The best cell phone plans in New York City by category:
- The fastest wireless carrier in New York: Verizon Wireless, speeds north of 150 Mbps on average
- The widest available wireless carrier in New York: Verizon with almost 100% coverage above 10 Mbps
- The largest 5G network available in New York: AT&T at 70% coverage, T-Mobile at around 60% coverage
- The most affordable wireless carrier in New York: Mint Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile – plans starting at $10 per month
One of the busiest cities in the world with anything you can imagine across its many neighborhoods, New York boasts everything from tourism, finance, technology, fashion, and more. The city is home to some of the world’s biggest companies as well as plenty of opportunity for any new company to take shape here.
Because of this, all the major carriers compete heavily for market share in New York City. This means for most consumers your choices will be limitless and competition between the carriers is fierce. While there is a pretty clear winner in Verizon, if you can find a better deal with one of the other Big Three carriers or if you’d prefer going with a budget wireless provider, you’ll have your choices.
Below you can find the best mobile carriers available to NYC consumers looking to compare plans as reviewed by the GammaWire team:
Top Mobile Wireless Plans in New York
✔ 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 New York?
If you’re looking for what wireless carrier is the go-to choice in NYC, we recommend Verizon. They’re fast, reliable, and have great rates and options on pricing. In other words, you won’t go wrong choosing Verizon here.
AT&T and T-Mobile are both tied for second here. While they are both totally capable of providing great speeds and top notch reliability, they’re still both behind Verizon in our opinion. That being said, if you’d really prefer to avoid Verizon for some reason, then either one of these two carriers would be fine.
We’d expect you’ll have no trouble finding 10 Mbps speeds on any of the big three’s networks no matter where you are in NY, so never fear here. But if you’re looking for the best all-around coverage, go Verizon.
Fastest Mobile Carriers in New York (5G, 4G, LTE)
If you’re looking strictly for top-line speed out of your wireless carrier, we’d recommend going with either Verizon or AT&T. Verizon again beats the board when it comes to top averages (north of 150Mbps and nearly 100% coverage north of 10 Mbps).
AT&T flexes a little muscle here as well, with averages somewhere around 100 Mbps. They dip a bit when it comes to average speeds north of 10 Mbps, with blank spots that won’t offer you great speeds for things like HD video and whatnot.
T-Mobile, who is normally more dominant with their 5G coverage, is a bit more in the middle here. While we expect to see them improve in the coming years with their 5G rollout plans, for now they’re behind in New York. The fastest will usually be a fiber connection so if you need that check out our guide to NYC internet providers here.
Cheap & Discount Cell Phone Plans in New York, NY
Oh baby have we got deals for you.
Thanks to the sheer volume of competition in NYC, you’ll absolutely be able to find a budget wireless carrier that works for your needs both when it comes to plans, pricing, availability, and reliability.
The two or three carriers we recommend you look at for cheap plans in the NY area are going to be Mint Mobile (starting at about $15 a month), Cricket Wireless (starting at about $20 a month), and Boost Mobile (starting at around $30 a month).
One super important thing to note about choosing a discount cell plan in New York is that while things might work great in a major city, please check the provider’s coverage map around the US in the areas where you might travel frequently enough to know that you’ll need reliable cell service in those areas as well.
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:
NYC Zip Codes with the Best Cellular Coverage
- 10162
- 10128
- 10031
- 10028
- 10016
- 11372
- 10003
- 10009
- 10023
It’s hard to find too many dead spots in New York City these days, so even if you don’t see your zip code on the above list as one of the best areas for cell coverage in the city, you’re almost certainly fine.
