US Mobile has once again made major changes to its platform. The multi-network MVNO has altered its "unlimited plans" to match and undercut Visible by Verizon's prices. Its two monthly unlimited plans got price haircuts to $25/month and $44/month down from $29/month and $50/month respectively. Each plan also had price decreases on their prepaid annual options. The plans are now $22.50/month and $32.50/month when prepaid for annually, down from $23/month and $37.50/month. In contrast, Visible by Verizon's monthly plans are priced at $45/month and $25/month and their prices are reduced to $22.92/month and $32.92/month when prepaid for annually. However, not all plan changes are positive.
Multi-line Discounts Eliminated, & Unlimited Flex Annual Plan Pricing Has Gone Up
The MVNO's Unlimited Flex plan which includes 10GB of premium data is now $17.50/month when prepaid for annually, up from $15/month. The increased price does come with an extra perk. Customers get to use 5GB of data for hotspot. Under the old pricing model, hotspot cost an additional $30 annually or an average of $2.50/month. This is effectively a price increase for customers that don't use hotspot, which I suspect is most customers. The plan also previously included international calling but now that's a $36 annual charge.
The two flagship unlimited plans no longer offer multi-line discounts. This only impacts the premium plan priced at $44/month. Under the old model, customers with 3 or more lines got the plan for $40/line per month. Pricing on the base $25 unlimited plan is cheaper than before with or without multi-lines. The $25 base unlimited plan also no longer includes international calling. It's a $36/year add-on. The 1GB of international roaming data has also been eliminated from the plan.
US Mobile subscribers unhappy with the plan changes will not be forced to upgrade to the updated ones and can be grandfathered into their old ones.
Beta Testing The AT&T Network Has Begun, Manual Network Switching Live For All
In addition to the pricing changes, US Mobile has officially launched beta testing of its Dark Star network, which offers service using AT&T. The network should become available to all users around July 15th.
US Mobile's Teleportal manual network switching tool has also exited beta. The tool, which allows subscribers to manually change what network they are using on demand launched as a beta test in early May. US Mobile now refers to the tool on its website plan cards as "Network Transfer."
Free network transfers are allowed on its flagship unlimited plan, but for all other plans, it costs $2 per network transfer. A maximum of 8 network transfers are allowed per billing cycle and only one transfer is allowed every 3 hours. The only other MVNO I'm aware of that allows customers to manually change their networks as needed is Red Pocket Mobile. However, when you change networks with Red Pocket Mobile your billing cycle and data allotment reset which is not the case with US Mobile.
US Mobile operates on the Verizon and T-Mobile networks, and soon the AT&T network. Customers will be able to use the switching tool as needed to go between all three networks.
Shared Data Plans Have Been Simplified
US Mobile's shared data plans have also changed. The 6GB - $18/month, 12GB - $25/month, and 30GB - $50/month shared data options have been eliminated. Instead customers now only have a 10GB - $20/month option to go with the plan's base rate of $10/month for 2GB of data with $2 charged per each additional GB needed. The 10GB option allows for top-ups priced at $15 per additional 10GB. Customers can add additional lines to their plans for $8/line.
US Mobile's Venture Capital Funding Has Helped Them Grow To Nearly 500K Subscribers
Between 2021 and 2022, US Mobile received over $20 million in venture capital funding, with at least some of that money coming from Volition Capital. The company has used the funding to work on its technology stack and to frequently test out new products like the network switching tool as well as to change their plan offerings. According to a recent interview featuring the company's founder, Ahmed Khattak, and COO Michael Melmed, they are nearing 500,00 subscribers. You can listen to that clip below.
If you are interested in US Mobile's new plans, you can check them out on their website. They also offer a free trial for potential new subscribers that port a number in.
Visible is still the better deal for those wanting unlimited hotspot.
Tried the network transfer tool mid-month (from GSM to Verizon) with current physical sims. A little glitchy the first time but the transfer did work on try two. I’m impressed.
I do wonder if I’ll need a new physical sim if I were to transfer back to the GSM network – will probably find out one way of the other later this week.
I love US Mobile. Their plan flexibility for all types of data users is amazing. I think their network transfer tool does give them an edge. Like you mentioned not many places offer a way to connect to the big three seamlessly for the most part through their dashboard. Even with all the changes I feel they still deliver good value for what they give you over the MNO’s. Great article and thank you for breaking down some of the changes.