Consumer Cellular vs. Straight Talk, Hands-On Analysis
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October 22, 2024
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Key Findings
- Compared to Straight Talk, Consumer Cellular offers more affordable talk, text, and data plans.
- Straight Talk plans are prepaid, while Consumer Cellular contracts renew every month.
- Unlike Straight Talk, Consumer Cellular offers a special discounted plan for seniors that comes with unlimited talk, text, and data.
FYI: Consumer Cellular is one of the best providers, but it lacks the fast data speeds of our favorite. To see which one outranked them, read our rundown of the best cell phone plans for seniors.
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| Editor's Ratings | ||
| Starting Cost (One Line) | $20 per month | $30 per month |
| Starting Cost for Unlimited Talk, Text, and Data (One Line) | $50 per month | $35 per month |
| Discounts for Multiple Lines | Yes, additional lines cost $15 each | Yes, save $15 with each additional line |
| Annual Contracts | Not required | Not required, but discounts are offered for paying for one year in advance |
| Bring Your Own Phone Option | Yes | Yes |
| Contact | ||
| Phone Number |
Call for best price:
844-580-0512 |
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| Website | View Packages | View Packages |
Plans and Costs
Consumer Cellular plans start at $20 per month for unlimited talk, text and 1GB of data per month. In addition, 5GB costs $25 per month, 10GB costs $35 per month, and unlimited data costs $50 per month.
With Consumer Cellular, additional lines cost only $15 — regardless of the plan you choose. For example, its unlimited data plan costs $50 for one line, $65 for two lines, $80 for three lines, and so on — all the way up to seven lines.
Additionally, even if your data is limited on a monthly basis, Consumer Cellular won’t impose overage charges. Instead, if you exceed your monthly data allowance, you’ll be upgraded to the next plan for that billing period automatically.
Straight Talk’s plans operate a bit differently. Instead of paying on a monthly basis, subscribers must prepay for their service in one-, three-, six-, or 12-month increments. Paying for more months at a time will result in a greater discount. For example, its Extended Silver Unlimited plan costs about $43 per month with a three-month contract or $495 per year ($41.25 per line per month).
Any additional line you add to Straight Talk, you’ll save $15. Straight Talk also gives you the option to purchase additional data and refill an existing plan at $5 per gigabyte. If you don’t end up using this extra data, it will carry over to your next service cycle.
Senior Plans
Consumer Cellular offers a 5 percent discount on all its plans to AARP members. It also offers a special plan for subscribers ages 55 and older. With Consumer Cellular’s senior plan, you get two lines of unlimited talk, text, and data for $55. While this plan requires you to purchase two lines, it’s definitely among the most affordable unlimited plans for seniors.
Currently, there is no Straight Talk plan for seniors.
Savings Tip: Cellular service is one of the many things you can save on by being an AARP member. To see the full rundown, read our guide Is an AARP Membership Worth It?
Contracts
With Consumer Cellular, all prices are monthly. So, you don’t have to worry about signing up for a particular period of time. In fact, for the first 30 days, you can cancel and get your money back — provided you’ve used fewer than 500MB of data and return your device to Consumer Cellular in like-new condition. Within 90 days of your cancellation, the company will give you back any remaining funds over $25.
Straight Talk offers one-, three-, six-, and 12-month prepaid options. You can save money by signing up for a longer period of time. However, with the various Extended Silver Unlimited plans, the savings are fairly negligible. Plus, the month-to-month plans have only 100MB of data, 1,500 minutes, and unlimited text for $30 per month. Although not all of Straight Talk’s plans are monthly, there will be no early termination fees with any plan.
Phones and Devices
Consumer Cellular and Straight Talk both give you the option to bring your own phone and use it with their SIM card on their networks. To see if your current phone is compatible with their networks, you can visit their websites; they have the tools to check compatibility. You will either need a physical SIM card or an eSIM card with modern phones like the iPhone SE, one of the best iPhones for seniors. Neither company requires activation fees. But, while Consumer Cellular provides free SIM cards, Straight Talk requires a one-time purchase of $4.88.
If you want to purchase a new device, both providers offer a similar lineup of iPhones, Androids, and other mobile phones. Overall, the pricing is similar. However, we did notice that Straight Talk tended to offer slightly lower prices. For example, Consumer Cellular currently charges $429 for an iPhone SE, while Straight Talk charges $380 for the same phone. However, prices vary, so you’ll have to compare prices on a device-by-device basis.
Coverage
Both Consumer Cellular and Straight Talk are Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), meaning they lease their networks from other providers. Straight Talk uses Verizon’s network, while Consumer Cellular uses AT&T and T-Mobile's networks.
The downside of an MVNO is that during times of heavy data usage, T-Mobile and AT&T will deprioritize service for MVNO users. That means that if everyone around you is on the phone, you may get slower speeds; that’s the case with both Consumer Cellular and Straight Talk, though. That said, in our tests, we didn’t notice these slowdowns with either provider.
Our Favorite
Consumer Cellular’s plans start at $20 per month for unlimited talk or $50 for unlimited data. If you’re an AARP member, unlimited talk starts at $19 per month, while unlimited data costs $47.50 per month. In comparison, unlimited talk costs $35 per month with Straight Talk, while unlimited data, not throttled after the first 25GB, costs $45. But, we think Consumer Cellular is worth it for the monthly contracts alone. To learn more about this plan, read our full Consumer Cellular review, or dive deeper into Straight Talk in our Straight Talk review.