I ditched traditional wireless carriers years ago because the cost of having an unlimited cell phone plan was getting out of control. That’s why I did my research on MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) and haven’t looked back, mainly due to the big savings they offer for comparable service.
Mint Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Google Fi, and Visible are just some of the MVNOs I’ve used in the last several years — with many of them offering the best cheap cell phone plans around.
This time I’m giving Boost Mobile a try to see how it compares to my past experiences, especially given how the carrier often has cheap cell phone deals happening all the time, like the iPhone 16 Pro Max for a penny.
I tried out Boost Mobile’s unlimited service for 30 days to test out the network’s speed, reliability, and ease of use switching phones to see if it’s a best cell phone plan contender. Here’s what I found.
Boost Mobile: What it costs and what you get
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Boost Mobile | Visible | Mint Mobile |
Cost | $25/month | $25/month | $30/month |
Service | Unlimited Talk, Text & Data | Unlimited Talk, Text & Data | Unlimited Talk, Text & Data |
Premium Data Cap | 30GB | None* | None* |
International Service | Add-on service | Unlimited talk & text to Mexico & Canada | Free calling to Mexico & Canada |
Mobile Hotspot & Data Allotment | No* | Yes / Unlimited* | Yes / 10GB |
Add-on smartwatch plan | No | No* | No |
Before I get into the details about my experience, I wanted to show you how Boost Mobile’s unlimited data plan compares against Mint Mobile and Visible — two of the most recent MVNO’s I’ve tested.
The table above shows how their cheapest unlimited plans compare to one another.
In an era where streaming services can suddenly increase without warning, I really love that Boost Mobile offers a $25 per month forever deal.
It’s also worth mentioning that their costs are what you’ll pay normally each month, but they all have their share of promotions. For example, Boost Mobile currently charges $15/month for the first three months with its unlimited plan — which then goes back to $25/month after that.
In an era where streaming services can suddenly increase without warning, I really love that Boost Mobile offers a $25/month forever deal where there are no changes to your bill or hidden fees. The only stipulation to this is that you have to sign up for AutoPay.
While all three MVNOs advertise ‘unlimited data,’ there’s a bit of ambiguity around it. Boost Mobile offers 30GB of premium data per month, but if you exceed that, the speeds could be throttled down to as low as 512kbps.
Comparably, Mint Mobile has a policy where heavy data users who use more than 35GB of data per month will have slower speeds. Visible doesn’t outright say there’s a hard data cap per month, but the speed could be temporarily slowed down in times of heavy network traffic.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that Boost Mobile doesn’t include mobile hotspot or any international service with its base unlimited plan, but there’s add-ons you can tack on for $10/month each.
Despite this, the biggest draw I see to Boost Mobile Unlimited is the fact that you’re locked into the rate of $25/month for life. As much as I love my Visible service, the carrier could increase the price of my service at any time.
Getting set up is a breeze, including eSIM
Since I requested a physical SIM card to start off, getting set up is a breeze. I popped it into my unlocked Pixel 9 Pro XL first and it automatically provisioned the phone to get it set up with Boost Mobile’s network. After a quick restart, it was ready to go.
However, other phones may require additional setup. I tried popping my SIM to my Nothing Phone 3a Pro without success because it wasn’t registering on the network, which I then had to look up the proper APN settings for.
Once I got that squared away, it was working — but found it less reliable at staying connected, mainly due to how it doesn’t have support for all of the 5G bands with T-Mobile.
I also like how it’s a breeze switching to a phone with an eSIM, like my iPhone 16 Pro Max. In order to do this, I had to install the Boost Mobile app and then supply it with its IMEI.
If you’re one to constantly switch phones like me, I would suggest going the physical SIM card route because I find it more convenient.
Fast, reliable speeds (including New York City)
I’ve been on Visible for over a year now, and while my experience has been mostly positive, speeds can vary wildly. That’s because my data speed could be temporarily slowed down in times of congestion with the network, unless I pay more and upgrade to Visible+ that offers 50GB of premium data.
Considering how Boost Mobile Unlimited includes 30GB of data, I experienced much faster speeds loading up YouTube videos and watching Instagram reels. What’s even more impressive is that it retains the same fast speeds in densely populated areas like New York City.
In fact, I put it to the test a couple weeks back at Amazon’s Alexa+ event — where I used my Pixel 9 Pro XL to send photos on Boost’s network because the local Wi-Fi network was getting crushed.
Side-by-side against my iPhone 15 Pro running on Visible’s network, my Nothing Phone 3a Pro posted faster download and upload speed at 156Mbps and 7.17Mbps respectively.
The download speed is 296% faster than what I got on the iPhone 15 Pro. Later on, I also ran a speed test with my Galaxy S25 Ultra and it posted an upload speed of 14.9Mbps. That’s 400% faster than Visible’s upload speed.
Bottom line
In the 30 days of testing out Boost Mobile, I can say it’s clearly a best cheap cell phone plan contender. If you’re looking to get consistently fast data speeds without spending a ton on an unlimited plan, it’s definitely worth considering.
The only downside is that I wish it offered more features. Mobile hotspot in particular comes to mind, which is a $10 add-on to the base $25/month Boost Unlimited plan.
I clearly still get a little more value from Visible because it includes that and limited international service for the same $25/month cost. And while none of the three MVNOs I mention here have smartwatch data plans included in their base costs, it’s only Visible that offers Apple Watch service for a $10/month add-on.
Despite this, you can’t overlook the 30GB of premium data that comes with Boost Mobile Unlimited. This means you’ll still get access to the fastest speeds available, unlike Visible that will slow it down in times of heavy traffic.
But the most underrated thing about Boost Mobile is its $25/month forever rate. Wireless carriers can unexpectedly announce price increases to its plans, so having this $25/month rate locked down with Boost is hard to overlook.
