Best Cell Phone Plans in Golden Gate, IL

Coverage is king, and Golden Gate, IL 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 Golden Gate, IL. 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 Golden Gate, IL, 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 Golden Gate, IL. 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.

Types of cell phone plans

The hallmark of a great plan is flexibility. Most cellphone users want a customizable plan that will allow them to pay for only the data they need, the texts they send and the minutes they use. All cell phone plans include some combination of talk time, texts and data. Some offer a la carte options as well.

If you're like thousands of other Americans, you rely on your cell phone for nearly all of your communication needs. This is why it is imperative to select a plan that's perfect for you and your usage needs in Golden Gate, IL. Use Wirefly to compare a wide variety of carriers and plan types and learn how much you can expect to spend. You may even same some money over the plan you currently use. Cell phone plans generally fall into one of these three categories: individual, family and no-contract.

Individual plans have a single line item that reflects the total charges for voice, text and data for a single phone. This plan is best for single people with no children or spouse.

If you do have a family and want everyone to be on the same wireless plan, consider a family. These offer family members to have their own device and unique coverage allowances. These can be pricey, but are worth it if you have multiple phone lines. They allow families to share data, text messages and minutes. Choose a plan that can adequately meet the needs of everyone in your family.

No-contract plans give you the benefit of great coverage without the hassle of being locked in. Also known as pay-as-you-go, no-contract plans used to mean buying a pre-paid card and loading it onto your phone. Now, phones themselves are pre-paid. You can purchase a prepaid phone in most major department stores in Golden Gate, IL. The cost of the phone covers the data, texts and minutes you use. You may be charged additional fees if you exceed your limits. Most of these phones are fairly expensive so that all your usage can be covered. You can typically find the latest smartphones in pre-paid versions.

Most phone contracts last a minimum of 24 months, but there are some you can get for just 12 months. Payment is due on a month-to-month basis, but you have to pay for the whole life of the contract. You cannot break the contract early unless you pay a hefty termination fee. This fee includes a percentage of the outstanding amount on your contract plus penalties.

The elements of a cell phone plan

The biggest difference between cell phone plans, outside of price and coverage, is the amount of features available to you. Most plans come with some kind of talk, text and data availability, but the amount and price of those features varies.

The majority of contract plans offer unlimited talk and text, but if you don't need that many minutes or messages, you can save some money by choosing a limited plan. With no-contract plans, you can buy minutes and messages individually or in grouped packages to use as you need them.

You'll definitely want to consider the data packages available when choosing a cell phone plan in Golden Gate, IL. The more data you need, the bigger your price tag will be. Going over your data limits will typically cost you overage charges, so be sure to pick a plan that offers enough data for you. Most plans are priced by the megabyte of gigabyte, but a small amount of plans do offer unlimited data plans. The unlimited plans typically allow you to use a certain amount of data at high speeds and then limit you to using unlimited data at very low speeds.

Cell phone service providers in Golden Gate, IL

The companies listed below all provide coverage to Golden Gate, IL. The majority of the lesser-known providers run on one or several of these major carrier systems, so it's likely that your current location has coverage.

AT&T

AT&T is among the most widely known cellular service providers and offers several kinds of plans, including personal, family, and prepaid mobile plans.

Sprint

Sprint offers several different kinds of options, one being its just-launched friend/family plan referred to as the 'Better Choice Plan.' In addition, Sprint is one of very few large companies to provide unlimited wireless 4G data usage with no bandwidth throttling.

T-Mobile

All of T-Mobile's plans are classified as prepaid or pay-per-use plans. These plans allow the company's clients to receive unlimited talking, texting, and data usage (with varying levels of throttling) at one monthly rate. T-Mobile provides personal as well as family mobile phone plans.

Verizon

Verizon provides personal, family, and pay-as-you-go plans. Verizon lets you choose a no-contract or family data usage plan to start off. Family data plans may cover just one person or a whole household, and they have no talking or texting limits and a predetermined level of data.

MVNOs

A number of other smaller but high-quality mobile companies exist and cover Golden Gate, IL that you can review together with the previously listed large providers through the use of the mobile carrier plan compare tool above.