The Best Cell Phone Plans in Baltimore, MD for Coverage, Speed & Price

The best cell phone plans in Baltimore by category:

• The fastest wireless carrier in Baltimore: Verizon Wireless, average speeds reported over 110 Mbps
• The widest available wireless carrier in Baltimore: TIE (Verizon Wireless, AT&T)
• The largest 5G network available in Baltimore: AT&T (74% coverage)
• The most affordable wireless carrier in Baltimore: Boost Mobile, Mint Mobile – plans starting at $10 per month

Baltimore, with its ties to US history lessons, beautiful tourist locations, and proximity to the water, is one of America’s fastest rising cities. As the city grows, so does the local economy, with infrastructure and technology improving alongside this growth.

While many people fall prey to The Wire references and Baltimore Ravens memes, the city has way more to offer than just TV shows and debates over whether or not Joe Flacco was elite during his Super Bowl-winning season. The “City of Neighborhoods” is always in progress, and it’s not hard to see how those living in the area find the city absolutely beautiful situated right a massive harbor.

Because of this progression, many major technology providers have built strong infrastructure in the city, especially the cellular network. Baltimore provides its residents with many great choices when it comes to picking a cell phone plan that has reliability and fast speeds.

Below you can find the best mobile carriers available to Baltimore consumers looking to compare plans as reviewed by the GammaWire team:

Top Mobile Wireless Plans in Baltimore

Which Mobile Provider Has the Best Cell Coverage in Baltimore?

Because of how populated Baltimore is, all of the major carriers offer full coverage throughout almost any neighborhood in the city and the surrounding areas. It’s fair to say though that T-Mobile was originally struggling in the Baltimore area until recently when they prioritized 5G deployment throughout the region, now making them much more competitive with Verizon and AT&T.

Along with Baltimore being a hot spot for the big three, there are many other smaller and mid-sized carriers that have robust cell networks and infrastructure in Baltimore, including companies like Cricket, Boost Mobile, Mint Mobile, among others.

If you’re looking for the fastest carrier with good 5G coverage, AT&T is probably your safest bet as they have both good 4G LTE coverage as well as rapidly expanding 5G. While Verizon might be faster on LTE, their 5G rollout has been a little slower in Baltimore, at least so far. Given that 5G will likely be more widely spread in the coming years, this might not be as important in the long run.

Fastest Mobile Carriers in Baltimore (5G, 4G, LTE)

Currently, Verizon and AT&T are fairly close when it comes to fastest average speeds in Balitmore. Both hover north of 100 Mbps on avearge, with Verizon seeing peak speeds a bit higher. Though this seems ripe for the taking both from AT&T and T-Mobile in the coming years, as their 5G availability in Baltimore has scaled faster. We fully expect Verizon to step on the gas here though.

PC Mag has released a great report and their data seems to align with our reporting when it comes to fastest available speeds, showing Verizon hitting the occasional max speed north of 600 Mbps which is absolutely insane to think about on a mobile device.

Cheap & Discount Cell Phone Plans in Baltimore, MD

The best part about bigger cities and cellular network coverage is that smaller plan providers have the ability to compete. With enough population to provide reliable service as well as being able to rent equipment from the bigger carriers, budget cell phone companies are able to flourish in Baltimore, making them a great consideration for anyone looking to save a few dollars a month on their cell phone bill.

Some of the names consumers might recognize are fully operational in Baltimore including Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Mint Mobile and Metro By T-Mobile. Some of these companies offer cell phone plans for under than $10 per month.

One thing to always be careful about when it comes to budget carriers is hidden fees or unexpected overage charges. Make sure to read the fine print to make sure that the deal you’re getting is actually reflecting the monthly bill, because it’s likely not worth the trouble of using a budget carrier if it’s not going to save you more than at least 10-20% of one of the big telcos.

Lastly, it’s always important to take into consideration that some of the smaller carriers, while perfectly fine in a big city or county, might not be as reliable once you leave the area. If you’re doing much traveling, make sure you look into coverage availability makes to ensure you’ll have service wherever you go most often.

Baltimore, MD Zip Codes with the Best Cellular Coverage

• 21209
• 21214
• 21212
• 21224
• 21211
• 21210
• 21206
• 21229
• 21239
• 21218

While most zip codes in Baltimore have fairly solid coverage, the above zip codes appear to have the best coverage available. Don’t fret though if you’re looking at the above list and don’t see your zip code in it, if you live in Baltimore proper, you’ll be fine with any major provider and even most of the smaller competitors.