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I bailed from T-Mobile to Mint, an MVNO running on the same network. Downside is that if there's network congestion you'll be deprioritized behind T-Mobile's di

I bailed from T-Mobile to Mint, an MVNO running on the same network. Downside is that if there's network congestion you'll be deprioritized behind T-Mobile's direct customers, but it hasn't been an issue for me. Plans from the major carriers are insane, the price structure is always like $80 for the first line plus $10 per additional line, so unless you have four phones on your plan you're really getting screwed. In comparison, Mint's plans are $15 to $30 per line if you prepay for a year at a time, and there's no extra activation fees. It's been working well for me. If your phone has eSIM support you can probably install their app and run a free week trial alongside your current phone service if you want to test it out. For older phones they sell a $5 test kit with two SIMs, one for the trial and a second to activate a real account, and it includes a $5 discount to pay back the trial cost.

_fat_santa 4y ago
I'm with Cricket Wireless (AT&T MVNO) for a few years now and every time I look at the pricing of major carriers I'm blown away by how intentionally confusing they make it. So you want unlimited data with your plan right? Well unlimited regular data or "premium" data, are you going to be streaming 1080p, because that only works on "premium" data. Oh and when we said unlimited data, we didn't mean unlimited "premium" data, no you only get 10GB of that before you get another 30GB of regular data and then after that and after that....well consumers with "unlimited data" only really use 30GB max so really "unlimited" is just 30GB plus the 10GB of "premium data" and then you get dial up. Oh and you want hotspot too? Well for that we have several tiers of premium and non premium data types. Here are 10 more plans to choose from.... Meanwhile Crickets plan is: $50/mo for unlimited data period.
- Terretta 4y ago
  Now try to get AT&T to tell you the difference between the 2010 grandfathered iPad unlimited data plan sold direct from the iPad UI, currently hovering around $30/month ... and any of the above, or in particular the business iPad add-on claiming to offer unlimited iPad data for $20/month. // This was the plan that was only around for a few months at launch: https://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/02/atandt-replaces-ipad-unlimited-data-plan-with-2gb-capped-plan-for-new-customers/ https://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/02/atandt-replaces-ipad-un... // And then sort of reintroduced in 2017, pulled in 2020: https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/gear/att-dataconnect-tablet/ https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/gear/att-dataconnect-tablet...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- pxx 4y ago
  What are you talking about? Cricket does the exact same thing. https://cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans https://cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans : "Unlimited": $55/mo. Video streaming restricted to 1.5 Mbps. No hotspot allowed at all. Add hotspot to your "Unlimited" account: $10/mo. 10 GB of hotspot data usage, after which it is slowed to 128kbps. "only available with Cricket Core and select grandfathered plans," of which I think "Unlimited" is one, but see how confusing this is? "Unlimited Cricket More": $60/mo. Includes 15GB hotspot. Unclear what happens if you go over it, but "5GB and 15GB add-ons can be purchased separately". Also you can apparently only share the data allowance among 6 devices you're tethering to. Does include HBO max though. Video streaming still limited to 1.5Mbps. "100 GB simply data": $90/mo. Not unlimited data, but they won't throttle you. Closest to your claim but note not unlimited. Also unclear if it comes with phone service or it's even allowed to be used on a phone. I can't see how your post could possibly be more wrong.
  - _fat_santa 4y ago
    No there's a huge difference. I was talking about Verizon but AT&T is the same. Cricket has two unlimited plans, an unlimited and unlimited + hotspot. With AT&T you have 3 unlimited plans that give you unlimited "data" and then different amounts of "premium data" and differing amounts of hotspot data.
    - pxx 4y ago
      so much for "unlimited data period". And it's not like this is less confusing: Cricket's unlimited with hotspot plan has completely orthogonal features (cloud storage, HBO max, more high speed data) to what you get if you buy the unlimited plan, then add hotspot (more devices allowed, fallback to slow data when out of data allotment). There's at least three plans to choose from here. The only simplifying factor is that Cricket doesn't even offer you the option to have 1080p streaming with any of these plans! Your premium data allowance is zero GB. How is that any better??
    - latchkey 4y ago
      AT&T has a business only truly unlimited data plan for hotspots that I ended up getting by actually going into a store and signing up, they don't advertise it at all and at the time, it was the only truly unlimited data plan I could find. It was a lifesaver as someone who sits on Zoom calls for hours each day while in a campervan. That said, I upgraded to the NETGEAR Nighthawk M6 Pro 5G hotspot and it is a piece of shit that overheats and gets poor performance all the time.
jrmg 4y ago
T-Mobile has similarly priced prepay plans to Mint: https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans/connect https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans/connect
mrdonbrown 4y ago
I tried and liked Mint, but ended up with Red Pocket (MVNO that does Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T) when I moved somewhere that needed AT&T. It is pretty handy having one provider but having a choice of network. It also helps they have plans as low as $5/month, which is great for kids and infrequent users.
- WarOnPrivacy 4y ago
  Another vote for Red Pocket. I have 5 handsets on the T-Mobile variant for 30/yr(200min/1kTxt/200mb). Another handset has RP AT&T for incoming sim. Outgoing sim is T-Mobile starter ($23/mo unlim 10gb), good for 2 mos and then a new one arrives.
- MandieD 4y ago
