Phone Plan Comparison Calculator

Phone plan comparison requires looking beyond the advertised monthly price to the total cost of ownership including device financing, taxes, fees, and overage charges.

True Monthly Cost Formula:

True Monthly Cost = Plan Cost + Device Payment + Taxes & Fees + Add-ons − Autopay Discount

Total Annual Cost:

Annual = True Monthly Cost × 12

Two-Year Total (standard comparison window):

24-Month Cost = True Monthly × 24 + Activation Fee − Promotional Credits

Worked example, three carriers for one line with a flagship financed over 24 months:

24-Month Totals:

• Carrier A: $122 × 24 = $2,928
• Carrier B: $103 × 24 + $35 activation = $2,507
• Carrier C: $112 × 24 − $200 promo = $2,488

Hidden Costs to Check:

• Overage charges (data throttling vs hard cutoff)
• International roaming rates
• Hotspot data caps (often throttled at 15GB even on “unlimited” plans)
• Insurance/protection plan: $12–$18/month adds $288–$432/year

Best Value Rule: Prepaid and MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) carriers such as Mint Mobile, Visible and Cricket resell the same networks at a large discount on single lines. They suit moderate data users well, and the trade-off is real but narrow: deprioritisation when a tower is congested, and thinner customer service.

Notice which carrier wins in the table above. Carrier C has the cheapest advertised plan at $65 and the highest device payment at $38, so on the sticker it looks like the bargain and on the true monthly figure it is not. It still wins over 24 months, but only because of a $200 promotional credit that has nothing to do with either number. This is why comparing advertised prices is close to useless, and why the calculator on this page asks for the device payment, the fees, and the one-off credits separately.

Enter a promotional credit as a negative one-off cost. A $200 credit is -200.