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A new MVNO provider launched today, Altice Mobile. It is operated by Altice USA, the nation's 4th largest cable provider. Altice USA joins two other cable providers that are already established in the MVNO marketplace, Comcast with its Xfinity Mobile brand and Charter Communications with Spectrum Mobile. Both established brands operate as MVNO's on the Verizon network. Altice USA however, is taking a different approach with its mobile brand. The company describes itself as being an "infrastructure-based MVNO." It recently built out a network of over 19,000 small cells through a partnership with Sprint. That infrastructure will allow Altice to operate more economically compared to other MVNOs in the marketplace and it won't have to rely as much on its network partners. The company will have more control over the features and customer experience that it can offer compared to a typical MVNO.
Altice Mobile's primary network partner is Sprint, and the company has a roaming agreement in place to use AT&T's network. Should the Sprint and T-Mobile merger be completed Altice USA's deal with Sprint will be expanded to include a 7-year wholesale agreement with T-Mobile. The expanded deal will grant Altice USA access to T-Mobile's network including its 5G infrastructure and give it more time to strategically plan the further build-out of its own wireless infrastructure.
Altice Mobile's Wireless Plan Appears To Be The Cheapest Offering In The Marketplace
Altice Mobile will offer only one wireless plan. The plan will give subscribers unlimited talk, text, and data with the first 50GB of data at 4G LTE data speeds for $20/month. After a subscriber exceeds 50GB of data usage in a billing cycle, video streaming and mobile hotspot will be throttled to 2G data speeds, while all other data will remain at LTE speeds. The price includes a $5/month auto-pay discount and is a limited time offer exclusive to Altice USA's Optimum and Suddenlink customers. Customer's who take advantage of the limited time offer will be locked into that price point for life. Those who do not have Optimum or Suddenlink internet or cable service will pay $30/month with auto-pay for service which is still competitively priced compared to a majority of the wireless marketplace. Taxes and fees will cost extra. A maximum of 5 lines are allowed per account. There is no multi-line discount pricing available.
Besides the unlimited talk, text, and data the plan will also include mobile hotspot. Mobile hotspot speeds are limited to 600Kbps, and streaming video while using hotspot will be limited to a resolution of about 480p. Service will also include unlimited international text messaging and talk from the USA to more than 35 countries. Subscribers will also have unlimited talk, text and data access while traveling in those 35+ countries. Only the first 1GB of data will be available at 4G LTE data speeds while traveling after that speeds are reduced to 2G data speeds. Customers can add additional international 4G LTE data priced at $15 for 1GB good for 15 days, or $30 for 3GB good for 30 days.
Available Phones With Altice Mobile
Altice Mobile says that it can support a majority of unlocked phones, and offers an IMEI device checker to confirm if your phone is eligible for use on their network. Eligible Optimum and Suddenlink customers will have the option to purchase smartphones at their corresponding retail stores. Customers will be offered the choice to pay for a new phone in full or for device financing with zero-down, zero-interest and 36-month financing.
Editor's Take
Altice USA's press release today says that its mobile service offers unbeatable pricing and I find that hard to argue with. I'm not aware of a better deal out there for the price, at least for a single line customer. The closest option that comes to mind is Sprint's unlimited kickstart plan which offers unlimited talk, text, and data to customers for $25/month. Besides that offering, Altice Mobile's pricing blows away the competition, and you can see that for yourself by comparing it to other cheap plans in the marketplace.
I have the 50GB plan $20 for life as well. I have hit 50GB twice and my data is throttled no matter what. I read here, that it’s only throttled for streaming videos and the hotspot. Everything else remains LTE. Does anyone have the original brochure claiming that? Thanks
Is it true that we pay 20 for life
Is it true that we we sign up now, we pay 20 for life
i am considering going to the Altice Mobile, because i am an Optimum customer and have Altice service for cable, net, phone. The thing I wonder about is if they when you purchase a phone (Apple 11 Prp MaX), my concern is is Applecare and Insurance available.
Altice is terrible. They don’t even have a customer support number. They just have awful IM support (ironic for a phone company). you get what you pay for. You can’t use your phone when in a moving car, because it jumps on a mobile hotspot, and then as you move, you lose that signal, and drop your call. Infuriating experience. Hard to leave them!!