  $5/month is perfect for expats who need to keep a "real" US mobile number for 2FA that insists on SMS, and who only spend a few weeks a year stateside... looking into it now - thanks so much!
  - MandieD 4y ago
    … but sadly, it’s currently useless for that purpose, as Red Pocket doesn’t support international roaming: https://help.redpocket.com/can-i-still-use-my-red-pocket-mobile-esim-if-i-travel-internationally https://help.redpocket.com/can-i-still-use-my-red-pocket-mob...
- tkanarsky 4y ago
  $2.50/mo is the lowest, but it's eBay exclusive iirc. Gives you something like 200mb of data. (Which coincidentally makes it one of the best deals for a small IoT project sim like a GPS tracker or remote weather station or whatnot)
- thedanbob 4y ago
  I used to be on Tello and loved it since the Sprint network had the best performance where I lived. Sadly that went away when they merged with T-Mobile, so I switched to Red Pocket since AT&T is second best here. Great prices and good customer service (the few times I've contacted them).
JohnJamesRambo 4y ago
I love my Mint. There have been no downsides for me. $15 a month. Got my whole extended family and friends on it. Everyone loves it.
onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
Is Mint cheaper than Google Fi? And does it work on multiple networks and globally? Google Fi just seems like it's substantially better than any other carrier - at least in the US.
- thayne 4y ago
  Mint is a little cheaper, and works with more phones. Which is why I went with Mint. But if you need/want that multi network support and global connectivity, you should probably go with google fi.
- nimajneb 4y ago
  According to the Reddit link in another comment it looks like T-Mobile treats Google Fi higher priority than MVNOs, it's in the same tier as the normal plans.
pavon 4y ago
Most of the carriers, including T-Mobile have pre-paid plans that are a much better deal than their post-paid, and I've had fewer problems with them than MVNOs. For example, T-Mobile's less expensive pre-paid plans are: * $15/month 3GB * $25/month 6GB * $35/month 12GB That is a bit more expensive that Mint, but not insane, and you don't have to prepay for 6-12 months.
- jrootabega 4y ago
  T-Mobile prepaid (when their payment processor was Vesta; not sure if it still is) once decided to refuse my payment because my street address started with 4 numbers and they thought I was trying to enter a credit card.
- hedora 4y ago
  If you go through Metro by T-Mobile, you can get an unlimited plan for $40/month. (four lines for $25 each).
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  The exchange for those lower prices is lower priority. This is a good post (assuming it is true): https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_level_explained_2022_march_lower_qci_is_better/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_leve... Basically, pay more and you get a higher probability of higher quality connection. Whether or not the difference in cost is worth the difference (real or perceived) in quality of connection is of course, unknown.
  - nimajneb 4y ago
    So Google Fi isn't considered a MVNO by T-Mobile?
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fi >Google Fi ... is an MVNO telecommunications service by Google that provides telephone calls, SMS, and mobile broadband using cellular networks and Wi-Fi. Google Fi uses networks operated by T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular.
jrootabega 4y ago
Mint deceptively charges a significant processing fee at the last minute even when paying 6 months at a time. 9 or 10%. 18 months (540 days, really) of Mint service requires about $40 in surprise fees.
- Someone1234 4y ago
  Are these fees from Mint or local taxes? How does Mint describe them?
  - jrootabega 4y ago
    Good point. Some of it was taxes, but I forget how much, and they don't tell you in your email receipt. I might be able to dig up the exact breakdown.
  - tuankiet65 4y ago
    One data point: * Base amount: $180 * "Recovery fee" (which they describe in [0]): $18.5 * "Taxes and Surcharges": $3.89 [0]: https://www.mintmobile.com/taxes-and-fees-explained https://www.mintmobile.com/taxes-and-fees-explained
  - jrootabega 4y ago
    Renew 10GB 5G • 4G LTE Data Plan for 6 Months Summary 10GB 5G 4G LTE Data 6 Months $150.00 Recovery Fee $11.50 Taxes & Surcharges $2.05 So if we treat the "Taxes and Surcharges" as just normal American customs, 18 months of this would be about $35 in "recovery fees".
corytheboyd 4y ago
Mint customer here. It doesn't always get the best service (live in the Colorado mountains) but my phone is such a small part of my life, I don't really care if it is occasionally slow. I have the massive privilege of working from home, where I have a consistent internet connection anyway. If I am out and sometimes can't look at HN while taking a shit... life goes on.
FunnyLookinHat 4y ago
Same story for me - but we are on Ting (MVNO of Verizon). They have great customer service, have always been really competitively priced (our two-phone family is usually right around $55/mo), and the cell service has been great.
latchkey 4y ago
Prepaid on Verizon has a couple discounts that cut costs, without any lock-in or long term payments. $10/mo Auto Pay discount on plans $45 & higher after the 1st month. $5/mo loyalty discount applies after 3 months of service; additional $5/mo applies after 9 months of service, for a total of $10/mo on plans $45 or higher.
- telcal 4y ago
  But on the lowest tier plan after your data is used you're living a rough life on 2G speed. "Once high-speed data is used (including Mobile Hotspot), you will have 2G speeds the remainder of the month. Your data experience and functionality of some data applications such as streaming video or audio may be impacted."
clairity 4y ago
i've had t-mobile before and even tried mint too, but t-mobile is awful in (my area of) LA. so during the pandemic, i switched to visible ($30/mo) and it's been great. no congestion slowdowns yet. it has unlimited talk/text/data, and crucially, unlimited hotspot (for 1 device at a time) when i'm out and need internet for a laptop or tablet. the only potential trip-up is that customer service is chat-/email-only (no phone). visible just recently added a higher-priced tier for 5G, but don't fall for it. the 4G tier is more than fast enough.
CitrusFruits 4y ago
