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Savers, you guess it from the title, another online Mint Mobile review. I’m sure you’ve already seen a handful of these, but I want to give you my experience from a frugal and minimalist point of view.
Before we get started, if you’d like to sign up for Mint Mobile, please use my referral link: http://fbuy.me/tHV1l
I think people spend more time choosing which model of phone they want than deciding on their mobile carrier. I sure didn’t care about the carrier, so long as my phone worked when I needed it to. I’m the kind of person who believes “If it’s not broken, then don’t mess with it.” My previous cell provider of choice was T-Mobile. I had T-Mobile for so long, they weren’t even called T-Mobile when I got my first phone with them as a kid, they were known as VoiceStream Wireless. I just never thought to switch because I had always heard horror stories about outrageously high bills from the other big carriers like Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile’s phone service worked with minimal issues for over two decades. The only problem I ever had was the steadily growing price over the years.
I’ve been hesitant to switch carriers due to mild brand loyalty, but my frugality is more important than loyalty to a company. I’ve known about other MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) companies like Cricket, MetroPCS and Visual, but refused to make the jump. Again, my service wasn’t broken and the price wasn’t the worst, so why would I change it?
Though I said T-Mobile’s price wasn’t the worst, what I meant was that it’s not the worst when comparing to the other top carriers. For example, at the time of this recording, Verizon’s least expensive prepaid plan is $40 per month for unlimited talk, text and 5 GB of data. AT&T’s least expensive prepaid plan is $50 for unlimited talk, text and 4 GB of data. T-Mobile’s least expensive prepaid plan is $45 and includes unlimited talk, text and 20 GB of data. These are the plans that have no extra perks, and we’ll be comparing them to Mint Mobile later.
Why did I choose Mint Mobile? Honestly, Mint Mobile is a T-Mobile MVNO or mobile virtual network operator. Without getting technical, this just means that the service uses T-Mobile’s network infrastructure without roaming access to the Verizon or AT&T networks. So if you’re in an area with only Verizon or AT&T towers, then you won’t have service. Not the biggest deal, if you’re not regularly in areas with few cell towers. For me, that meant identical service. It’s not like I was switching to a company that used Verizon towers, like Visible, or AT&T towers, like Cricket. I knew what I was getting into with the T-Mobile infrastructure.
Taking the step to finally switch from T-Mobile was difficult, honestly. I enjoyed the perks that came along with the service. I was eligible for free Netflix, Apple TV+ and Paramount+ options on their Magenta Max plan, meaning I didn’t have to pay for those services. Verizon and AT&T also offer similar streaming benefits. Seems like T-Mobile and other top carriers win when it comes to perks with add-on services, but when you do the math are you really saving any money?
Mint Mobile has no perks, but that’s a good thing. Stripping the fluff from the cell phone plan keeps prices low. On top of that Mint Mobile has no brick and mortar locations, so the company doesn’t have to pay rent for the facilities, again keeping costs low. They also don’t pay for the physical infrastructure like cell towers, instead renting bandwidth space from T-Mobile.
What does Mint Mobile have? To put it simply, Mint Mobile is a no-frills cell service. You get unlimited talk and text on all of their plans, and the only choice you really have to make is how much data do you need? Currently, they have options for 4 GB, 10 GB, 15 GB and unlimited (throttled at 35 GB). Prices range from $15 to $30 per month, depending on the plan you choose. That’s it. No add-ons for extra services that you may not even use, but still have to pay for. Mint Mobile offers plan options for 3, 6 or 12 months. Choosing their 12 month plan offers their lowest price options. I have the 12 month 4 GB plan, which after taxes and fees came out to be about $200 for the year, or under $17 per month. Keep in mind that you will be paying for the entire plan upfront, but then you no longer have to worry about a monthly cell phone bill. My home needs two cell phones, so my yearly cost is about $400. Compared to the almost $100 per month ($1,200 per year!) thatI was paying for T-Mobile. I’m incredibly happy with the switch to Mint Mobile. I’ve had their service for over four months now and haven’t had any service interruptions.
I happen to live in Florida and live in the path of the recent Hurricane Ian. Now, my area wasn’t hit directly, so I’m thankful for my family’s and my safety, but we did get hit with hurricane force winds and lost power and internet for some time. I was reliant on my cell phone to be able to keep updated with the weather and info from our local electric company. At no point during the outage did my speeds drop until I ran out of data. I ended up using up my 4 GBs during that time from browsing Reddit too much, so that’s on me. I could have bought additional data, but I didn’t want to. When I did run out, it was practically unusable when trying to watch YouTube or browse Reddit, but still useful for sending iMessages and slowly checking emails. I’m not the kind of person who gets upset from super slow loading speeds, since I’m old enough to have used dial up internet as a kid. Anybody remember NetZero? I also understand that the internet, though a necessity in the modern world, is kind of a luxury when it comes to basic needs. We don’t always need to be online and on our phones constantly, but that’s a topic for another day.
Switching to Mint Mobile was easy. Buying the service is simple enough through their website or app (using my referral link! http://fbuy.me/tHV1l), and they’ll mail you a SIM card. If you want to keep your phone number, you’ll need to keep your current service active and have your current cell phone account number, transfer PIN number and billing ZIP code to transfer your number. Your carrier can tell you the transfer PIN number and will unlock your phone, if you call and ask. Put your new Mint Mobile SIM card in your phone. Use the Mint Mobile app and follow the setup steps to input the transfer information and set up your service. That’s all! I took me less than 10 minutes to set up my phones.
Again, I’m happy I made the switch to Mint Mobile and I think you should, too! Please use my referral link to sign up and you’ll get $15 credit to use when you sign up. Savings on savings. Go to http://fbuy.me/tHV1l to start saving on your mobile phone bill.
Question of the episode:
Do you have one of the top cell phone carriers T-Mobile, Verizon or AT&T? Why do you have them when there are other, less expensive options out there? I’d love to hear your reasoning! You’ll receive no judgements from me, remember, I was a T-Mobile customer for over 20 years! I know how hard it is to make the switch. Please leave a comment below.
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