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These are the alternative carriers that lease coverage from more than one of the Big Four carriers.

We talk a lot about carriers and MVNOs here because having good wireless service goes hand in hand with your Android phone. And the service being good is the most important part. We can't stress enough that saving a few dollars each month to get service that doesn't work very well is a bad move; Verizon is expensive, for example, and worth every penny for a lot of people because of its coverage.

Multiple networks are especially great for families, who don't always live in the same place.

That's why getting service from an MVNO that works with more than one network can be important! With a company like Google's Project Fi, if coverage from one carrier is bad in the place you're at, you will jump over to another automatically. With most others, you have a choice of carrier when you first sign up and can switch the next month if you like. That's a great way to make sure you always have a good signal, and we think it's pretty cool.

Here's a list of MVNOs that provide service on multiple carrier networks. Note that this isn't an endorsement of any of them, it's just a list so you know where to start looking!

Company	AT&T	Sprint	T-Mobile	Verizon	US Cellular
Best Cellular	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Boom Mobile	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
campusSIMs	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Consumer Cellular	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Eco Mobile	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Expo Mobile	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Flash Wireless	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
FreedomPop1	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
good2GO Mobile	Yes	yes	No	No	No
Hayai Mobile	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Jolt Mobile	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Net10 Wireless	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
OTG Mobile	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Project Fi2	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Proven Wireless	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Puppy Wireless	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Red Pocket Mobile	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Republic Wireless	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Straight Talk	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Telcel América	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
TextNow	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
The People's Operator USA	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Ting	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
TracFone3	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
US Mobile	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Zing Wireless	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

¹Voice calls are VoIP only, but not counted against a data cap

²Also uses the Three network in the UK

³TracFone's US Cellular service supports feature phones only

That's a pretty long list, and it's been culled to not include companies that only service business account or companies who force you to buy a special phone. It also doesn't include special operators that only provide service for you if you are part of a specific group, such as the armed services or the right credit union. The operators in this list will all sell you service that anyone can use with any compatible phone, anywhere in the U.S.

Your experience?

Have you tried any of these service providers? There are names we all know, names we've heard of, and names that aren't familiar at all here. If you have any experience with any of these companies, please let us know how it went in the comments.

Alternative carriers (MVNOS)

• What is an alternative mobile carrier?
• What are the advantages of going with an alternative carrier?
• How to make sure your phone works on a prepaid alternative carrier
• 8 Important Considerations When Switching To An MVNO
• These are the cheapest data plans you can buy in the U.S.
• Mint SIM vs. Cricket Wireless: Which is better for you?