Total Wireless is a prepaid mobile virtual network operator from TracFone with simple, low-price plans.
At a glance
- Plans start at $25 per month
- Notables: Very inexpensive, but bare-bones plans
Total Wireless cell phone plans
Total Wireless has two individual plans and three shared plans, all with unlimited talk and text.
Individual:
- $25 per month, unlimited talk and text only, no data
- $35 per month, 5GB of data
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Shared:
- $60 per month, up to two lines, 15GB
- $85 per month, up to three lines, 20GB
- $100 per month, up to four lines, 25GB
Total Wireless’ network
Total Wireless is owned by TracFone and operates on Verizon’s network. Total’s LTE data download speeds average around 5 megabits per second but could be more, according to a Total Wireless customer service representative.
Customers on Verizon’s name-brand service can get LTE data download speeds above 20 Mbps, depending on the quality of the connection. The 5 Mbps speed isn’t necessarily slow, and it’s sufficient for most mobile online activities. However, bandwidth-intensive actions, like watching high-definition streaming video, will likely suffer.
How Total Wireless compares on prices
| 1GB or less | 2-4GB | 5-7GB | 8-10GB | Unlimited | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Project Fi customers pay $20 for unlimited talk and text. Data is billed at a rate of $10 per gigabyte. **Republic Wireless customers pay $15 for unlimited talk and text. Data is billed at a rate of $5 per gigabyte. |
|||||
| AT&T GoPhone | $35 (1GB) | $50 (8GB) | $65 | ||
| Boost Mobile | $35 (3GB) | $50 | |||
| Cricket Wireless | $25 (talk and text only) | $30 (2GB) | $40 (5GB) | $55 | |
| MetroPCS | $30 (2GB) | $40 (5GB) | $50 | ||
| Project Fi* | $20 (talk, text and Wi-Fi) $30 (1GB) | $40 (2GB) $50 (3GB) $60 (4GB) | $70 (5GB) $80 (6GB+) | $80 | |
| Republic Wireless** | $15 (talk, text and Wi-Fi) $20 (1GB) | $25 (2GB) $30 (3GB) $35 (4GB) | $40 (5GB) $45 (6GB) $50 (7GB) | $55 (8GB) $60 (9GB) $65 (10GB) | N/A |
| Sprint prepaid | $45 (4GB) | $65 | |||
| Straight Talk Wireless | $30 (1,500 minutes, unlimited texts and 100MB data) | $35 (2GB) | $45 (10GB) | $55 | |
| T-Mobile prepaid | $45 (4GB) | $55 (6GB) | $70 | ||
| Verizon prepaid | $30 (500MB) | $40 (3GB) | $50 (7GB) | $60 (10GB) | $75 |
| Virgin Mobile | $35 (5GB) | $45 (10GB) | $60 | ||
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Stephen Layton is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: slayton@nerdwallet.com.
