Wing Cell Phone Plans Review

Wing is one of the newest discount mobile providers to hit an already crowded market. The company does manage to separate itself from the pack with its unique $12/month Flip Phone Plan. But is this cheap plan cheap enough?

We’ll go through it all in this Wing Mobile review. If, on the other hand, you like the sound of the $12 plan and just want to wing it (I had to), then go ahead and sign up right now.

Wing may not be a top-shelf carrier, but it’s got a few things going for it, like a super-cheap talk and text plan and mobile hotspots. Let’s dive into what this mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)—a carrier that uses another company’s network to provide service—gets right.

MVNOs like Wing are a dime a dozen in the mobile industry. So these carriers need to do something special to stand out or risk getting lost in the jumble. Wing’s solution to this seems to be offering a cheap, no-frills, talk and text plan for flip phones. Yes, flip phones.

If you’ve got an old 3G, CDMA phone that looks like it was cool back in 1999, then this is a great plan for you. It costs just $12 a month and gets you unlimited talk and text with 128 MB of data.

Wing Flip Phone Plan

Just be aware that this Wing phone plan doesn’t work on newer phones or non-CDMA devices. If you’ve got an iPhone 11 (or even an iPhone 6), then you’ll need to check out some other cheap talk and text plans.

When it comes to other plans, Wing’s options are not necessarily the best. The company’s midrange limited data plans are decently priced, but they still don’t beat plans from other providers, like Mint Mobile.

We’ll take a closer look at Wing’s network coverage and performance below. But for now we can tell you that Wing actually runs on both AT&T's and T-Mobile’s networks. This means you’ll get great coverage and super-fast data speeds.

Shopping for MVNO plans can be like shopping at a discount supermarket. The basics are there, but you’re going to have a hard time finding the non-essential stuff that you love (like that organic, free-range, probiotic yogurt).

But, unlike other prepaid providers, Wing doesn’t skimp when it comes to one important feature: mobile hotspots. You’ll be able to use your mobile data as a hotspot with any Wing plan. With the unlimited data plan, your hotspot data will be capped at 15 GB.

We aren’t here to nitpick about what a small, discount mobile carrier gets wrong. Well, actually, that’s exactly why we’re here. So here it is: everything that we don’t like about Wing.

If you’ve ever been on an MVNO plan before then you may have noticed that your data speeds can get a bit sluggish at times, like when you’re in a packed downtown bar or stuck in rush-hour traffic. This happens because most MVNO plans are deprioritized.

Deprioritization means that the parent network is giving the bulk of its mobile bandwidth to certain customers and slowing down speeds for others. This happens when the network is congested. Sadly, Wing Mobile customers risk their speeds being slowed at any time.

When you’re in the discount phone plan market, price is probably the most important factor that customers will be considering. Unfortunately, Wing’s prices are not what we’d call rock bottom.

For example, Wing’s unlimited data plan clocks in at $55 a month. That’s nearly as much as some top-tier providers, and it’s a whole $15 pricier than a powerful unlimited plan from Visible Wireless. Looking at those numbers, it’s hard to make a case for Wing.

If Wing’s offerings just aren’t doing it for you, check out these plans from other MVNOs.

Wing mobile plans comparison

Wing shared plans with 3 lines

You know what they say: a family that bundles their phone bill together, stays together. Well, maybe they don’t say that. But it can be a great way to save money and time managing your bill (just don’t get too excited about the saving money part …)

If you’re a family with four or five cell phone users, keeping up with your bills can be a real headache. But with Wing you can add pretty much as many lines as you want to your account. That way you can manage and pay for everyone’s phone with ease.

Let’s be honest here. The real reason that you want a family plan is to save some of that sweet, sweet money so that you can use it on your next vacation to Disneyland. This is why Wing’s lack of family plan discounts is a real deal breaker.

Sure, you can add a line to your Flip Phone Plan, but it’s going to cost twice as much as a single line. So there’s barely any real benefit to bundling your lines together, besides the ease of paying your bill.

If you want a family plan that will make your life easier and save you money, then check out these multi-line plans from other carriers.

Family cell phone plans from other carriers

Most of Wing’s plans run on the robust AT&T and T-Mobile networks. Both AT&T and T-Mobile offer lightning-fast data speeds as well. So you shouldn’t be experiencing any lag in your PUBG Mobile game (unless you’re experiencing deprioritization).

If you just upgraded to a new iPhone 11 Pro, you can bring it to Wing. But, if you’re still working with an old Galaxy 8 or, heaven forbid, a Nokia 3310, then Wing can hook you up with something more advanced.

Here’s a look at some of the most popular phones that Wing sells.

Wing cell phones

While bigger companies like Verizon and Comcast are regularly rated by agencies like the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), smaller companies like Wing usually aren’t. That means we don’t have a ton of hard data about customer service.

But, anecdotally, we can say that Wing seems to respond well to customer inquiries. We were able to easily reach someone at Wing by calling +1-888-800-9921. The Wing Tel app maintains a decent rating on both Google and Apple app stores.

Most of the online complaints about the company seem to relate to the network service. People seem to experience data slowdowns and poor reception. This could be a result of the deprioritization discussed above.

So, what’s it going to be? Will you take these wings and fly? Let’s run through the highlights of this Wing review to help you decide.

• Plans: Wing offers a decent range of plans, from the $12 Flip Phone Plan up to the $55 unlimited data plan. But the prices just don’t quite stack up against the competition.
• Family plans: Wing’s family plans can help you manage several accounts without much hassle. But you won’t find any big savings when you bundle lines together.
• Performance: Wing’s plans run on the powerful AT&T and T-Mobile networks.

For a select group of customers Wing’s Flip Phone plan will be an awesome deal for keeping an old phone connected. However, most customers will find better deals with other carriers.