Surprisingly, I've found the Mint's speeds always comparable if not faster than T-Mobile. I did a speed test before/after I switched from T-Mobile to Mint, and Mint was actually faster (I ran the tests within 5 minutes of eachother). Also, it was pretty amusing to get a voicemail from (a recording of) Ryan Reynolds telling me I could downgrade since I'm not using my full data amount each month.
zikduruqe 4y ago
I left my 20 year career with a telco, and immediately signed up with Visible. (No way I am paying insane prices for a phone that I seldom use). $25/mo and Apple Watch for $5/mo. Visible or Mint is a good way to go.
- seekingsolution 4y ago
  Has Visible worked out the signup problems they had? I remember hearing a lot of people complain about their experience trying to sign up for Visible. A lot of them just gave up and got service elsewhere.
  - zikduruqe 4y ago
    Of the 6 people I brought over with me, there were zero issues. If you were to read the sub-reddit dedicated to Visible, you'd think it was a hot dumpster fire. But from everything I have seen and interacted with their customer service (the two times I needed to), I have zero issues. And this is coming from a person that worked in all aspects of Big Telco and believe me, I know what horrible customer support in telco really is. :)
MrFoof 4y ago
I have Verizon prepaid. I pay $26.56 a month including state sales tax. For that I get… * Unlimited voice. * Unlimited SMS. * “Unlimited” data. The first 5GB/mo is at 5G speeds, the rest at 4G speeds which I typically see between 60-110Mbps. * Yes, tethering as well. Post-paid from all carriers is vastly overpriced, and that’s what they push push push. Pre-paid is always cheaper, though you can’t bring some things like a watch along. Check the major carriers, and get over not being able to stream unlimited 4K video in the field. I’ve been paying that $26.56 a month for years now, and that price has come down at least THREE TIMES since I switched to prepaid many years ago. Think I went from $45 -> $35 -> $30 -> $25 pre-tax over the years. MVNOs are certainly an option, but just look hard at the major carrier prepaid offerings. They don’t actively advertise them, so, “It’s a secret to everybody.”
formerkrogemp 4y ago
> I bailed from T-Mobile to Mint, an MVNO running on the same network. Downside is that if there's network congestion you'll be deprioritized behind T-Mobile's direct customers, but it hasn't been an issue for me. Plans from the major carriers are insane, the price structure is always like $80 for the first line plus $10 per additional line, so unless you have four phones on your plan you're really getting screwed. In comparison, Mint's plans are $15 to $30 per line if you prepay for a year at a time, and there's no extra activation fees. It's been working well for me. If your phone has eSIM support you can probably install their app and run a free week trial alongside your current phone service if you want to test it out. For older phones they sell a $5 test kit with two SIMs, one for the trial and a second to activate a real account, and it includes a $5 discount to pay back the trial cost.< Mint is nice in urban areas, but don't get it if you need roaming coverage or coverage in rural areas. You won't get it. SMS often breaks down as well when you're out of cell signal range. I've had a few important texts disappear due to that. Otherwise if you don't leave an urban area or deal with a disaster flooding cellular traffic, then Mint is a great, cheap, urban option.
Waterluvian 4y ago
Canada is so much like the U.S. that the subtle differences often feel kind of eerie and weird. One of them, which I see on TV whenever I visit, is how many phone ads there are, and how they're all basically trying to sell four phone plans at a time. Bundling is a pretty ingenious evil way to make it very painful for a customer to switch away, especially when you've got your teens on the plan.
- arrosenberg 4y ago
  That is why bundling is generally considered anticompetitive (despite 40 years of slumber on the part of regulators, it's still illegal). https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/tying-sale-two-products https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/gui...
cenal 4y ago
I switched my ex off my Verizon plan to Visible. It cut costs by 60+% for service they haven't seen a difference with. They lost the ability to go into a store for support, lost phone support, and get deprioritized but they use it for personal use and don't care. I use my phone to run a business. I will spend the premium to have the best service I can afford to run my company. I pay for the top plan on Verizon as a result. Choice is good. An MVNO is not for everyone but it is a much lower cost option for those who want the downsides.
- selectodude 4y ago
  Of the multitude of benefits of living in a major city, one of the big downsides is that in denser areas, the networks are permanently congested. I went the MVNO route for a month and in downtown Chicago on a work day, you have five bars and no service.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Depending on your use case - a MVNO that supports wifi calling + iMessage etc can help. It’s nice in rural areas where the signal is weak.
    - selectodude 4y ago
      I'm not trying to spend $40/mo to use wifi calling and iMessage. I'd rather spend $80 and never ever have to think about it.
      - SkyPuncher 4y ago
        Agreed. I loved the concept of wifi calling when it was introduced, but it always sucks when I use it. It always manages to find all of the flaws in the network I'm using. It's just not worth the hassle when I can rely on a cell network that specializes in real-time voice communication.
    - monksy 4y ago
      USMobile supports wifi calling.
steviedotboston 4y ago
I've been on Mint for over a year and have been really happy with it as well. It's saved me thousands compared to T-Mobile, and now that my wife and I work from home full time we really don't need much data at all. We each have 4GB/month, and most of the time I barely use 2GB.
lbotos 4y ago
The biggest plus for Mint is they now support legit TOTP for account access.
silisili 4y ago
Also a big fan of Mint. They were the first MVNO, and perhaps even carrier, that I can remember having a really slick website, too. Seemed very modern and forward looking. Their founder, Rizwan, is also around on the subreddit and will generally answer valid complaints - which is pretty unheard of for a company of that size. Also, Ryan Reynolds sent out a postcard once, and also a voicemail, if that's your thing.
