campusSIMs, formerly a T-Mobile MVNO has announced a new partnership with Pure TalkUSA. Through the partnership, campusSIMs will be able to provide service to its customers by reselling talk, text, and data that it purchases from Pure TalkUSA. Pure TalkUSA will in turn provide all network support services to campusSIMs.
As like before, campusSIMs will continue to specialize in offering cell phone service to international students.
campusSIMs offers no contract cell phone plans as well as a mobile app that allows students "to use their existing mobile phone to register for mobile phone service in their home country, receive their local phone number before leaving for school and manage their plans entirely from their phones."
Currently, campusSIMs customers come from over 147 different countries and attend 375 different college universities in the USA. Pure TalkUSA hopes to benefit from this partnership by expanding on its traditional customer base which did not include millennials.
Plans and Analysis
Plans
campusSIMs is offering three different cell phone plans priced as follows:
| Cost/Month USD | Talk | Text | 4G LTE Data | International Calling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25 | 1000 | Unlimited | 500 MB | Not available |
| $50 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1.5 GB | 100 minutes |
| $65 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 2.5 GB | 500 minutes |
All plans include unlimited inbound international calling as well as customer support in multiple languages including, English, Spanish and Mandarin.
Analysis
I like what campusSIMs is trying to do here by separating itself from other MVNOS by providing for a niche market, however, pricing of their plans could be improved.
Except for the $25 plan, the plans seem a bit expensive when compared to other ATT based prepaid providers, however a majority of those providers do not offer international calling or texting.
campusSIMs tries to make up for their price premium by offering customer support (1 800 746 7087, also through the WeChat messaging app) that is instant and available in multiple languages. If you have ever tried to contact customer support from an MVNO before, you may have been disappointed to find out that it was lacking or required a long wait time, campusSIMs promises to be different.
campusSIMs also allows it subscribers to freeze their subscriptions for a low fee ($5/month) and to keep their phone numbers while they're out of the country or on a break, another feature that is not offered by a lot of providers.
Still, before subscribing to a plan, users with international calling and texting needs may first want to have a look at H2O Wireless which also offers international calling and texting plans on the same backing network as Pure TalkUSA. H2O Wireless plans however are priced a bit cheaper than campusSIMs offerings.