Mint Mobile Review: I Switched to Mint Mobile 4 Years Ago. Here’s Why I’m Still Happy

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.

If paying a lower phone bill while maintaining solid 5G coverage (specifically with T-Mobile) is important to you, then Mint Mobile might be the right prepaid carrier for you. Unlike many smaller carriers that offer dirt cheap prices but not much else, Mint Mobile packs a little more value into its plans. You get unlimited high-speed data, hotspot access on every plan, excellent international perks, and even phone device deals (less common for prepaid carriers and MVNOs). On top of that, new customers can take advantage of promo pricing that makes the first few months or even the entire first year cheaper.

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

Pros:

• Lower prices than most carriers
• High-speed 5G and LTE network access over T-Mobile
• Unlimited high-speed data on unlimited plans
• Mobile hotspot data included on all plans
• Free calling to Mexico, Canada, and the UK
• Apple, Samsung, Google phone deals
• Mix-and-match family plan options
• New-customer promotions

Cons:

• Month-to-month options cost more than annual plans
• Unhelpful customer service
• SIM activation problems

You pay $15 per line when you sign up for Mint Mobile’s annual plans. This is quite low compared to even other prepaid carriers that start as high as $40 for some. As of a new update a few months ago, the Unlimited plan now gives you truly unlimited high-speed data, with no slow downs after 35GB or 40GB.

Mint Mobile even bumped up the data on my plan without charging me extra after I became a customer: I originally paid $15 for 4GB and now pay $15 for 5GB per month. Mint Mobile seems to do extra to keep its customers happy with its prices (even after T-Mobile acquired it in 2024).

Unlike other carriers who offer multi-line discounts (meaning the more lines you add, the cheaper the line gets), Mint Mobile does it another way: You pay upfront for three months, six months, or 12 months. You get a lower monthly price when you pay upfront for 12 months instead of three or six months at a time.

Some people may complain about upfront payments, which is a valid complaint. But a long-term commitment means you don’t have to deal with monthly bill notifications or worry about missing payments (or even autopay discounts). You pay upfront (no more than $45 for a 3-month plan if you choose it), and get to enjoy your service without the hassle of bill emails and notifications. I only receive bill emails when my annual renewal is coming up.

You can cancel your Mint Mobile service at any time (no termination fees), but you will not get your money back after paying in advance. However, you can cancel your Mint Mobile plan for any reason within seven days of activation and Mint Mobile will refund you 100% of the price.

I have personally never noticed any poor network performance on Mint Mobile. My husband, who uses his phone more often due to his work and longer commutes, has never lost service while driving around Utah County, which includes many urban and suburban areas as well as rural areas with canyons and mountains. He tells me that every now and then when he’s in downtown Salt Lake, he’ll struggle to get coverage in a random parking lot, but he attributes that more to the surrounding concrete buildings.

This aligns with the OpenSignal report from January 2025 that analyzes consumers’ connectivity experiences. One of its key findings states that T-Mobile wins the 5G coverage experience for the third consecutive time. Overall download speeds average over 150Mbps for those on T-Mobile’s network, which includes Mint Mobile customers.

You can choose how much data you want on your Mint Mobile line—5GB, 15GB, 20GB, or unlimited high-speed data per month. It’s actually not standard for smaller prepaid carriers to offer unlimited high-speed data—usually the more expensive prepaid plans offer larger chunks of data, but not truly unlimited. To get access to unlimited data with larger carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, you have to pay at least $80 a month. As a new Mint Mobile customer, you only have to pay $15 per month for a year of truly unlimited high-speed data. In simple terms, that’s a steal (this is a new update as of a few months ago!).

For Mint’s smaller data plans, you can add more data to your plan at any time. Many phone carriers (Verizon or Tello) require you to upgrade your plan if you find yourself running out of data mid-month. With Mint Mobile, you can buy 1GB or 3GB data chunks whenever you need it.

It is cheaper to upgrade your plan to 15GB (12 months) than to pay $10 for an extra 1GB at a time. For this reason, the 15GB plan may be the best option for users as it’s only $5 a month more than the 5GB plan—you get a comfortable amount of high-speed data with less need to monitor if you’re about to run out.

You can control your data needs with mix and match data on each Mint Mobile line. Many carriers offer this type of customization on multiple lines such as Verizon, AT&T, and Tello. However, some carriers like T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile lock each line into the same plan. Even if someone on your Mint Mobile plan is paying for more data, your individual phone bill won’t go up. Nice!

It’s called the Unnecessary plan and it doesn’t appear on the website for new customers. But it will appear in your Mint Mobile app once you renew your plan once. The Unnecessary plan is $40 per month or $480 per year (if you choose the 12 month plan for the biggest savings). The only difference between the Unlimited and Unnecessary plans is the hotspot data. The Unlimited plan gives you 10GB of hotspot data while the Unnecessary plan gives you 20GB of hotspot data. So you can unlock a larger hotspot data allotment if you remain a Mint Mobile customer.

While there is no in-store support, Mint Mobile’s service is so smooth that you will (probably) not need customer support. I’ve been a Mint Mobile customer for four years and I’ve never had to speak to a customer service rep since activating my service.

Mint Mobile’s online chat box on its website seems overall helpful. I did have to type out “agent” at least five times before I got connected to a real person. Fortunately, this person didn’t try to sell me on anything and answered my questions without any hassle. As for the app, there’s hardly ever a need to open it. I tested how the chat bot works within the app and it was actually a little worse than the official website chat bot: Slower to get a real agent and semi-helpful with my questions. For this reason, it’s a positive thing that there’s not much need for Mint Mobile customer service in general.

When I first switched to Mint Mobile, we ordered physical SIM cards that were mailed to our address. Unfortunately, one SIM card worked, but the other did not for my husband’s phone. Mint’s customer service was completely unhelpful, but a Reddit thread revealed that others had similar SIM card issues, and someone’s advice helped us to get it working. From a recent search on various Mint Mobile forums, it seems that SIM card problems still persist even four years later.

Mint Mobile runs over T-Mobile’s network, but it’s not the only prepaid carrier that offers T-Mobile coverage. Check out other prepaid carriers for light data users and other prepaid options that run off different networks.