Kirishiro Yamazaki-Triendl

22 de diciembre de 2018

Bang for the bucks, supports 5G, with hotspot

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 5GHad 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:==============================================================================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-codesYes, your banks and short-code service will go through like a breeze.==================================================================================Now, lets talk about Cons:1. Data de-prioritizationThis 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 serviceWell, the customer service waiting time over the phone is... long. So grab a cup of coffee when you call.3. Number poolWell, 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.====================================================================================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!Ver más

283 personas la encontraron útil

Glenn Welt

31 de marzo de 2019

BEST $ & BEST SERVICE IN 2019 ?

5 stars on 3/29/2019 is based on the following:1. I am a techie with 37 years of phone industry experience & skills (created & owned 1st retail brick & mortars to compete with AT&T in 1982).2. I've experienced every major USA cellular service provider you can name. They ALL have pros & cons, hits & misses, good service & service outages.3. Prior to Mint, I ported from another carrier to Ultra Mobile without issue in less than 24 hours. Then ported from Ultra to Red Pocket without issue.4. Prior to moving my main phone to Mint, I purchased the Mint $5 7day card to test on one of my cheap $100 backup Android phones. New Mint number was activated & working in minutes, test phone calls clear as day.5. On 3/30/2019 I began porting my main cellular number from Red Pocket to Mint using a 3month 8GB/mo card I purchased for $20. On 3/31/2019 porting was not completed so I phoned Mint. RG suggested I phone Red Pocket to confirm correct account & PIN. Then Red Pocket gave me new/different account & PIN. Phoned Mint again and spoke to Brandy. Told Brandy that I had started MINT activation the day before with wrong Red Pocket info.Brandy stayed on the phone with me and got Lyn at Red Pocket on a 3way call. Due to problems from Red Pocket end, took almost 30 minutes but Brandy very patiently explained to Lyn what needed to be done. Less than 10 minutes after that 3way call, Mint Mobile was working perfectly on my smartphone.BOTTOM LINE: Despite the negative reviews and based on my 37 years linked to the phone industry, I've NEVER received better service than I did today from Brandy and RG at Mint Mobile.P.S. i expect Mint service to be same as what I experienced in 2018 with Ultra Mobile for about a year, meaning they both piggyback off Tmobile which great and just keeps getting better.Ver más

sapphire_

amazing! smooth and seamless process

so easy to use! oh my goodness i’m the least tech savvy person out there and i was still able to set up the sim card and pick a plan. took less than 30 minutes. i got a new number and was immediately able to start texting my family. the sim card feels durable and it was able to connect very quickly to my phone. there is also a sim tray pin included in case you need something small to get your sim out. texting is fast and is compatible with other families devicesVer más

1 persona la encontró útil

J. T

13 de junio de 2019

Solid service with huge savings!

Quick Background: I saw the Super Bowl Commercial and jumped on the $20 promo deal that was running during the time for my first line with Mint. Since everything went pretty smoothly, I went and purchased another line and ported my personal line over to Mint. I'll break down a few things:Activation + Porting Process:The entire activation process was very seamless and I really appreciated that fact that you didn't have to provide a credit card or setup AutoPay especially if you just want to try out the service. One of the main things that was holding me back from porting into Mint was the mixed feedback from Mint's community forum and Reddit regarding the porting in process. Didn't really look forward to the possibility of having zero service for an extended time. Thankfully, the porting process for me was very painless, it was completed in around 5 minutes! No issues with calls, data, or texts. *Disclaimer* You can only port your number during the activation process so you can't try porting your number after you activate the sim.Service:Personally haven't had any major issues with the service, I also live in a larger city so that probably helps. Mint runs on T-Mobile, so wherever T-Mobile has coverage you're solid. 4-months in and haven't ran into any issues with the service. Also, from what I can tell, data speeds from Mint were not capped which is neat to see.Domestic Roaming:While T-Mobile has ok domestic roaming piggybacking off AT&T and other regional GSM networks, Mint doesn't provide ANY form of domestic roaming. This means that if you can't get native T-Mobile coverage your phone is completely dead. This could be a dealbreaker for some especially if you travel often. I would definitely double-check Mint's coverage maps first just to make sure you're getting coverage where you live and commute.Mobile Hotspot:Was very surprised that hotspot tethering is included with every plan. I use this very often and it's pretty rare these days to see that.User Interface :The UI both the website and the app is very clean and easy to use. No issues here.Support:Haven't yet ran into a situation which needed me to contact their support yet but from what I can tell Mint's support isn't too bad. It also has a Community Forum and Reddit where you'll get a response to questions and problems pretty quickly.Taxes + Fees:There are taxes and fees, but hey, I think it's better than paying fees every single month.Overall Mint has been a very solid carrier, especially for someone like me who tries to save money without having to sacrifice too much. Will stick with Mint as long as the prices are fair and service doesn't go down.

