Best Cellphone Plans of 2023: Our Top Picks – CNET

Best Cellphone Plans of 2023: Our Top Picks - CNET

Sarah Tew/CNET

If you’re looking for freebies with your wireless service, Verizon has one of the most aggressive bundles out there with its Play More plan ($80 a month for one line; $45 a month if you have four lines, you aren’t bringing your own phone and you’re switching to the carrier). 

Verizon’s Play More plan includes unlimited talk, text and data and 25GB of higher-speed 5G and 4G LTE hotspot data. Among the perks are a free subscription to the Disney bundle (Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu) and either Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass.

All told, the perks quickly add up if you use any of these services. The Disney bundle normally runs $14 a month, and Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass each cost $5. 

That’s potentially $19 a month in services. Verizon offers these benefits as part of its Play More and Get More plans, but for most people, the Play More choice is the best fit. Get More runs an extra $10 a month ($90 a month for a single line, $220 a month for four lines) and adds an extra 25GB of high-speed hotspot data, 50% off a connected device (like a monthly plan for tablet or smartwatch) and 600GB of Verizon’s Cloud Storage. Get More also includes a subscription to Apple Music, normally $10 a month. 

Something to note: These perks are often limited to one per account, so only one line on a family plan would qualify to open a Disney Plus account and get it covered by the carrier. 

Verizon also lets you mix and match plans when you have multiple lines. 

If you have four people on your family plan, only one needs to have Play More to get the perks for the whole family. The rest can be on the cheaper 5G Start, which would make four lines $140 a month — as opposed to $180 a month if all four lines have Play More. 

You can also combine these plans with Verizon’s other discounts for teachers, nurses, military and first responders to save a bit more. 

Lastly, Verizon has a “One Unlimited for iPhone” plan geared toward Apple fans that includes the Apple One bundle (Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade and iCloud storage). The pricing on that plan ($90 per month for one line, $200 a month for four lines) is higher than Play More, however, and the One plan lacks the ability to put other lines onto cheaper plans. Combining those two factors makes this option a worse deal than the Play More plan. 

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