Mint Mobile Cell Phone Plans Review

Mint Mobile offers four prepaid data plans ranging from 5GB of data every month to an unlimited plan with 40GB of full-speed data, where you don’t have to worry about extra fees.

You pay for your talk, text, and data three months in advance, but you get a better deal from Mint for it than you would if you paid for it as you went along. Mint Mobile prepaid plans have the same philosophy as buying in bulk at Costco.

The $30 Unlimited Data Plan is Mint’s best cell phone plan. It’s exceptionally affordable and has unlimited data plus 40GB of premium data for your phone to gobble up. Even better, new customers can get it for $15 a month for the first three months. In fact, for a limited time, every plan is just $15 a month. This is why Mint Mobile reigns as the best cell phone plan under $20. 

You can upload, download, and stream with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitch, and social media apps we’ve never even heard of. Go wild, go crazy, Mint doesn’t care.

Just know that deprioritization is A Thing. Mint Mobile piggybacks off of the T-Mobile network. So even with your tasty unlimited data, you might see your speeds go from running to crawling after 40GB because T-Mobile’s customers are the priority, not you. It’s one of the unfortunate drawbacks of Mint’s otherwise clever business model.

Yes! You can use your Mint Mobile data to power a mobile hotspot on your smartphone.

All Mint Mobile plans come with hotspot capability. But the 4G LTE or 5G data that you use will be deducted from your normal data allotment, so be careful about how you use the hotspot. (It won’t be ideal for online gaming, for example.)

Those with unlimited data plans from Mint Mobile will have a hotspot data cap of 10GB. That should give you plenty of data for some casual web browsing, standard-definition streaming, or researching that final term paper you’ve been putting off.

Mint Mobile's family plans won't get you any extra discounts, but you can enjoy the ease of up to 5 lines on one family plan account. So you can get your whole family on the service, but you won’t get any special discounts or benefits when you do. Even family plans with other MVNOs like Tello or Twigby won't give you a discount with your family plan.

Granted, the monthly price for unlimited data is already pretty cheap. But it would be nice if we could get that price even lower with a family plan.

If you want to get your whole family on a wireless plan, you might get a better deal with more perks from another provider.

Mint Mobile offers some of the most affordable data plans in the industry right now, including one of the cheapest unlimited plans we've seen since Sprint died.

Honestly, if you compare each of Mint Mobile's four data plans with similar plans, Mint Mobile comes out on top. So let’s compare the Mint Mobile plans with the competition.

Some carriers (like Visible and Boost Mobile) try to out-Mint Mint by offering discounts for the first three or six months. Those discounts bring those carriers’ prices below Mint’s, but only for a short period.

Mint's closest competitors are Visible and Tello, which also offer prepaid unlimited plans for super cheap. 

Visible offers a higher premium data cap for its unlimited Visible+ plan (50GB), but you'll pay $45 for it. Visible's $25 unlimited plan doesn't offer any premium data, so your unlimited data will be subject to throttling. 

Tello's unlimited data plan is cheaper than Mint's, but you'll get 5GB less of premium data (35GB), and your speeds are throttled when it runs out. 

While the prices are neck-and-neck, Tello might be a better choice for those interested in maximum monthly savings on an unlimited plan and don't mind dealing with slower speeds. And Visible is a great choice for users willing to spend more for faster speeds.

No matter which carrier you choose, you're getting an amazing deal compared to bigger carriers.

If you don't care about unlimited data, Mint and Tello offer limited data plans at extremely affordable prices. Check it out below.

Mint Mobile deprioritizes data, while Tello throttles it. Deprioritization happens when a network (T-Mobile in Mint's case) prioritizes high-speed data for its own users over prepaid users when the network is busy.

Deprioritization isn't constant since it only happens when there are too many cell phones in one area competing for speeds. Throttling? That happens 24/7 after you hit your data cap. Throttling happens when a carrier deliberately slows your speeds after you hit your data cap.

Because Mint Mobile uses T-Mobile’s network, you'll get the same T-Mobile coverage and data options. And lucky for phone users everywhere, T-Mobile offers one of the best networks in the country.

You shouldn't have to worry about T-Mobile coverage because it covers about 94% of the country. Chances are you’ll have coverage, but there are a few pockets where signal can get spotty—particularly in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West region. Make sure to find your city is covered in purple on the coverage map below for committing to a Mint Mobile plan.

Not every MVNO supports the latest devices, but thankfully Mint Mobile satisfies all of our tech-nerd needs. 

With Mint Mobile, you can get the latest iPhone, Galaxy, One, or Pixel. Check out the top 10 most popular smartphones on Mint Mobile's network. 

And guess what? You don’t have to buy a new phone with Mint. T-Mobile has a GSM network, and most phones on the market are GSM. So your current phone will almost certainly be compatible with Mint’s network.

The Mint Mobile BYOP (Bring Your Own Phone) program means that you won’t spend tons of money on a Mint-compatible device, or buy a new phone case, or re-download all of your vacation photos from the cloud.

You’ll just switch out your old SIM card for a Mint SIM card.

Mint Mobile really connects with its customers! It’s one of the most down-to-earth brands on the market, and it uses simple language and funny Ryan Reynolds ads to show that it gets its audience.

Mint has also shown great customer service in its day-to-day dealings with its customers. Many Mint Mobile customer reviews rave about how friendly and helpful the staff is when they’ve called with questions or issues.

Of course, there are negative reviews. Some users who went through Best Buy have tried Mint promotions and then not received the deals they signed up for. That’s not cool.

But overall, Mint seems to be one of those rare companies that excel at giving people what they want.

To research for this review, we read the whole internet. Well, just the parts about Mint. That includes both Mint advertising campaigns, Mint web pages, and professional and customer reviews on lots of different sites. Plus, we compare similar carriers with comparable prices, speed, data, and perks.

And we joined forces with our buddies at WhistleOut to get detailed information about Mint Mobile’s plans and prices—and how they compare to other brands.

Questions about Mint Mobile? We'll be your crystal ball.