A few weeks ago, Straight Talk Wireless updated its cell phone plans to include more data. With those changes, many wondered if NET10 Wireless would follow suite. Both companies are owned by TracFone, and historically, NET10 Wireless had always largely mirrored Straight Talk's phone plans, although they have begun to diverge as of late.
On Thursday, NET10 announced changes to its cell phone plan lineup through the companies Facebook page. With the exception of one plan, they can no longer be considered a mirror of Straight Talk. NET10's new phone plan lineup, with the recent changes highlighted can be found below.
NET10's Updated Plan Lineup For June 2017
All plans include unlimited talk, text and data with the specified amounts at LTE speeds before throttling to about 64 kbps.
- $35/month ($31.50 with auto pay) 2 GB, previously 500 MB
- $40/month ($36.00 with auto pay) 4 GB, previously 3 GB
- $50/30 days ($45.00 with auto pay) 8 GB, previously 5 GB
- $60/month (no auto pay discount) 10 GB, previously 7 GB
- $65/month international plan ($60 with auto pay) 8 GB, previously 5 GB
A $75 plan with 10 GB of data has been discontinued and was an obsolete plan anyway, given that nearly every major carrier now offers Unlimited LTE data at around that price point.
NET10 also offers what it calls phone upgrade plans. The plans allow customers to accumulate points that can be used to upgrade their devices. Once a user collects 18 points they are eligible for a $300 credit towards a new phone. The phone upgrade plans also got a data increase, with each plan going from 5 GB of high speed data to 8 GB. Like it's regular plans, the phone upgrade plans all include unlimited talk, text and data with the specified amount at high speed before throttling. Unlike the the regular plans, they all include varying amounts of international talk, and they cost more. A summary of those plans with the amount of upgrade points and international calling minutes that each contain is as follows:
Phone Upgrade Plans
- $60/month - accumulates 1 point every month and includes 100 international minutes
- $70/month - accumulates 1.5 points every month and includes 200 international minutes
- $80/month - accumulates 3 points every month and includes 300 international minutes
NET10's new cell phone plans are certainly more competitive in the marketplace, particularly the new $45 plan with 8 GB of data. The plan offers more data than any other Verizon MVNO (except Straight Talk) that also includes unlimited talk and text at that price point. However, even with the changes, no NET10 Wireless plan is able to crack the lineup of the cheapest cell phone plans for under $30.