Costco Phone Plans: What You Actually Get
Costco does not have a phone plan. There is no Costco network, no Costco rate, and no membership discount on your monthly bill. What the Wireless Kiosk sells is a major carrier's own plan, at that carrier's own price, with a one-time incentive attached — usually a Costco Shop Card, waived activation, and whatever device promotion the carrier is already running.
How we judged these plans ▾
The question this page answers is not which Costco plan to buy — there aren't any — but whether the kiosk's one-time sweetener is worth more than the monthly saving you would get elsewhere. We price the incentive against the bill over two years.
This page ranks an offer, not a plan lineup, so the test is different from our other rankings: we price the one-time incentive against the monthly bill over a realistic ownership period, and compare that total to what the same network costs elsewhere.
We treat a Shop Card as what it is — a discount on your next Costco trip, not on your phone bill. A $200 card is $200, once. It does not compound, it does not reduce the plan price, and it does not survive you leaving the plan early if it was paid as bill credits rather than a card.
Plan prices come from the carrier's own page and are verified monthly. Costco does not alter them, which is the single most useful fact on this page.
T-Mobile Experience More, at $90/mo
If your warehouse has a T-Mobile kiosk, this is the plan the conversation is built around. The price is identical to signing up at a T-Mobile store or online; what Costco adds is the Shop Card and a waived activation fee. Unlimited premium data, 60GB of high-speed hotspot, Netflix and Apple TV, and international data in 215+ countries.
The catch: The Shop Card is one-time and the plan price is monthly. A $200 card against an $85 plan is worth about $8 a month over two years — real, but smaller than the gap to any MVNO on the same network.
Read our full review →Shop Card amounts and device promotions change monthly and vary by store. Verify the current offer at your own warehouse before deciding; the plan pricing below comes from the carrier and does not change at the kiosk.
At a Glance
What a year costs
Every plan on this page, annualised. Top to bottom, the gap is $600 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.
Also Worth Considering
Plans that didn’t make the ranking but are the right answer in a narrower case.
Some warehouses carry AT&T rather than T-Mobile. Same structure — carrier pricing, Costco Shop Card, waived activation. Which one your store has is not something you can choose.
Read more →Verizon's network, all-in pricing, no kiosk and no card. Over two years the monthly saving against a postpaid line dwarfs any Shop Card.
Read more →Runs on Verizon, T-Mobile or AT&T, so you can match whichever network your Costco kiosk was pushing — at roughly a third of the price.
Read more →T-Mobile's network on prepaid terms. The direct alternative if the kiosk in your warehouse is T-Mobile.
Read more →How to Choose
The questions that decide it, in the order worth asking them.
This is the whole question. If you had already decided to move to the carrier at your Costco kiosk, take the Shop Card — it is free money on a decision you had made. If the card is what is making you consider switching, you are being sold a monthly bill with a one-time discount on it.
Divide it by how long you will keep the plan. A $200 Shop Card across two years is about $8 a month. Compare that to the gap between the plan being pitched and an MVNO on the same network, which is usually $40 or more a month. The card rarely closes it.
It matters enormously. A Costco Shop Card is yours immediately and unconditionally. Carrier device credits are paid monthly over 24 or 36 months and stop if you cancel, downgrade, or leave — which converts a 'free phone' into a multi-year commitment to a premium plan.
Costco runs one carrier per store rather than all three. You cannot pick, and the answer may differ between two warehouses twenty minutes apart. If a specific network is the one that works at your house, check which store carries it before making a trip.
It is worth about $35 a line and it is a genuine saving, particularly on a family plan where it multiplies. On a single line it is the smallest part of the offer.
Best Plans by Use Case
Same price as anywhere else, plus a Shop Card and no activation fee. There is no reason to sign up elsewhere.
Runner-up: The same plan direct from T-Mobile if no warehouse near you has the kiosk.
Waived activation multiplies across lines, and switcher device promotions are richest on multi-line ports.
Runner-up: Cricket or Total Wireless multi-line if the monthly bill matters more than the one-time incentive.
Nothing at a Costco wireless kiosk lowers a monthly plan price. An MVNO on the same towers does, permanently.
Runner-up: Visible or US Mobile, depending on which network works where you live.
Costco routinely waives the upgrade fee and adds a Shop Card on top of the carrier's existing trade-in offer.
Runner-up: Buying the phone outright and pairing it with a prepaid plan, if you do not want a 36-month credit schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Costco have its own phone plan? +
Is a phone plan cheaper at Costco? +
How much is the Costco Shop Card for a new phone plan? +
Which carriers does Costco sell? +
Do you need a Costco membership to use the wireless kiosk? +
Is buying a phone plan at Costco worth it? +
Can you use a Costco Shop Card for your phone bill? +
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.