I have in NYC. 1 phone ported number from T-Mobile. — Faster & Better than TM. It’s amazing. Need the sms/email address and I’d give five stars. I bought second SIM and temp number works but can’t’ port number in yet. Reps put in tickets for everything — 4 days for them to ignore. Something is wrong with their system. Self porting not working. I now pay for two phone companies but if they fix this I’m in for $40/ month
Can i keep my old phone number?
I’m considering signing up but will be moving out of state. The Optimum service will stay active so I’m just worried about speeds and roaming while in the new location. I tried the new zip code in the sign up page and got a “currently not covered” error message. I know I cancel later but don’t want to go through the hassle of porting my number out twice.
I don’t see anyone commenting that they’ve signed up, so I guess I’m the first. The initial issue that’s going to turn away a lot of folks is the complete absence of phone support. That’s presumably a major component of the $20/$30 price point…they simply don’t have people answering phones, and judging by my first day with them, they only have a handful of folks answering their “digital messaging” support option (chat). I got the same person both times I messaged in.
I’m in a fairly well covered area North of Dallas Texas. I have T-Mobile as my primary provider, and average around 40 mbps of data in the evenings (I believe that they are re-directing bandwidth out of the residential area during the day, as my speeds drop to 1/10 of the evening speed during business hours…I still get 40+ at all hours during the weekend). I have also had both Sprint and AT&T at this address…Sprint in 2014 and AT&T between 2009 and 2014. The coverage has only increased since I was their customer, and I know from neighbors that both companies deliver 15+ mbps consistently. That brings us to Altice.
The max I have gotten from data speedtests is 0.5 down and 0.3 up. That is consistent over about 20 tests. Granted it’s one day, but this is during lower traffic periods between 7 and 10 PM (at this point, most people are likely using WiFi around me). As there is no phone support, I’ve chatted twice with reps. I’ll say that prior to my signup, the chats were immediately answered by sales staff. Support takes about 20 minutes to come online, based on my two instances. The first round of troubleshooting was “Reset your network settings” (which I’d already done) and “The only other thing I can suggest is taking your SIMM to a store”. I’m not a network engineer or even a support tech, but that’s woefully inadequate troubleshooting. I related that concern and received a “Conversation closed by the agent”…he hung up on me, basically.
I re-entered chat and after another 20 minute wait, received the same rep. I made note of the fact that the last call was apparently ended intentionally, and the response I received was a terse “How can I help you”. I made two statements: “I need to know how to get reasonable service (meaning data)” and “I know that AT&T and Sprint users live in my neighborhood and are able to use data on their devices”. The response was again “Conversation closed by the agent”.
So, the one day review isn’t very promising. For $20 I get voice service, but no data. Yes, I can get a measured data speed, but any app (including the browser pointed to anything other than Google’s speed test) delivers a “Connect to the internet” message. Youtube doesn’t even load thumbnails. It’s unusable. Inside or outside. I see towers for both Sprint and AT&T in the immediate area. Something is wrong on Altice side, but they aren’t willing to look into it.
I’m curious to see what other early adopters are experiencing. I want this to work, but I’m not willing to be a chat-only guinea pig while paying for service that isn’t being delivered.
how do i get a new sim card4 my apple 6+, so i can save $$ & join the Altice family
Great article amd discussion. I’m a long time verizon wireless customer in the CT/NYC area that still has a grandfather contract of 18GB a month but never throttled. Trying to get a sense if the speeds would be similiar if I made the switch to Altice mobile.
Is Altice mobile essentislly going to be using their local infrastructure and Sprint towers? I was initially excited about the notion of getting AT&T coverage (recently rated best in the country by PCMag) but if it’s a roaming contract, am I right to now think I’ll rarely ever be on AT&T?
I’m sure it will be horrid. Sprint refuses to roam until it can’t find the faintest, most unusable Sprint signal. Besides, other services on decent networks aren’t much more… Visible is only $40 , INCLUDING taxes, and will actually give you a good, usable signal.
I’m just wondering how much they are going to inflate the bill with taxes, government fees, and altice charges. All of which are not part of the price for life deal. They could add on $5 a month billing fee or anything else they want. ALSO — Are they throttling speeds when there is congestion or is this equal to an AT&T premium plan where speeds are full blast over everyone else ?
Gotta think about these things. Unlimited data is only good if it is truly usable at all times.
Do you think it’s a good idea to transfer from att to altice mobile? I want to do it but I’m afraid the service will not be as good
Joe, you said, “I’m not aware of a better deal out there for the price, at least for a single line customer.” What 2-line plans do you see that are equivalent or better? I’ve seen some 4±line plans that might be.