As a US carrier expert, Verizon is the only major carrier I recommend in 2026

A year or two ago, if you had told me that Verizon would be the carrier I would recommend most in 2026, I would have laughed in your face. And yet, we’re halfway through the year and that’s exactly what I’m doing. While AT&T and T-Mobile have become increasingly tone-deaf lately, Verizon is running with almost carrier-level energy, trying to win over fans with lower prices and a new plan structure that focuses on upgrades to fill any gaps.

I want to be completely clear from the beginning: for most users, I definitely recommend prepaid service over postpaid. That said, if you have your heart set on the latter, Verizon is the carrier that I think is most worth the risk right now.

Unless you have a grandfathered plan that doesn’t go away, I really don’t see why anyone would want to use AT&T or T-Mobile in 2026.

AT&T’s current strategy is primarily focused on bundling home Internet and boosting its broadband efforts, which may be important to some, but certainly isn’t a good enough reason to switch to its cellular plans. Even launched new basic cellular plans earlier this yearbut these were more lateral degrees or even a small step downward.

T-Mobile’s history has been a little less even. It has done some positive things, like introducing its Better Value plan, which is legitimately a better option for many families than T-Mobile’s more expensive plans. He also launched two plans designed for loyal customers.

On the other hand, T-Mobile has also spent much of the year more reducing its retail stores and recently announced is phasing out many of its older (and more affordable) legacy plans and pushing customers toward newer options. It has also weakened its price guarantees and moved away from inclusive taxes and fees over the past year.

Bottom line, I wouldn’t recommend AT&T or T-Mobile for their core postpaid plans as a new customer. The only way to really get a reasonably good deal on either is to have a special plan like T-Mobile’s Better Value Plan or a grandfathered plan from AT&T.

As for great deals? None of the big three offer great value, but I think Verizon is probably closer to hitting the mark. Increasingly, customers are looking for a simple, easy experience that gets the job done without costing a fortune. And by that metric, Verizon’s Simplicity plan is a good fit.

Verizon Simplicity offers unlimited talk, text, and prioritized high-speed data for just $30 a month per line, whether you bring one line or four. Even with taxes and fees charged separately, this is much cheaper than any other postpaid plan out there. That includes entry-level tiers with non-prioritized data. Of course, this is not without very real disadvantages either.

The $30/month fee is only for those switching from another provider; otherwise, you’ll pay $45 a month. Verizon Simplicity also doesn’t include subsidized phones, although there are expensive add-ons that cost more in the long run but basically work similarly and even give you the option to upgrade the phones once a year. If you are curious For the other issues Verizon might be hiding, be sure to check out my guide on why Personally I’m skipping Simplicity.

But even that being the case, Verizon’s Simplicity is still the easiest plan to recommend among the non-legacy options offered by the big three right now.

Verizon might be the best option right now, but that’s only if you’re willing to overlook their past behaviors. Not exactly a company with a stellar track record of treating its customers right. I understand that many won’t want to risk things with Big Red and I can’t entirely blame them.

However, the real truth is that Verizon Simplicity only looks impressive in direct comparison to its postpaid competitors. That’s not necessarily a completely fair comparison either, since many of those plans have subsidized phones, free phone deals, and other premium features that Simplicity doesn’t have. Honestly, Simplicity is more of a “prepaid plus” experience in terms of features and pricing.

Compared to Verizon’s Visible, US Mobile and other big prepaid players? The fight becomes much closer and will mainly depend on how much you trust Verizon. As for me? Unless Verizon really impresses me before I pay off my family’s latest device, I plan to switch to Visible.