Mint Mobile Stock is so great! Mint Mobile’s Super Bowl commercial is probably familiar to you. You may have thought of chunky milk as (*shivers*) and then wondered if $20/month would be a good price for cell phone service. It sounds good.
It is quite good. Mint has been my personal provider for the last few months and it’s been great. It also seems almost too good for it to be true.
This article will be a mini-review on Mint Mobile. I’ll talk about the service, its drawbacks, my experience using it, and the five best ways Mint can offer such low rates. Let’s start with a brief review of Mint.
Mint Mobile Stock: A Mini-Review
What is the service like? You might be asking. It’s not so great, you would think. It’s prepaid. It is super affordable. It’s likely to have dropped calls or slow data speeds.
This is not the case! Mint Mobile Stock has worked great for me ever since I signed up during the Black Friday offer in November 2018. Mint has been working great for me since I signed up during their Black Friday promotion in November 2018.
Excellent call quality. Mint Mobile Stock has recently added support for VoLTE and WiFi calling on iPhone. This makes audio quality excellent. Visual voicemail is fully supported. The phone application allows you to view transcripts of voicemails and call back the person.
Another feature that I was very surprised to find was the personal hotspot. The personal hotspot is usually extra expensive or not supported at all. Mint included it free of charge with all plans. Simply turn on your hotspot, connect your devices and use your data the same way you would normally. This is the way it should be for all plans and carriers. Mint Mobile has this feature and I have been able to use it on multiple occasions.
Of course, your cellular data speeds will determine how reliable your personal hotspot is. Mint must have slow data speeds. There has to be a catch.
Mint Mobile uses T-Mobile’s network to provide coverage. I have some of the fastest data speeds in my area, and I swear it! Mint was once limited to 20Mbps download speeds. However, that restriction has been lifted and they now offer full speed LTE data over the T-Mobile network.
My coverage has been excellent too. T-Mobile has been expanding their network and adding Band 12 support to it. This lower frequency band is useful for getting coverage indoors as well as in larger areas. T-Mobile will offer better coverage if your phone supports Band 12, such as the iPhone 6S and newer.
Mint Mobile Stock offers both a mobile app for managing your account usage and a nice online experience. You can also add minutes to international calls.
Mint is a great service provider that offers premium wireless services at a very affordable $20 per month. Mint’s biggest drawbacks include the inability to have multiple lines on one account and the poor customer support. However, these drawbacks can be found with many prepaid carriers, which often offer more expensive plans and less features than Mint. Mint Mobile is still my preferred provider, and I am happy with their service. I recommend Mint Mobile because of their affordable plans and full-featured service.
Ok, the service is great. How can Mint Mobile’s plans cost this little?
So Mint can afford to offer these plans at such a low price? These plans sound almost too good to be true. 8GB for $20 per month? That’s crazy. Mint can afford these prices because of a few key reasons.
- They sell their plans in large quantities
- They can be accessed online only
- They make strategic financial investment
- No unlimited plans
- They offer great self-service tools
Let’s take just a second to look at each one.
Reason 1: Mint offers bulk orders of their plans
They offer plans in bulk. It’s a lot like Costco. You save more if you buy more. This is a crucial part of Mint’s customer acquisition strategy. Mint customers like you aren’t just committed for one month. They also don’t have to worry about leaving next month, as they do with other carriers. They are committed for three, six, or twelve months.
Mint customers sign up with their $5 trial or 3-month promo (Mint gives 3 months of service for $20), and then, if they love Mint, they will likely sign up for a 6-month and 12-month plan. This will make them long-term customers.
Reason 2: Mint can be ordered online only
Mint Mobile Stock is also an online-only carrier. Mint does not have a retail storefront, which means that they can save hugely. No rent, no electrical bills, no staff. Mint can reduce their costs by being online only. Although they still need to have corporate headquarters in their offices, the cost savings are significant. I was at the mall just this weekend and found two Sprint stores within 300 feet of one another. Two Sprint stores in the same mall is enough for anyone!
Mint can pass their savings on to their customers through aggressively priced plans. This is their strategy. You can win people with affordable plans that no one else offers, and then you can turn them into long-term customers.