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T-Mobile to Acquire Ryan Reynolds' Mint Mobile Brand
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How doest that benefit the majority of people who have never called outside their country? That’s not value, it’s a useless feature (for most) that they charge for because they can
All European phone plans include free roaming anywhere in the EU and EEA, by law. By population, that’s bigger than the USA and not that much less than USA+Canada+Mexico combined.
All European phone plans are also, by law, “all inclusive” in the sense the the quoted prices include all taxes and fees. US providers often tack on additional taxes and fees in addition to the quoted monthly price.
It’s free for anyone in Germany to call a number in Germany, using the (often unlimited) minutes in their phone plan.
Personally I’m in the UK and pay £8/month for 30 GB 5G data, unlimited calls/txts, and free roaming in Europe. O2 network. No additional taxes/fees. 12 month contract. I also pay an additional £5/month to add my Apple Watch to that plan.
I also have a second SIM card with VOXI (Vodafone MVNO) which I use in a 5G router for home broadband. £30/month for unlimited data with no contract, can be cancelled any time.
All prices go up, on everything, for sure. You'll never escape inflation of prices due to the debasement of the US dollar by the Federal Reserve. Mint Mobile isn't a charity and they have to buy their service from an actual carrier such as T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T. So unless they're monetizing you in other ways, like Tic Tok, Facebook, Google, Twitter, when the carrier increases their cost of service that's going to affect the retail price.
But, you'll always have some budget or discount MVNO to buy from. And on an, single, individual plan basis they'll always be cheaper than a single individual account with the actual carriers. So I wouldn't worry too much.
That said, I moved my family to T-Mobile 10 years ago, 7 people, pretty much to the date. Saved everyone involved a lot of money and in those 10 years our cellular bill has never once increased. Rather, around 2-3 years ago, when T-Mobile introduced the First Responder / Military plans our price decreased.
10 year ago, to the month, was the start of T-Mobile's un-carrier marketing. Which everyone was pretty critical of at the time - but instead was a huge boon for every cellular customer as it brought AT&T and Verizon to heel. I won't begrudge you being critical, but T-Mobile and Mint Mobile share similar mojo with both being disruptive and rebels in their respective markets. Time ultimately proved T-Mobile wasn't just blowing smoke up our derrière back in 2013. They said they were going to change cellular in the USA for the better and they did. It's possible that this could be a boon for the pre-paid market.
One big diference is US plans typically have unlimited data, and that includes the entire service area. TMob even adds free texting and as small amount of high speed and then unlimited low speed data abroad in about 250 countries, which includes most, if not all, of the EU. That means I do not need a SIM whenever I am traveling or working since even low speed does Skype/WhatsApp well enough.
Given the coverage in the US, there is essentially no caps even if you are out of the area you initially established coverage. It is not uncommon for someone who has moved to keep their old phone number and use it in the new location. I traveled extensively for work and never had to worry about data cpas or fair use limits. That used to be a thing in the US until cell phone providers consolidated into the Big 4 (now Big 3). The EU, IIRC, has fair use rules which mean if you roam too much you can be charged for data use, although call/texts are still unlimited assuming your plan has unlimited use.
Given different structures, plans are hard to compare. If you look at an unlimited plan in the UK, Vodaphone’s is 30 pounds, which is as much or more than similar US plans. Even then, it appears some exchanges as well as directory assistance and UK video messages are extra cost items.
Vodaphone’s unlimited plan is a bit confusing, as it appears the SIM only plan has roaming charges depending on where in you roam based on a Zone system, charges for calls to Europe as well for video and picture messages unless you pay extra for a batch at a time. It looks like it could easily add up to 45 pounds a month. Roaming data is capped at 25GBs.
O2 seems to offer a few cheaper plans and has not (yet) reintroduced roaming charges in Europe for UK customers. Even so, its unlimited tariffs are the same or higher than US ones. I could not find a SIM only plan for 8 pounds for 30GB. Cheapest was 12 for 6GB with 24 month plan; was yours a special offer?
Then,of course, there is O2’s kicker:
*Each year your Airtime Plan will be increased by the Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation announced in February plus 3.9%. If RPI is negative, we’ll only apply the 3.9%. You’ll see this increase on your April 2023 bill onwards
I’m guessing most providers have the same price adjustment policy.
In the end, different things drove the structure of cell phone plans. Which is better depends on how you use a phone.
So if you want unlimited data on a phone it costs 30 pounds per month? That’s higher than many US plans.
Vodaphones wireless home broadband appears to be inline with TMob’s current price, as does O2’s; and more that the $25 TMob offered, with no contract, a while ago.
I would guess the cost for a watch plan would not appeal to a customer paying $15 a month so they’d sell too few to make offering it worthwhile.
