Postpaid plans do.
Currently, T-Mobile offers several prepaid plan options:
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid Unlimited
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid Unlimited Plus
- Simple Choice Prepaid Mobile Internet
T-Mobile Prepaid partners with Ultra Mobile to offer a few more prepaid plans:
- Pay-as-you-go
- Prepaid Tourist Plan
For Our Comparative Pricing Grid:
Guide to Cellular Data Plan Pricing
Table of Contents
- Testing Status
- Smartphone Plans
- Data Only Plans
- Simple Choice Prepaid Mobile Internet
- Retired Plans
- Thoughts & Analysis (Member Only)
- Prepaid Policies (Member Only)
- Related News
- Purchase
Testing Status
We are not currently testing any T-Mobile Prepaid (direct) plans.
Current Smartphone Plans
T-Mobile prepaid currently offers three direct prepaid phone plan types, none of which include taxes and fees in their pricing. They partner with Ultra Mobile to offer a Tourist and Pay-As-You-Go plan.
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid: Unlimited talk, text and 10GB of hotspottable LTE Data.
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid Unlimited: Unlimited talk, text and on device data. Mobile hotspot is unlimited, but throttled to 3G speeds.
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid Unlimited Plus: Unlimited talk, text and on device data. 10GB of high-speed mobile hotspot is included, then unlimited hotspot at 3G speeds is offered.
Policies & Perks
- Carrier Networks Used: T-Mobile
- Carrier Relation: Direct, prepaid
- Plan Types Available: Phone
- Device Types Permitted: Phones, tablets
- Device Purchase Required: No, but can purchase a device
- Mobile Hotspot Use: For those using more than 50GB of mobile hotspot data, primary use must be on phone or tablet.
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid Unlimited: Unlimited 3G speeds.
- T-Mobile Simply Unlimited Plus: 10GB high-speed, then unlimited 3G
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid: 10GB of full LTE speed per month then slowed to 2G speeds (~256kbps).
- Throttling: Hotspot data on ONE prepaid plans is throttled to 3G speeds.
- Network Management: Always
- International Roaming: Up to 5GB of data (from data bucket) in Canada/Mexico available for +$5/month
- Domestic Roaming: None
- Plan Period: Monthly
- Data Roll Over: No
- Overage Charges: None
- Streaming:
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid Unlimited & Unlimited Plus: Video Streams throttled to 1.5Mbps (~480p). A daily ($3) pass can be purchased to enable HD video.
- T-Mobile Simply Prepaid: Includes Music Unlimited. Subject to Data Maximizer (480p) restrictions, but these can be turned off - except for media streamed via mobile hotspot or tether - which is always optimized to 480p.
- Unlimited: Yes - on device for Unlimited and Unlimited Plus
- Lines permitted per account: 5
- Extras: Music Unlimited is included on Simply plans.
- Purchase: T-Mobile Prepaid
Data-Only Plans
T-Mobile prepaid offers tiered data-only plans, available for use on hotspot devices, tablets, and wearables.
Simple Choice Prepaid Mobile Internet
After the capped data amount is reached, speeds are slowed to 2G. This plan is also eligible for Data Passes on a per-day, week or monthly basis.
Available Plan Data Buckets:
- 2GB: $10 + taxes&fees
- 6GB: $25 + taxes&fees
- 10GB: $40 + taxes&fees
- 14GB: $55 + taxes&fees
- 18GB: $70 + taxes&fees
- 22GB: $85 + taxes&fees
Policies & Perks:
- Carrier Networks Used: T-Mobile
- Carrier Relation: Direct, prepaid
- Plan Types Available: Data Only
- Device Types Permitted: Hotspots, Tablets, Wearables
- Device Purchase Required: No, but can purchase a device
- Mobile Hotspot Use: Yes, all
- Throttling: Full speeds available up to data allotment then data is slowed to 2G speeds for the balance of service period.
- Network Management: 50GB (not applicable)
- International Roaming: Fine print: "Not for extended international use; you must reside in the U.S. and primary usage must occur on our U.S. network. Service may be terminated or restricted for excessive roaming."
- Max 5GB/month of high-speed data use permitted in Canada & Mexico.