Iowa Guy

14 de febrero de 2019

Everything worked perfect..... for one day

Probably like most people, I got a little tired of paying a LOT of money for mobile phone service. Our 2 phones and 1 cellular iPad were costing $133 a month with 10 GB of data. I decided to try Mint Service on my iPad as it would not disrupt the phone numbers, while I was trying the service out. You activate the service from the Mint web site, put in the SIM card and away you go. No muss, no fuss. Mint uses T-Mobile towers, so if you can get T-Mobile reception you should be good to go.After the successful iPad experiment, I ordered 2 more SIMS for our phones. Total time between activating the cards, inserting the SIM and having the number ported over from Verizon was under 7 minutes. Probably another minute to set up the Voice Mail.Be aware, that this is pre-paid service, as supposed to the normal post paid contract. Difference is you prepay 3 months, 6 months or 12 months. The longer you prepay, the cheaper the service. In our case we have 3 GB of data per phone for $15 per month apiece by prepaying for 12 months. My iPad I have 8 GB of data and it is $20 a month. The total for all 3 phones is $54.16 ( tax and 911 fees) a month versus the $133 I was paying Verizon and my data increased from 10 GB to 14 GB per month. Dropping my bill 60% and increasing my data by 40% was a good use of my time.I have had the SIM cards in for a few days now but all is working just as it was before. If there is any reason to update this review, I will do so.Update: first time I have taken a review from 5 star to 1 star. After two days, the voice mail on my iPhone switched from being on the iPhone to now having to dial into another system to access it. In addition, there is no message that alerts you there is a Voice Mail. Mint is unable to solve this and their support people have no access to tech support. They open up a case and I am supposed to hear back in 24-48 hours. Well 24 hours has passed with no resolution. Initially they tried to blame it on Apple, but I was having none of that. This is a Mint problem that only they can solve. I can not wait much longer to get this resolved and looks like I am going to have to go back to Verizon and their high bills. But I guess you get what you pay for. Support people are not empowered to solve problems, other than standard non answers, like reboot, call Apple or take the SIM card out. I am way beyond underwhelmed.

Jared

27 de noviembre de 2019

Wireless industry insider recommends making the switch.

I honestly hadn't given T-Mobile's network a shot since 2002 when I bought my Nokia 3650. It wasn't great back then...not was it years before when it was Voicestream. I have been with Verizon since 2003 and hadn't ever looked back regardless of my bills skyrocketing with grandfathered unlimited data and hotspot ($50/mo per line for data, $30 for hotspot, $70 for 1400 shared minutes, $30 for unlimited family texting plus $9.99 for each line to access the minutes and texting). My bills were north of $375/mo every month by the time I added one phone installment of $25/mo and insurance. I paid this for a LONG time knowing that if I changed plans I wouldn't be able to get my unlimited data and hotspot back. For 8+ years of this time I worked for AT&T and their terrible network and lack of unlimited plans never once lured me away from Big Red...even though I would have gotten half off as an employee.Regardless...my needs changed, I'm not travelling as much as I figured there was no point in paying that high bill when I used an average of 4gb of data per month now. In an ironic twist I moved somewhere with no Verizon signal on my property and only AT&T worked there. But I still couldn't get signal inside with team Blue...only if I went outdoors. I found out that their features such as WiFi calling only work with AT&T branded devices but I have been a Nexus/Pixel guy for years and wasn't about to change to an (in my opinion) inferior Samsung or Apple device just to use wifi calling.So I did my research, found that T-Mobile had poured a lot of money into low band spectrum that penetrates buildings better and travels further. So I looked into MVNOs like Mint and found MANY options, but the best for the price was Mint. I ordered a sim card to test out the service...and everything worked perfectly on my Pixel 2 XL. Wifi calling, visual voicemail with transcription, RCS messaging, etc. Granted, they still had no signal on my property so I instead put up a high gain omnidirectional WiFi access point on a pole outside my house and it covered all 3 acres without a hitch.So now I'm paying $35/mo for 8GB of data with unlimited talk and text that works in 95% of the places my Verizon worked at. PLUS I'm able to use all of the features of my phone that AT&T wouldn't support simply because they want to trap everyone into a 24-30 month installment plan on a new phone.Remember when we used to pay $200 for a top of the line phone with a 2 year contract and our cell bills were lower too? Well, I do. Carriers would subsidize the price and we would agree to pay for a while. Now we all pay $1000 for the phone and somehow our bills are astronomically higher than they used to be despite the fact that we talk less, text more, and use data most. They were more than happy to give me an 'aircard' with unlimited data back in 2009, but somehow it's not possible now in 2019 with more efficient networks and MUCH more spectrum than they've ever had access to? Gotta love that capitalism.Anyway, if you haven't given the magenta network a try in a while, try it again. It's made major strides. It's also the only network in the US that doesn't restrict features simply because you brought your own device. Maybe if enough of us make the switch to these smaller MVNOs the big MNOs will take notice and start treating customers better.