The 5 Best Phone Plans for Seniors: Tested and Reviewed

Known for its popular Jitterbug phones, Lively is a cellular carrier that aims to simplify the wireless experience. It also offers a suite of safety features that include urgent-response buttons and dedicated nurse hotlines that go beyond typical cell phone functions. The provider’s monthly plans start at $14.99 per month for 300 talk minutes and 300 texts.

Lively piggybacks off Verizon’s network, which, in our experience, was highly reliable. All our test calls connected clearly, including our tests of the Jitterbug Urgent Response feature, which connected us to monitoring agents in a matter of seconds. Just about everything with our Jitterbug phones worked smoothly on Lively’s network. The one caveat, however, is data. Lively’s network includes only 4G data, and we noticed slight lags when browsing the internet on our Jitterbug Smart4. (Side note: The Jitterbug Flip2 doesn’t use data.)

What Lively lacks in speed, however, it makes up for in health features. Take the urgent-response button, for example. When we pressed it, we were quickly connected to urgent response operators. If we were actually experiencing an emergency, the operators could have sent first responders to our location, much like how a medical alert system works.

>> Read more: The Best Medical Alert Systems

Overall, we were impressed with Lively’s customer service. We were promptly met with a human agent when we activated our Jitterbug over the phone. We were also impressed by the service we received from both Lively Rides and Nurse-on-Call.

With Lively Rides, we could schedule Lyft rides without having to use the Lyft app. That would be especially helpful for users who have trouble using smartphone apps. We booked a ride from home to downtown, and the charge for the ride was added to our monthly bill from Lively. Lively Rides comes standard with all Lively plans.

With Nurse-on-Call, we had a dedicated hotline staffed by nurses. They answered basic health questions and, in the case of our managing editor, refilled his monthly prescription. The feature is particularly useful, but it’s available only with Lively’s Premium plan, which costs $49.99 per month.

With all their extra features, Lively’s plans work a bit different than the other carriers on this list. For starters, you’ll need to choose from one of three plans: Basic, Preferred, and Premium. All three plans include unlimited talk and text.

The Basic plan, at $14.99 per month, also includes access to Lively Rides. The Preferred plan, for $34.99 per month, adds the Urgent Response feature and Lively Link, an app that allows loved ones to track a user’s phone geographically. The Premium plan, for $44.99 per month, includes unlimited use of the dedicated Nurse-on-Call hotline.

If you purchase the Jitterbug Flip2, then you can also pay $5 extra per month for unlimited talk and text as opposed to the standard 300 talk minutes and 300 text messages. With the Jitterbug Smart4, all plans include unlimited talk and text.

Additionally, if you purchase the Smart4, you’ll also want to consider data. 1 GB of monthly data is included. $5 per month gives you 5 GB, $15 gives you 10 GB, and $30 gives you unlimited data. Remember, though, that the Jitterbug Flip2 requires no separate data plan.

To learn more about Lively’s plans and features, read our full rundown of Jitterbug phones and plans.

Lively offers only two phones to choose from: the Jitterbug Smart4 and the Jitterbug Flip2. The phones have some helpful features we haven’t seen elsewhere, but they’re the only phones you can use on Lively’s network. If you’re looking to bring your own phone to a network, we recommend Consumer Cellular or AT&T.

With plans from $14.99 per month and some highly affordable phones, Lively is a great deal. If you’re looking to combine medical alert features with a cell phone, there’s no better network.

To learn more about this provider, read our full review of Jitterbug phones.

Overview

Consumer Cellular is among the few carriers that market specifically to older adults. Although the company’s service may lack the advanced features of major carriers, its talk, text, and data plans impressed us with their reliability and affordability. Consumer Cellular plans start at $20 per month for unlimited talk and text, and additional lines cost only $15, making the provider a great option for couples and families.

Consumer Cellular, like many providers on this list, piggybacks off AT&T’s network. In theory, that means we should have experienced deprioritized data service in times of peak usage. Even when using the network at a crowded sports field, however, we found consistently fast data speeds, which allowed us to stream YouTube videos at a consistent rate with no lag.

We also found that each of our test calls came through with exceptional clarity. Whether we were in the city or hiking through the woods of eastern Rhode Island, we always had access to at least a 4G LTE signal, if not 5G.

To learn more about our experience with this provider, read our full Consumer Cellular review.

