Total Wireless Prepaid Plans Total Wireless Family Plans How to Buy a New Phone

Total Wireless offers a straightforward approach to cell phone service—all of their plans are no-contract and cost $0 upfront. The majority of their offerings give you 30 days of service, with the exception of one 90-day extended plan. This guide details each type of Total Wireless plan to help you discern which one is most appropriate for you.


Total Wireless Prepaid Plans

All of Total Wireless’ plans are prepaid, which means that you are required to pay for service prior to receiving it. You have the option of enrolling in Auto-Refill, which gives you a slight discount each month. As a bonus, Total Wireless runs a rewards program that allows you to accumulate reward points to use toward purchases.

Total Wireless separates their plans into the following categories:

The cheapest is a single line plan that costs $23.70 with Auto-Refill, and you receive unlimited talk and text but no data. The most expensive single line plan is priced at $47.50 with Auto-Refill ($50 without it) and includes unlimited talk and text, as well as 25 GB/month. If needed, you can always add on more data in chunks of 5GB for $10—if you don’t use the extra data, it rolls over to the next month. If you need to make international calls, check out their $10 Global International Calling Card.

Total’s only extended plan option is their $90/month unlimited talk/text + 5GB plan, which is good for $90 or service. The extended plan saves you up to $15 on 5Gb/month over the three-month period.

Total Wireless Single Line Plans Compared

$25 Monthly Plan $35 Monthly Plan $50 Monthly Plan $90 Extended 3-Month Plan
Data Allowance None 5GB/month 25GB/month 15GB total, 5GB/month
Data Speed 4G LTE 4G LTE 4G LTE 4G LTE
Domestic Texts & Calls Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited
International $10 Global Calling Card add-on $10 Global Calling Card add-on $10 Global Calling Card add-on $10 Global Calling Card add-on
Contract No contract No contract No contract No contract
Discount $23.70 with Auto-Refill $33.20 with Auto-Refill $47.50 with Auto-Refill N/a
Rewards Earn 25 points with purchase on credit card Earn 35 points with purchase on credit card Earn 50 points with purchase on credit card Earn 90 points with purchase on credit card
Full Details Total Wireless Plans

The extended plan saves you up to $15 on 5Gb/month over the three-month period

Prepaid Plans from Total Wireless

The great thing about getting a plan through Total Wireless is the absence of credit checks, contracts, or activation fees.


Buying Tip: Our Pick of Total Wireless’ Plans

Since Total Wireless is a no-frills carrier without many additional benefits or features, choosing the best Total Wireless plan essentially depends upon how much data you need each month. If you’re someone who is frequently on-the-go, using navigation apps, or regularly streams movies and/or music, it may be difficult to keep your data usage under 5—or even 10—GBs a month. As such, you might as well jump up to the $50 monthly plan, which provides you with 25GB/month.

The awesome thing about no contracts is you can always switch to a different plan after your 30 days is up.

Let’s Talk Editor’s Pick

Total Wireless Family Plans

“Let’s Talk Tip: You can save up to $135/year with the 4-line family plan on Auto-Refill”

Total Wireless offers three shared family plans, with data allowances from 15GB/month to 25GB/month. All of the plans include 30 days of service, unlimited talk and text, and shared data. As with the other plans, those enrolling in Auto-Refill save 5% on their monthly bill and you can always add on more data if you are at risk of going over.

Family Plans from Total Wireless


How to Buy a New Phone Through Total Wireless

As with many major carriers, Total Wireless gives you the option of buying your phone outright at the RRP or purchasing it through 15 or 24 monthly installments. Some of the older models sold through Total Wireless, such as the LG Rebel 4, are only available for purchase upfront since their retail price is relatively low. If you’re looking for the newest Samsung models, such as the Samsung Galaxy S10, Samsung Galaxy S10+, and Samsung Galaxy S10e, you will have to look elsewhere since Total Wireless doesn’t offer them. That said, they do have the iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max.

Once you choose a phone and payment option, add it to your cart and on the next page you will pick the service plan you want. It will then list your estimated amount due both today and monthly, not including taxes and shipping fees.

15 Monthly Payments

The 15-month installment option is for someone who has “average payment history” and the bill each month is far higher than it is for the 24-month option. For example, the iPhone X costs $86.27/month for 15 months, which winds up costing $1,294, while the total cost of the iPhone X on the 24-month installment plan is about $834.

You will wind up paying much more in the long run with the 15-month installment option

24 Monthly Payments

The 24-month installment plan is for a person who has an “excellent payment history.” While the total cost over the two-year period winds up being more than the RRP, it’s still the cheaper option between the installment plans.

Monthly Installment Plans Compared

Example 15-Month Installments 24-Month Installments
iPhone Xs 64 GB RRP $999 $999
Payment length 15 months 24 months
Monthly installments $121.73 $48.41
Total paid over installment period (no trade-in) $1,825.95 $1,161.84