best cell service in rural areas

Best Cell Service For Rural Areas

If you're thinking of visiting, or moving to, a rural area but are unsure if your phone carrier will cover the area, it's a good question to ask. Not many carriers have good coverage, so it's important to know which ones will give you the best cell service for rural areas. In this article, we'll cover the best cell service for rural areas.

Why Don't Carriers Have Better Coverage In Rural Areas?

Carrier coverage in rural areas is more difficult to come by, but why? The simple answer is in the budget — cell towers are expensive to build and maintain, and in rural areas they don't produce a lot of profit. The Federal Communications Commission have also issued tests in the past to see which carriers are accurate about their coverage maps, and found that some carriers have misrepresented their coverage.

With this in mind, you'll want to choose a major carrier like Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T. Between these three, Verizon is the one with the most coverage, followed by T-Mobile, and AT&T close behind. In addition to this, T-Mobile and Sprint's resent merger may improve coverage for rural areas.

Verizon is the leading carrier in rural areas–in 2008, Verizon purchased a smaller carrier named Rural Cellular and moved forward with a Rural America Program. The Rural American Program prioritizes giving high-speed networks to smaller and rural areas. Currently, Verizon's Rural America Program provides coverage for 160 people in the rural United States.

You can compare each carrier against one another by using UpPhone's coverage map! 

Best Phone Plans For Rural Areas

Verizon Prepaid 5  GB

The Prepaid 5 GB Plan from Verizon is an affordable, no contract, plan that provides some of the best cell service for rural areas at a one-time price. One line with this plan correlates to $25/month after a $15 discount on the original $40. If you're more interested in saving, you can save some cash by signing up for AutoPay, considering multi-line discounts, with the benefit that the more you stay with this plan the more you'll save.

This plan is great for those wanting to stay connected because of it's unlimited texting and calling. In addition, this plan doesn't have overage charges, so you won't be charged for going over your data, but your internet speeds will slow down from 4G LTE to 2G. You can also turn your phone in to a mobile hotspot, which is ideal for rural areas where coverage can be spotty.

Verizon Play More Unlimited

If you like the sound of the plan above, but need more data, the Verizon Play More Unlimited plan might be the right fit for you. For $80/month, you get unlimited minutes, texts, and data but you can still save by signing up for AutoPay and paperless billing. Calls and texts to Mexico and Canada are included with your unlimited plan, and you can use 513 MB of data per day when you travel there.

The Play More Unlimited plan also comes with a mobile hotspot that has 4G LTE internet speeds with unlimited data that only slows to 600 kbps after using 15 GB of data. This isn't Verizon's cheapest unlimited plan, but the additional mobile hotspot that makes this one of the best phone plans for rural areas.

AT&T 8 GB Prepaid Plan

AT&T's Prepaid 8 GB plan is a good choice if you wanted more data than the first plan we showed you but won't use unlimited data. For one line, this plan correlates to $25/month, the same price as the Verizon 5 GB Prepaid plan but comes with three GB more of data in addition to unlimited texts and calls. This plan is also contract-free because it comes at one pre-paid price.

You won't be charged with overage fees if you exceed your 8 GB every 30-days, but your internet speed with be throttled from 4G LTE to 128 kbps. And, you can pay for an extra data add-on for the next 30-days at $20 for 3 GB and $10 for 1 GB. At one of the best phone plans for rural areas, this plan also comes with a mobile hotspot that is run from your 8 GB of data.

AT&T Unlimited Elite

If AT&T's prepaid plan sounds good but isn't enough data, the AT&T Unlimited Elite plan offers unlimited data, texts, and calls at $85/month. AT&T offers some of the best cell service for rural areas, and this plan includes unlimited messaging and calling in Mexico and Canada with free international roaming. This plan is great for families as well because you can add more lines for cheaper with multi-line discounts.

The mobile hotspot included with this plan is another great feature about AT&T's Unlimited Elite plan. It comes with 30 GB of 4G LTE internet speeds, fifteen more GB than the Verizon Play More Unlimited Plan, but the speeds are throttled to 128 kbps as opposed to 600 kbps. You can also stream videos in HD quality with this plan, and it comes with an HBO subscription.

T-Mobile Magenta

The T-Mobile Magenta plan is also one of the best phone plans for rural areas and comes in at $70/month with unlimited data, messaging, and calling including texts and calls to Mexico and Canada. This plan also provides 5 GB of high-speed data in Mexico and Canada, and with an additional fee you can add unlimited calls to over 30 countries. Like many plans above, an AutoPay and multi-line discount can also save you money if you're interested.

This plan also comes with mobile hotspot, but it uses 3G internet speeds as opposed to the 4G LTE speeds regularly used when you're connected to the internet. T-Mobile also offers more add-on's to make this plan fit your needs the best way possible and can provide some of the best cell service for rural areas.

You Know The Best Phone Plans For Rural Areas!

Now you know all you need to know about the best cell service for rural areas. We've laid out for you the top five best phone plans for rural areas, and presented the pros and cons for each one. Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions about these plans or cell service in general please leave a comment down below!

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