this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2025
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$115 a month phone/internet? Are US prices really that insane? My phone is £4 a month for unlimited calls/SMS and got an unlimited data SIM for a 4G router that costs £24/month.
Yes, in fact that's on the cheap side for unlimited with decent speeds for both services.
That's about correct, idk what everyone else is on about, but my phone costs me $70 a month, and my Internet costs $60, and those were the cheapest plans I could get. Not to mention that the reason my phone bill isn't higher is because I had to buy my phone outright at $600.
Shits expensive here, for no reason other than corporate greed.
Phone service is only expensive because your paying for the privilege of priority. Go with MVNOs and its reasonable, just the service is slower in congested areas.
To add onto this, there are MVNOs for basically every carrier.
Visible uses verizon, and their cheapest plan is $25/month, taxes and fees included. There's currently a promo that brings it down to $19/month for 26 months.
Mint and metro uses tmobile. Metro offers unlimited at $25.
Cricket uses at&t, they also have unlimited phone plans in the $25-35 range.
No, it's definitely on the pricier side.
$30/line is a common price for unlimited phone service.
You can get home Internet for $40-$50/month.
I think I pay 25 for Internet and 30 for unlimited phone.
EDIT: in fact if you're income limited there are cheaper government subsidized plans.
It's not actually as cheap as they say, and what you're getting isn't really worth the price.
Regardless, when the thing being said is "wages are crap, things are expensive, people are trapped and can't afford a future" it sorta misses the point to say that they could get substantially worse service for roughly half the price.
I appreciate you quoting all of the fine print, what is the actual gotcha you're taking away from it? The biggest "gotcha" that in seeing is you have to prepay, which is mints while thing. The second gotcha I can see is that the free phone line they throw in is only good for a year? Which is fine. You'd go from $40/month to $55, still less than half of what was described in the post.
I understand that's the point of the overall post, but I'm answering a question asking if internet and cell service is really that expensive in the US.
It's doing a disservice to pretend like it is when there are much more affordable alternatives. Not only is the typical market price cheaper than what is mentioned in the post, but if you're on many government aid programs, you qualify for subsidized phone and internet. Pairing the two seemingly adds up to $25/month.
How much do you pay for Internet and cell service that meets your needs?
My "gotcha" was the bit I said right after the fine print: not as cheap as advertised in the long run and not a good value.
The existence of a lower price for some people in some circumstances in some parts of the country doesn't do much to address actual measurable statistics on us internet costs: Monthly Internet Cost: https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/internet/internet-cost-per-month/
My Internet is about $80 a month, and my phone is roughly $30 per line per month, $120 total because of regulatory fees and such. Looking at what mint typically delivers for internet they wouldn't work for my requirements, purely for work and not considering I like my streaming to be good quality.
It's...it's a promotion. I didn't even mention it in my post, where I said internet can typically be had for $40-$50.
After the promotion, the Internet still stays the same price, it's the free voice line that you don't get.
I don't think it's much of a gotcha worth flourishing the terms and conditions over, but....sure, you've pointed out that additional discounts that were never factored into my initial comment expire, so the baseline offering goes back to what I mentioned in my post. $40-$50. This is also entirely avoiding the discussion of the government subsidized internet if you're on SNAP, etc.
It's directly applicable when you say cheaper options are available and then link to a promotional offer where the pricing expires.
Government subsidized free Internet is currently not a thing in the US because the government is actively hostile to most of the citizenry. We still have the program to get up to $9.25 off if you make less than $25k a year though. It also requires enrollment in a program whose funding is being cut, is kicking people off , and doing everything possible to reduce enrollment.
Please read the rest of the comment I previously made where I linked to some actual averages for cost, because again: a lower cost existing isn't the same as the average cost being low.
Just to make sure we're on the same page.
I said you can get Internet for $40-$50.
I linked a provider which provides a non-promotional rate of $40/month for Internet.
As a promotion, they're throwing in a cellular line for free. This expires.
Does this somehow invalidate my claim of you can get Internet for $40-$50?
Yes. I never said it was free, just that it was subsidized.
Sure - the average, non-promotional rate of $60 is still cheaper than what this post implies.
If we're being real, in many markets (hello Xfinity/comcast) you're oftentimes expected to be on a promotional rate more often than not. When I was living by myself, I could call Xfinity and ask for a promotional rate, and be told that I'd be eligible in x months, usually 2-4. If you live with others, you can swap who the Internet is under each year to always be getting a promotional rate.
