Skip to main content

Following Cricket, U.S. Cellular's prepaid plans offer more data for the same prices

Smartphone-Future-0001 how to reduce your data usage
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Regional carrier U.S. Cellular might not be as well known as AT&T or Verizon, but its position as the fifth-largest U.S. carrier did not happen overnight. In order to keep pace with its competitors, however, the regional carrier has announced improvements for its prepaid plans.

Thanks to the improvements, Simple Connect Prepaid’s $45 monthly option now includes 3GB of 4G LTE data, up from 2GB. The $60 monthly option also received an increase to 6GB from 5GB previously. U.S. Cellular even added a third $75 monthly plan that includes 12GB of high-speed data.

The regional carrier also upgraded its Ready Connect Prepaid plans, which are only available through retailers like Walmart and Dollar General. For a limited time, the $45, $55, and $75 plans include 4GB, 8GB, and 12GB of high-speed data, respectively. If you want to save some cash with Ready Connect Prepaid, you can enroll for auto-pay and knock $5 off the $45 and $55 monthly plans, or $10 off the $75 plan.

Finally, all prepaid plans that start at $35 a month now include unlimited talk and text. Keep in mind that speeds are knocked down to 2G once your high-speed bucket for any given billing period dries up.

U.S. Cellular’s improved prepaid plans are now available.

“February and March are popular months for prepaid wireless purchases, so our updated plans provide an even better experience to our current customers as well as any consumers looking for a better prepaid deal,” said U.S. Cellular’s vice president of brand management, Grant Leech, in the announcement.

U.S. Cellular’s announcement comes after Cricket Wireless, AT&T’s prepaid subsidiary, announced prepaid plan upgrades of its own. Cricket’s prepaid plans might be more preferred, since Cricket is more widely available, in contrast to U.S. Cellular’s regional restrictions. However, Cricket’s 4G LTE data is capped at 8Mbps, possibly in an effort to nudge customers toward AT&T.

Williams Pelegrin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
AT&T just made it a lot easier to upgrade your phone
AT&T Storefront with logo.

Do you want to upgrade your phone more than once a year? What about three times a year? Are you on AT&T? If you answered yes to those questions, then AT&T’s new “Next Up Anytime” early upgrade program is made for you. With this add-on, you’ll be able to upgrade your phone three times a year for just $10 extra every month. It will be available starting July 16.

Currently, AT&T has its “Next Up” add-on, which has been available for the past several years. This program costs $6 extra per month and lets you upgrade by trading in your existing phone after at least half of it is paid off. But the new Next Up Anytime option gives you some more flexibility.

Read more
Motorola is selling unlocked smartphones for just $150 today
Someone holding the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024).

Have you been looking for phone deals but don’t want to spend a ton of money on flagship devices from Apple and Samsung? Have you ever considered investing in an unlocked Motorola? For a limited time, the company is offering a $100 markdown on the Motorola Moto G 5G. It can be yours for just $150, and your days and nights of phone-shopping will finally be over!

Why you should buy the Motorola Moto G 5G
Powered by the Snapdragon 480+ 5G CPU and 4GB of RAM, the Moto G delivers exceptional performance across the board. From UI navigation to apps, games, and camera functions, you can expect fast load times, next to no buffering, and smooth animations. You’ll also get up to 128GB of internal storage that you’ll be able to use for photos, videos, music, and any other mobile content you can store locally. 

Read more
The Nokia 3210 is the worst phone I’ve used in 2024
A person holding the Nokia 3210, showing the screen.

Where do I even start with the Nokia 3210? Not the original, which was one of the coolest phones to own back in a time when Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace wasn’t even a thing, but the latest 2024 reissue that has come along to save us all from digital overload, the horror of social media, and the endless distraction that is the modern smartphone.

Except behind this facade of marketing-friendly do-goodery hides a weapon of torture, a device so foul that I’d rather sit through multiple showings of Jar Jar Binks and the gang hopelessly trying to bring back the magic of A New Hope than use it.
The Nokia 3210 really is that bad

Read more