Staying connected takes a big bite out of everyone's budget. But in lower income households, the cost of internet service can feel especially out of reach at a time when connectivity is increasingly important for school, work and the everyday necessities of life.
For a while, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) offered a bit of relief in the U.S. Established in 2021, the ACP provided low-income households with $30 monthly subsidies for internet costs. While that typically meant broadband connectivity, more than a few ACP participants applied the subsidy to defray the costs of wireless phone service.
The Federal Communications Commission, which administered the program, says that 23 million households were enrolled in ACP as of February 2024, representing every county in the U.S. But funding for the program ran out in April, and with the current Congress unlikely to fund an extension, the FCC announced the end of the ACP at the start of June.
So where does that leave the people who have a hard time meeting the high cost of connectivity?
There are still programs out there looking to assist low-income households with broadband and mobile connectivity. For example, the Lifeline federal program subsidizes some of the cost of phone, internet and bundled services for households where the income is 135% or less than the Federal Poverty Guidelines, depending on the size of your household and the state where you live; you may also be eligible for the Lifeline subsidy if you're already enrolled in programs like Medicaid, SNAP and others.
While I can't speak to broadband programs, I have spend the better part of the last decade keeping tabs on the best cell phone plans for Tom's Guide. So I can steer people in the direction of low-cost plans, whether you relied on the ACP for lower-cost cellular service or not.
Tom's Guide lists the best cheap cell phone plans under $40, covering plans of different sizes including those with unlimited data. But even a $40 monthly payment may be out of the reach of some people, who still need to stay connected.
"It's an interesting time in in industry, with lots of change happening," said John Dwyer, the president of Cricket Wireless when I spoke to him recently. "With the ACP subsidy winding down... we want our company to provide solutions."
With that in mind, I decided to put together a list of the lowest-cost options I've spotted during my research into the best phone carriers. This isn't an exhaustive list by any means, as I am sure there are wireless providers out there with packages specifically crafted for low-income customers. Rather, these are the cheapest plans I know about from wireless carriers that I've covered — both major providers as well as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that use other companies' cellular towers for their own low-cost service.
Cheap unlimited data plans
We've focused on tiered data plans because they tend to be the more affordable option. But as our research into the best unlimited data plans has found, you don't need to pay big bucks to enjoy unlimited data.
One way to keep the cost of unlimited data down is to pay for service up front. Just like Mint Mobile's 5GB plan gives you the best rate when you pay for a year in advance, so does the unlimited data plan at the carrier. A full year of service costs $360, which breaks down to $30 a month. Right now, a promotion at Mint lowers the introductory rate to its data plan to $15/month for the first three months. You can use 40GB of data before your data is slowed.
AT&T has a lower ceiling to its prepaid unlimited plan — just 16GB — but its upfront cost is lower than Mint's too. You'll pay $300 for a year of AT&T's service, which translates to $25/month for unlimited data.
Not everyone can swing that big upfront cost. Here are the two lowest monthly rates we've seen for unlimited data.
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