In a country with a reputation of overconsumption, I think when someone asks with incredulity about the price of something, it's valid to include the floor in addition to average/median/etc.
When discussing in the context of someone making little money, the floor is probably more relevant. Someone who's barely making ends meet is not going to worry about splurging for the no data caps (fuck Xfinity) package for the streaming services he does not have.
You said $115 is on the pricier side and linked to promotional offers to show that a cheaper option exists in some contexts.
Actual statistics on what people pay show that it's basically average, so calling it pricy isn't correct.
As for subsidization, you're missing my point: we don't really have the programs you referenced in the way they existed last year anymore. "Our Internet isn't that expensive because you can go on food stamps" is both an odd claim and also increasingly untrue as they try to end those programs.
If you're addressing the average range of Internet and phone costs, then $115 is not on the pricier side.
That you can bring your bill down by pestering the company into lowering it every few months or repeatedly transferring the plan between different people also isn't an indicator that it's not as bad as people think.
Did you know that if your Internet bill is $60, and your phone bill is $55, that you now have monthly costs for phone and Internet of ... $115?
I've said this three times now. $40 for Internet was not a promotional rate.
Please read the terms and conditions you yourself shared. You'll notice they mention internet AND a voice line.
So yes, $40 for both is a promotional rate.
But $40/month for the Internet is their standard rate. You can confirm this by scrolling down to their to table for renewal prices. 3 month renewal is $50/month, 6 month is $45/month, and 1 year is $40/month. If you want things to be crystal clear, keep scrolling to the broadband facts section. You'll see that $40/month for the 3 month stint is an introductory price. But $45 for 6 month and $40 for the 1 year plan very explicitly states it's not an introductory price.
I don't think we can proceed until we agree on this.
I linked 3 separate MVNOs across multiple carriers with nationwide coverage that have unlimited plans at $30.
If you're paying a $55 phone bill it's your choice to do so, there are far more affordable options. We're not scrimping here either, these are unlimited plans. If you did want to save, you can get even cheaper capped plans.
You're getting really hung up on mints pricing and ignoring the main thrust of what's being said: the average price is significantly higher than the low tier your referenced. Mobile hotspot Internet is not an even comparison to most other broadband options.
Repeatedly stating their price doesn't change that it's not reflective of the actual average prices people are charged for Internet and cell service in the US, and that $115 isn't "on the pricier side".
Do you think the majority of the people in the country are looking at their diverse options of equal and viable options for cellular and Internet service and then picking things that are more expensive for no reason?
I'm getting hung up on it because you opened with copy/pasting all of the terms and conditions, and vaguely hand waivey implied that meant I was relying on a promotional rate to make my point. I stated it wasn't a promotional rate multiple times, but nothing seemed to stick. Now that I hopefully made it crystal clear, you're just redirecting.
To be frank, I have better things to do than to get into an internet argument with someone who refuses to acknowledge if they were wrong. Behavior like that, coupled with petty things like down voting all replies suggests someone doesn't actually want to have a conversation, but instead just wants to megaphone their opinions. Which category do you want to be in? Because if it's the latter, once again, it's not worth my time. If it's the former, we can talk about the nuances between average prices of offered plans vs average prices paid by consumers.
EDIT: fwiw, I do agree with you on averages.
For Pete's sake, it's not a redirection to say something I've been saying the entire time:
I may as well call you fixating on the promotional pricing nit a redirection from you being unable to admit you were wrong about what the average cost of cellular and Internet in the US is.
If we're being crystal clear, you also called it a promotion, their website called it a promotion and made it explicit that they were discounting the Internet plan and that the introductory rate expired.
Yes, their promotion is to discount their introductory rate by the cost of a phone line when you sign up for a phone line too.
It still has no bearing on what typical Internet prices are, which was what the person was asking in the first place.
It was an edit, so understandable that you missed it, but I did add to my last comment that fwiw I did agree with you that we should also look at averages.
Let's play a game. Can you tell me what their non-promotional rate for internet is? If it's within the $40-$50 range I provided, you'll owe me a dollar?
