2024-06 update: years of subscription, mint roaming is awesome!
It has been a couple years since I started my trial. I did acknowledge that T-Mobile is/has acquiring/acquired Mint, I do wish there is no further change to the existing plan, but increasing the data allowance would be awesome.
I did travel to Canada and Germany this year, and I was able to roam in both countries by purchasing the mint roaming pass. This is rare for prepaid services I have to say.
2022-07 update: hotspot also works under 5G
Had to make some travels in the past month, I used the hotspot feature, and did a speed test. The hotspot speed tested on my laptop is the same as the one on the phone, which is 5G speed not capped at 4G/LTE or any lower speed. Gotta recommend this. Also I renewed again. Coverage still depends on T-Mobile.
2021-12 update: eSIM is available!
If you need help to convert to eSIM, navigate to the online portal and request it for free. Takes about 5 minutes.
2020-10 update: T-Mobile turned on 5G in my area. I saw 5G on my Samsung Note 20, did a speed test, in the ball park of 200Mbps. Hence, when not congested, performance is indeed rather nice. Latency is in mid 50 ms.
2020 – 03 Update: I renewed for another 12 months. I don't see a reason to leave. Need more info? Scroll down!
UPDATE: IOS Wi-Fi calling worked. Please update your system to iOS11+.
It has been 3 months, I renewed as annual plan. The past 3 months experiences were pleasant. If you need more details, keep scrolling down!
I have been using different prepaid services for my personal phone since my business phone from the company handles most of my calls. Hence, I can risk my own device to try out all the possibilities and save a couple dollars.
Hereby, let me break down into pros and cons:
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Pros:
1. Big amount of data with hotspot tethering supported!
Okay, for under $30 per month excluding the tax and fees, you can't find anything like this. If you purchase this on sale, yes, it will be 5GB (NOW WITH 8GB) per month for you for 3 months.
2. Wi-Fi calling on Android actually works! (With supported phones)
With Pixel XL and another T-Mobile Samsung phone, I was able to get Wi-Fi calling working, simply by registering online. Do make sure to check your phone compatibility. iPhone from my wife simply can't do it. Please bear that in mind. ( Worked with new iOS update! ) Make sure you update your E911 address on the website after the activation.
3. Hassle free activation with no credit card needed for sign up!
Well, if you are not sure if you will stick around with it, and worry about auto charge, during the sign up period, you can skip for adding credit card. And activation only requires the ACT CODE on the back of the card, takes about 1 minute to activate.
4. Cute and elegant account management interface.
My wife likes the sim card and the mascot design, you can't deny it. And the web management interface is WAYYYYYY better than some of those competitors. You can easily get the most you needed from it. But, how often do you need to log in anyway?
5. Number good for banks and short-codes
Yes, your banks and short-code service will go through like a breeze.
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Now, lets talk about Cons:
1. Data de-prioritization
This thing is prepaid as well. So it is subject to throttling. That is generally known as de-prioritization. Since you are paying for the service with a discount. So you are not in the fast lane always.
During the busy time in downtown Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco, this card will speed lower.
I saw some posts actually complain about the speed, but most of them didn't factor in this issue. The speed is not painfully slow unless you go to the stadium on a game day. I'd suggest on Game Day, just concentrate on the game and family rather than Instagram, makes you a gentleman. (Well, when you have to, since stuff won't load… Like 0.02 mbps for download…)
But yes, off-busy time, I had same fast speed across boards as the speed from postpaid tmobile business plan.
2. Customer service
Well, the customer service waiting time over the phone is… long. So grab a cup of coffee when you call.
3. Number pool
Well, they must withdraw the number from a pool of prepaid, then depending on your luck. If the previous owner had the number signed up for some ghetto things, you will get spam calls and so.
You folks might ask National Do Not Call List… Okay, here is a thing, it takes 30 days for the system to completely register your account.
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Overall, what do I think?
I'll stick around for 3 months, at least. (I mean, I paid for this already, no refund at this point…) Also, if after 3 month, new customer if and only if gets the same $20 for 3 months, then yes.
If it would be your primary phone and you need to do your next millionaire job with your service, then I guess no, go postpaid.
If you are a person like me, who only uses data for none crazy things, like just social media, email, web browsing, or 9GAG on the go. You'd be fine. Streaming? Not so much…
Good luck and have fun folks! Keep the SIM card, cuz it is cute!
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