The best cell phone plans in Raleigh by category:
- The fastest wireless carrier in Raleigh: AT&T, with average speeds north of 100 Mbps
- The widest available wireless carrier in Raleigh: AT&T, almost the entire city gets 10 Mbps+ averages
- The largest 5G network available in Raleigh: T-Mobile (but Raleigh could use some 5G love)
- The most affordable wireless carrier in Raleigh: Mint Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile – plans starting at $10 per month
Very few cities have seen as much of a boom over the last decade as Raleigh, North Carolina. The city has seen growth from all industries and is now a blossoming east coast economy competing with its northern neighbors. Finance, big data, tech, consumer banking, and more, Raleigh’s job market continues to grow, real estate prices jump each day, and the population rapidly increases.
With that in mind, Raleigh is a great place to call home these days. It’s a fun city, with vibrant culture, a scene for everyone, and this trend doesn’t show many signs of slowing down.
With all the above in mind, the good news is that the wireless plan that will work best in Raleigh really just depends on your personal needs. If you’re looking for a big name with fast speeds on a reliable network? The names you recognize will have you covered. Hunting for a budget wireless plan? Plenty of competition to offer lower monthly prices.
Below you can find the best mobile carriers available to Raleigh consumers looking to compare plans as reviewed by the GammaWire team:
Top Mobile Wireless Plans in Raleigh
✔ 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 Raleigh?
As it stands right now, there’s a pretty clear winner with AT&T offering average speeds across Raleigh north of 100 Mbps, by far the fastest network in the city. Even without much 5G coverage in the city, some AT&T customers report speeds north of even 200 Mbps.
T-Mobile and Verizon could do a little more work here to improve their overall speeds to be competitive with AT&T but even with that in mind, both network will be perfectly serviceable for the average consumer, with Verizon edging out T-Mobile by a little bit of speed and coverage.
That being said, T-Mobile, at least nationally, is rapidly deploying 5G, meaning this could all change in the near future. With that under consideration….
Fastest Mobile Carriers in Raleigh(5G, 4G, LTE)
For now, AT&T puts out the fastest wireless coverage by at least a 2x margin across the average users in Raleigh. Some reports show AT&T north of 300 Mbps in some small areas, with most of the city able to get at least 10 Mbps.
Verizon offers max speeds around 250 Mbps as well, but are a bit lacking when it comes to average speeds. T-Mobile has some work to do, behind both Verizon and AT&T on average networks. Still, we fully expect with their early plans to roll out the fastest 5G networks nationwide, it might only be a matter of time before we’ll need to update this guide with a new fastest wireless carrier in Raleigh.
Cheap & Discount Cell Phone Plans in Raleigh, NC
Because of Raleigh’s sheer size, this means all the smaller networks can provide not only better pricing but at least comparable speeds and reliablity as their larger counterparts. If you’re looking for some of the best budget wireless plans in Raleigh, consider looking at Mint Mobile, Boost Mobile, and Cricket Wireless.
All three of them have plans below $20 a month that offer great pre-pay plans, discount cell phones, and more.
Keep in mind as you’re shopping to also make sure you look at national availability on smaller cell phone plan carriers. You’ll want to make a note of the places you travel to most to make sure that it’s got decent reception. Avoid rare blackouts by doing a little bit of homework first.
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:
Raleigh, NC Zip Codes with the Best Cellular Coverage
- 27601
- 27615
- 27608
- 27607
- 27610
- 27606
- 27605
- 27604
- 27616
- 27603
Raleigh is basically immune from wireless provider dead zones so even if you don’t see your zip code ranked above, trust us when we say that you’ll be good with almost any provider you choose. We hope that our guidance above will make for an easier decision.