- Domestic Roaming: None
- Plan Period: 30 Day
- Data Roll Over: None
- Overage Charges: None
- Streaming:
- Video streams at 480p (SD) via Data Maximizer, but this feature can be turned off at any time for HD streaming.
- Plans include Music Unlimited which means that audio streaming doesn't count against your high-speed data limit.
- Unlimited: None
- Lines permitted per plan: N/A
- Extras: None
- Purchase: T-Mobile Prepaid Website
Simple Choice Prepaid (Retired)
In late March 2017, T-Mobile retired their popular Simple Choice Prepaid plans. Customers on those plans will be grandfathered until they change/end their payments on their plan.
T-Mobile Prepaid Pay-As-You-Go
Prior to partnering with Ultra Mobile, T-Mobile Prepaid offered its own Pay-As-You-Go Plan:
Purchase 500MB LTE Data for $5/ day or 1GB data for $10/ week. 30 minutes of talk/texts - each additional is 10 cents per minute/message (sending and receiving) Single line only, starts at $3/month.
Policies & Perks
-
- Carrier Networks Used: T-Mobile
- Carrier Relation: Direct prepaid
- Plan Types Available: Phone
- Device Types Permitted: Phones
- Device Purchase Required: No, but can purchase a device
- Mobile Hotspot Use: Allowed for any purchased data pass.
- Throttling: None
- Network Management: 50GB for all plans
- International Roaming: Data roaming only available for Canada & Mexico Up to 5GB of data (from data bucket) in Canada/Mexico available for +$5/month
- "Not for extended international use; you must reside in the U.S. and primary usage must occur on our U.S. network. Service may be terminated or restricted for excessive roaming."
- Domestic Roaming:
- 200MB/Month for plans launched after 11/15/15
- For plans launched before 11/15/15, check this T-Mobile Support Document.
- Plan Period: Monthly
- Data Roll Over: No
- Overage Charges: None
- Streaming: Subject to Data Maximizer (480p) restrictions.
- Unlimited: No
- Lines permitted per account: One
- Extras: None
T-Mobile ONE Prepaid Plans
Until mid-to-late 2019, T-Mobile offered a 'ONE' iteration of 'unlimited' prepaid plans. These included:
- T-Mobile One Prepaid:
- Unlimited talk, text and on-device LTE Data. Unlimited 3G mobile hotspot. 5GB data in Canada/Mexico.
- T-Mobile ONE Domestic Only Prepaid:
- Unlimited talk, text and on-device LTE Data. Unlimited 3G mobile hotspot. No international use (international options available for an additional fee).
Policies & Perks of ONE Prepaid Plans
-
- Carrier Networks Used: T-Mobile
- Carrier Relation: Direct prepaid
- Plan Types Available: Phone
- Device Types Permitted: Phones
- Device Purchase Required: No, but can purchase a device
- Mobile Hotspot Use:
- T-Mobile ONE Prepaid & ONE Domestic Only Prepaid: Unlimited 3G speeds.
- Throttling: Hotspot data on ONE prepaid plans is throttled to 3G speeds.
- Network Management: 50GB for all plans
- International Roaming: Data roaming only available for Canada & Mexico
- T-Mobile ONE Prepaid: 5GB of data in Canada/Mexico included
- T-Mobile ONE Prepaid Domestic Only: 5GB of data in Canada/Mexico available for +$5/month
- "Not for extended international use; you must reside in the U.S. and primary usage must occur on our U.S. network. Service may be terminated or restricted for excessive roaming."
- Domestic Roaming:
- 200MB/Month for plans launched after 11/15/15
- For plans launched before 11/15/15, check this T-Mobile Support Document.
- Plan Period: Monthly
- Data Roll Over: No
- Overage Charges: None
- Streaming:
- T-Mobile ONE Prepaid & ONE Domestic Only Prepaid: Video Streams throttled to 1.5Mbps (~480p). A daily ($3) pass can be purchased to enable HD video.
- Unlimited: Yes
- Lines permitted per account: Varies
- Extras: Music Unlimited is included on Simply plans.
Potential Alternatives to Consider:
For other featured cellular data plans ideal for RVers and Crusiers - here's some other options to consider:
Learn More About Selecting Cellular Data Plans
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