US phone plans in Massachusetts for international students and new arrivals

US phone plans in Massachusetts come down to one table of 13 prepaid brands: the national prepaid shelves, plus US Mobile, Tello, and Infimobile. Keep the row that prints more high-speed data, or the row that prints more included minutes, whichever you are short of. The state's combined wireless tax is 24.10%, and that rate is added where the advertised price leaves taxes out.

Which row prints more data

Metro, Cricket, Visible, and Mint sit in this table with the other nine brands, which is the metro vs cricket vs visible vs mint data comparison in one place. The larger data lines are the unlimited ones: Metro, Cricket's Select, Smart, and Supreme, Verizon's Unlimited and Unlimited Plus, Visible, Total's main plans, Straight Talk Silver, Boost, Mint Unlimited, and US Mobile Premium. AT&T's prepaid option in the sources list is 30GB of premium data, then up to 1.5 Mbps. T-Mobile's 1-line Starter card lists 15GB of high-speed data, and the facts label on that plan says unlimited. Verizon also lists 15GB, then 2G. Cricket Sensible, Straight Talk Bronze, US Mobile Flex, and Tello are 10GB. Infimobile's 12-month cards run from 500MB up to unlimited.

Brand	High-speed data	Included talk	Tax inside the advertised price
T-Mobile Prepaid	1-line Starter card: 15GB of high-speed data. The facts label on Starter says unlimited. A 2-line Starter card: 15GB of premium data, then 2G. A 10GB plan then continues at 128kbps	Unlimited talk and text	Varies by location
Metro by T-Mobile	Unlimited 5G. Speeds may slow after 35GB when the network is busy	Unlimited talk and text. One plan includes unlimited calls and texts to and from Mexico and Canada	Included
Mint Mobile	6GB, 17GB, 23GB, and Unlimited	Unlimited talk and text	Varies by location
AT&T Prepaid	30GB premium, then up to 1.5 Mbps	unverified	unverified
Cricket Wireless	Unlimited on Select, Smart, and Supreme. Sensible is 10GB, then 128 Kbps	Select and Smart include unlimited calls and texts from the US to Mexico and Canada. Sensible does not	unverified
Verizon Prepaid	15GB, then 2G. Unlimited. Unlimited Plus is 50GB of premium data, then speeds may slow	Unlimited talk and text, including Mexico and Canada	Additional taxes and fees may apply
Visible	Unlimited on Visible, Visible+, and Visible+ Pro	Unlimited talk and text, including Mexico and Canada. Visible+ Pro adds 85+ countries, capped at 500 minutes a month	Included
Total by Verizon	Unlimited on the main plans. A 15GB plan then drops to 2G	Unlimited talk and text. International calling to and from Mexico. The 15GB plan includes Canada and Mexico	unverified
Straight Talk	Bronze is 10GB, then 2G. Silver is unlimited	Unlimited talk and text. Silver includes Canada, Mexico, India, and China. Bronze includes Canada and Mexico	unverified
Boost Mobile	Unlimited, with 30GB of premium data, then speeds may be slower	Unlimited talk and text	Taxes and fees apply
US Mobile	Flex is 10GB high-speed. Premium is unlimited high-speed. Starter on Warp and Light Speed may slow after 70GB	Unlimited talk and text. International calling is on annual plans, By the Gig, and monthly Premium	Included on some plans, separate on others
Tello	10GB	Unlimited talk and text, with free calls to 60+ countries, including India	unverified
Infimobile	12-month cards from 500MB to unlimited	Freedom includes unlimited nationwide talk and text	May change with a ZIP code

Which prepaid has more international minutes

India accounts for 33.7% of international students in Massachusetts and China for 24.9%, on the Open Doors 2025 Massachusetts fact sheet. Included minutes to India are the minute question for this state. California leads with China instead, so the same plan can answer a different call home.

Straight Talk Silver and Tello are the rows that name India. Silver also names China. Visible, Cricket Select and Smart, Verizon, Metro, and Total name Mexico and Canada. Visible+ Pro adds 85 or more countries, with a 500-minute cap. Mint's unlimited talk line does not name a country. For a student calling India, Silver and Tello are the rows that say so.

Cell phone tax in Massachusetts

Massachusetts's state and local wireless rate is 10.75%, and with the 13.36% federal figure the combined rate is 24.10%, in the Tax Foundation's 2025 table. That is under the rates already published here for California at 26.21%, New York at 33.96%, and Texas at 30.83%.

Add the 24.10% where the advertised price leaves taxes out. Visible and Metro already include taxes and fees, so the state rate is not stacked on those prices. T-Mobile Prepaid and Mint vary by location, which is where a Massachusetts ZIP changes the bill. Verizon says additional taxes and fees may apply. Boost applies taxes and fees. US Mobile includes them on some plans and lists them separately on others. Whether a line needs an SSN is a different gate, on getting a US phone plan without an SSN. A data eSIM for the first day is the other purchase, on SIM card, eSIM or US prepaid plan.

Who is actually arriving

84,097 international students were enrolled in Massachusetts in 2024/25, up 2.2% and 4th in the Open Doors ranking, per the state fact sheet. After India and China, the sheet lists Canada 3.1%, South Korea 3%, and Vietnam 2%.

The campuses are concentrated in and around Boston. Northeastern University-Boston enrolls 22,465 international students, Boston University 12,845, Harvard University 8,110, MIT 5,456, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst 5,158. Arrival week at Northeastern is a large share of the state's new numbers, which is why a plan that can be finished before that week matters as much as the gigabyte line.

Questions

Are these plan pages the same in every state?

The plan pages linked from this table are national. Massachusetts changes the bill where the advertised price leaves taxes out, and the combined rate in the 2025 Tax Foundation table is 24.10%.

Which row fits if you need both more data and more minutes?

The data column and the minute column can point at different rows, and this page does not average them into one winner. Visible is unlimited data and unlimited talk, with Mexico and Canada on every line and a wider country list on Visible+ Pro. Straight Talk Silver and Tello name India. Silver is unlimited data. Tello is 10GB. Cricket Sensible is 10GB without the Mexico and Canada calling pair, while Select, Smart, and Supreme are the unlimited data lines.