Tello vs. Spectrum Mobile: The Difference Comes Down to Network (2024)

Two affordable cell phone plans with some important caveats

We like that Tello offers a variety of cell phone plans—not just unlimited options. If you’re looking for a limited plan, then this decision just got a lot easier for you: You should choose Tello.

Spectrum’s basic unlimited data plan costs $5 more than Tello's. We’d base the choice on whether you prefer Verizon’s or T-Mobile’s wireless network. Don’t forget that you need to be an existing Spectrum customer to get the price listed above; otherwise, you’ll need to shell out an extra $10 a month.

Spectrum offers a premium unlimited plan in the sense that it costs more than the base cell phone plan, but it doesn’t offer much in the way of value. The Unlimited Plus Data Option provides higher-quality streaming, but that won’t make a difference if you’re streaming live TV with a Wi-Fi connection.

Free international calling with Tello

Prepaid carriers like Tello and Spectrum don’t own wireless networks. Instead, they pay rent to big carriers (like T-Mobile and Verizon) to use their network coverage. In this case, Tello rents the T-Mobile 5G network, and Spectrum rents from Verizon’s 5G network. Verizon offers the most coverage in the country, but it’s all relative to where you live.

Before deciding between Tello or Spectrum, we highly recommend checking out the coverage map below. Just enter your zip code and see what kind of coverage you can expect on both the Verizon and T-Mobile networks. The more purple you see, the better coverage you should experience.

Tello vs. Spectrum data speeds

Occasional data throttling

The downside of opting for budget-friendly prepaid carriers like Tello and Spectrum is the occasional slowdown of your internet speeds. If tons of people are using wireless data at the same time, major carriers will give priority data to its own customers over folks using prepaid carriers like Spectrum or Tello.

Imagine this scenario: You're paying for Tello, and your friend pays for a pricey T-Mobile unlimited plan. Both of you need a ride home after a crowded concert, and to your frustration, your Uber app struggles to connect to the internet. Meanwhile, your friend effortlessly requests a ride without any connectivity issues. What's the key difference? Your friend's network request received priority over yours, leaving you to grapple with data throttling. This sort of thing shouldn’t happen often, but throttling is annoying when it rears its ugly head.

Tello vs. Spectrum Recap

Tello and Spectrum offer a very similar unlimited plan, but Tello offers better value overall. Tello gives you free international calling to landlines across the globe and a wider variety of plans to choose from. Spectrum’s mobile plans cost more if you’re not a Spectrum Internet customer, which might be a dealbreaker for some.

• Data plans: As long as you already pay for Spectrum internet, the basic unlimited plan from Spectrum and Tello virtually costs the same. Spectrum has a premium plan with HD-quality streaming for those who watch a lot of content on the go.
• Coverage: Tello uses T-Mobile’s network, and Spectrum uses Verizon’s network. Coverage reliability heavily depends on where you live, although Verizon’s network (which Spectrum uses) has better national coverage overall.
• Performance: On average, Tello users should get faster data on T-Mobile’s 5G network. Spectrum customers will also get solid speeds on Verizon’s 5G network, but typically not quite as fast.

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