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In my experience, by the time you get unlimited data you are at the same price level as in the US; and have caps if you roam.
What kind of weird reality is that where most people never call outside their country? How bizarre.
Not that odd considering thaere are plenty of countries much larger than many EU countries, or even the EU.
I mean, would you find it odd in a place where most people won’t drive an hour or more each way to work, or or go for a several hundred mile weekend drive, just becasue?
Yes, Vodafone decided to reintroduce EU roaming charges last year, unfortunately. A consequence of Brexit 😢. On my VOXI SIM, it's £2 per day or £8 for 8 days. No thanks!
O2 thankfully still offer EU roaming on all their plans, and have made a big deal of this in their marketing, so hopefully it isn't going away.
OK, sounds like US tariffs are much cheaper than I thought! But are you sure that includes the various taxes, fees, and surcharges? As I recall, US tariffs were always exclusive of all sorts of additional add-ons, and those can be quite substantial. In Europe, these are always inclusive in the quoted per-month rate.
Yes, it's a special offer, but it seems to be available fairly often. In the UK the best deals are usually found through 3rd-party websites like uswitch.com / comparethemarket.com / moneysupermarket.com. These offers can be much cheaper than what you see directly on the carrier's websites.
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I'm a Mint subscriber. It's OK for my purposes as I don't use my phone that much. However, the data speeds are horrendous. Typically only about 1.5 - 4 Mbs. I suspect the long play here for T-Mobile is to slowly raise rates and convert as many Mint customers to T-Mobile subscribers as possible. $15 / month is pretty sweet deal, IMO. In 3 years it'll probably be $40 / month for the same $#!^^* service.
I agree. However, since Mint just buys service from T-Mobile already, I think it'll get approved. Bad for consumers though, IMO.Less competition is never good for us consumers. I hope (but doubt) regulators will NOT approve this, but they approved sprint/T-Mobile. I miss Cingular
I never said people *never* call outside their country. I said bundling that in and increasing the cost of the basic package isn’t helping most people because most people won’t use that feature. I sure don’t! You seem to be purposely misrepresenting my statement to create a straw man argument
And if that's their plan, they will lose most of those customers. I know I will be gone and i've been with Mint for over 4 years. I prefer prepaid and their are other carriers who are currently offering a little more for about the same price and paying 12 months upfront is not required. If T-Mobile pulls that off, expect other NVMO's to take the place of T-Mobile Mint.
A lot depends on what carrier and type of plan, as well as number of phones. Mulitple lines get quite cheap per line, and even cheaper with forces/police/fire/government/corporate discounts. Having multiple family member’s phones on teh same account to save money is not that unusual. That’s why it’s really hard to compare plans and make a blanket statement which are cheaper.
Add in the variuos bundled items such as free Apple TV/Disney/Hulu/ESPN, etc. and it gets even more confusing.
And that’s not just in the US. In Portugal right know Vodaphone is offering free Amazon Prime with some deals.
Yes, some do include them and some don’t, depending on the carrier; and they are often hidden in teh small print. They can add, depending on location, 3-10 dollars per month.
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Not sure where you'd get that idea from. Apple lists Mint Mobile as a supported carrier in the United States:
Wireless carrier support and features for iPhone in the United States and Canada - Apple Support
Choose your country or region to learn about the wireless carriers available to you.
I guess I'm just a bit confused why Mint Mobile is so popular at $15/mo (about £12/mo) when it seems like a pretty weak offer at only 4 GB data, and having to pre-pay for 3 months in advance. In the UK for that price you can easily find 30 GB (or more) tariffs with all sorts of extras, on rolling 30-day contracts.
You basically answered your own question. That’s currently the best offer in the US. If a carrier offered 30GB of data for $15 with monthly billing cycle, then Mint Mobile would no longer be a good deal. I don’t use a lot of data so 4GB is more than enough for me.
It’s cheap and if you don’t use a lot of data but do want to text and make calls it’s a great price point. if you use a lot of data than a different paln is better; for me even 30GB wouldn’t be enough.
I liked T-Mobile but it seems like when they took over Sprint they took all of the Sprint's terrible customer service department.
My kids have been on Mint Mobile for over 3 years, and going strong. Just switched myself from T-Mobile to Mint as well. My 5G speed tests are well over half a gigabit most of the time. 15GB of data for $20, 20GB for $25.
You can get more if you want. Really is a great deal.
Their app and website is very easy to use, and useful. I've dealt with support a number of times for a few things and they've been surprising quick to get on the phone and surprisingly easy to deal with.
You can get more if you want. Really is a great deal.
Their app and website is very easy to use, and useful. I've dealt with support a number of times for a few things and they've been surprising quick to get on the phone and surprisingly easy to deal with.
