How To Get The T-Mobile $30 Plan and Save Money Every Month

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Latest Update: T-Mobile NO LONGER offers the $30 wireless plan. Sorry. They removed it in the beginning of 2017. They have since replaced it with a $40 plan with 10GB of 5G LTE data per month and $50/month for unlimited data These also include mobile hotspot usage. You can view them here.

T-Mobile is working hard to take customers away from the larger cell companies like AT&T and Verizon. They have cut contracts and keep dropping their pricing. Having said that, they are not always the cheapest game in town. That distinction goes to Republic Wireless. Either way, did you know there is a little T-Mobile $30 plan that most people don’t even know about? It’s perfect for those who don’t need a lot of minutes, but want data and texts! It’s very hard to find on T-Mobile.com, but that’s why I’m here to show you.

I get a lot of cellular related questions and one is “how can I get the T-Mobile $30 Plan?” Now, this plan used to be quite popular and very easy to find.  Well, that ship has sailed and the plan is a little more secretive.  I mean, can you blame T-Mobile?  You can get up to 5GB of 4G service and 100 minutes of talk time for only $30 A MONTH!  That is a deal if you don’t use many minutes, but want to have internet access and text to your heart’s desire at 4G LTE speeds!

The T-Mobile $30 Plan

Before I show you how to get this elusive plan, I am going to quickly give you a rundown on what it entails.  It is a pretty simple plan and that is why the low price is attractive.  Here are the basic features of the $30 plan.

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  • “Unlimited” Data – You get up to 5GB of 4G speed data to your phone.  While you don’t lose your data after that point, your speed will be dropped considerably to where it is almost unusable.  I don’t like to call it unlimited, but technically, it is. I believe the data speeds drop to 2G after you use up your 5GB of data.
  • Unlimited Texts – This is pretty common now.  You can send all the texts you want with no issues.
  • Unlimited International Texting – You can do unlimited texting from the US to any location covered in the plan.
  • 100 Minutes of Talk – Now, you might say this is really low, but for many people, this is plenty.  This is what many people frown upon with this plan.

Does that 100 minutes scare you?  Are you a big talker?  If so, then this plan might not be for you.  If you like more talk time, then check out Straight Talk.  I think their $45/month plan will be better suited for you and you can bring your own phone. You can also check out Cricket Wireless or even Total Wireless.

How To Buy The T-Mobile $30 Plan

This used to be fairly easy.  You would just go to t-mobile.com and then go to their prepaid section and there it was.  Now, it is much harder.  Head over to this page on T-Mobile.com because they don’t even show this on the regular plans page without going through about 10 clicks.

T-Mobile $30 Plan pricing

This $30 plan is only available when you purchase a phone from Walmart or if you activate your device on T-Mobile.com. My recommendation would be to use an unlocked phone and then just buy the SIM activation kit from T-Mobile.com (or Amazon) and then activate it when you do that. Yes, you can buy a phone from Walmart, but I’ve gotten nice, unlocked phones from Amazon (Three of my past four phones have been unlocked and from Amazon). Just make sure you buy a GSM phone to work on the T-Mobile network.

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I haven’t found much information about using an older T-Mobile phone with the $30 plan, but that might be something you could do if you can activate it on T-Mobile.com.  As long as the phone works on the T-Mobile network which is GSM, then you should be fine.

So, if you are looking for the T-Mobile $30 plan to save money on your monthly cell phone bill, then you can head over to Walmart and get a phone or just shop on t-mobile.com and bring your own phone.  I think the plan is good enough and can really save you some serious money.  This is all dependent on how well the T-Mobile service works in your area.  It works really well in my home town, but I know others that it doesn’t work well at all. Check the T-Mobile coverage map to make sure before you make any purchase.

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96 Comments

  1. I was amazed for $30 only and it offers lots of features. Usually our cell phone plans here when you want to avail unli text, unli data and some minutes free call I think it ranges from $40 and above.

    1. It does offer a lot. Yes, the minutes are low, but there are many apps that you can download that will let you talk over wifi.

