Best Cell Phone Plans in Madison, AL

Coverage is king, and Madison, AL is covered well by all

Let's face it: Even at the best price, or with the best features, there's no reason to choose a wireless carrier that doesn't cover your home and place of work in Madison, AL. Luckily, the city has become a hub of lightning-fast LTE coverage on all major carriers in the past several years. While AT&T and Verizon have long had dense, fast LTE networks in Madison, AL, carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint traditionally lagged behind in terms of coverage, LTE technology, and overall speed. Not anymore.

Now, all four major carriers have the city and its entire suburban area covered with fast LTE technology. In fact, all four carriers score within just a few points of each other in RootMetrics tests of speed, call quality, text message delivery rates, and breadth of coverage, in Madison, AL. This means that you now have more options, more features, and more price points available than ever before. There is no need to compromise on any one metric.

Getting started: what different kinds of cell phone plans exist?

While the American wireless industry is changing rapidly and becoming exceedingly competitive, the overall premise of wireless plans remains the same. In Madison, AL, you'll be able to choose from a family plan, an individual postpaid line, or prepaid plans that present no long-term contract or device financing requirements. Here's the basics on each type of plan available:

Family Plans

Family plans are the most popular type of cell phone plan in the United States. Family plans enable multiple people in a family or small business to share a single account, dividing line and data fees across several different people in order to get a less expensive monthly cost of service for each person on the plan. Most carriers offer deep discounts on the price of a GB of data for multi-line accounts, making it cheaper for everyone. However, multi-line accounts are also hard to move between carriers due to different device payment plans and coverage concerns.

Individual Plans

Individual plans enable a single person to pick the amount of data they need each month for themselves. Though these plans are typically more expensive than family plans, individual plans are simpler to manage and are geared towards people who do not want to share expenses and device upgrades with friends or members of their family.

Prepaid Plans

Prepaid plans have become far more ubiquitous these days. The majority of prepaid plans offer more data at a lower cost than an individual plan at a major carrier, but still offer many of the most popular phones. In addition, prepaid family plans offer more inexpensive costs for multi-line accounts than some traditional family plans at the 'Big 4' carriers. These plans are usually ineligible for device financing, which means you'll likely have to pay full price to buy a new smartphone.

The best wireless plan

Consider all the different features that are important when you are looking for the right plan. There are three factors to keep in mind when choosing the best one for you or your family in Madison, AL: minutes, text messages, and data.

Cheaper cell phone plans often allow you to set a limit on the number of minutes you can talk and the number of text messages you can send. This is good for someone who doesn't use their phone a lot. But if you do, you'll want to look for a plan with unlimited talk and text. Luckily, most cell phone carriers offer this as a basic option, so you won't be paying much more for it when you choose it. With a contract plan, you'll use a wireless card to load minutes onto your phone for talking and texting. When you need more minutes, you simply purchase more. No contract phones cannot charge you for overages, as you simply cannot cause them.

If you plan to use a good deal of data in Madison, AL, be sure to look for a plan that offers you higher gigabyte plans. Cheaper plans come with two to five gigabytes for the month, which may be all you need if you can always connect to Wi-Fi. Higher plans offer anywhere from ten to 20 gigabytes per month and are great for consumers who may be using their device in places without Wi-Fi to connect to. You'll also want to check if the company will charge you for overages, as many will charge for every gigabyte you go over per month, which can really make your bill skyrocket if you aren't careful.

Comparing carrier cell phone service in Madison, AL

The following list is of cell phone carriers that offer coverage in Madison, AL. Smaller carriers also known as MVNOs operate through one or more of the large carriers, which mean coverage is most likely available in every city.

AT&T

As one of the largest wireless providers, AT&T offers consumers many different types of cell phone plans. Whether a person only needs an individual plan, wants to add phone lines for their children, or would prefer to not have the responsibility that comes with a two-year contract, they can contact AT&T for a wireless plan.

Sprint

A friends and family plan is among the various offerings from Sprint. Called the Better Choice Plan, literal friends and family can share the cost of one plan where their lines are grouped together. Another selling point for Sprint is it is one of the only major carriers that has unlimited 4G LTE data without throttling the data.

T-Mobile

The self-given name of the “uncarrier” is a way for T-Mobile to brag about not binding their customers to contract plans. Choosing from T-Mobile One and Simple Choice plans, customers can pay a single monthly price to receive unlimited talk, text and data. However, the service does throttle at different levels. Individual and family cell phone plans are also offered through T-Mobile.

Verizon Wireless

Individual, family sharing and no contract plans are part of the offerings from Verizon Wireless. Customers start by choosing either a prepaid or shared data plan. Individuals may use a shared data plan. A family may also benefit from selecting a shared data plan. Either way, these plans come with unlimited talk and text. However, the amount of data comes in a pre-specified amount.

Other cell phone carriers and MVNOs

Customers are not limited to using one of the major carriers in Madison, AL. They can also choose from quality cell phone carriers. By using the cell phone comparison tool on above, they can make the best choice whether it is for family or their own use.