Affinity Cellular for Seniors: Phones, Prices, and Reviews

Affinity Cellular Pros and Cons

Affinity Cellular Plans for Seniors

Affinity Cellular does not offer specific discounts for seniors. However, its cheapest plans are perfect for seniors who want to use their phone to speak with family or in case of emergencies but don’t want to pay for expensive data plans.

While the company offers more expensive plans that include data, including one unlimited plan, these no-data plans are our favorite part about Affinity Cellular. It offers a no-frills approach to cellular service that allows you to get access to a phone and a plan without buying data and other unnecessary features.

How to Purchase Affinity Cellular

To get started with Affinity Cellular, visit its website and click “Plans” to search the company’s offerings. It offers six plans, including two no-data plans; these plans are great for those who want to use their phones sparingly or as emergency devices.

Next, you’ll need to input your ZIP code. This is to confirm that Affinity Cellular has coverage in your area. You will then be asked to choose a phone to go with your plan — from a Motorola moto g-play that costs $34.99 down to the newest iPhone Pro Max for $1,209. Each device contains different storage levels, features, and is priced accordingly. Affinity also offers 36-month financing with 0% interest, which is not the case for most providers.

Alternatively, you can click “Use My Phone” to add the Affinity service on the phone you already have. In that case, the company will send you a memory chip to put in your phone when your service becomes active. After that, you can click “Go to Cart” and pay for your new service.

Affinity Cellular Pricing

Affinity Cellular offers six no-contract plans that are priced according to the amount of minutes, texts, and data you receive each month. The four data plans cost between $20 and $50 a month, while the no-data plans cost $13 to $15 per month; though the cheapest plan gives you the first three months for $10 per. On the day you purchase your plan, you will pay for the phone and any accessories you choose at checkout. You will then be billed each month for your service, and you can set up Autopay for your convenience.

Extra Fees

Unfortunately, a big negative of Affinity is all of its fees:

• Activation fee: Unless you buy one of Affinity’s bundles, which include a phone plus service, you will have to pay an activation fee — around $35.
• Overage charges: Overage rates apply if you exceed your monthly text, talk, or data limits. Affinity Cellular’s overage rates are $0.10 for every extra minute of talk, $0.02 for every extra text, and $0.03 for every extra MB of data.
• Late payments: Not only will Affinity shut off your service if you go over your monthly allotment of texts, calls, and/or data, but you’ll also have to pay a $10 late fee.
• International usage: Affinity does not offer usage outside of the U.S. (or even within the U.S., in Alaska, specifically.) Your phone will not work out of the country, typically. However, if it does, you will pay the country’s rates, about $1 to $3 per minute. In other words, this is not a good option if you want to use your phone in another country, or call/text someone located in another country.

The good news is that if you cancel your service, you won’t have to pay an early termination fee; all plans are monthly.

Affinity Cellular Network Coverage

Affinity Cellular’s network coverage uses Verizon’s network, which reaches 98 percent of U.S. households. On the company’s website, you can enter your ZIP code and see if you have coverage. Depending on where you live, you may have coverage ranging from 4G to 5G Ultra Wideband, the fastest around. That being said, because Affinity is an MVNO — a mobile virtual network operator — Verizon will prioritize the speeds of its own customers. This brings us to our next point…

Data Speeds

All of Affinity’s data plans offer the same speeds, depending on your coverage area:

• Typical download speeds in Mbps: 215 to 702 for 5G Ultra Wideband, 34 to 149 for 5G, and 9 to 69 for 4G LTE
• Typical upload speeds in Mbps: 14 to 75 for 5G Ultra Wideband, 6 to 27 for 5G, and 1 to 13 for 4G LTE
• Typical latency in ms: 45 for 5G Ultra Wideband, 51 for 5G, and under 62 for 4G LTE

Let’s compare that to the typical speeds with the Verizon network, Affinity’s “parent,” so to speak.

• Typical download speeds in Mbps: 195 to 634 for 5G Ultra Wideband, 34 to 143 for 5G, and 11 to 75 for 4G LTE
• Typical upload speeds in Mbps: 10 to 53 for 5G Ultra Wideband, 5 to 31 for 5G, and 1 to 13 for 4G LTE
• Typical latency in ms: 37 to 57 for 5G Ultra Wideband, 42 to 64 for 5G, and 47 to 75 for 4G LTE

As you can see, in some cases, Verizon will be faster, like download speed on 4G LTE. However, when it comes to 5G, Affinity will be faster in terms of both download and upload speeds, with less latency, to boot. That being said, as long as you’re on a 4G LTE network or higher, you should be able to perform any task you wish on your phone — whether it’s streaming the latest Netflix movie or FaceTiming with your family. These activities require only about 25Mbps.

Affinity Cellular vs. T-Mobile

Affinity Cellular is definitely cheaper than T-Mobile, another popular provider of senior cellular service. However, if you want unlimited data, T-Mobile is cheaper; it costs $45 a month compared to $50 with Affinity.

Bottom Line

Affinity Cellular offers some of the cheapest starting prices around; its lowest no-data plan is available at $13 per month after the first three months. The company’s low-cost practicality makes it a major asset to seniors looking for no-frills plans at low prices — so long as they don’t plan on using too many extra features like mobile hotspots or international calling.

To learn more about our favorite phones and plans for seniors, check out our helpful guides:

• Best Flip Phones for Seniors
• Best Phones for Seniors
• Best Smartphones for Seniors