  2. Interesting option if you don’t do much talking. I use more than 100 minutes so RW is better for me. Although this is cheaper if you’re looking for 4G data and don’t have much access to wi-fi. It’s just nice to see that there are so many lower-cost options out there now.

    1. Ah, Republic Wireless. I am doing a review of them now. They have an interesting service, but you have to have good wifi and the Sprint network is not good in many places. If it works for you, then excellent.

  3. I currently use Walmart Family Mobile and really like it. I did add a second GB of data so I pay about $50 a month. I love that it’s month-to-month. I’ll stop talking about it for now until you post your review haha.

    1. Dang it DC! 😉

      I don’t use much data, so I stay well under the cap for the Family Mobile plan. I like the price and T-Mobile works well in my area. It doesn’t work well in some though.

  4. Like you said, I think it is a great plan if you don’t talk much. Unfortunately that wouldn’t work for us largely because of our business. That said, we’ll be looking to leave Verizon once we can early next year.

    1. It doesn’t work for me because of my business as well. Walmart Family Mobile is good enough for me, but Straight Talk has their “unlimited” plan that is only $45.

  5. My assistant at work has this exact plan and loves it. He purchased the Google Nexus 4 directly from the Play store and it works flawlessly with this plan. Inexpensive super-phone + inexpensive plan, what’s not to love?

    1. Glad to hear that he was able to get the Nexus 4 and use it. I have heard from some that they couldn’t bring their own phone, but I think it depends on the phone.

  6. Like DC, I’ve also had a run trying out Walmart Family Mobile….that along with this post and other reviews of no contract plans really make me wish we would have done some additional research before we signed up for a two year contract with AT&T.

    1. I am glad I don’t have a contract. It really makes life much easier. I can just go and leave whenever I want if the service is not doing well.

  7. Romona@Monasez says:

    Seems like a pretty decent plan but are there free nights and weekends or free mobile to mobile? I used to have tmobile but I really didnt really like their service. I have at &t now n they’re a littke more money but its worth it.

    1. No, most prepaid plans don’t have the nights and weekends or mobile to mobile thing. If you like AT&T, have you checked out Straight Talk? They use the AT&T towers, but you have unlimited minutes and texts. They do cap your data, but that is only based on the speed you receive.

  8. Wow this sounds awesome! I may have to look into this. We hardly use our cell phones now and are still paying the same crazy amount each month.

    1. It can be good if you don’t use many minutes. I have thought about it, but I use more than 100 minutes.

      1. If you use the Google Hangouts Application + the Google Hnagouts Dialer, it links your mobile number to the application and uses wifi and data to make calls without using the 100 minute allotment.

        Before I was paying Skype $3.00 a month for Unlimited North America Calling, but getting to use the Google App is a lot easier and $3.00 less a month having to pay Microsoft Skype.

  9. Richard Jonas @ PrivateQuote.com says:

    I have a 4GB data plan and have never exceeded 2 GB in one month. It’s almost worth having this plan for text and data and another “bare bones” plan for just the voice. Downside = 2 phones.

    1. There are apps that will allow you to make calls over WiFi. It can save a lot of minutes, so you only use them when you aren’t near WiFi.

  10. Tara @ Streets Ahead Living says:

    It would be from a different number but you could talk more than 100 minutes on that phone plan. If you set up a Google Voice account through your gmail account and then buy an app like GrooVe IP which will allow you to make true VOIP calls via your data plan using your Google Voice number. You can port your cell phone number to Google Voice so then your cell phone would really be truly VOIP and the number you’d get with T-Mobile you’d never really use. It’s a way to make the plan work if you’re a big talker. 🙂

    1. Yep, that is true. Many do with with Straight Talk as well. The only downfall of GV is that you can’t get MMS messages (or picture texts) as it is not setup to handle those. You can still get texts and calls.

  11. Bryce @ Save and Conquer says:

    My wife likes the Straight Talk $45 plan. I doubt we will switch from that. I just got a FreedomPop phone for $100 (it’s an HTC EVO refurb), with no additional cost for my connection as long as I stay under their monthly limits of 200 talk minutes, 500 messages, and 500 MB data. I made sure to turn off their automatic topoff that will add more data when you hit 400 MB at the cost of 1-cent/MB or $10/GB. Since I am often on WiFi, I haven’t come close to hitting the 500 MB limit. It uses Sprint network, but so far I am happy with it.

