Special Features:
- Black Friday Promo – Buy 3-months get 3 free, valid until 12/31/23
- Unlimited Talk & Text + 5GB/month of 5G data!
- Bring Your Own Phone
- International calling to Mexico and Canada
Special Features:
- Black Friday Promo – Buy 3-months get 3 free, valid until 12/31/23
- Unlimited Talk & Text + 40GB/month of 5G data!
- Bring Your Own Phone
- International calling to Mexico and Canada
T-Mobile MVNOs can be a great alternative to customers seeking service on T-Mobile’s network that don’t want to pay big money to do so. They can also be a great option for those who want wireless service without having to go through a credit check.
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Sections
T-Mobile MVNO Pros And Cons
Pros
T-Mobile Has The Largest 5G Network Coverage Footprint
If having service on a 5G network is a top priority for you, a T-Mobile MVNO may be a good fit.
In October 2023, T-Mobile announced that its 5G network covers 330 million people with a signal. The company also stated that its 5G Ultra Capacity network covers 300 million people. It may be a bit confusing, but 5G networks come in different flavors. T-Mobile’s 5G Ultra Capacity network delivers exceptionally high data speeds, surpassing the speeds typically offered by 4G LTE networks by a significant margin. But its standard 5G network may not provide data speeds much faster than 4G LTE if its even faster at all.
T-Mobile’s coverage map webpage shows in the FAQs that its 5G network covers 1.9 million square miles. Contrast this with AT&T who says its 5G network covers 290 million people while its mid-band 5G network covers about 200 million. AT&T does not state how many square miles that its 5G network covers. It’s mid-band network would be the equivalent of T-Mobile’s Ultra Capacity network. Verizon says its 5G Ultra-Wideband (T-Mobile Ultra Capacity equivalent) network covers 222 million people. Verizon hasn’t given a recent update as to how many people are on its 5G Nationwide network. And it hasn’t publicized how many square miles the network covers.
Save Money by Avoiding Unwanted Expenses
T-Mobile MVNOs often provide specialized and customizable services that cater to specific demographics or niche markets, unlike major wireless carriers. Large postpaid carriers, such as T-Mobile, typically only focus on offering unlimited data plans.
By switching to a T-Mobile MVNO, you may reduce your phone bill by over 50% since these providers can better tailor their offerings to your specific needs. This can help you avoid paying for unnecessary service features and data allotments that you’ll never use.
Special Features:
- International calling to over 60 countries included!
- Upgrade or downgrade at anytime with no extra fees. The change is instant, and your remaining balance will roll over for the next 30 days.
Special Features:
- Mobile hotspot is included
- Unlimited data at 2G speeds
- International calling to over 60 countries included!
- Upgrade or downgrade anytime with no extra fees. The change is instant, and your remaining balance will roll over for the next 30 days.
Cons
T-Mobile MVNO Customers Have Deprioritized Data Speeds
Many T-Mobile MVNOs offer really great pricing and plans. But there is a catch you should be aware of before you subscribe to one, and that is “data prioritization.”
T-Mobile has quality of service (QoS) policies in place to help ensure the stability of its network for its users. Without such policies in place, network performance and stability could suffer to the point that all customers experience either extremely slow data speeds or worse yet, the network becomes unusable.
One thing that T-Mobile does to help avoid this scenario is to deprioritize the data used by its MVNO partners and their customers. The way the policy generally works is simple, during times of heavy network congestion, MVNO customers may experience slower data speeds than T-Mobile postpaid customers do. Once the congestion gets relieved, data speeds jump back up to normal. And to prevent certain data hogging customers from overwhelming the network, unlimited data plan customers may have their data speeds further reduced during times of network congestion once they consume more than a specified amount of data in a month. The specified amount of data is sometimes referred to as “priority” or “premium” data. Even some T-Mobile postpaid plans have premium data thresholds. For instance, T-Mobile’s Essentials plan includes 50GB of high-speed data before data speeds may be reduced during times of network congestion.
You shouldn’t let these data prioritization policies scare you away from trying out a T-Mobile MVNO. An overwhelming majority of customers will not notice the difference in their day to day data usage between having priority data and data that isn’t prioritized. Some will only be able to tell the difference by running speed tests. Those in extremely congested areas may notice differences at certain times of the day when it takes longer for webpages or videos to load. But the fact that there are tens of millions of happy MVNO and prepaid customers in the USA should be evidence that data prioritization doesn’t have a real-world noticeable or bothersome impact on MOST customers.
