TextNow: What Are the Pros and Cons?
- Free plan available that includes unlimited talk & text, with some data
- Good for low usage customers
- Good for travel in Canada and Mexico
- No plans available for high data users
- Online only brand, no stores for in person support
Prepaid Phone Plans – No Credit Check
TextNow Deals
Get an unlimited talk and text plan for free! $0/month on the T-Mobile network. VoIP plan.
How TextNow Plans Work
TextNOWÂ is an MVNO that previously operated on the Sprint network. Â The company was founded in 2009 in Ontario, Canada and originally operated as a text messaging app. Â In 2013 the company expanded into the USA where it began to offer phone service as a Sprint MVNOÂ ((Gigaom)). Â In 2016 TextNOW added T-Mobile as a network partner, however, service on T-Mobile was discontinued in the middle of 2019. In 2021, due to T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint, TextNow once again became a T-Mobile MVNO. In June of 2021, TextNow announced the availability of a free plan on the T-Mobile network.
TextNOW does not offer MVNO service in Canada due to the company’s inability to find a willing partner to sell it network access ((Techvibes)). Instead, it offers an app available on both iOS and Android that allows free calling and texting over Wi-Fi and data networks.
Unlike a majority of MVNO’s, TextNOW uses what it calls “Elastic Calling Technology” to monitor and select the best network to use for service. Â With Elastic Calling, phone calls and text messages are automatically routed over Wi-Fi or the parent network’s data pipeline. Â Phone calls can even be routed through the parent network’s cellular voice network. Â TextNOW automatically transitions to use whichever type of network is providing the best service, and it can even change from Wi-Fi to a cellular voice network mid-call without the end user having to do anything on their end.
TextNow offers a free basic phone plan that comes with what it calls “Free Essential Data.” Free Essential data is free data that can be used with select email, calendar, maps, and rideshare apps over a cellular data network. The free plan comes with 350MB of high-speed data that can be used with those apps, and 650MB of data at reduced speeds before data is shut off until the next billing cycle. Subscribers have the option to add hourly, daily, and monthly data top-ups to their Essential plan if they’d like. Data top-ups are priced like this:
- Hourly Pass – 300MB of high-speed data then unlimited 2G, $0.99
- Day Pass – 2GB of high-speed data then unlimited 2G, $4.99
- Monthly Pass – 10GB of high-speed data then unlimited 2G, no ads, includes roaming in Canada and Mexico, $39.99
To use TextNow you must use the TextNow app.
TextNow News
By Joe Paonessa • 05/08/24
TextNow has updated its free unlimited talk and text phone plan to include what it is c...
By Joe Paonessa • 04/11/22
TextNow has recently aired a new TV ad. This comes from a prepaid report just published...
By Joe Paonessa • 03/03/22
TextNow has updated its wireless plans with more options and improved pricing. There’s...
A few days ago I received a message in my TextNow app to upgrade my SIM at no cost. Their support page on the subject at https://help.textnow.com/hc/en-us/articles/34211845646615-SIM-Upgrade-Offer indicates they are switching to another network, and have changed their data pricing on the new SIMs, doing away with the hourly pass in favor of a $3 day pass and a $36 monthly pass, adding a weekly option as well at $9. The help page also indicates that this new network has better coverage than the current T-Mobile network, while it seems they retain much if not all the device compatibility we had in the past with T-Mobile’s network, although it seems they now recommend a newer OS version for some reason. They have now updated their manual APN setup page to include MCC and MNC codes for the new black SIMs, but looking up these codes, MCC 314, MNC 730, I just see TextNow, Inc. and that it’s operational as an MVNO in the United States, and the name of the company that owns the network on that code is left blank. Of course for whatever reason, TextNow, like many MVNOs don’t tell us anything about their partner network other than the “broader coverage” claim, which has yet to be verified, as I don’t yet have my new SIM. Is there any way to verify what network the new black SIM accesses so that this page can be updated and moved to the right MVNO list?
do you offer will offer cable service as your rate are unbelievable low. thanks for the free service so far.
Someone should definitely update this. Their pricing has changed, Also they only support gsm phones