    1. That is a good plan. I used it for some time before I went with Walmart Family Mobile. Thanks for the feedback on FreedomPop

  12. Drats! I use over 200 talk minutes a month or this would have been very appealing. I’m going to have to look in to Straight Talk though when I change cell companies in March.

    1. I would definitely look at Straight Talk. They have service that runs off of AT&T and T-Mobile.

  13. Actually as long as you get an sim card activation kit from tmobile [which is $0 including shipping off and on by the way; otherwise $10; pick the sim card that fits the phone you want] you can select the $30 plan when you go through the steps.

    Buy a GSM phone. Put sim in the phone. Open the activation packet from Tmobile. Enter activation code, sim code & phone IMEI. Select the $30 plan from the choices presented [100 minutes unlimited text data 5G] and then pay at check out.

    1. Thank you for the information Trish. I will update the post to let people know. I thought that was how it used to be, but they use some different language now.

    2. Can you confirm that this actually worked for you? I have an unlocked phone (iPhone 5S), and bought the nano-sim activation kit from T-Mobile. But everything seems to indicate that I need to buy another kit from Walmart to actually get myself onto the $30 plan. Also, I’d like to port my number over from AT&T – is that possible?

      1. Hello Steve,

        A reader indicated that you can buy an activation kit from T-mobile.com or Walmart. When you go through the activation process, it will ask you if you want to transfer a number over. If you bought the activation kit from T-mobile.com it should work.

  14. I just activated the $30 unlimited text/data 100 min talk plan on my Verizon issued iPhone 5. So it seems any unlocked phone will work.

    1. Thanks Ray for the information. That is surprising as those are two totally different networks. One runs of CDMA and the other on GSM. Thanks for stopping by to leave the comment.

      1. Ray Gassert says:

        Verizon iPhones were all sent unlocked & LTE is a GSM technology.

        1. Yes, they are unlocked, but GSM covers different bands. You need to make sure the phone can pick up the band your unlocked phone works with.

  15. keep in mimd all 4LTE devices from verizon are unlock, and some devices in verizon are world phones thats why they will work with tmobile and att but it might not work all the time because worlds phones have different radio bands, and also tmobile uses different bands in the US.

    1. Yes, all 4G LTE phones are unlocked, but they use different frequencies than in the US. As you stated, you need to make sure it covers the bands for the US or it will be useless.

  16. I just activated an iPhone 5c on this plan. Since Walmart’s selection of iPhones is so limited I bought an unlocked 32gb in the color I wanted straight from apple (I’m sure the 5s works the same). The phone doesn’t need to be purchased from Walmart. Just to be safe, I bought the sim starter kit at Walmart for $40. This kit includes the first month of service. I would recommend doing the activation set up there with a Walmart rep. I first attempted online at tmobile’s website but it turned out to be a discouraging failure. The Walmart rep did the whole process for me. I ported my number over from Verizon. For this I needed my Verizon account # and pin #. This was a hassle for me because I was on my dad’s family plan.
    After the cost of an unlocked iPhone 5c and a $40 tmobile starter kit from Walmart, I now have the phone I’ve always wanted with the monthly rate I vowed to never exceed. And the minutes are not an issue because I have plenty of apps (using data) to choose from to dodge the minute usage as well as wifi for a supplement.
    I hope this info helps.

    1. Thank you for the info Nathan! This will be helpful for my readers. Glad to hear that you got a good phone at a good monthly price. That is really the goal!

  17. What happens if you go over 100 minutes of talk time? I’m assuming there’s a per minute charge?

  18. Writing this on May 15th, 2014:
    I ordered a SIM card kit online with TMobile in March, asking for the $30 / 100 min / 5 GB plan. The operator said fine no problem. Received the card kit that week.

    Unfortunately, I needed to wait through 2 months of service with ATT before they (ATT) would unlock the phone (iPhone 5) I bought through Amazon. I should have thought of that before I bought, but I thought, OK, stiff upper lip… 2 months, and then I’d be good.