- saltcured 4y ago
  Yeah, it still brings me a little smile (smirk?) to recall the voicemail gag he did during the initial COVID lockdown period in LA.
strix_varius 4y ago
If you're willing to pay for a year in advance (which I personally consider a convenience rather than a hassle), you might like the AT&T 12-month prepaid plan: https://www.att.com/prepaid/multi-month-plans/ https://www.att.com/prepaid/multi-month-plans/ $25/month for unlimited talk & text + 16 GB of data each month that rolls over month-to-month. AT&T's customer support is absolute garbage and migrating to them from T-Mobile was a pain in the ass, but since then it's been simple.
- binkHN 4y ago
  Nice—never knew about this. How would you compare the coverage and speed to T-Mobile? Does it come with Wi-Fi Calling? Looks like it supports hot spot usage.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    I cannot think of a reason that a mobile network would not include wifi calling. I presume it is all gain for them to take load off their mobile network?
    - oaththrowaway 4y ago
      Cricket only allows WiFi calling on certain devices. I had to switch to Mint to get it working
      - lostlogin 4y ago
        How do they prevent wifi calling?
        wtallis 4y ago
        WiFi calling in this context doesn't mean any random VoIP app, it means using your same phone number as the cellular service uses. That requires the carrier to be involved on the server side even if your handset is not using the cellular modem. (And it probably is using the cellular modem to some extent even during a WiFi call, to support handover between WiFi and cellular.)
mdni007 4y ago
I moved from Mint to T-Mobile. The internet speed was so unbearably slow that it was useless. This is in NYC btw.
divbzero 4y ago
> Downside is that if there's network congestion you'll be deprioritized behind T-Mobile's direct customers, but it hasn't been an issue for me. I’ve wondered how much of a difference this actually makes. How often does a network get congested enough to impact MVNO users, but not congested enough to impact major carrier users as well?
- Firmwarrior 4y ago
  Looks like Selectdude in another thread said it happens all the time in Chicago I can confirm that an MVNO I was using in Tokyo barely worked during rush hour. It was like a 2g connection or worse
- vel0city 4y ago
  Another person here chiming in with my experiences, I see it a good bit but it is not as bad as one might think most of the time. If I do a speed test in the city square near me late at night, I'll easily pull >100Mbit on my phone. Utilization at like 3:00 AM is next to nothing. All the bars closed over an hour ago, there's nobody out and about but me coming home from a late night datacenter run. I go to the same public square at 3:00 PM and I'll likely get 10-20Mbit. More than enough for most things I need, but definitely nowhere near what I was pulling at 3:00 AM. Friends with T-Mobile postpaid plans with me will probably still be able to pull ~100Mbit. At big crowd events especially in places where there aren't usually as big of crowds (balloon festival, airshow, etc.) connections can be anywhere from okay to next to worthless. Maybe I'll get a megabit, but chances are even Signal might have to retry every now and then to send a text message.
  - nimajneb 4y ago
    Does everyones speed decrease like that or only MVNO?
    - vel0city 4y ago
      I've definitely experienced big crowd events where friends with me on T-Mobile on similar generation phones had plenty of network performance available to even stream video while my phone on Mint could barely load a webpage.
artificialLimbs 4y ago
Getting Mint service activated and working was a 3 day train wreck for me. Can't remember details but they couldn't get the number ported, then they couldn't activate my phone for some reason. Went with Ting mobile and it's been great. I have no idea why anyone stays on the 'big' carriers these days.
- ddoolin 4y ago
  To answer your last question: because when I go abroad, my phone just works almost everywhere I go. Literally when the plane lands, I get a text message from T-Mobile saying "Welcome to _____" with additional information about my service in that country. Places like Mint, Visible, Ting, etc all charge you per text/minute/MB used abroad which makes them non-starters since that's usually where I'm going to be using my phone even more than usual.
  - macNchz 4y ago
    Haven’t traveled internationally since 2019 but AT&T was always good for a chuckle on landing: “Welcome to {country}! You can continue using your AT&T data at our roaming rate of $25/megabyte.” Then I’d buy a 10GB SIM for $15 on the way out of the airport.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  Ting is just Dish Network reselling T-Mobile’s network, which means Ting’s users are prioritized behind people directly paying more (or more valuable) to T-Mobile. I stick with one of the 3 mobile network operators because I do not mind the extra cost for being higher up in the priority chain (or believing that I am). https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_level_explained_2022_march_lower_qci_is_better/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_leve...
dr_ 4y ago
Same except switched to Visible, which runs on Verizon (May even be partially owned by them, not sure).
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  Visible is completely owned by Verizon. Many US “MVNOs” are just businesses created to implement price segmentation (price discrimination) for the 3 mobile networks.
  - jaywalk 4y ago
    It's not price discrimination. MVNO customers, whether owned by the carrier or not, pay less and get less. In order for it to be price discrimination, it would have to be the same service that direct customers of the carrier receive. And it's simply not.
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      That is a good point. I guess it is more similar to “product binning”? Or whatever it is called when you go to an amusement park and purchase passes to cut 50% of the way into the line, or 75% of the way into the line, and then 95% of the way into the line for a ride?
      - jaywalk 4y ago
        Yeah, I think that's a better analogy.
leeoniya 4y ago
same, Mint has been great.

