The Best and Worst Phone Carriers of 2019
What determines who the best phone carrier is? It's more than just the amount on your cellphone bill every month, or whether they offer the best smartphones. While cost is certainly important, you also want a carrier that offers outstanding coverage and performance, friendly customer support and enough extras to make you feel appreciated.
In our second ever Best and Worst Wireless Carriers special report, Verizon is our top pick precisely because it gets so many things right. The carrier has the best performing network with the widest reach, and it won our customer-support showdown, beating out eight other carriers. While some rivals offer lower monthly bills, Verizon's plans remain appealing, especially after adding an unlimited data option.
All those factors were enough to push Verizon past former champ T-Mobile, though the margin between the two carriers is quite thin. T-Mobile fared well in our customer-support and network- speed testing — though it finished behind Verizon in most cases — and it sets the pace for both plans and special features. It's something we hope will continue if the announced merger between T-Mobile and Sprint goes through.
With more wireless users looking to discount carriers as a way to save money on our their monthly bill, we recommend Metro by T-Mobile (formerly Metro PCS). The prepaid carrier has the best performance thanks to T-Mobile's strong network, and its attractive mix of plans overshadows its lackluster showing in our customer-service testing.
One carrier we can't recommend is Straight Talk, which brought up the rear in both speed and customer-service testing (though the carrier has since improved its performance in subsequent testing). We also think its prepaid plans just don't measure up to other options regarding value.
News and Updates (July 10)
We've updated this guide to reflect these latest developments:
T-Mobile flipped the switch on its 5G network in six cities, and we had the chance to test T-Mobile's 5G performance in New York City.
AT&T's 5G network is live in 20-plus cities, though it's not available to regular customers. Still, we had a chance to get a taste of AT&T's 5G performance during tests in Las Vegas.
Dish Network could emerge as a new wireless carrier, as a condition for the U.S. Department of Justice granting its approval to the Sprint/T-Mobile merger.
How we test phone carriers
We evaluated nine carriers for our rankings: besides AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, we broadened our search beyond the Big Four to include the major discount carriers Boost, Cricket, MetroPCS, Straight Talk and Virgin. To rank each carrier, we took five factors into account, giving greater weight to the categories we consider the most important.
Performance (40 Points): While many factors go into deciding which cellphone provider is best, performance remains the key consideration. That's why network performance, measured by speed, makes up nearly half of our grade for wireless carriers.
We based our rankings on our nationwide LTE tests, in which we traveled to multiple cities across the country to see how each carrier performed. We measured download and upload speeds at select locations in each city, using Ookla's Speedtest.net app, and we also timed how fast we could download an app on each carrier's network.
Rankings currently reflect our 2017 results from tests in six cities, where Verizon finished with the best average download speed and fastest app download time. But we've posted our results for 2018 testing in eight cities, where Verizon finished on top in all categories nationally. We'll update our scores soon to reflect these results
Plans (25 points): We constantly review the plans offered by each carrier, looking at which one offers the most data at the lowest prices. We evaluated plans for individuals and families as well as prepaid options, rewarding carriers who provide the best mix of value and variety. Our picks for best plans are based on what the carriers are offering as of May 2017.
T-Mobile features our favorite unlimited plan, whether it’s for families or individuals. If you don't need unlimited data, Verizon has the best tiered data plan for individuals. We like MetroPCS's prepaid options for unlimited data, individuals and families, although Virgin has the best bargain plan.
Customer Service (20 points): When you have a question about your wireless plan or your device, you don't want to have to navigate through a convoluted phone tree or search fruitlessly on a cluttered website to get an answer. We went undercover to evaluate the customer service offered by each carrier.
In addition to phone calls to each carrier, we evaluated online troubleshooting resources, such as FAQs and online chat features. We also took to social networks, posing questions to carriers over Facebook and Twitter to see how fast and accurately they responded.
Verizon leapt to the top of our rankings as of April 2017, thanks to its strong online tools and friendly reps, narrowly beating out T-Mobile. (We're about to update our rankings for 2019, though, so stay tuned.) Former champ AT&T tumbled to third place as a result of changes to its phone support, while Cricket ranked as the best prepaid provider for its customer service.