    Except today, when I call TM they say “I’m sorry, that plan is only available for phones purchased through Walmart.” They sounded adamant. I said I’d call back.

    No mention of the “Walmart-only” back in March. Did the policy change since then?

    1. You can still do it with phones not purchased from Walmart. I have heard people do it often as recently as last week.

  19. anyway to downgrade to the $30 plan if already on t-mobile??

  20. I just went online and ordered the t-mobile sim card. A customer rep came on over chat and was very helpful and sent me the correct link for the sim card as well as the code SIMDEAL to get if for $.01-no shipping. Make sure you know the correct size of your sim card. Most iPhones use a nano and Samsung smart phones generally have micro sim cards. If you are not sure, google the right type of sim card for your particular phone.
    Since I have magic jack and downloaded the app to my iPhone, I think this will work for me. I plan on paying the early termination fee of $85 to Verizon-my contract will be up on 17 Dec-but even with that, this plan is $10 less than just the monthly line charge for my cell and I do not have to tell you how expensive the data is. My daughter and I share the ‘more of everything plan’ (yes more of our money for Verizon) and I do get a 15% discount, but on the data only. My daughter only has two month left on her contract, but her early termination fee would be $140 so for her it does not make any sense to do that. More than likely, she and my fiance will do StraightTalk bcs they do not have magicjack. I don’t like the fact that you still have to spend $15 for their sim card, which is also what ruled family mobile out for me with the $25 activation fee.

    I will come back on here and tell you how it went.

    1. Thank you for providing your feedback on what you did. It should be quite helpful for my other readers.

  21. My husband and I are both on the Family Mobile from walmart powered by T-Mobile. We pay for the services on the walmart website, bought the sim cards from walmart and now that we are being charged almost 80 bucks a month. That is just way too much for us. My question is we have phones not from walmart, but have the walmart sims cards installed and they work. How would I go about getting the 30$ prepaid cards and switching to that instead of the crazy 80 bucks? Thanks so much, I love that I was able to do a search for this and found your blog. Thanks bunches!!

    1. You need to buy the SIM cards from t-mobile.com and then when you get them, you go through the activation. When doing so, you can choose the $30 plan and be on your way.

      1. Awesome, thank you so much for clarifying! 😀

  22. I have the family tmobile plan from walmart, 24.95 month add a line for 19.99- had to buy the start-up packs for 25.00 each, bought 2 cheap phones for 25.00 each, had to return one because it was a pos. we took our own numbers from sprint (hate that company) we supposedly have unlimited talk text data but now the deal is unlimited talk text with data being 15.00 each a month. Don’t need data on one of the phones, (the pos we still have) I bought online and had to wait for delivery to the store from walmart the 30 plan you are speaking of for my 17 yr old son, he is somewhat autistic so he doesn’t talk much anyway, he does use the web and text so it is a perfect plan, the start-up and phone and one month service was only 39.00, the phone is a good little phone better then the pos we bought with our plans for non talkers and more text web users this is a great plan, the phone is refurbished but it has qwerty keyboard touch screen really a good deal. you have to keep checking back because when i first inquired online for the deal the phone was out of stock, but overall that is the deal of the day

  23. I’m eager to get this plan, but I wonder if I buy a phone full price from Tmobile, which includes a Sim starter kit, Would I be able to activate this plan like any other unlocked phone or does it come pre loaded with eligible plans?

    1. Just buy the plan online and you should be able to do it. SIM Cards do not come pre-loaded with any plans. You have to choose your plan. You just can’t do this in the store.

  24. Does anyone know if you can keep your old number getting this plan?
    Thanks!

    1. You can keep your number with almost any plan out there these days. The only numbers which have problems transferring are ones you got with a prepaid service, but that is hit or miss.

  25. We just did this last night with an unlocked iphone4. If the coverage is good I will upgrade to a 5c. This is the perfect plan for us as no one uses many talk minutes.

    We ported a number from Tracfone. It wasn’t easy, but it did finally happen.