So here are my thoughts on averages - the article you linked arrived at its number by looking at the average price of plans offered. IMO that doesn't capture "affordability", because it doesn't make sense that adding Kanye Wests new ISP offering a 5gbps gold-plated modem equipment rental tier for $2k/month should impact "affordability". What would really be helpful is the the average, most affordable internet plans offered around the nation. I couldn't find that, though as a close second I did find surveys suggesting that the average American pays $89(again, there's a difference between average plan offered and average amount paid), which blows my mind.
That got me thinking, what does the average American pay for cell phone service? Most reporting I found covers what the average bill is, which ignores number of lines - a crucial statistic. However, this article refers to a JD power report saying the average cell bill is $144. Hard to contextualize this without knowing how many lines that sum represents.
Earlier, you asked if I think the vast majority of Americans are picking more expensive choices for no reason. I actually do - and I have two pieces of evidence that led me to that conclusion.
So yeah, I think people do pay more than they could, for no reason. So while the average costs might be high, that is at least partially due to overconsumption or market inefficiencies, and not necessarily due to lack of affordability. This is why when answering someone asking about affordability, it's good to share cheap, nationwide plans in addition to the average costs for said items.
That's more like $100/month once the temporary pricing ends and the bullshit fees are applied.
So the $40/month at mint isn't a promotional rate, and the $50/month price at Xfinity says it's good for 5 years.
I mean you can find alternatives that do exactly what you're talking about, but I feel the examples I provided are valid, sustainable prices for Internet.
Why would you pay $30 for unlimited data and then pay another $50 a month on top of that for a second unlimited data? Unless you are running a bunch of servers for people outside of your LAN, what is the point?
The $30 is for mobile service, the $50 is for home Internet service.
4G can be home internet too, stick a regular SIM card into a 4G router. Probably 5G now but my setup is a few years old.
Don't know about US, but where I live, the "unlimited mobile Internet" is always "fast connection up to X GBs used, then you slow down to a crawl where loading a text-only website takes three minutes, but you're still technically not limited and can access the Internet" kind of deal.
Not sure exactly what they go with but it's never been a problem even downloading several big games from steam. I suppose if you want TBs a month you may want to look into the fine print.
My cheap phone plan came with 10gb of data until they throttled the speed to a crawling pace. 10gb isn't a lot to run for home Internet.
That is pretty shit, not had a problem even after 100GB with mine.
I'm laying out what I think are reasonable options that folks would want. Unlimited cell phone data for $30 paired with a steady, low latency cable line for $50 seems to be a combination that most folks could use.
It's definitely not optimized for saving money. You could save a lot of money if you wanted to focus on that. Helium mobile has a free 3gb/month plan, no credit card needed. For home Internet you'd be at the mercy of your local ISPs, but I'm sure there are more affordable plans that could be picked.
Anecdotally: I've lived in the sort of place he's describing and the internet was an overpriced monopoly. Farmers and people in larger cities both paid much better prices for better service. But the ISP had some deal where they had exclusive rights to run equipment on the power poles (or other companies needed their technicians present first or some bullshit which they would delay to the point of impracticality).
At $115 he probably didn't get the lowest speed and could have done like $60 for internet and $40 for phone but yeah, I can believe it.
4/5G, fuck their monopoly. If people leave they will have to actually compete. It's fine for gaming too, been using 4G for years without an issue. At some point I should upgrade my router to 5G though.
Assuming people even have the option for a speedy, uncapped 4G/5G, or one with a very high cap. USA is known for abusive pricing on bandwidth, like "every GB used over 50GB will be charged 10 dollars"
Regional mobile companies sound crazy
that's cheap. i oftne pay well over $150 a month for basic interent and phone plan for single person.
Oh wow, what companies do you use?
verizon for both. it's the only choice i have.
Damn, lack of choice sucks. Have you looked into visible wireless? They're a Verizon mvno, so they'll have coverage wherever Verizon does. Plans are in the $20-$30 range.
No, because I need a legit full service.
Out of curiosity, what does Verizon get you that visible doesn't? Visible plans are unlimited with mobile hotspot, which ticks a lot of boxes for basic service.
Most ISPs and cellular plans charge out the ass for arbitrary data limits and faster speeds in the U.S. Some areas have decent ISPs not trying to nickel and dime you but not super common.
Can you only get regional 4/5G plans?
It depends on the plan but for a premium you can get international coverage through most carriers that is to some extent 4G/5G?