Less Coverage Compared To T-Mobile Postpaid Due To Lack Of Roaming
Since T-Mobile MVNOs use T-Mobile’s network for coverage, T-Mobile MVNO customers have access to all of T-Mobile’s towers nationwide. However, coverage with T-Mobile MVNOs is not identical to what your coverage might be with a T-Mobile postpaid wireless plan. The reason is because of roaming.
T-Mobile’s postpaid customers have access to domestic roaming. That means in areas where T-Mobile does not have its own network towers, T-Mobile subscribers use towers from other providers for talk, text, and data. T-Mobile MVNOs typically don’t have access to T-Mobile’s domestic roaming partners. So if you are subscribed to a T-Mobile MVNO and travel through one of these areas you won’t have coverage. In all other areas though, you’ll have the same access to T-Mobile’s 5G and 4G LTE network towers that regular T-Mobile customers do.
Less Overall Coverage Due To Smaller 4G LTE Network Footprint
Although T-Mobile has a robust 5G network, its 4G LTE network and combined overall coverage footprint is smaller than both AT&T’s and Verizon’s. It’s small enough that T-Mobile does not boast of how many millions of people or square miles that the network covers. This is a far cry from AT&T who claims its 4G LTE and 5G networks combine to cover more than 2.91 million square miles. Earlier in this article, I pointed out T-Mobile claims its 5G network covers 1.9 million people. It’s 4G LTE and 5G combined footprint is probably ballpark that area as well. A network info page on Verizon’s website shows that its 4G LTE network covers 2.68 million miles. Verizon hasn’t updated this metric since 2019.
The Ideal T-Mobile MVNO Customer
In a majority of cases, the ideal T-Mobile MVNO customer will be someone who doesn’t need unlimited high-speed data. The reason is that there are very few T-Mobile MVNOs that offer truly unlimited data. So if you need unlimited high-speed data, T-Mobile or one of its two prepaid brands, T-Mobile Prepaid and Metro by T-Mobile may be a better fit for you.
Has A Single Line
Customers that need multiple lines of service may also not be ideal T-Mobile MVNO subscribers. T-Mobile and its two prepaid brands offer rather large discounts to customers that have multiple lines of service on an unlimited plan. Subscribers with multiple lines will often pay half the price that they would with a single line plan. As an example, T-Mobile’s Go5G Plus plan costs $90 for a single line (with autopay), but the price drops down to $46.25/line with 4-lines. There are even larger price drops if you have more lines. Many T-Mobile MVNOs have a hard time price matching here.
Has Their Own Phone
The ideal T-Mobile MVNO customer will also typically already have their own phone. T-Mobile often offers large discounts on flagship phones that their MVNO partners simply cannot match. So if you require a heavily discounted phone, and are ok with a credit check, a T-Mobile MVNO may not be the right choice for you. But you still may be ok with a T-Mobile owned prepaid brand. T-Mobile’s prepaid brand Metro by T-Mobile does frequently offer free phones to switchers.
T-Mobile does offer its customers “perks” that few other T-Mobile MVNO providers offer at this time. For instance, T-Mobile customers on select plans get a free subscription to Netflix. They also have access to T-Mobile Tuesday’s, which is an app from the carrier where every Tuesday customers get “thanked” for being a T-Mobile customer. Subscribers are granted special offers such as free gift cards to Dunkin Donuts and chances to win prizes. T-Mobile MVNOs generally don’t offer similar programs. However, US Mobile is the only independently owned T-Mobile MVNO to offer its subscribers a free Netflix subscription when they have multiple lines on what they call their unlimited plan.
The ideal T-Mobile MVNO customer is also one that wants a plan that doesn’t require a credit check. T-Mobile postpaid plans require a credit check, while MVNO customers do not.
So to sum it all up, the ideal T-Mobile MVNO customer is one that:
- Already has their own phone
- Doesn’t necessarily need an unlimited data plan
- Generally is a single line customer
- Doesn’t want a credit check just to signup for a plan
None of these are hard and fast rules. You can still signup for an unlimited high-speed data plan with a T-Mobile MVNO and have multiple lines of service. You can also purchase a phone from one. It’s just that pickings become a lot slimmer in those situations.
What If You Want An Unlimited T-Mobile MVNO Plan?