    When you transfer numbers online (which you are supposed to do to get the $30 plan) it asks for your serial # and pin from old phone. TM told us to enter 0000 as the TF pin. TF told us there was no pin. When we tried the 0000 we waited and waited and nothing happened. We then found out that this did not work and the transaction was cancelled, and my activation code and phone card were voided, that’s where the trouble started.

    Anyway, after looking around online it seems that the TF pin is the last 4 digits of your phone #. When I told the TM rep this, it went through in about 4 hours. (Seems they should know this, but anyway..) I spent over 3 hours on the phone with them. I heard the “must be purchased at WM” and “we can’t do this plan over the phone” but amazingly when I got angry (after 2.5 hours of run around) a supervisor over-rode everything and it was done while we were talking. First with a temporary # and later that evening the TF # was ported.

    1. Thank you for the information Sherry. This will help others looking to get the $30 plan from T-Mobile. Many people have problems with PIN numbers and it always surprises me the companies don’t know what the PINs are. It’s sad one has to go online to find this information. Sorry to hear the long hassle, but glad you were able to get it!

  26. they had to get rid of it because they couldent stay in bunises and be a phone company there werent very good

    1. Hmm…not sure what you’re talking about. The $30 plan is very much still available. It’s even on their site.

  27. I purchased a Lumia 635 windows phone for T-Mobile from Best Buy and a sim activation kit from them also. I didn’t purchase activation kit at T-Mobile.com. does that make a difference? Also, what apps are available that would work with Google Voice on a windows phone.? Would appreciate any input

    1. I do think you have to buy the activation on T-mobile.com, but have you tried activating it on T-mobile.com? Did Best Buy already activate it? You can try out GoVoice in order to use Google Voice on your phone.

  28. Hello, i kind of got interested….
    I have a question, so you can use it with “any” unlocked device?
    or only the one you bought in walmart?, that confuses me.

    1. You can use it with any unlocked phone that works on a T-mobile network (GSM). They say you need to buy the phone from Walmart, but others have done it and it’s not true. You do have to get the SIM from T-Mobile and activate it on T-Mobile.com.

  29. If I’m currently using their $40 prepaid plan, would I be able to switch to the $30 plan later on? If so, how do I go about doing this? Please let me know! Thank you.

    1. That is a good question Ye and I’m not sure if you can switch to it to be completely honest.

  30. I’m currently planning a one month trip to the US, and have a unlocked Nexus 5. Would I just be able to buy the SIM card activation kit from Walmart, and get the plan?

  31. It sounds like a good deal, if you don’t use minutes. I think also if you have unlimited data, there’s many free over Wi-Fi services for talking on a cell. Thanks for the advice.

    1. Well, you only have 5GB of 4G data. Yes, there are quite a few of those apps available.

  32. Does Google Hangout calls over this plan’s Data, not over home Wifi network, use up the available 100 minutes? If not, then it’s a great way to have more talk minutes than 100.

    Can anyone verify on this?

  33. Thanks for the $30 plan link, Grayson!

    I bought my unlocked iPhone off Craigslist and used it on their T-Mobile’s $50/month Simple Choice plan for a few months, but T-Mobile was still willing to let me downshift to the $30 plan. Unfortunately they only offer it by phone call, not by editing my account.

    However the actual change still took multiple calls with a half-dozen “specialists”, eight tweets from their customer service, and porting over our phone number (a two-hour service interruption). Infrastructure and processes should not be so hard that the company has to expend $300 in labor to keep a $30/month customer…

    1. Sorry to hear about that Doug. I would agree with you wholeheartedly. You shouldn’t expend much time to offer a $30 plan. Sad to hear about their technical issues around downgrading a plan.

    2. Hey Doug,
      Did they let you keep your original t-mobile number?

      I want to switch to this plan but am scared to lose my number as I’m already with t-mobile on their simple choice plan

  34. The $30 100 minute-5GB plan is not an issue at all when you fully integrate your phone with Google Voice. I never give out my mobile number only the Google Voice number so any calls and texts in or out go via data. Been doing this for at least three years. Have also recently bought a SIP device which also integrates Google Voice with your home phone without need of a different number. No additional annual or monthly fees then for your home phone for US calls and cheap for international calls.