Phone Selection (10 points): A top carrier needs to offer a wide selection of phones, balancing both quality and quantity. To evaluate the former, we took some of the devices that make up our picks for best smartphones while also looking at how many sub-$300 handsets were on offer at each carrier. We also took exclusives into account.
Extras (5 points): The final portion of each carrier's grade reflects what kind of extras they offer subscribers. Extras can include everything from rates for international calls, text and data, to special services offered to subscribers. You may not pick your wireless carrier based on these perks, but they are factors that can separate a good carrier from the rest of the pack.
First Place: Verizon (91/100)
Big Red improves from second place to No. 1 in our rankings by taking the top spots in our network-performance and customer-support tests. It also helps that Verizon offers multiple unlimited plans (though tweaks to what it offers have made its unlimited options less appealing to families).
Verizon plansView Deal
Second Place: T-Mobile (90/100)
After a year in the top spot, T-Mobile is now the runner-up to Verizon, but it was a close battle. T-Mobile can point to having the best unlimited plan and the most alluring set of customer perks, including a great program for international travelers. Finishing behind Verizon in network- performance and customer-service tests puts the Uncarrier in second place overall.
MORE: T-Mobile vs. Verizon: Which Is Best for You?
T-Mobile plansView Deal
Third Place: AT&T (84/100)
AT&T's network and its customer support are both solid, though not nearly as noteworthy as what Verizon and T-Mobile have to offer. While the carrier now features unlimited data plans, those don't measure up to its rivals. (Prepaid customers will like the data amounts and prices they can get from AT&T, though.) That said, AT&T does a lot of things well to land squarely in third place.
AT&T plansView Deal
Fourth Place: MetroPCS (80/100)
A subsidiary of T-Mobile, MetroPCS rode its parent company's network to a top-three finish in our performance testing. Throw in a great mix of prepaid plans that either let you save money or max out data, and MetroPCS establishes itself as our pick for top discount carrier — and that's still true after the carrier changed its name to Metro by T-Mobile, introducing some new monthly plans. Just try to use its phone support as infrequently as possible.
MetroPCS plansView Deal
Fifth Place: Sprint (79/100)
Sprint's network has improved based on our LTE test results, but it still trails its Big Four rivals, and a low customer-support score caused it to slip behind MetroPCS. At least the carrier's unlimited data plan is aggressively priced.
Sprint plansView Deal
Sixth Place: Boost (71/100)
Boost relies on Sprint's network, which means it can't match fellow prepaid carrier Metro on performance. Its prepaid unlimited plan is attractively priced, though (albeit with limitations on video, music and game streaming), and a decent performance in our customer-service test puts it ahead of fellow Sprint subsidiary Virgin.
Boost plansView Deal
Seventh Place: Cricket (66/100)
Like Metro, Cricket offers a good mix of plans. Unlike Metro, Cricket's network performance is severely hampered by its parent carrier. Though Cricket is owned by AT&T, its download speed is capped at 8 Mbps on most of its plans. And that overshadows some of Cricket's positives, such as friendly customer service.
Cricket plansView Deal
Eighth Place: Virgin (62/100)
Virgin tried switching its focus to the iPhone, only offering Apple's phone to new customers for a time. But Android phones are now back on offer, and Virgin reshuffled its wireless plans, adding tiered data to its unlimited plan. Virgin's multiple reboots during the past year and a half don't exactly inspire confidence.
Virgin plansView Deal
Ninth Place: Straight Talk (53/100)
Straight Talk has been a disaster in our ratings, with poor marks in our speed testing and customer-serving ratings. Things are looking up on the performance front at least, where Straight Talk improved in this year's testing. (Our ratings still reflect the old test results, but we'll be updating them soon.) Still, Straight Talk's plans and special features haven't been enough to get it out of the cellar, though the carrier has at least bolstered the data allotments on current plans, which gives customers more options.
Straight Talk plansView Deal
