US Mobile Review: My Experience After One Month

For all our mobile reviews, we give a rating based on four main criteria:

• Dollar value ↓
• Network coverage ↓
• Data performance ↓
• Customer service ↓

Then, we average the scores to make an overall score.

From my experience, I can confidently say that US Mobile offers a range of flexible, MVNO cell phone plans that give Big Wireless a run for its money. I especially like that you can switch between all three major networks–coined Dark Star, Light Speed, and Warp–equivalent to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. This essentially means you have access to Big Wireless coverage without shelling out $50 to $100 every month for service.

Here’s a quick overview of what you can expect from a US Mobile cell phone plan:

• Unlimited plans starting at $25 per month
• Monthly or annual payment options
• Unlimited network transfers on the Unlimited Premium plan

I was disappointed to find that most of the time on Warp, I was connected to 4G LTE, as indicated by the top navigation bar on my phone screen. I rarely got 5G Ultra Wideband coverage. However, even though I’m used to my regular T-Mobile plan’s fast 5G speeds, I was surprised to find that 4G LTE was still functional–calls, texts, and data worked in all the locations I frequent: my home, the office, and my local Costco. Yes, it felt a bit slower, but it got the job done. This aligns with the OpenSignal 2025 Mobile Network Experience Report, which states that Verizon does well at delivering coverage in most places where people live, work, and travel.

I also tried out Light Speed (T-Mobile) and eventually, Dark Star (AT&T). The Light Speed network performed the best–I wished I had tried it out from the beginning, because it only felt marginally slower than my regular T-Mobile plan.

My experience with Dark Star (AT&T) in my neighborhood wasn't great. Not only did it take more than an hour of working with customer service to get it to work on my phone, but also, most of the time I had barely any bars of service, even though AT&T’s coverage map says I get 5G+ service at my address. Texts and calls worked fine, but it took several minutes for the Reviews.org homepage to load, although for some reason I could watch YouTube videos. Note: Just because coverage isn’t great in my neck of the woods doesn’t mean that it won’t work well in your area.

My plan, Unlimited Starter, includes 70GB of high-speed data, which was more than enough to stream videos for hours every day. However, as you can see in the chart below, my download speeds were kind of slow. Since US Mobile is an MVNO, it’s expected that the speeds will be slower or deprioritized compared to users with plans with the main carrier. Still, according to US Mobile’s broadband facts, I experienced speeds that were close to the lower end of the typical speed range, if not even lower.

This definitely tested my patience when downloading big files or taking calls with data. I called my friend via Facebook Messenger using audio only, and I was ranting away for quite a while before my friend let me know that I had cut out completely, and she didn’t hear the last story I shared.

Another time, I tried out the hotspot data for my online college class on Microsoft Teams. Even though I was only getting 5Mbps of download speed, the video quality was mostly smooth with no lag. However, for a few minutes, the audio glitched, and my professor and classmates’ voices developed some kind of drawn-out vibrato.

Signing up with US Mobile was surprisingly quick and easy. Following a few simple instructions, I was able to set up an eSIM on my phone and activate it within minutes. Cancelling is even easier than signing up. Just toggle off Autopay—you won’t get billed, and your service will end. You can also remove your billing information for an extra layer of security. 

While you can connect immediately to a live agent via chat or calling, the drawback is needing to contact them in the first place. I tried to transfer to the Dark Star network and ended up losing all cell service and data. This is quite a big issue–If I didn’t have my home Wi-Fi or my regular T-Mobile SIM card, I wouldn’t have been able to contact customer support.

The customer service agents were polite, helpful, and attentive. However, it took over an hour to troubleshoot my issue, and by the end of it, I was tired and frustrated. Usually, the network transfer process should only take about 10 to 20 minutes. During the waiting time, you need to use Wi-Fi because your phone number becomes unavailable for a temporary period, and you will need access to your email to receive your new eSIM.

I highly recommend that you only initiate network transfers when you don’t need to rely on cell service or data for a few hours. 

US Mobile is unique in that you can access all major networks, so it’s not as restrictive as other major carriers or MVNOs. You also get the most high-speed data with US Mobile, compared to unlimited plans from other popular MVNOs like Mint Mobile, Red Pocket, or Tello. So as MVNOs go, US Mobile might offer the greatest bang for your buck.

In my opinion, a decent alternative to US Mobile would be Visible. Visible uses Verizon’s towers, so if Verizon has the best cell phone coverage in your area, you might get a better deal with Visible. Visible often offers a promotional price on its plans, so you can get its Visible+ plan for as low as $26 monthly for a period of time. This plan includes unlimited premium data that doesn’t get deprioritized, so you can ensure you get the fastest speeds with no data cap.