Goodbye high dollar phone bill - Trying Mint Mobile

Joined
Mar 2, 2004
Messages
4,098
Location
Kentucky
Never been so excited to get rid of a phone company, but said goodbye to Verizon and switched to Mint Mobile this afternoon.

I didn't really have any qualms with Verizon other than the price and that they incentivize people to switch by offering their best promotions to new customers (and/or lines) only. Their existing customers get penalized in a way for staying because they're not eligible for the good promotions such as BOGO phones. All the phone companies do that, so it's not just Verizon, but a gripe of mine regardless.

Presently I don't need or want a new phone/device, so I got interested in the MVNOs, which ought to work out good for my use case. I live in a fairly rural area and very rarely am in congested places (especially not as of late), so the possibility for data de-prioritization is remote. The only unknown is T-mobile coverage in this area (which Mint uses); I haven't had them since the early 2000's shortly after Voicestream became T-Mobile, but liked them well enough back then. We have 10 days risk-free that we can request a refund if we're not satisfied. Activation and porting numbers over only took a couple minutes.

If Mint is paid 12-months at a time, between the wife and I, we'll save roughly $75 a month and get a bump to unlimited data versus the 12gb shared data plan we had with Verizon. Already passed the at-home test with 2-3 bars, but we always have Wi-Fi calling turned on at home anyways. I hope it works out!

Anyone else have experience / feedback regarding Mint Mobile?
 
I have something similar, H2O. Runs me $18 a month. Works well enough but sometime pictures won't send and multiple party texts flake out. But overall, good enough.
 
Interested to see how it works out for you. Been tempted to flip from ATT to Mint. We're on an old legacy plan with ATT, so it doesn't save at the moment to switch, if that pricing ever goes away, I'll give it a whirl.
 
We have ATT prepaid and love it. $70 per month for 2 lines with 8 GB per line and unlimited talk / text. We don't need the latest and greatest phone so it works for us. Some of my coworkers have phone payments that could be car payments they are so high! Why would anyone want to live like that?
 
I tried Mint last year for 5 minutes. Zero service in my house. T-Mobile sucks in Central Virginia.
I just went through this same experiment myself...ordered Mint's "Starter Kit" from amazon for like 99 cents.
it contains 2 sims...one to Test Drive the network, with 250 min of talk, 250 txts, and 250 MB of Data, good for 7 days once you activate it with the Mint Mobile app. and one for when you make the switch, and either port your number, or pick a new one.
from family experience, I knew T- Mo had basically Zero Coverage here, but thought with the Sprint merger I'd give them a shot (Sprint has always had a decent enough presence here..)
Since T-Mobile merged with Sprint, I think they are now #2 in coverage, after Verizon, with AT&T (in my experience) in a distant third.
well I tried the starter sim in 2 locations where i spend most of my time, my House, and my work. in Neither location did i get a signal good enough to make a call with wifi off(to prevent wifi call routing)
Is it $15 total or $15 plus a bunch of taxes?
fine print on their commercials says Taxes and Fees extra.

Mint Just Introduced an unlimited plan For $30/mo. part of the shtick is (at least it doesn't appear so) you can't pay month to month, it's no contract, but you have to buy in 3 month blocks (3,6,9,or 12 mos)
all plans are unlimited talk/txt, 4G or 5G whichever your phone supports/has stronger signal.
3GB for $15/mo, 8GB for $20/mo, 12GB for $25/mo, or Unlimited for $30/mo.
oh, and they're owned by Ryan Reynolds.


but no coverage means sticking with Verizon Prepaid for me... Currently paying $35/mo for 15GB (well...$37.58.. they don't bake the taxes into the cost..)
 
Is it $15 total or $15 plus a bunch of taxes?

It's a flat rate, the advertised price is actually what you pay. The gotcha with Mint is that you have to pay at least three months at a time.

Edit: I'll have to look at my cc billing statement, since someone reported they do charge taxes. I don't recall paying any but I could be wrong.

We signed up at $30 per line with unlimited data plan (2 lines) for three months. But that's actually an intro price, it goes up to $45 if you continue to do 3 month billing. To keep the $30/mo you have to pay a full 12 months which doesn't really bother me if the service is good.
 
Congrats on saving money and sticking it to the corporations. Looking back, it can be somewhat nauseating to realize how long ago you should have switched and what you could have done with all the money you would have saved.
 
Get the Walmart phone service. It's like $25 or $30 a month and runs off all the major towers.

I applaud anyone who switches from Verizon.. yeah, sure, the signal will not always be as good but as someone who drives through PA regularly.. That used to be a dead spot, and no longer is. I will add more areas of the country to test and experience but really, you don't need Verizon in as many places as you think ..

Save the money.

EDIT: It was Ting mobile that had absolutely zero signal out of the box, but I was pursuing a Hotspot. If I remember right, Mint did not have it's own dedicated signal and basically runs off Nationwide local WiFi networks.. Get the Walmart phone service, $35 unlimited talk and text, and the only thing that maybe costs is data beyond the plan but that's different for every individual.

Surprised more people aren't defending Verizon, it's their money, they can use it when they need it...
 
Congrats on saving money and sticking it to the corporations. Looking back, it can be somewhat nauseating to realize how long ago you should have switched and what you could have done with all the money you would have saved.

I agree. Verizon sort of shadily hosed me the last time I bought devices through them. They advertised a $99 Apple I-pad sale for Black Friday 2 years ago and I repeatedly asked them if there was any catch to it. They said no, $99 if you add a line for the tablet. What they failed to mention is that they lock you into a 2-year agreement, so in essence the I-pad costs $99 + $240 (@ $10 / month line fee). Sure, it was probably buried in the six pages of fine print they quickly scroll through on a tablet before you sign, but it sure left a sour taste in my mouth. I swore upon discovering that, that I'd be dropping Verizon like a bad habit when I'm done with the 2-years. Here I am.
 
The only thing that needs to work every time is my pistol.

If my phone works most of the time.. I'm cool with that.

I pay 26 bucks a month, call it 27 if we are rounding up... I used to have a Virgin Mobile plan that went legacy before I went to another provider...

Verizon phone bills are more like car lease payments. Which should also be avoided..

Most people that have Verizon, or at least many I've talked to. They like to brag about how they have Verizon. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, they have their reward..
 
I'm on a tracfone model ending in C which gets me Verizon towers.

cellmapper.net will show you the towers near you and what services run there, and there are utilities that tell you the tower number you're currently using. I get Verizon channel 13, 700 MHz, which "gets through" very nicely.
 
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