Three weeks ago, Boost Mobile formally announced its first set of plans that could be used on the AT&T network. Boost Mobile labeled those plans "Carrier Crusher." At the time of its announcement, it was said more Carrier Crusher plans would rollout through the holiday season. Today, Boost Mobile has unveiled its next set of Carrier Crusher plans. Its flagship offering will cost $25/month for a plan with 35GB of high-speed data. Of course, there's a catch.
Boost Mobile is marketing this plan as "offering unlimited everything." It's said to be a "low-cost, no-frills unlimited plan" for $25/month. But as mentioned, it's not what I would call a truly unlimited data plan. It only comes with 35GB of 4G LTE/5G data before throttling. There have been reports that Boost's throttled data speeds have or are being bumped up to 512Kbps. I have reached out to a DISH representative to see if these new plans have faster throttled data speeds. I'll update the post if/when a response has been received. Update: Boost Mobile has now posted an FAQs page that shows unlimited slowed data speeds are now 512Kbps.
Another gotcha with this new offering is that in order to get the plan for the $25/month rate, customers must prepay for one year of service. So this is actually an annual plan that costs $300/year. Taxes also cost extra. Customers can use 12GB of their data for hotspot each month.
Boost also announced three other Carrier Crusher plans today. According to Boost's press release, they are as follows:
- $15 per month for 5GB of 5G/4G Data (paid every three months or six months), Update: Data is hard-capped, if you run out during a 30 day cycle, you'll have to top up with a data pack
- $14 per month for 5GB of 5G/4G Data (paid every 12 months) Update: A Twitter follower shared with BestMVNO that Boost Mobile has updated the price of the plan to $12.50/month, data is hard capped, if you run out during a 30 day cycle, you'll have to top up with a data pack
- $30 per month for Unlimited (35GB high-speed) 5G/4G Data (paid every three months)
The plans are supposed to be available today at my.boostmobile.com, but as of article publication time, I am unable to see them. Update: The plans are now available for purchase through that website. I suspect Boost's press release also contained an error which I'm working to verify. The release shows the $30/month plan as having unlimited 5G/4G data, with no asterisk. But I believe it should have an asterisk noting that it comes with 35GB of 4G/5G LTE data before speeds are throttled. Update: The plan does have 35GB of high-speed data before throttling to 512Kbps.
Boost Mobile's new Carrier Crusher plans give Boost a much stronger push into the multi-month discount plan market that is largely dominated by brands such as Mint Mobile and Red Pocket Mobile. Most of the new Carrier Crusher plans are only available online, however, Boost does have some similar multi-month plan starter kits available through national retail stores such as Best Buy and Target. The offerings are currently on sale at Best Buy. A 3-month, new customer exclusive starter plan with 35GB of monthly data is available for $62.99 instead of $89.99. A 3-month plan with 5GB of monthly data is available for just $31.49 instead of $44.99.
Boost's new Carrier Crusher plans are a great value to consumers, and they do compare favorably to Mint Mobile's offerings. Mint Mobile does offer an annual plan with 35GB of monthly high-speed data for $30/month. So Boost Mobile is undercutting Mint Mobile by $5/month for a plan with mostly the same features. Mint's plan actually only comes with 5GB of hotspot instead of the 12GB that Boost's includes. Furthermore, Mint is only offering 4GB of monthly high-speed data on its $15/month annual plan, whereas Boost offers 5GB of high-speed data for $14/month $12.50/month. Mint Mobile is however running a buy three months get three months free promotion on its plans.