If you do want a truly unlimited high-speed data plan from an MVNO unfortunately there aren’t any. It isn’t economical for MVNOs to offer truly unlimited high-speed data plans since they don’t own the networks that they operate on. In this scenario, your best plan options on the T-Mobile network will be from T-Mobile owned brands including, T-Mobile Prepaid, or Metro by T-Mobile. All offer truly unlimited high-speed data plans with discounts available to those that have multiple lines of service. They also have a selection of phones available for purchase with financing options available.
One thing to be aware of is that some T-Mobile MVNOs call their plans unlimited when in fact they aren’t truly unlimited. For instance, Mint Mobile offers a plan for as low as $30/month that it calls unlimited. But an examination of its fine print shows that the plan only includes 40GB of high-speed data each month before data speeds are slowed down to a barely usable crawl. Similarly, Ultra Mobile advertises a $49 plan as unlimited when in fact the plan only includes up to 40GB of high-speed data each billing cycle before speeds slow to a barely usable crawl. This doesn’t mean that those plans and similar ones are not a good choice to subscribe to. They actually can be great options to meet your needs. But you just need to be aware of what they mean by “unlimited” before subscribing.
Phone Selection
T-Mobile MVNO BYOD Options
If you already have your own phone, chances are pretty high that you can use it with a T-Mobile MVNO. Phones from Verizon and AT&T will usually work just fine with T-Mobile MVNO’s as long as they are unlocked. If you are with Verizon or AT&T and looking to switch to a T-Mobile MVNO you’ll have to first verify with Verizon or AT&T that your phone is unlocked before making the switch. Verizon phones are typically automatically unlocked after 60 days of use on the Verizon network. AT&T phones may require service on the network for 6-months or longer before they can be unlocked for use with a T-Mobile MVNO.
In order to use your phone with a T-Mobile MVNO, it must support VoLTE on T-Mobile’s network. It should also support LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 12 and for even better coverage bands 66, and 71. For optimal 5G network coverage, the phone should support the 5G bands n71 (600MHz), n260 (28GHz), n261 (39GHz), and n41 (2500MHz). Bands n71 and n41 are more widely available than bands n260 and n261. T-Mobile’s n71 band is more to provide coverage both indoors and outdoors than fast data speeds. It’s a primary 5G band that T-Mobile’s nationwide network consists of. T-Mobile’s band n41 is a compromise between speed and coverage. It’s available nationwide and should offer customers faster speeds than LTE. Bands n260 and n261 provide blazing-fast speeds much faster than LTE, but unfortunately are only available in a limited number of locations nationwide. You can read more about T-Mobile’s network spectrum by downloading a data sheet.
T-Mobile MVNO’s That Sell Phones
Two T-Mobile MVNOs that offer a wide selection of phones include Boost Mobile and Google Fi Wireless. Both Google Fi Wireless and Boost Mobile sell phones to meet a variety of budgets. There are high-end phones available for purchase through each provider such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 series of devices and lower-end budget models available from Motorola. Boost Mobile actually finds itself in rare company as an MVNO as it frequently offers free phones to switchers. It also offers various iPhone models.
There are other T-Mobile MVNOs that sell devices as well, including but not limited to, Tello Mobile, Mint Mobile, and Red Pocket Mobile.
T-Mobile MVNO List
Now that you have a better understanding of what a T-Mobile MVNO can and cannot offer you, here is a list of all the major T-Mobile MVNOs that may be of interest to you. Further down below is a list compromised of what I think is the best phone plan from each provider.
- Allvoi Wireless
- Beast Mobile
- Boom! Mobile
- Boost Infinite
- Boost Mobile
- Boss Wireless
- Dataxoom
- Gen Mobile
- Good2GO Mobile
- Google Fi
- GoSmart Mobile
- Hello Mobile
- Karma Mobility
- Kroger Wireless
- Lycamobile
- Mango Mobile
- Metro By T-Mobile
- Mint Mobile
- Mobi
- Optimum Mobile
- Patriot Mobile
- Project Genesis
- Reach Mobile
- Red Pocket Mobile
- SpeedTalk Mobile
- Tello
- TextNow
- Ting Mobile
- Ultra Mobile
- UNREAL Mobile
- US Mobile
- Wing
If you already have a T-Mobile compatible network unlocked GSM phone or out of contract paid off T-Mobile phone you can use it with any of the providers below.
List Of The Best T-Mobile MVNO Phone Plans In 2023
Not sure which is right for you? Looking for pay as you go plans? Check out MVNOs that offer T-Mobile pay as you go plans. Need an even cheaper plan? Check out this list of cheap phone plans.
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