HelloStampedUltra Mobile
Each month
$19
charged per line
How that is worked out: $19 per line each month, for 1 line
What it covers
- Calls to Indian landlines
- Included
- Calls to Indian mobiles
- Included
Calling India, priced properly
The big carriers sell their plans on pages that never mention India. What it actually costs to ring home lives somewhere else — on a rates table most people never find. This puts the two together, quotes the carrier's own words, and says when somebody last read them.
This page keeps nothing. How many lines you need stays in this browser. There is no account here, no row anywhere, and no address for it to be sent to — the working-out happens on your own device.
How many lines does your household need?
It changes the answer more than you would expect. One carrier charges per line and also offers a single price for the whole account, and which is cheaper flips between one line and two.
What each carrier publishes
There is no single best answer here on purpose. Which group applies depends on whether you are switching carrier outright or keeping the plan you have, and that is your call, not ours.
Plans that include calling India
The price is the whole plan. Nothing to add on, and nothing else to pay for the calling.
Google Fi
The add-on: Unlimited Premium
Each month
$65
charged per line
How that is worked out: $65 per line each month, for 1 line
What it covers
- Calls to Indian landlines
- Included
- Calls to Indian mobiles
- Included
Add-ons for a plan you already have
This is on top of whatever your plan costs now, so it is not comparable with the prices above.
T-Mobile
The add-on: Stateside International Talk
Each month
$15
charged per line
How that is worked out: $15 per line each month, for 1 line
What it covers
- Calls to Indian landlines
- Included
- Calls to Indian mobiles
- The carrier's own page disagrees with itself
Worth checking before you pay: almost everybody you would ring in India is on a mobile, so this is the difference between an add-on that solves the problem and one that does not.
- To an Indian landline
- $3 a minute
- To an Indian mobile
- $3 a minute
- T-Mobile's own page says two different things about calls to Indian mobile numbers. Both are quoted below. Ask T-Mobile to confirm in writing before paying, if mobile numbers are what you call.
›Two published statements that do not agree
There are two published statements about whether Stateside International Talk covers calls to Indian mobile numbers, and they do not agree.
“Pay Per Use Rate | SIT Landline Rate | SIT Mobile Rate --- India | $3.00 | $0.00 | $0.00”
In T-Mobile's published rate table the row for India reads $3.00 pay-per-use, $0.00 with Stateside International Talk to landlines, and $0.00 with Stateside International Talk to mobiles.
“Unlimited calls to landlines in these destinations:”
T-Mobile's destination lists on the same page name India among the countries with unlimited calls to landlines, and do not name India among the countries with unlimited calls to mobile lines.
US Mobile
The add-on: International calling
Each month
$3
charged per line
How that is worked out: $3 per line each month, for 1 line
What it covers
- Calls to Indian landlines
- Nobody has read this yet
- Calls to Indian mobiles
- Included
- US Mobile publishes nothing about calls to Indian landline numbers. Its table lists mobile only. Ask before assuming either way.
Charged by the minute
No monthly price for India, so there is no figure to compare. What it costs depends on how much you call, which is a sum only you can do.
Mint Mobile
What it covers
- Calls to Indian landlines
- Not included
- Calls to Indian mobiles
- Not included
- To an Indian landline
- $0.01 a minute
- To an Indian mobile
- $0.02 a minute
5 carriers read in full so far. This is not yet a survey of the market, and the carriers not listed are missing because nobody has read their pages, not because they were judged worse.
Where every figure here came from
Each line is quoted from the carrier's own page, with the day somebody opened it. If a price has moved since, the quote is what was there on that date — check the link before you buy.
“Get unlimited international calling to over 70 countries for just $15/mo.”
T-Mobile advertises Stateside International Talk as unlimited international calling to over 70 countries for $15 per month.
“And now for a limited time the entire family can get calling for $20/month per account.”
T-Mobile states that for a limited time the entire family can get calling for $20 per month per account, rather than per line.
“Pay Per Use Rate | SIT Landline Rate | SIT Mobile Rate --- India | $3.00 | $0.00 | $0.00”
In T-Mobile's published rate table the row for India reads $3.00 pay-per-use, $0.00 with Stateside International Talk to landlines, and $0.00 with Stateside International Talk to mobiles.
“Unlimited calls to landlines in these destinations:”
T-Mobile's destination lists on the same page name India among the countries with unlimited calls to landlines, and do not name India among the countries with unlimited calls to mobile lines.
“All Ultra plans come with free Unlimited Talk and Text to 90+ international destinations.”
Ultra Mobile states that every one of its plans includes unlimited talk and text to more than 90 international destinations at no extra cost.
“(ML) = Unlimited to Mobile & Landline”
Ultra Mobile publishes a per-country legend where (M) means unlimited to mobile, (L) means unlimited to landline and (ML) means unlimited to both, and its entry for India carries (ML). Bangladesh carries (L) and Pakistan carries (M), so the label distinguishes rather than decorates.
“$19 billed upfront”
Ultra Mobile's cheapest one-month plan is listed at $19, with taxes and fees stated as extra.
“Free calling to Mexico, Canada and the UK is included.”
Mint Mobile's free international calling covers Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom, and the page names no other country in its own prose.
“Landline $0.01/min | Mobile $0.02/min”
Mint Mobile's rate checker returns $0.01 per minute to Indian landlines and $0.02 per minute to Indian mobiles, billed against a prepaid wallet balance.
“Free calls from the US to 50+ destinations included with Unlimited Premium”
Google Fi includes free calls from the US to more than 50 destinations, including India, on Unlimited Premium only. Unlimited Standard is free to Canada and Mexico only.
“This covers calls to standard, non-premium mobile and landline numbers.”
Google Fi states that its free calling covers mobile and landline numbers together, with the qualifier that they must be standard and non-premium, a term the page does not define.
“Unlimited Premium $65 per month for 1 line”
Google Fi lists Unlimited Premium at $65 per month for 1 line, before taxes and government fees.
“India Mobile: Unlimited”
US Mobile's per-country table lists India as unlimited to mobile. The label distinguishes rather than reassures: the same table caps other destinations with explicit figures, such as 135 minutes for Afghanistan and 67 minutes for Belgium.
“For purchase ($3/month)”
US Mobile includes international calling on some plans and sells it on others for $3 per month, added to an individual line rather than to the account.
“FYI: You can call all destinations for unlimited minutes from a landline.”
US Mobile's only sentence mentioning landlines refers to calls placed from its own home phone product, not to calls made to a landline abroad. It publishes no rate and no allowance for calling an Indian landline.