Verizon is the most expensive wireless carrier, but it offers unparalleled coverage, fast data speeds, and robust perks that are worth the price for many people. AT&T is slightly cheaper than Verizon and offers more high-speed data on its premium cell phone plan, but its data speeds tend to be a bit slower. Read on for an in-depth analysis of these phone carriers’ plans, prices, data performance, coverage, and customer service.
Data: You need 4G LTE/5G data for everything from sending picture messages to scrolling through TikTok. Make sure you have enough to support your daily habits. Price: Use price comparison tools to make sure you’re getting the best deal. There may be a very similar cell phone plan that another carrier offers for less. Coverage: The three big carriers—AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon—all have pretty good 4G coverage in cities. But it’s a different story for rural areas and emerging 5G networks. Look at the Verizon and AT&T coverage maps to be sure you’ll get the service you need. Perks: Extra features—like HD streaming and hotspot data—are really important for some users. Read the fine print on your plan to be sure it has what you want.
If you’re having a hard time choosing, be sure to look at the coverage and data sections further below, where the differences between the carriers are often more stark. In this section, we’re going to focus on unlimited data plans, because neither carrier offers much in terms of limited-data plans at all. So it’s go big or go home (or go get yourself a cheap limited-data plan from one of these other carriers). Let’s dive in. Both plans are unlimited, but they come with significant drawbacks that we’ll cover in a moment. Deprioritization happens when the network is busy and your carrier needs to slow down some customers’ speeds to keep everything running smoothly. On these plans, you’ll be one of the first customers to see data speeds drop. Not ideal for those who work, game, or stream often. Speaking of streaming—AT&T’s Unlimited Starter plan will peg your video streaming at 1.5 Mbps and Verizon will peg it at 480p. Basically, in both cases you’ll get standard definition video and nothing more. If these plans are sounding basically exactly the same, that’s because they are. It really comes down to small differences in price and perks. AT&T’s plan is $5 cheaper, but Verizon’s will get you a six month subscription to Disney+. Also, while AT&T’s Unlimited Starter plan gives you free 5G access, Verizon’s Start Unlimited plan does not. You’ll have to pay $10 a month if you want access to 5G. That’s about it for these bottom tier plans. Let’s move on to tier two. All three of these second-tier plans have the same data cap—50 GB. That’s a decent amount of 4G LTE data. Many people who just use their phone for occasional streaming, gaming, scrolling, and messaging will never exceed 50 GB. However, heavy data users could definitely start to see their data slowdown near the end of the month. Here’s a look at the plans. If you find it difficult to tell the difference between AT&T and Verizon’s mid-tier plans, you’re not alone. They offer nearly identical benefits, so your decision might come down to saving $5 with AT&T or getting slightly better coverage and data speeds from Verizon. Unlike the previous tiers, there is actually a pretty significant difference between Verizon and AT&T. Verizon’s plan only comes with 50 GB of high-speed data, while AT&T gives you double that with a 100 GB data cap. That’s a significant difference for SnapChatting teenagers and working-on-the-go parents. Both top-tier plans come with 30 GB of mobile hotspot data and limited international perks, like free talk and text in Mexico and Canada. Both Verizon and AT&T have family plan deals that just get better with every line that you add. We’ll take a look at Verizon first. So, just how good are the cost savings? Let’s just say you could save enough to buy a PS5 after three or six or seven months. For example, if you go with the Start Unlimited family plan it will cost your $135 a month for three lines. If you were to buy each of those four lines individually it would cost you a clean $210! So that’s $75 in savings every single month! There’s got to be a catch, right? The only real drawback that we’ve found is that you have to pay a one-time “line activation” of $45 per line when you start your plan (sad trombone noise). Well, that covers Verizon. What about AT&T? You will still get that awesomely high 100 GB data cap on the Unlimited Premium family plan, so you can stream Yellowstone in HD while your kids stream PAW Patrol (or the other way around, we won’t judge). That’s twice as much data as Verizon’s priciest plan. In the family plan department, the other differentiator that gives AT&T a slight edge over Verizon is that the company will waive the line activation fees (which cost $45 on Verizon) when you bring your own phone and activate it online. Well played, AT&T. So, which carrier has the fastest speeds? Our proprietary data from over 100,000 mobile customers shows that Verizon has faster data speeds than AT&T (though both are slower than T-Mobile). Even though it’s slower than Verizon, AT&T’s average data speeds are almost 30 Mbps, which is plenty for watching videos, playing games, and scrolling through social media. So, AT&T customers will probably get 5G coverage in more areas (for example, I get 5G coverage all over Salt Lake City on my AT&T phone), but it won’t be much faster than 4G LTE coverage. Meanwhile, Verizon customers will see more limited 5G coverage, but it will be faster than most people’s home internet connection. Verizon’s rural 4G coverage is simply better. Take a look at these two coverage maps to see the differences between Verizon and AT&T network coverage. If you do have a question or a problem to bring up with Verizon or AT&T, here are the best ways to get in touch. AT&T customer service
Call 1-800-331-0500 Tag @ATTCares on Twitter Visit att.com/support/ Post in a community forum
Verizon customer service
Call 1-800-922-0204 Tag @vzwsupport on Twitter Visit verizon.com/support/ Use Verizon Community forums
So we can’t choose an outright winner here. But we can recap what we’ve gone over in this review so that you can decide for yourself. We used the latest plan information from both companies, customer reviews, hands-on testing, and our own proprietary data from over 100,000 customers to evaluate the pros and cons of each carrier. Our hands-on experience using AT&T helped bolster our analysis of its family plans, data speeds, and 5G network. A close look at coverage maps from both the carriers themselves and WhistleOut helped us reach our conclusions about coverage. We hope that this review has helped you find the perfect plan. Let us know (using the comments section below) if there’s something we could have done better. Verizon beats both AT&T and T-Mobile when it comes to nationwide 4G LTE coverage. Even in the western states—like Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah—where other carriers have big coverage gaps, Verizon tends to do alright. When it comes to emerging 5G technology, Verizon also tends to be ahead of the curve. It’s high-band 5G network is going up in major cities throughout North America, offering incredible data speeds. There are several disadvantages to these plans: you have to pay upfront, you don’t get the same great perks, and the prices aren’t very competitive. If you want to look at some prepaid plans that actually are pretty great then we suggest Mint Mobile or Visible Wireless.
