Best Phone Plans with Hotspot
Hotspot is the most misread line on a phone plan. Carriers advertise unlimited data and then include no tethering at all, or quote a hotspot figure that turns out to be carved from the same allowance your phone is using rather than added to it.
How we judged these plans ▾
The best plans for hotspot range from $25 to $60 a month and include 10GB to unlimited tethering. We ranked them on how much hotspot data you get, whether it's dedicated or shared with your phone, and what the plan costs.
Total MAX 5G BYO, at $25/mo
Nothing else offers unlimited hotspot at this price, and 5 Mbps is enough for real laptop work — video calls, email, documents, ordinary browsing. It runs on Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband with taxes and fees included and a five-year price guarantee, so $25 is what leaves the account and it stays there. For anyone who tethers regularly rather than occasionally, an uncapped allowance removes the monitoring that every other plan here requires.
The catch: Bring your own phone is required, which rules out device deals. The hotspot is speed-limited to 5 Mbps rather than full speed — fine for work, not for large downloads. Total ALL ACCESS raises it to 10 Mbps at $60.
Read our full review →Dedicated versus shared is the distinction that matters. Tracfone's $50 plan has a separate 15GB hotspot bucket; its $40 plan carves up to 8GB out of the 20GB your phone is also using. The second is worth far less than the first.
Top picks — the short version
The best hotspot plans give you 10GB to unlimited tethering for $25–$60 a month. The decision comes down to whether the allowance is dedicated or shared, and whether you need a laptop-grade speed or just occasional tethering.
At a Glance
What a year costs
Every plan on this page, annualised. Top to bottom, the gap is $420 a year.
Why These Plans Win
Every plan is scored against the same four pillars. Here is why each one made the ranking, who it fits, and what to watch for.
Dedicated hotspot versus shared allowance
This is the distinction that decides whether a hotspot figure means anything. A dedicated allowance sits alongside your phone data — Tracfone's $50 plan gives 15GB of hotspot on top of unlimited phone use, and Cricket Supreme gives 50GB on top of unlimited.
A shared allowance comes out of the same pool. Tracfone's $40 plan allocates up to 8GB for hotspot from its own 20GB, so tethering 8GB leaves 12GB for the phone. Google Fi is explicit that tethering counts towards your monthly high-speed data, which makes Premium's 50GB hotspot a ceiling inside its 100GB rather than an addition.
Neither is wrong, but they aren't comparable. When a carrier quotes a hotspot number, the first question is whether it's additional or carved out.
The plans that include no hotspot at all
More than you'd expect, and often at prices where you'd assume it's included. Page Plus includes no hotspot on any plan or pay-as-you-go card, up to and including its $55 unlimited tier. T-Mobile Essentials has none on any line. Metro's $25 and $40 Period tiers have none. Cricket's Sensible 10GB has none and no add-on option, and Select Unlimited requires a paid add-on.
Verizon Prepaid's Talk & Text and 15GB tiers have no dedicated allowance either — hotspot starts at the $50 Unlimited plan with 5GB.
If tethering matters, check for it explicitly rather than assuming an unlimited plan includes it.
Speed limits and what they mean in practice
Some unlimited hotspots are speed-capped rather than data-capped. Total MAX 5G BYO gives unlimited tethering at 5 Mbps and Total ALL ACCESS at 10 Mbps. T-Mobile Experience Beyond gives unlimited hotspot with 250GB at premium speed, then 3G.
5 Mbps handles video calls, email, documents and ordinary browsing comfortably. It won't handle large file transfers or 4K streaming. For most remote work, an uncapped 5 Mbps connection is more useful than a capped allowance at full speed — you stop counting gigabytes.
How much hotspot do you actually need?
A working day of email, documents and video calls runs roughly 1–3GB. Occasional tethering — a train journey, a coffee shop, a hotel with bad Wi-Fi — rarely exceeds 5GB a month, which Metro's $30 tier or H2O's $30 plan covers comfortably.
Regular remote work from a phone connection is where allowances get consumed: 15–30GB a month is realistic, which points at Tracfone's $50, Simple Mobile's $60 or Cricket Supreme's 50GB. Beyond that, unlimited at a speed cap is usually the better structure than a large capped bucket.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Affiliate disclosure: ShopCellPlans earns a commission on qualifying signups through some of the links on this page. Our rankings reflect editorial judgment, not commercial relationships. Read our methodology.