Red Pocket Mobile: What Are the Pros and Cons?
- Wide variety of plans available at variety of price points
- Multi-month discount savings are available when you pay for more service in advance
- Customer referral program
- Budget phones available
- Sold by prepaid dealers, and in Target stores
- Only new phones sold are iPhones, Android phones are certified pre-owned
- Sometimes subscribers have issues onboarding
Phone Plans
How Red Pocket Mobile Plans Work
Red Pocket Mobile is a prepaid MVNO that was founded in 2006. The company has partnered with AT&T (Red Pocket calls this network GSMA), T-Mobile (GSMT), and Verizon (CDMAV) to provide service and coverage to its customers. Their plans have traditionally focused on catering to those who have a need to call internationally and who speak other languages.
You don’t have to have international calling needs to subscribe to Red Pocket Mobile. Red Pocket’s phone plans are competitively priced, and can particularly be a great value to low usage customers.
Red Pocket Mobile also powers Black Wireless and Mango Mobile.
Customer Referral Program
Red Pocket offers a generous refer a friend program. Those who refer a friend earn up to a $25 account credit per each referral. The credit is awarded after the friend renews their plan for a second month.
Referral credit amounts are based on the plan the person referred subscribes to. For instance, if they sign up for the 1GB plan, the referring subscriber will get a $5 reward. If they subscribe to the flagship 50GB plan, the referrer will get a $25 reward. A subscriber can earn a maximum of $500 per year in referrals.
Those subscribing to Red Pocket through a referral code/link will also receive the same reward credits.
Red Pocket’s Phone Plans Explained
Red Pocket Mobile’s phone plans are synonymous with variety. The company really offers something for everyone. There are monthly plans, annual plans, multi-month discount plans, family discount plans, data-only plans, and even global data-only plans. Some plans are sold exclusively through online retailers like eBay and Amazon.
A total of 4 monthly phone plans are sold directly through the Red Pocket website.
Customers can pick from the following options:
- $10/month – 1GB
- $20/month – 10GB
- $30/month – 50GB + 5GB hotspot
- $40/month – 50GB + 20GB hotspot
Taxes and fees cost extra with each plan. There are no activation fees for single lines of service. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the plans are all available for use on the customer’s choice of either the AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon network. All plans include unlimited talk and text and international calling as well as unlimited data. Data speeds are slowed to 64-128Kbps for the remainder of your billing cycle after the high-speed threshold has been reached. The exact speed will likely depend on the plan you have and which network you are using it with.
International texting is included with AT&T and T-Mobile-based service but costs 20c a message with Verizon-based service. Plans include roaming in Mexico and Canada, although the allotment on the 1GB plan is basically unusable at 10 minutes, 10 text, and 10MB. The flagship plan includes international roaming in over 50 countries including 100 minutes, 100 texts, and 20GB data.
Family Plan Option
The $30 plan has a family plan option. Account holders can add up to 4 additional lines to their plan at a cost of $20/line. The multi-line discount is applied starting on the 2nd month of service. There is a $10 setup fee charged per line. No other Red Pocket plans offer group discounts.
eBay Exclusive Phone Plans
Red Pocket has several eBay exclusive plans and pricing on them does frequently change as they often go on sale. There are several 360-day annual plans being offered through the outlet.
- $5.00/month – $60 due upfront, 100 talk, 100 texts, 500MB hard-capped data, T-Mobile and AT&T only
- $15/month – $180 due upfront, unlimited everything with first 3GB of data each month at high-speeds. Available on T-Mobile and Verizon
- $15/month – $180 due upfront, unlimited everything with first 5GB of data each month at high-speeds. Available on AT&T. This plan is also available directly through the Red Pocket website.
- $18.33/month – $220 due upfront, unlimited everything with first 8GB of data each month at high-speeds. Available on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Customers using this plan on AT&T will get 12GB of data to use instead of 8GB.
The plans really are a great value for customers willing to pay for 360-days of service up front.
The talk, text and data allotments shown are what subscribers can use every 30 days before they run out. Subscribers then must either top up or wait for the next 30 day cycle for the allotments to renew.
Add-on top-ups for the low usage plans are available with the following pricing:
- $2 – 100MB of additional data, 100 texts or 100 minutes
- $5 – 250MB of additional data, 250 minutes or 500 texts
If you need to add a top up to your plan, keep in mind it will not rollover for the next 30-day billing cycle. It must be used up during the billing cycle that you add it to your plan or it will be forfeited in the next month.
What Plan Features Are Supported By Red Pocket Mobile
Red Pocket Mobile works on all the major networks in the USA, however, the same plan may have different features available to it depending on what network it’s being used with.
- International text messaging – available on AT&T, and T-Mobile networks at no extra charge but costs $0.20 per text if your Red Pocket Mobile plan is used on Verizon’s network
- International calling – available on all networks
- Hotspot/Tethering – Available on all networks but only on select plans. Customer support may need to enable it for you
- WiFi calling – available on AT&T, and T-Mobile. Not available on Verizon. If you have a plan with a limited number of minutes and are using AT&T, WiFi calling does not deduct from your plan minutes.
- International roaming – The 50GB plans include global roaming, other plans include just Mexico and Canada roaming.
Customers must login through a browser to keep tabs on their account or use the Red Pocket app which can be found in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
Data Only Plans
Red Pocket does offer 3-data only plans for use on AT&T’s network. Pricing starts at just at $10/month for a data only plan with 1GB of data. You can scroll further down below for the full list of available plan options.
Refund And Cancellation Policy
Only the eBay exclusive plans come with a very limited satisfaction guarantee. You can get a full refund for your eBay plan purchase as long as it is requested within 30-days of receiving your SIM starter kit and you have used less than 30 minutes, 30 text messages and 30 MB of data. For all other plans, no refunds will be issued if you are unhappy with service.
If you purchase a phone from Red Pocket and are unhappy with it you have within 7-days of receiving it to return it. You are responsible for return shipping charges. Customers must also pay for their own return label and a 20% restocking fee. A $25.00 handling fee will also be debited from the final return amount. Be forewarned, Red Pocket claims that a refund will not be issued if the device has been used.
Review
I took a test run of Red Pocket Mobile by subscribing to one of the company’s CDMAV (Verizon based) plans for over two months. If you are not sure if Red Pocket Mobile is for you, perhaps this review can help.
How To Port Out Of Red Pocket Mobile
Porting out requires you to know your account number and pin number. For CDMAV plans, your account number is your phone number. Your PIN number is the last 4 digits of your phone number. The account number that you see in your account dashboard cannot be used for porting out. It is likely that your account number and PIN number works the same for Red Pocket Mobile's other network plans.
Red Pocket Mobile
This wireless plan's guide is part of BestMVNO's comprehensive coverage of Red Pocket Mobile. See BestMVNO's coverage of the latest Red Pocket Mobile news or visit the links below to sign up for service, or configure your APN settings.