MVNO Deprioritisation

bkeaver

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2010
1,675
643
113
I'm thinking about jumping from T-Mobile to Mint. The only reason is cost. I'm currently paying 180 a month and I can get a whole year of service with unlimited talk/text and 20GB data for 240.00

My only hesitation is Deprioritisation. Every once in a while isn't bad but if it's frequently then it could be.

Just me thinking. If anyone has any input or experience on this please let me know.

My other option although more than mint but still less than T-Mobile is Google Fi which doesn't deprioritize
 
Deprioritation won't be an issue, unless you're at very large events like football or stadium concerts. I'm on Mint and I recall some times where the phone was slow or unresponsive, but 99%+ everything is fine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bkeaver
Mvno using Verizon towers have a good chance of slow downs. I use Verizon and a prepaid using Verizon towers, so I can compare them side by side and I have. The worst speed difference was Verizon was 1400 mgbps while the prepaid kicked in at .52. I tested both same time and twice with similar results and there was no major event going on. There are times they run the same also, prepaid has never ran that fast though. I've had to switch to the Verizon phone hotspot for streaming music when the prepaid started buffering to much. I've also had one time I was kicked off a phone call and couldn't call out, kept getting all circuits are busy message, Verizon phone call went thru..I tried prepaid again while on the Verizon phone and still was getting that message.

Mvno are cheaper for a reason, there's difference. Chances are you might not notice slow downs, if you do it will always be inconvenient when it happens. I travel so having a solid connection at highest level is important. I tried the prepaid to test side by side because it I could save money for service why not, but there were to many incidents that I decided to keep Verizon my main line. Paying more for Verizon I expect Verizon customers to have priority over mvno users, my test at least proved to me that Verizon customers do indeed have priority.

I know you weren't looking at a Verizon mvno, but I just wanted to chime in that there are differences on Verizon and I'm guessing there will be on other carriers also, if there wasn't why wouldn't everyone use mvno.

Also as a side note, customer service is usually difficult at best, might not when have phone support. And remember, they already have your money, refunds and credits are next to impossible. If your payment doesn't go thru for any reason such as new credit card and you forget to update it, your service is shut off immediately and the one I use I've seen reports their service didn't get turned back on till next day when the payment process happens again and the new card gets charged. Again, this isn't all mvno, but another reason they are cheaper it's less support.

Good luck with your decision. Saving money now days is important, hence why I looked at it.
 
Mvno using Verizon towers have a good chance of slow downs. I use Verizon and a prepaid using Verizon towers, so I can compare them side by side and I have. The worst speed difference was Verizon was 1400 mgbps while the prepaid kicked in at .52. I tested both same time and twice with similar results and there was no major event going on. There are times they run the same also, prepaid has never ran that fast though. I've had to switch to the Verizon phone hotspot for streaming music when the prepaid started buffering to much. I've also had one time I was kicked off a phone call and couldn't call out, kept getting all circuits are busy message, Verizon phone call went thru..I tried prepaid again while on the Verizon phone and still was getting that message.

Mvno are cheaper for a reason, there's difference. Chances are you might not notice slow downs, if you do it will always be inconvenient when it happens. I travel so having a solid connection at highest level is important. I tried the prepaid to test side by side because it I could save money for service why not, but there were to many incidents that I decided to keep Verizon my main line. Paying more for Verizon I expect Verizon customers to have priority over mvno users, my test at least proved to me that Verizon customers do indeed have priority.

I know you weren't looking at a Verizon mvno, but I just wanted to chime in that there are differences on Verizon and I'm guessing there will be on other carriers also, if there wasn't why wouldn't everyone use mvno.

Also as a side note, customer service is usually difficult at best, might not when have phone support. And remember, they already have your money, refunds and credits are next to impossible. If your payment doesn't go thru for any reason such as new credit card and you forget to update it, your service is shut off immediately and the one I use I've seen reports their service didn't get turned back on till next day when the payment process happens again and the new card gets charged. Again, this isn't all mvno, but another reason they are cheaper it's less support.

Good luck with your decision. Saving money now days is important, hence why I looked at it.
Yeah the other option I'm looking at is Google Fi which isn't a mvno.. it's less than T-Mobile but more than Mint Mobile..

Thanks for this input this is what I was looking for.
 
I do believe that Verizon handles their MVNO's, and their own prepaid plans, more "restrictively" than TMobile. They specifically cap download speeds and mm-wave access on certain (lower cost) plans. To my knowledge, this is not common on TMo prepaid and MVNO plans. So if reliable service is a must have, then MVNO's could be a problem. Also, as said by "trucks move...", customer support is definitely worse .
 
I do believe that Verizon handles their MVNO's, and their own prepaid plans, more "restrictively" than TMobile. They specifically cap download speeds and mm-wave access on certain (lower cost) plans. To my knowledge, this is not common on TMo prepaid and MVNO plans. So if reliable service is a must have, then MVNO's could be a problem. Also, as said by "trucks move...", customer support is definitely worse .
Yeah I can see Verizon restricting more of an issue they are far worse on things like that with at&t a close 2nd.

If I remove 1 line on T-Mobile it knocks my bill down 68 bucks and takes my bill down to 112 a month for my wife and I.

That's the 55 Max plan.
 
Google Fi would also be around there with their unlimited plus. Their plan would give me unlimited hotspot and wearable/tablet data as well up to 50gb per person before slowing down.. and it's not a MVNO so that's a plus as well

So I like the mint pricing but after comments here I have been rethinking that and maybe you get what you pay for with them.

I need to look into the sharable data with Google Fi closer to make sure it's what I'm thinking.

Thanks guys! Keep the comments coming this is helping and it's appreciated
 
I've used Mint Mobile for testing and I was surprised how good it performed compared to my T-Mobile, you can probably test drive the carrier for free so I would look into it . Do you have a spare phone to do side by side ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: bkeaver
250 MB isn't even enough to do a speed test.
I agree
59e8c45824955178c933c74decfc3d01.jpg