    1. Google Voice is great and something I’m trying to get my sister-in-law to set up.

  35. Are you sure the data is LTE?
    T-Mobile website advertises it as 4G, whereas for any other plan they specify 4G LTE.

    1. That is a great question Andres. It’s very hard to figure out on their page, but when I had this (don’t anymore), I was getting 4G LTE, so I’m going to assume LTE, but I can’t guarantee that. You would need to contact them.

  36. Hi I got this $30 unlimited sim card for a a week’s trip in US last August. Lots of hassle trying to register it online T-mobile website but in the end it worked.

    I still have the sim card and will be making at trip to US again in a week’s time, does anyone know if this sim is still valid to use and or how much I need to top up in order to still get the unlimited data and text with 100mins talk?

    or am I better off buying a new T-mobile sim from Walmart?
    Thanks

      1. Hi Grayson and Polly,

        I did have that plan, then moved back overseas, switching to a $3-month pay as you go plan (the minimum).
        When I went back for vacations, I called t-mobile and the first operator I talked to switched me back to the walmart $30 plan.

        Now I have a feeling I got very lucky and found a rep willing and able, but as with every CSP, the gold motto is “if you don’t like the answer they give you, hang up and call again”.

        There’s one more thing: 3 months after you account runs out, if you don’t top it up, you lose the number.

        Then your only solution is to buy a new sim, as Grayson suggested.

        Hope that helps, let us know what you end up doing, I’m myself going back in July and wondering if it still works!
        Ben.

  37. I purchased a sim online for the plan, but couldn’t find a route to start using the plan yet with my unlocked phone.. I doubt it’s still available. Is there anyone who could make this happen recently?

  38. I’m on a $34 plan with Ultra Mobile right now. If I switch to this plan, will I get to keep my number? Also, how do I activate it? Would I just go to the T Mobile website and activate it from there?

  39. Unfortunately, you cannot sign up for this plan on their website. They make you call. And as we all know, calling leads to mistakes, or hard sells to choose another plan. This is the 3rd plan I’ve been interested in trying out on T-Mobile, but every plan requires you to call them. That is pushing me to go with another provided.

    1. Did you buy the SIM card first? That’s typically how you get the plan. You can sign up for it once you get the SIM and then activate it online.

  40. I just bought two SIM cards from T-Mobile’s website. However, when I initiated their activation wizard, I was informed that the cards were already activated. The wizard wouldn’t let me continue at that point. I chatted with one of their representatives to no avail. They only suggested going to the local T-Mobile store. Ugh.

  41. Thanks Grayson! That $30 plan is really a steal. I don’t think minutes matter much since I always use google voice to make and receive calls. I will consider the plan great even it has 0 minutes.

  42. …seeing that the questions started in 2014…..it’s now Sept. 2016, is it any easier to get the $30 plan from Tmobile. Do I still have to give verizon two months after I wanna cancel?

    1. It’s easy to get the plan, but you need to check with Verizon to see if you still have a contract.

  43. Christopher Nelson says:

    There is actually an easier way to get the $30 plan…

    Buy an unlocked LTE phone anywhere (I. E. Axon 7 mini at BestBuy), and then go to any Walmart store and get the $34 unlimited sim activation kit ($30 credit). Activate via phone with live support. Done.

  44. i bought a $1 sim and called in to activate it on a motorola g4. either the plan does not work with all phones or both of the g4s were defective, maybe both.
    otherwise, i’ve always used t-mobole. i currently have nearly 4 years of prepaid credit on a plan of $3/month for 30 minutes, no rollover. so, i have a free and not even worth it free phone and service from truconnect and t-moo on an older motorola that has a real 5 mp kodak camera.
    i want the $30/month [plan but have no use for either it or a smartphone even though i’d prefer a high quality camera like on an iphone.
    i’ve studied the best way to get very low use service and these are the best options i’ve found.

  45. The $30 plan was discontinued from the Tmobile prepaid list around May 2017. AT&T $40 for 6gb,unlimited talk/text is the and best.