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I used to love Mint, but since the population boom in Central Florida it is entirely unusable due to being a low priority network. This means on many occasions

I used to love Mint, but since the population boom in Central Florida it is entirely unusable due to being a low priority network. This means on many occasions you will have almost no bandwidth, I am talking cannot stream Spotify bad. The worst IMO is traffic jams, the one time I really want to listen to music and it will start cutting out. If you're downtown there is a 80% chance you will not even be able to load a website or youtube, its basically unusable. I know T-Mobile is working to up capacity, but I had to switch to Google Fi to get any real reliability.

mataug 4y ago
Google Fi is a MVNO just like Mint. I'm curious why Fi gets better reliability when Mint doesn't ?
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Google pays for post paid priority on TMO.
  - viiralvx 4y ago
    Also, does them having US Cellular towers also have something to do with it?
    - mankyd 4y ago
      US cellular has been dropped from Fi, except when roaming, supposedly: https://9to5google.com/2023/02/28/google-fi-us-cellular/ https://9to5google.com/2023/02/28/google-fi-us-cellular/
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- unclenoriega 4y ago
  To add to the other response, the r/NoContract community maintains a list of network prioritization policies: https://old.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/oaophe/data_prioritization_policies_of_the_carriers_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/oaophe/data_pri...
amalcon 4y ago
Honestly, this kind of statement makes me more likely to consider them. I was on post-paid T-Mobile many years ago, but I left because it was entirely unusable outside of cities. Signal would cut out entirely 4-5 times on a 2 hour drive. If my destination was anywhere with more than about 500 feet between houses, I was probably impossible to contact until I left. This just tells me that the situation might have improved. I'm pretty happy with my current mobile provider (a Verizon low-priority MVNO), but if that changed I might seriously think about something that runs on T-Mobile.
- gms7777 4y ago
  T-mobile coverage got considerably better in rural areas sometime around 4 years ago. I did a lot of long drives and would completely lose service for long stretches in upstate New York, Pennsylvania, much of Ohio. Now I can't think of any time in recent years that I've gotten no service. The strength of coverage does occasionally drop if I'm way out in the boonies but it's so much better than it used to be.
  - netruk44 4y ago
    As someone who did a cross-country trip on Mint, the entire state of Nebraska up until just recently had no coverage. T-Mobile subscribers had coverage in Nebraska because they paid to peer for their subscribers, but Mint Mobile customers did not benefit from that. Looking at Mint's coverage map, Nebraska now has coverage (it only took until 2023!)
  - BenjiWiebe 4y ago
    Would that be because of the Sprint merger, I wonder? Maybe Nebraska had good Sprint coverage.
- thaumaturgy 4y ago
  > I'm pretty happy with my current mobile provider (a Verizon low-priority MVNO) Mind sharing who it is? Especially if you like them. I've been a Mint user for years, but I'm not a fan of T-Mobile (the company) and during some recent travels I've noticed that Mint-to-Mint calls have gotten really bad.
laweijfmvo 4y ago
I have full fledged TMobile and my service has never been worse. I've just gotten used to the idea that I won't have service outside of wifi range.
- a2tech 4y ago
  This is why I switched to Verizon years ago--I had T-Mobile and one of ATT's grandfathered in unlimited data plans but you simply could not rely on them to deliver workable telephone calls and data access. As a consultant that was not workable. So even though it was WAY more expensive I made the switch.
- BenjiWiebe 4y ago
  Does your phone support band 71?
meragrin_ 4y ago
> since the population boom in Central Florida it is entirely unusable due to being a low priority network. Wouldn't that mean it has never been usable?? When has it not been steadily growing? It has been steadily growing since at least the 70s.
- pyrophane 4y ago
  Maybe the difference here is "faster than anticipated" growth that T-Mo didn't plan for, forcing them to deprioritize MVNO traffic.
kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
That's entirely on T-Mobile for not providing capacity. Mint works fine in Manhattan. I could even get service from the basement of a masonry building.

mataug 4y ago

Google Fi is a MVNO just like Mint. I'm curious why Fi gets better reliability when Mint doesn't ?

toomuchtodo 4y ago
Google pays for post paid priority on TMO.
- viiralvx 4y ago
  Also, does them having US Cellular towers also have something to do with it?
  - mankyd 4y ago
    US cellular has been dropped from Fi, except when roaming, supposedly: https://9to5google.com/2023/02/28/google-fi-us-cellular/ https://9to5google.com/2023/02/28/google-fi-us-cellular/
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
unclenoriega 4y ago
To add to the other response, the r/NoContract community maintains a list of network prioritization policies: https://old.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/oaophe/data_prioritization_policies_of_the_carriers_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/oaophe/data_pri...

amalcon 4y ago

Honestly, this kind of statement makes me more likely to consider them. I was on post-paid T-Mobile many years ago, but I left because it was entirely unusable outside of cities. Signal would cut out entirely 4-5 times on a 2 hour drive. If my destination was anywhere with more than about 500 feet between houses, I was probably impossible to contact until I left. This just tells me that the situation might have improved. I'm pretty happy with my current mobile provider (a Verizon low-priority MVNO), but if that changed I might seriously think about something that runs on T-Mobile.

gms7777 4y ago
T-mobile coverage got considerably better in rural areas sometime around 4 years ago. I did a lot of long drives and would completely lose service for long stretches in upstate New York, Pennsylvania, much of Ohio. Now I can't think of any time in recent years that I've gotten no service. The strength of coverage does occasionally drop if I'm way out in the boonies but it's so much better than it used to be.
- netruk44 4y ago
  As someone who did a cross-country trip on Mint, the entire state of Nebraska up until just recently had no coverage. T-Mobile subscribers had coverage in Nebraska because they paid to peer for their subscribers, but Mint Mobile customers did not benefit from that. Looking at Mint's coverage map, Nebraska now has coverage (it only took until 2023!)
- BenjiWiebe 4y ago
  Would that be because of the Sprint merger, I wonder? Maybe Nebraska had good Sprint coverage.
thaumaturgy 4y ago
> I'm pretty happy with my current mobile provider (a Verizon low-priority MVNO) Mind sharing who it is? Especially if you like them. I've been a Mint user for years, but I'm not a fan of T-Mobile (the company) and during some recent travels I've noticed that Mint-to-Mint calls have gotten really bad.

laweijfmvo 4y ago

I have full fledged TMobile and my service has never been worse. I've just gotten used to the idea that I won't have service outside of wifi range.

a2tech 4y ago
This is why I switched to Verizon years ago--I had T-Mobile and one of ATT's grandfathered in unlimited data plans but you simply could not rely on them to deliver workable telephone calls and data access. As a consultant that was not workable. So even though it was WAY more expensive I made the switch.
BenjiWiebe 4y ago
Does your phone support band 71?

meragrin_ 4y ago

> since the population boom in Central Florida it is entirely unusable due to being a low priority network. Wouldn't that mean it has never been usable?? When has it not been steadily growing? It has been steadily growing since at least the 70s.

pyrophane 4y ago
Maybe the difference here is "faster than anticipated" growth that T-Mo didn't plan for, forcing them to deprioritize MVNO traffic.

kevin_thibedeau 4y ago

That's entirely on T-Mobile for not providing capacity. Mint works fine in Manhattan. I could even get service from the basement of a masonry building.