US Mobile Removes Truly Unlimited Hotspot from Flagship Dark Star Plan

On February 11, US Mobile released a groundbreaking wireless plan. The first truly unlimited 5G data plan from an MVNO on AT&T's network, branded by US Mobile as Dark Star. The plan promised unlimited 5G priority data with no throttling and unlimited hotspot use with no speed caps or data limits. However, the hotspot usage policy has since changed.

The Change in Hotspot Policy

US Mobile now has a hotspot data cap in place, and some Redditors aren't very happy with this policy change claiming bait and switch. Those Redditors may have a legit complaint. However, we should first review the original terms of service for this plan in order to assess the validity of their complaints.

Comment
byu/mackid1993 from discussion
inUSMobile

Unfortunately, I do not have a full copy of their day one terms and service for this plan. However, I do have a partial day one copy that shows the plan as being a limited time promotional offer. And you can view a screenshot of those terms in the video, shown below, when the plan launched. The screenshot is around 3:40 into it.

These are also terms that many Redditors overlooked when they first signed up for the plan and are also upset about. I think there are valid reasons for those terms that I will circle back to in a bit. But first, let's get back to what happened with the hotspot.

Since I do not have the full day one terms of service saved in a screenshot, we'll have to rely on the Wayback Machine for a close approximation of what they were. The Wayback Machine's first capture of the terms wasn't until three days after the plan launched on February 14.

Those terms stated:

•Hotspot Usage: While regular data usage remains unthrottled under this offer, hotspot data usage may be subject to throttling after a specified threshold. US Mobile reserves the right to change hotspot throttling policies at any time.

Emphasis mine.

The very next day after the plan launched with those terms, BestMVNO reported that US Mobile's CEO was considering changing the hotspot terms and asked Redditors for suggestions on what they should be.

A few days later, the terms drastically changed with an itemized list of acceptable and prohibited use cases. The most significant part, copied below, details a definition for excessive usage.

Excessive Hotspot Usage Patterns
The majority of a user’s data consumption is via hotspot, with little to no direct phone usage.
The user exceeds 200 GB of hotspot usage within a billing cycle or 25 GB in a single day.
The user consistently uses more hotspot data than regular mobile data over consecutive days.

That is quite a lot of hotspot data, yet still quite different than "unlimited." Most of the other terms, which I won't detail here, revolve around defining and disallowing anything that may be construed as home internet usage or an always on hotspot data connection.

What Happens if You Violate the Hotspot Terms?

So what happens if you violate US Mobile's updated hotspot usage terms of service? They state they can take the following actions:

• Throttling – Reducing hotspot speeds after a threshold is exceeded.
• Temporary Suspension – Hotspot access may be disabled temporarily.
• Termination of Service – Repeated violations or extreme abuse may result in account suspension or termination.

So is this actually a bait and switch on the hotspot usage terms? That's something you can decide for yourself and comment down below on.

A Recurring Issue for US Mobile

What I'll add in commentary is that I'm a bit disappointed in US Mobile for how this was handled. US Mobile should honor truly unlimited hotspot for its early plan adopters if they can (it may be out of their control) or offer a refund to any unhappy customers. They also need to update their plan details and marketing for the plan so that it no longer says unlimited hotspot. It is now very limited and should be advertised as including 200GB.

Additionally, I'm disappointed because this isn't US Mobile's first rodeo with an "unlimited plan."

Back in 2021, US Mobile released a truly unlimited data plan on the Warp 5G network (Verizon) that also had to be retracted due to some subscribers using an excessive amount of data considered to be abusive. Given that history, US Mobile should have anticipated high data consumption and planned accordingly for this plan launch. As previously detailed, the abrupt policy shift raises "bait and switch" questions for some about whether the company knowingly launched an unsustainable plan. However, I do not believe it was purposefully done and there may be some very significant differences between the Dark Star plan launch and what happened in 2021.

The Bigger Picture: Is AT&T’s Prepaid Strategy Changing?

Typically, independently owned MVNOs cannot offer truly unlimited data plans because they do not own the networks they operate on and must buy data allotments from their underlying carrier partners to resell to consumers. MVNOs will sometimes try and sell "unlimited data" plans in the hopes that users of those plans don't use enough data to put them financially in the red, or if they do, users on other plans can make up for it. This is the approach US Mobile took in 2021 when they first tried launching a truly unlimited plan.

Could they be attempting to take that same approach with a truly unlimited plan all over again?

It's possible, but would be very surprising to me given their previous attempt and failure. It would also be really bad for their business and reputation to completely repeat that history. The broader context suggests AT&T may be experimenting with new MVNO strategies.

Less than a year ago, T-Mobile acquired Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile giving them two more flanker brands to go along with Metro by T-Mobile. A few years ago, Verizon Wireless acquired a large number of prepaid wireless brands including Tracfone, Straight Talk Wireless, Total Wireless, and Simple Mobile just to name a few. They also have the online only brand Visible. And what does AT&T have for a flanker brand? Cricket Wireless, and that's it.

AT&T has also fallen behind in prepaid subscribers reporting 19 million in Q4 2024 compared to T-Mobile with 25.4 million subscribers, and Verizon Wireless with 20.1 million.

One way AT&T could make up ground is through the launch of aggressive promos or even new and cheaper plans through Cricket Wireless and AT&T Prepaid. They actually have partially done that. Cricket Wireless has been offering a truly unlimited annual plan to new BYOD customers for $25/month. AT&T Prepaid has been running a two lines for $60/month Unlimited Max plan through Walmart. Of course, if they consistently push prices lower with these brands they will erode profits and could potentially cause consumers to devalue them.

Another approach AT&T could take is to launch a new brand altogether. T-Mobile and Verizon both now own prepaid brands that primarily target online audiences vs in-store retail shoppers. This includes both Visible and Mint Mobile. AT&T, does not own any prepaid brands primarily focused in the digital world. If AT&T does not wish to invest in the launch of a new brand of its own to compete in this space they could elect to experiment with an MVNO partner. That might just be what they've done with US Mobile, which is also a digital only brand (excluding one random store they recently opened).

My guess is that AT&T is running an experimental trial offer with US Mobile that it hopes to be successful with. If the trial is successful for both parties, AT&T will continue to allow US Mobile to sell the plan. If not, AT&T will have US Mobile remove the plan from the market. This theory could explain how an MVNO is able to offer a truly unlimited plan and why US Mobile's CEO feels comfortable exclaiming it is here to stay, despite the plan's terms and conditions stating otherwise.

Comment
byu/cleanc3r3alkillr from discussion
inUSMobile

For now, customers frustrated by the hotspot policy change will have to decide whether to stay or switch. But this situation may have larger implications: if AT&T is indeed exploring a more aggressive digital MVNO strategy, we could see more new competitive offerings emerge in the prepaid wireless space. It could also lead to US Mobile undergoing an ownership change down the road.