_fat_santa 4y ago

I'm with Cricket Wireless (AT&T MVNO) for a few years now and every time I look at the pricing of major carriers I'm blown away by how intentionally confusing they make it. So you want unlimited data with your plan right? Well unlimited regular data or "premium" data, are you going to be streaming 1080p, because that only works on "premium" data. Oh and when we said unlimited data, we didn't mean unlimited "premium" data, no you only get 10GB of that before you get another 30GB of regular data and then after that and after that....well consumers with "unlimited data" only really use 30GB max so really "unlimited" is just 30GB plus the 10GB of "premium data" and then you get dial up. Oh and you want hotspot too? Well for that we have several tiers of premium and non premium data types. Here are 10 more plans to choose from.... Meanwhile Crickets plan is: $50/mo for unlimited data period.

Terretta 4y ago
Now try to get AT&T to tell you the difference between the 2010 grandfathered iPad unlimited data plan sold direct from the iPad UI, currently hovering around $30/month ... and any of the above, or in particular the business iPad add-on claiming to offer unlimited iPad data for $20/month. // This was the plan that was only around for a few months at launch: https://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/02/atandt-replaces-ipad-unlimited-data-plan-with-2gb-capped-plan-for-new-customers/ https://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/02/atandt-replaces-ipad-un... // And then sort of reintroduced in 2017, pulled in 2020: https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/gear/att-dataconnect-tablet/ https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/gear/att-dataconnect-tablet...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
pxx 4y ago
What are you talking about? Cricket does the exact same thing. https://cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans https://cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans : "Unlimited": $55/mo. Video streaming restricted to 1.5 Mbps. No hotspot allowed at all. Add hotspot to your "Unlimited" account: $10/mo. 10 GB of hotspot data usage, after which it is slowed to 128kbps. "only available with Cricket Core and select grandfathered plans," of which I think "Unlimited" is one, but see how confusing this is? "Unlimited Cricket More": $60/mo. Includes 15GB hotspot. Unclear what happens if you go over it, but "5GB and 15GB add-ons can be purchased separately". Also you can apparently only share the data allowance among 6 devices you're tethering to. Does include HBO max though. Video streaming still limited to 1.5Mbps. "100 GB simply data": $90/mo. Not unlimited data, but they won't throttle you. Closest to your claim but note not unlimited. Also unclear if it comes with phone service or it's even allowed to be used on a phone. I can't see how your post could possibly be more wrong.
- _fat_santa 4y ago
  No there's a huge difference. I was talking about Verizon but AT&T is the same. Cricket has two unlimited plans, an unlimited and unlimited + hotspot. With AT&T you have 3 unlimited plans that give you unlimited "data" and then different amounts of "premium data" and differing amounts of hotspot data.
  - pxx 4y ago
    so much for "unlimited data period". And it's not like this is less confusing: Cricket's unlimited with hotspot plan has completely orthogonal features (cloud storage, HBO max, more high speed data) to what you get if you buy the unlimited plan, then add hotspot (more devices allowed, fallback to slow data when out of data allotment). There's at least three plans to choose from here. The only simplifying factor is that Cricket doesn't even offer you the option to have 1080p streaming with any of these plans! Your premium data allowance is zero GB. How is that any better??
  - latchkey 4y ago
    AT&T has a business only truly unlimited data plan for hotspots that I ended up getting by actually going into a store and signing up, they don't advertise it at all and at the time, it was the only truly unlimited data plan I could find. It was a lifesaver as someone who sits on Zoom calls for hours each day while in a campervan. That said, I upgraded to the NETGEAR Nighthawk M6 Pro 5G hotspot and it is a piece of shit that overheats and gets poor performance all the time.

jrmg 4y ago

T-Mobile has similarly priced prepay plans to Mint: https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans/connect https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans/connect

mrdonbrown 4y ago

I tried and liked Mint, but ended up with Red Pocket (MVNO that does Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T) when I moved somewhere that needed AT&T. It is pretty handy having one provider but having a choice of network. It also helps they have plans as low as $5/month, which is great for kids and infrequent users.

WarOnPrivacy 4y ago
Another vote for Red Pocket. I have 5 handsets on the T-Mobile variant for 30/yr(200min/1kTxt/200mb). Another handset has RP AT&T for incoming sim. Outgoing sim is T-Mobile starter ($23/mo unlim 10gb), good for 2 mos and then a new one arrives.
MandieD 4y ago
$5/month is perfect for expats who need to keep a "real" US mobile number for 2FA that insists on SMS, and who only spend a few weeks a year stateside... looking into it now - thanks so much!
- MandieD 4y ago
  … but sadly, it’s currently useless for that purpose, as Red Pocket doesn’t support international roaming: https://help.redpocket.com/can-i-still-use-my-red-pocket-mobile-esim-if-i-travel-internationally https://help.redpocket.com/can-i-still-use-my-red-pocket-mob...
tkanarsky 4y ago
$2.50/mo is the lowest, but it's eBay exclusive iirc. Gives you something like 200mb of data. (Which coincidentally makes it one of the best deals for a small IoT project sim like a GPS tracker or remote weather station or whatnot)
thedanbob 4y ago
I used to be on Tello and loved it since the Sprint network had the best performance where I lived. Sadly that went away when they merged with T-Mobile, so I switched to Red Pocket since AT&T is second best here. Great prices and good customer service (the few times I've contacted them).

