Best Cell Phone Plans in Spring Valley, IL

Cell phone coverage in Spring Valley, IL is good

No matter how good the features or price on a cell phone plan look, it makes no sense to purchase that plan if it doesn't work in Spring Valley, IL, or where you live or work. To that end, most of the country has become a hub of very fast and robust LTE coverage on all major carriers and MVNOs in the past few years. While AT&T and Verizon have had broad coverage and fast LTE networks in Spring Valley, IL, carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint had often lagged behind in terms of coverage, LTE technology, and overall speed. This is not the case any longer.

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 tests of speed, quality of calls, text message reliability and delivery rates, and depth of coverage, in Spring Valley, IL. This means that you now have more options to choose from, more features to benefit from, and more price points available than ever before. There is no need to compromise on any one metric, and you can really find the best plan for your needs.

Comparing cell phone plans

When you are searching for the best cell phone plan for your needs, you'll definitely need the very basics of cell phone coverage. This includes talk, text and data, which vary according to each carrier. Different wireless services offer different plans concerning these three factors: individual, family, and no-contract.

We offer an easy way to search through different cell phone carriers and plans in Spring Valley, IL. You can check out who has the best deals that will help you make a smart, educated decision. You'll be looking at three different categories concerning wireless plans.

An individual plan is also called a single line plan. There will be only one phone plan to pay for, which is perfect if you don't have any children or a spouse.

Family plans are the best choice when you need to pay for multiple devices in your family. These plans typically offer two or more lines and do cost a bit more. However, the cost is comparable to having multiple single plans within one household and much easier to keep track of. Everyone in the plan with a phone will share data, minutes and texts.

Pay-as-you-go phones were once very popular and then faded away for a bit. However, these no contract, prepaid phones are making a huge comeback, especially since most national carriers now offer them. You can even purchase most newer smartphone models and simply buy a prepaid card with minutes. You add this to the phone plan and once it runs out, you simply buy another. Many plans offer huge savings for bulk minutes, such as 1000 minutes for $50. This plan is perfect if you need a phone, but don't use it often enough to need unlimited data, text or calls.

Many wireless carriers offer contract plans to new customers, meaning you will need to sign a contract for at least one year, usually two. This is a good idea when you don't have the cash to pay for the latest smartphone, as you can spread the payments out over the contract period, bundled with your actual monthly phone bill. These plans often allow you to upgrade your phone to the newest model after a year if you wish to have the latest phone. However, you cannot get out of a contract unless you pay an early termination fee, as well as pay off your existing phone model. This could mean hundreds of dollars in fees, so be sure your plan is the right one before signing any contract.

Which cell phone plan is the right one for you?

When choosing the right plan for use in Spring Valley, IL, you should think about how many people will be on the plan and what types of services you want to include. Most carriers factor the points below into your plan.

Before committing to a plan you need to know who will be on it, how they will use it and how much. Cell phone plans are comprised of three elements: talk, text and data. Talk refers to how many minutes you spend speaking to someone on your phone. Text is the volume of text messages you send or receive, and data is the megabytes or gigabytes of information that your phone uploads or downloads using the internet.

To reduce costs on a contract plan you can limit your texts and talk to under 400 minutes or messages combined. If you are a heavy talker, you may fare better with an unlimited plan. The same is true if you tend to send a lot of texts.

If you are using a pay-as-you-go plan, you would simply reload your phone to pay for services. When you purchase minutes you can choose to buy them one at a time or pay for a package. For example, you could choose to buy 1000 minutes at once for a flat payment of $400.

With the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets, data is more important than ever before. In Spring Valley, IL data can cost a lot of money, and nearly all carriers force you to adhere to a limit. Unlimited data plans are hard to find, but they exist. Data is often charged per megabyte and gigabyte and is subject to expensive fees for overages. This is why it is of the utmost importance to select a data plan that covers you typical data needs. In fact, it is a good idea to allow for more than you will need.

Texts, minutes, and data: which option is best for you?

Now that you know which type of plan you'll be shopping for, it's time to make another important consideration: What do you need each month in terms of voice minutes, texts and data? While this used to be a pretty complex decision to make, especially for family plan members who were splitting each of these three things, that's no longer the case due to shifts in the industry. Current wireless industry plans have almost all dropped limits on voice minutes and texts. Postpaid family plans and individual plans at Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, all include unlimited talking and texting. Only a select number of no-commitment prepaid plans still enforce limits on these use cases.

The good news is that you can focus only on the amount of data that you need on a monthly basis. Two carriers make this decision easy, while two others will require a bit of careful consideration before selecting a plan. Here's what to know when selecting a cell phone plan in Spring Valley, IL:

T-Mobile

The Un-Carrier, as it's known, recently made a bold push toward unlimited data for all. The company replaced its Simple Choice plan lineup with T-Mobile ONE, an all-unlimited, single plan that it offers to individuals and families alike. The company's Simple Choice plans, which feature 2GB, 6GB, or 10GB of data, are still available for customers who prefer them, however. These plans feature 12-month data rollover and no overages, so there's no extra cost added to the bill based on usage.

Sprint

Like T-Mobile, Sprint recently unveiled a flat-rate, all-unlimited mobile plan for new and existing subscribers. Customers who prefer not to get an unlimited plan can opt for a 'shared' amount of data that can be used by all lines attached to the account. By default, data speeds on limited plans slow down after all data has been used. Customers can buy a high-speed pass if they wish to have more full-speed data until the end of the month, however.

AT&T

AT&T offers unlimited data only to customers who also have its DirecTV satellite television service or U-Verse IPTV service. Otherwise, customers will be sharing data buckets with every line on their account. In 2016, AT&T introduced a no-overages policy that slows data to 2G speeds when a data bucket is exhausted. The company also has its 'Stream Saver' service in 2016, which reduces the quality of all streaming video and uses data more slowly as a result.

Verizon

Verizon eliminated overages early in 2016 and, later in the year, introduced rollover data for its shared data buckets. The company's plans mirror AT&T's, though an unlimited data option is not available to new customers at all.

MVNOs

Smaller prepaid carriers, called MVNOs, typically use one of the four above networks and resell services to no-commitment customers. These plans cover Spring Valley, IL and change very frequently, but they do often represent a significant savings each month.