In our experience, Consumer Cellular’s customer service was top-notch. Upon receiving our phone in the mail, we contacted the customer service line, and we were immediately connected to a human. She informed us that all we needed to do to activate our phone was take a photo of the QR code included in our instruction manual.

That was something else we appreciated about Consumer Cellular: Our Iris Flip phone already had a SIM card installed. To activate the phone, we simply had to open the phone’s QR reader app and capture the QR code. Within seconds, the phone was up and running.

>> Read more: Iris Flip Phone Review

Consumer Cellular’s plans start at $20 per month, and they include 1 GB of data and unlimited talk and text.  If you want a plan with unlimited talk, text, and data, it will cost you $50 per month. The price is a bit steeper than other options on this list, but it’s important to remember the discounts that come with multiple lines. No matter which plan you choose, additional lines are only $15 more per month. One line of unlimited data is $50, but two lines will be $65 and three will be $80. The three-line scenario boils down to roughly $27 per month per line — a highly affordable option.

Consumer Cellular also requires no long-term contracts. When we finished testing the company’s devices, we simply called customer service, informed them that we wished to cancel, and stopped paying for service. There were no extra fees.

To learn more about the provider’s various plans, read our full guide to Consumer Cellular phones and plans.

Consumer Cellular’s plans include unlimited talk and text within the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, but you’ll have to pay extra for international calls no matter which plan you’re on. Rates vary slightly by the country you wish to call. Calls to South Africa, for example, cost $0.10 per minute, while calls to Brazil cost $0.06 per minute.

If you have friends or family abroad, we recommend checking the rates for relevant countries on Consumer Cellular’s website before pulling the trigger on one of its plans.

Unlimited data can get a bit pricey with Consumer Cellular, but it’s easily the best value for light data usage and unlimited talk and text. Extra lines cost only $15 each, so we definitely recommend this provider for couples and families.

Overview

AT&T is one of the most reliable cell phone service providers in the country, offering nationwide service for $50 per month. It’s certainly not the cheapest carrier on this list — that would be Mint Mobile — but it offers discounts for AARP members, as well as a special unlimited data plan for subscribers who are 55 or older.

Unlike Consumer Cellular and Mint Mobile — which piggyback off other networks — AT&T owns and operates its own network. That means our data speeds were never deprioritized at any point during our testing. Compare that to Mint Mobile, which, during peak usage times, slowed our data speeds.

With that in mind, we were able to take full advantage of 4K streaming on the provider’s 5G network. Compared to the other networks on this list, AT&T had the best performance when streaming video, with minimal lags or buffers.

We also appreciated AT&T’s ActiveArmor app, which comes standard with the company’s plans. It’s difficult to evaluate a mobile security app, but we didn’t receive a single robo-call or telemarketer while testing our AT&T phone.

One advantage of buying a cell phone directly from a carrier is that carriers have stores you can visit. Rather than using phone, live chat, or online support, we went into an actual store and spoke to an actual human when we were having issues with our phone freezing. A representative helped us within a few minutes. The best part? No annoying hold music!

In recent years, AT&T has ditched customizable amounts of talk, text, and data. Most of the carrier’s plans now include unlimited talk, text, and data. These plans range from $50.99 to $85.99 per month, but if you want unlimited data that isn’t throttled, it’ll cost at least $65.99 per month. The plans include mobile security features such as spam call blocking; virtual private networks (VPNs), which protect you on public Wi-Fi networks; and identity monitoring to prevent identity theft. They also include mobile hotspots, for the most part.

If you are a Florida resident, you can pay even less: one line for $60 or two lines for $80. Both plans include unlimited talk, text, and data in the U.S. and Mexico; spam call blocking; 5G access; and unlimited texting to over 200 countries from the U.S.

To qualify, you must be 55 or older and enroll with autopay and paperless billing. Neither of the plans require long-term contracts.

AT&T certainly isn’t the cheapest option on the market. Its plans start at $50 a month, much more than Mint Mobile or FreedomPop, which start at $15 per month. In recent years, AT&T has also stopped offering a wide selection of flip phones.

If you’re looking for a more affordable provider with simplified phones, we recommend checking out Lively.

>> Read more: The Best Flip Phones

AT&T may be unnecessarily pricey for users who mostly talk and text, but if you plan to use your phone for data-related tasks — such as social media, streaming, or gaming — there’s no better option than AT&T.