JohnJamesRambo 4y ago

I love my Mint. There have been no downsides for me. $15 a month. Got my whole extended family and friends on it. Everyone loves it.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago

Is Mint cheaper than Google Fi? And does it work on multiple networks and globally? Google Fi just seems like it's substantially better than any other carrier - at least in the US.

thayne 4y ago
Mint is a little cheaper, and works with more phones. Which is why I went with Mint. But if you need/want that multi network support and global connectivity, you should probably go with google fi.
nimajneb 4y ago
According to the Reddit link in another comment it looks like T-Mobile treats Google Fi higher priority than MVNOs, it's in the same tier as the normal plans.

pavon 4y ago

Most of the carriers, including T-Mobile have pre-paid plans that are a much better deal than their post-paid, and I've had fewer problems with them than MVNOs. For example, T-Mobile's less expensive pre-paid plans are: * $15/month 3GB * $25/month 6GB * $35/month 12GB That is a bit more expensive that Mint, but not insane, and you don't have to prepay for 6-12 months.

jrootabega 4y ago
T-Mobile prepaid (when their payment processor was Vesta; not sure if it still is) once decided to refuse my payment because my street address started with 4 numbers and they thought I was trying to enter a credit card.
hedora 4y ago
If you go through Metro by T-Mobile, you can get an unlimited plan for $40/month. (four lines for $25 each).
lotsofpulp 4y ago
The exchange for those lower prices is lower priority. This is a good post (assuming it is true): https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_level_explained_2022_march_lower_qci_is_better/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_leve... Basically, pay more and you get a higher probability of higher quality connection. Whether or not the difference in cost is worth the difference (real or perceived) in quality of connection is of course, unknown.
- nimajneb 4y ago
  So Google Fi isn't considered a MVNO by T-Mobile?
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fi >Google Fi ... is an MVNO telecommunications service by Google that provides telephone calls, SMS, and mobile broadband using cellular networks and Wi-Fi. Google Fi uses networks operated by T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular.

jrootabega 4y ago

Mint deceptively charges a significant processing fee at the last minute even when paying 6 months at a time. 9 or 10%. 18 months (540 days, really) of Mint service requires about $40 in surprise fees.

Someone1234 4y ago
Are these fees from Mint or local taxes? How does Mint describe them?
- jrootabega 4y ago
  Good point. Some of it was taxes, but I forget how much, and they don't tell you in your email receipt. I might be able to dig up the exact breakdown.
- tuankiet65 4y ago
  One data point: * Base amount: $180 * "Recovery fee" (which they describe in [0]): $18.5 * "Taxes and Surcharges": $3.89 [0]: https://www.mintmobile.com/taxes-and-fees-explained https://www.mintmobile.com/taxes-and-fees-explained
- jrootabega 4y ago
  Renew 10GB 5G • 4G LTE Data Plan for 6 Months Summary 10GB 5G 4G LTE Data 6 Months $150.00 Recovery Fee $11.50 Taxes & Surcharges $2.05 So if we treat the "Taxes and Surcharges" as just normal American customs, 18 months of this would be about $35 in "recovery fees".

corytheboyd 4y ago

Mint customer here. It doesn't always get the best service (live in the Colorado mountains) but my phone is such a small part of my life, I don't really care if it is occasionally slow. I have the massive privilege of working from home, where I have a consistent internet connection anyway. If I am out and sometimes can't look at HN while taking a shit... life goes on.

FunnyLookinHat 4y ago

Same story for me - but we are on Ting (MVNO of Verizon). They have great customer service, have always been really competitively priced (our two-phone family is usually right around $55/mo), and the cell service has been great.

latchkey 4y ago

Prepaid on Verizon has a couple discounts that cut costs, without any lock-in or long term payments. $10/mo Auto Pay discount on plans $45 & higher after the 1st month. $5/mo loyalty discount applies after 3 months of service; additional $5/mo applies after 9 months of service, for a total of $10/mo on plans $45 or higher.

telcal 4y ago
But on the lowest tier plan after your data is used you're living a rough life on 2G speed. "Once high-speed data is used (including Mobile Hotspot), you will have 2G speeds the remainder of the month. Your data experience and functionality of some data applications such as streaming video or audio may be impacted."

clairity 4y ago

i've had t-mobile before and even tried mint too, but t-mobile is awful in (my area of) LA. so during the pandemic, i switched to visible ($30/mo) and it's been great. no congestion slowdowns yet. it has unlimited talk/text/data, and crucially, unlimited hotspot (for 1 device at a time) when i'm out and need internet for a laptop or tablet. the only potential trip-up is that customer service is chat-/email-only (no phone). visible just recently added a higher-priced tier for 5G, but don't fall for it. the 4G tier is more than fast enough.

