The best cell phone plans in Los Angeles by category:
- The fastest wireless carrier in Los Angeles: AT&T, but Verizon is close
- The widest available wireless carrier in LA: AT&T and Verizon both offer reliable coverage above 10Mbps no matter location
- The largest 5G network available in Los Angeles: AT&T with about 40% coverage, T-Mobile is catching up
- The most affordable wireless carrier in Los Angeles: Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile, and Mint Mobile all with plans starting at $10 per month
California, one of the United States’ most tech-friendly states, is home to several major cities that boast massive industry, population numbers, economics, and popular places to live. Los Angeles is among one of the most populated cities, with several massive industries such as entertainment, fashion, and technology, and thus brings in the biggest players when it comes to wireless coverage.
Because of it’s large population, just about every major carrier focuses on providing top-tier service across the board. Interestingly though, as you’ll see below, 5G rollout in LA has been slower than in some other high tech cities. That being said, the reason for the 5G rollout being slower might be because most of the major wireless carriers offer insane speeds on their current network (T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon all show speeds above 300Mbps when they’re at their best).
Below you can find the best mobile carriers available to Los Angeles consumers looking to compare plans as reviewed by the GammaWire team:
Top Mobile Wireless Plans in Los Angeles
✔ T-Mobile Backed
✔ Pre-Paid Only
✔ Bundle Options
✔ Family Options
✔ Best Coverage
✔ Most Features
✔ Frugal Family Deals
✔ AT&T’s Network
✔ Fair Coverage
✔ Great Value
✔ No Contract
✔ Pre-Paid Option
Which Mobile Provider Has the Best Cell Coverage in L.A.?
Verizon and AT&T are the two you’ll want to choose from when it comes tot he best overall coverage. Both networks have 99% coverage when it comes to average speeds north of 10Mbps, with the median consumer seeing north of 80Mbps on both networks. T-Mobile lags a bit in Los Angeles in comparison with their two biggest competitors.
Both AT&T and Verizon offer rock solid upload speeds as well, meaning if you’re watching a lot of videos OR uploading a lot of content over the wireless network, either one of these carriers will give you plenty of speed and reliability to do so.
The good news, as we’ll discuss more below as well, is that there are several smaller budget wireless providers in Los Angeles that flex some serious muscle as well. More on that later.
Fastest Mobile Carriers in Los Angeles (5G, 4G, LTE)
As it stands right now, AT&T and T-Mobile both offer the broadest 5G coverage, but it’s not widespread across all of Los Angeles yet. The reason here probably has something to do with how massive LA is, and how new the 5G technology and network is.
We fully expect in the early 2020s that we’ll see some massive expansion in 5G rollout, but we wouldn’t bet on Los Angeles being the first place to get it. Still, Both AT&T and T-Mobile are heading toward about 50% coverage and will likely be there soon. Verizon hasn’t really put much effort into their SoCal rollout, but that could change if competition gets fierce.
Verizon and AT&T have some ridiculous average speeds though, both north of 80Mbps, so while 5G is of course great, most consumers might not even notice the difference in the LA area.
Cheap & Discount Cell Phone Plans in Los Angeles, California
Competition is ridiculous in Los Angeles when it comes to finding affordable wireless plans in southern California. While the major networks are all focusing on fighting the other ones off, many smaller upstart cell plan providers are growing their customer base.
Boost Mobile has solid coverage in Los Angeles. Mint Mobile and Cricket Wireless also are ready to compete with one another when it comes to providing a budget cell network that in other parts of the country would be competitive with the big companies.
We’d probably start with Mint Mobile as our first choice in the cheap cell plans arena, but definitely shop a few networks here.
Find a Cell Plan in Your Area
We hope the information above was enough to help find a wireless provider near you. Click on one of the providers below to view their latest plans, rates and promotions in your area:
Los Angeles, CA Zip Codes with the Best Cellular Coverage
- 90011
- 90006
- 90057
- 90020
- 90005
- 90044
- 90022
- 90029
- 90004
To be frank, if you’re looking at the above list and worried that you don’t see your zip code, you’ll probably be fine no matter your location in Los Angeles. From our research it was hard to find a zip code in Los Angeles that DIDN’T get rock solid coverage, so these are just a sample of some of the bigger winners.