To learn more about this provider, read our full guide to AT&T senior plans.

Overview

If you’re looking for an affordable cellular plan with talk, text, and data, Mint Mobile may be the ideal option. With Mint’s 55+ plan for seniors, you’ll get 5 GB of data and unlimited talk and text for $15 per month. It’s easily the cheapest price we’ve seen.

As an MVNO, Mint Mobile uses T-Mobile’s network, offering coverage throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Our calls went through well even when one of our testers was hiking in rural New York State. Our websites and apps connected quickly, but we noticed some slower speeds during peak times — a hallmark of any MVNO.

One thing to note, however, is that Mint Mobile’s Unlimited plan is a bit of a misnomer since our data speeds were throttled after using 40 GB of data. Although 40 GB will be enough for most users, we thought it was worth noting.

Mint Mobile does not have any stores we could go to for help, but the company has a robust online help center, live chat, and a phone option. You can also change plans and activate your phones online with this carrier. Even without a physical store, the number of ways Mint Mobile gave us to access customer support made us feel, well, supported.

Mint plans are advertised at $15 to $30 per month, but the low prices require you to pay for several months of service in advance. A prepaid carrier, Mint requires you pay for three, six, or 12 months of service in one lump sum.

Let’s take the senior plan as an example. Mint’s 55+ plan is advertised at $15 per month, but you’ll have to pay $45 up front for the first three months, which works out to $15 per month. Something else to consider is that the low price is an introductory offer. After the first three months, you’ll need to pay for a full year to keep the $15-per-month price ($180 total). If you wish to continue paying for three months at a time, your monthly price will increase to $25.

Even if you choose to pay in three-month bursts instead of annual ones, Mint’s plans are still significantly more affordable than those from other carriers.

Mint Mobile certainly wins in terms of affordability, but it’s a pretty bare-bones cell phone plan. We didn’t get the mobile security of a company like AT&T, the health and safety features of a company like Lively, or any streaming extras like T-Mobile. Given the data throttling on all plans, Mint Mobile is not ideal for people who frequently stream video on their phones.

To learn more about our experience with Mint Mobile, read our guide to Mint Mobile senior plans.

Among the three major carriers — Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile — T-Mobile is by far the most affordable option for older adults. The provider offers plans with unlimited talk, text, and data starting at $45 per month, allowing you to make the most of your smartphone without overage charges. The plans also require no long-term contracts.

Just because we’re traveling doesn’t mean inferior data is OK. With T-Mobile, we had high-speed data and texting — even internationally. We also had unlimited texting and an additional 5 GB to 30 GB of high-speed data with the Experience More and Experience Beyond plans. That came in handy when we were in a coffee shop in Italy and needed to text a neighbor. And service can work in over 215 countries!

When it comes to customer service, T-Mobile has it all: brick-and-mortar stores, a phone line, an app, an online help center, and live chat. Because we prefer in-person contact, we used the company’s store locator to find locations near Portland. Within seconds, 35 options appeared that we could sort by distance. Before we even set foot in the actual store, T-Mobile showed us its deals and available devices, decreasing the time we needed to spend in the store. If you prefer human connection, go to one of T-Mobile’s stores for your customer service.

T-Mobile’s 55+ plans start at $45 per month for one line or $60 per month for two lines ($30 each). That makes it the only major carrier to offer plans with unlimited talk, text, and data for $45 or less. That being said, the Essentials Choice 55 plan only includes 50 GB of premium data, while the other two plans are unlimited. If you want premium data, it’s worth upgrading to the Experience More or Experience Beyond plans.

With either of these plans, you’ll also get perks like subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV+, a mobile hotspot, plus international data and texting, as previously mentioned.

>>Read more: The Best Streaming Services for Seniors

T-Mobile has low prices for two lines of unlimited data, but you’re out of luck if you want to pay less than $20 a month. If budget is your main area of concern, check out Mint Mobile or Lively, which start at only $15 for one line (T-Mobile starts at $45).

T-Mobile Unlimited 55+ plans are ideal for heavy users of data, calls, and texts. No other wireless provider offers unlimited 5G data at such an affordable price. Both Verizon and AT&T offer discounted unlimited plans for seniors, but the plans are currently available only to Florida residents. T-Mobile’s senior plans, however, are available nationwide.

To learn more about the provider, read our full guide to T-Mobile senior plans.