CitrusFruits 4y ago

Surprisingly, I've found the Mint's speeds always comparable if not faster than T-Mobile. I did a speed test before/after I switched from T-Mobile to Mint, and Mint was actually faster (I ran the tests within 5 minutes of eachother). Also, it was pretty amusing to get a voicemail from (a recording of) Ryan Reynolds telling me I could downgrade since I'm not using my full data amount each month.

zikduruqe 4y ago

I left my 20 year career with a telco, and immediately signed up with Visible. (No way I am paying insane prices for a phone that I seldom use). $25/mo and Apple Watch for $5/mo. Visible or Mint is a good way to go.

seekingsolution 4y ago
Has Visible worked out the signup problems they had? I remember hearing a lot of people complain about their experience trying to sign up for Visible. A lot of them just gave up and got service elsewhere.
- zikduruqe 4y ago
  Of the 6 people I brought over with me, there were zero issues. If you were to read the sub-reddit dedicated to Visible, you'd think it was a hot dumpster fire. But from everything I have seen and interacted with their customer service (the two times I needed to), I have zero issues. And this is coming from a person that worked in all aspects of Big Telco and believe me, I know what horrible customer support in telco really is. :)

MrFoof 4y ago

I have Verizon prepaid. I pay $26.56 a month including state sales tax. For that I get… * Unlimited voice. * Unlimited SMS. * “Unlimited” data. The first 5GB/mo is at 5G speeds, the rest at 4G speeds which I typically see between 60-110Mbps. * Yes, tethering as well. Post-paid from all carriers is vastly overpriced, and that’s what they push push push. Pre-paid is always cheaper, though you can’t bring some things like a watch along. Check the major carriers, and get over not being able to stream unlimited 4K video in the field. I’ve been paying that $26.56 a month for years now, and that price has come down at least THREE TIMES since I switched to prepaid many years ago. Think I went from $45 -> $35 -> $30 -> $25 pre-tax over the years. MVNOs are certainly an option, but just look hard at the major carrier prepaid offerings. They don’t actively advertise them, so, “It’s a secret to everybody.”

formerkrogemp 4y ago

> I bailed from T-Mobile to Mint, an MVNO running on the same network. Downside is that if there's network congestion you'll be deprioritized behind T-Mobile's direct customers, but it hasn't been an issue for me. Plans from the major carriers are insane, the price structure is always like $80 for the first line plus $10 per additional line, so unless you have four phones on your plan you're really getting screwed. In comparison, Mint's plans are $15 to $30 per line if you prepay for a year at a time, and there's no extra activation fees. It's been working well for me. If your phone has eSIM support you can probably install their app and run a free week trial alongside your current phone service if you want to test it out. For older phones they sell a $5 test kit with two SIMs, one for the trial and a second to activate a real account, and it includes a $5 discount to pay back the trial cost.< Mint is nice in urban areas, but don't get it if you need roaming coverage or coverage in rural areas. You won't get it. SMS often breaks down as well when you're out of cell signal range. I've had a few important texts disappear due to that. Otherwise if you don't leave an urban area or deal with a disaster flooding cellular traffic, then Mint is a great, cheap, urban option.

Waterluvian 4y ago

Canada is so much like the U.S. that the subtle differences often feel kind of eerie and weird. One of them, which I see on TV whenever I visit, is how many phone ads there are, and how they're all basically trying to sell four phone plans at a time. Bundling is a pretty ingenious evil way to make it very painful for a customer to switch away, especially when you've got your teens on the plan.

arrosenberg 4y ago
That is why bundling is generally considered anticompetitive (despite 40 years of slumber on the part of regulators, it's still illegal). https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/tying-sale-two-products https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/gui...

cenal 4y ago

I switched my ex off my Verizon plan to Visible. It cut costs by 60+% for service they haven't seen a difference with. They lost the ability to go into a store for support, lost phone support, and get deprioritized but they use it for personal use and don't care. I use my phone to run a business. I will spend the premium to have the best service I can afford to run my company. I pay for the top plan on Verizon as a result. Choice is good. An MVNO is not for everyone but it is a much lower cost option for those who want the downsides.

selectodude 4y ago
Of the multitude of benefits of living in a major city, one of the big downsides is that in denser areas, the networks are permanently congested. I went the MVNO route for a month and in downtown Chicago on a work day, you have five bars and no service.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Depending on your use case - a MVNO that supports wifi calling + iMessage etc can help. It’s nice in rural areas where the signal is weak.
  - selectodude 4y ago
    I'm not trying to spend $40/mo to use wifi calling and iMessage. I'd rather spend $80 and never ever have to think about it.
    - SkyPuncher 4y ago
      Agreed. I loved the concept of wifi calling when it was introduced, but it always sucks when I use it. It always manages to find all of the flaws in the network I'm using. It's just not worth the hassle when I can rely on a cell network that specializes in real-time voice communication.
  - monksy 4y ago
    USMobile supports wifi calling.

steviedotboston 4y ago

I've been on Mint for over a year and have been really happy with it as well. It's saved me thousands compared to T-Mobile, and now that my wife and I work from home full time we really don't need much data at all. We each have 4GB/month, and most of the time I barely use 2GB.

lbotos 4y ago

The biggest plus for Mint is they now support legit TOTP for account access.

silisili 4y ago

Also a big fan of Mint. They were the first MVNO, and perhaps even carrier, that I can remember having a really slick website, too. Seemed very modern and forward looking. Their founder, Rizwan, is also around on the subreddit and will generally answer valid complaints - which is pretty unheard of for a company of that size. Also, Ryan Reynolds sent out a postcard once, and also a voicemail, if that's your thing.

