Simple Mobile has won the latest quarterly multi-carrier prepaid dealer survey conducted in 2Q24 by Wave7 Research. The previous poll had been won by Ultra Mobile snapping a 36-quarter win streak by Simple Mobile that started with the survey's inception in 1Q15. Ultra Mobile fell two spots to third place. This is the 38th edition of the survey.
Simple Mobile was found in 21 of 30 dealers polled, a modest gain of three from the previous survey. The Verizon-owned brand was a top-seller in 13 dealers up from 11 in the last quarter. Ultra Mobile was found at 16 dealers, down from 19. The T-Mobile-owned prepaid provider was the number one seller at two dealers, down from three.
2Q24 Prepaid Dealer Full Survey Results
The latest survey was conducted in May and June 2024. Representatives from 30 independent multi-carrier prepaid dealers in a variety of markets around the USA were interviewed. The full results of the survey are detailed below.
Note: The "number of dealers" column indicates the number of dealers out of 30 selling the brand. The "1st place" column denotes the number of dealers reporting the brand as their top seller, while "2nd place" etc., means the number of dealers reporting that as their second best-selling brand.
| Provider | Number of Dealers | 1st Place | 2nd Place | 3rd Place | Also-Ran |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Mobile | 21 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| Verizon Prepaid | 19 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Ultra Mobile | 16 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
| AT&T Prepaid | 16 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| T-Mobile Prepaid | 16 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| H2O Wireless | 14 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Boost Mobile | 8 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Lyca Mobile | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Gen Mobile | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Cricket Wireless | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| UScellular | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Selectel | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Wave7 Research Momentum Award Winner
Wave7 Research gave T-Mobile Prepaid its Momentum Award. T-Mobile Prepaid has seen an increase in the number of dealers carrying the brand over the last several quarters. In the 4Q23 dealer survey, it was in 8 of 30 dealers polled. The number increased to 12 in the 1Q24 survey and went up again to 16 in the latest survey.
BestMVNO observed that Selectel Wireless returned to the survey and was carried by one dealer. No dealers reported carrying the brand in the prior quarter's survey. It is worth noting that the previous survey had a somewhat different sample set of dealers as some normally surveyed didn't answer their phones. There were also some different dealers visited in March in Oklahoma.
“Simple Mobile was the top seller in our 2Q24 survey, as it has been in 37 of 38 surveys overall. It was the top seller at 13 of 30 stores, well ahead of other prepaid providers.” – Jeff Moore, Principal of Wave7 Research
Survey Loser: Lyca Mobile
Lyca Mobile earned the dubious distinction of being named the survey loser by Wave7 Research. Only six dealers mentioned they carried Lyca Mobile in their stores. This was down from 10 in both the 1Q24 and 4Q23 surveys. Lyca Mobile recently began selling SIM cards in Target and became a principal sponsor of the Seattle Orcas Major League Cricket team.