saltcured 4y ago
Yeah, it still brings me a little smile (smirk?) to recall the voicemail gag he did during the initial COVID lockdown period in LA.

strix_varius 4y ago

If you're willing to pay for a year in advance (which I personally consider a convenience rather than a hassle), you might like the AT&T 12-month prepaid plan: https://www.att.com/prepaid/multi-month-plans/ https://www.att.com/prepaid/multi-month-plans/ $25/month for unlimited talk & text + 16 GB of data each month that rolls over month-to-month. AT&T's customer support is absolute garbage and migrating to them from T-Mobile was a pain in the ass, but since then it's been simple.

binkHN 4y ago
Nice—never knew about this. How would you compare the coverage and speed to T-Mobile? Does it come with Wi-Fi Calling? Looks like it supports hot spot usage.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  I cannot think of a reason that a mobile network would not include wifi calling. I presume it is all gain for them to take load off their mobile network?
  - oaththrowaway 4y ago
    Cricket only allows WiFi calling on certain devices. I had to switch to Mint to get it working
    - lostlogin 4y ago
      How do they prevent wifi calling?
      - wtallis 4y ago
        WiFi calling in this context doesn't mean any random VoIP app, it means using your same phone number as the cellular service uses. That requires the carrier to be involved on the server side even if your handset is not using the cellular modem. (And it probably is using the cellular modem to some extent even during a WiFi call, to support handover between WiFi and cellular.)

mdni007 4y ago

I moved from Mint to T-Mobile. The internet speed was so unbearably slow that it was useless. This is in NYC btw.

divbzero 4y ago

> Downside is that if there's network congestion you'll be deprioritized behind T-Mobile's direct customers, but it hasn't been an issue for me. I’ve wondered how much of a difference this actually makes. How often does a network get congested enough to impact MVNO users, but not congested enough to impact major carrier users as well?

Firmwarrior 4y ago
Looks like Selectdude in another thread said it happens all the time in Chicago I can confirm that an MVNO I was using in Tokyo barely worked during rush hour. It was like a 2g connection or worse
vel0city 4y ago
Another person here chiming in with my experiences, I see it a good bit but it is not as bad as one might think most of the time. If I do a speed test in the city square near me late at night, I'll easily pull >100Mbit on my phone. Utilization at like 3:00 AM is next to nothing. All the bars closed over an hour ago, there's nobody out and about but me coming home from a late night datacenter run. I go to the same public square at 3:00 PM and I'll likely get 10-20Mbit. More than enough for most things I need, but definitely nowhere near what I was pulling at 3:00 AM. Friends with T-Mobile postpaid plans with me will probably still be able to pull ~100Mbit. At big crowd events especially in places where there aren't usually as big of crowds (balloon festival, airshow, etc.) connections can be anywhere from okay to next to worthless. Maybe I'll get a megabit, but chances are even Signal might have to retry every now and then to send a text message.
- nimajneb 4y ago
  Does everyones speed decrease like that or only MVNO?
  - vel0city 4y ago
    I've definitely experienced big crowd events where friends with me on T-Mobile on similar generation phones had plenty of network performance available to even stream video while my phone on Mint could barely load a webpage.

artificialLimbs 4y ago

Getting Mint service activated and working was a 3 day train wreck for me. Can't remember details but they couldn't get the number ported, then they couldn't activate my phone for some reason. Went with Ting mobile and it's been great. I have no idea why anyone stays on the 'big' carriers these days.

ddoolin 4y ago
To answer your last question: because when I go abroad, my phone just works almost everywhere I go. Literally when the plane lands, I get a text message from T-Mobile saying "Welcome to _____" with additional information about my service in that country. Places like Mint, Visible, Ting, etc all charge you per text/minute/MB used abroad which makes them non-starters since that's usually where I'm going to be using my phone even more than usual.
- macNchz 4y ago
  Haven’t traveled internationally since 2019 but AT&T was always good for a chuckle on landing: “Welcome to {country}! You can continue using your AT&T data at our roaming rate of $25/megabyte.” Then I’d buy a 10GB SIM for $15 on the way out of the airport.
lotsofpulp 4y ago
Ting is just Dish Network reselling T-Mobile’s network, which means Ting’s users are prioritized behind people directly paying more (or more valuable) to T-Mobile. I stick with one of the 3 mobile network operators because I do not mind the extra cost for being higher up in the priority chain (or believing that I am). https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_level_explained_2022_march_lower_qci_is_better/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/tn4733/qci_leve...

dr_ 4y ago

Same except switched to Visible, which runs on Verizon (May even be partially owned by them, not sure).

lotsofpulp 4y ago
Visible is completely owned by Verizon. Many US “MVNOs” are just businesses created to implement price segmentation (price discrimination) for the 3 mobile networks.
- jaywalk 4y ago
  It's not price discrimination. MVNO customers, whether owned by the carrier or not, pay less and get less. In order for it to be price discrimination, it would have to be the same service that direct customers of the carrier receive. And it's simply not.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    That is a good point. I guess it is more similar to “product binning”? Or whatever it is called when you go to an amusement park and purchase passes to cut 50% of the way into the line, or 75% of the way into the line, and then 95% of the way into the line for a ride?
    - jaywalk 4y ago
      Yeah, I think that's a better analogy.

leeoniya 4y ago

same, Mint has been great.