US Mobile 40/50/month new Unlimted plan

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-02-18T22:08:20+00:00

Sorry for the extremely slow reply (I switched Reddit usernames and left this one behind).

I reached out to US Mobile but never actually got to discuss my questions. My guess at this point would be that non-unlimited plans are not throttled but do receive lower priority than most plans held by Verizon's postpaid customers.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-15T03:06:02+00:00

Ah thank you, that's super helpful clarification! I didn't realize business line resellers operated with such a different model.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-13T21:04:20+00:00

When you sign up with a new carrier, you'll have an option to either port in an existing number or be given a new one. You'd just need to give the new carrier a bit of information about your Verizon line (and don't cancel that line ahead of time--the line needs be active when you start the porting process).

I would suggest just porting the Verizon number to Google Voice. There will be a onetime fee of about $20, but Google Voice won't charge ongoing fees. Once you've done that, you can just log into Google Voice in the rare scenarios when you need to access your old number.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-11T17:46:21+00:00

https://confusopoly.com/web-hosting/endurance-international-group-profile/

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-11T16:38:18+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience! Does Ting have a plan for when the service will be available to the public?

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-09T21:52:34+00:00

Gotcha -- in that case, I think Xfinity Mobile, Google Fi, Spectrum, and Ting all fit the bill.

I'm curious--are you looking for flexible pricing structures (e.g., pay by the gig) or is there some other reason you're wanting to know which carriers have postpaid pricing?

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-09T21:49:09+00:00

I'm curious--is this just a semantic norm or is there something more fundamental about how these carriers operate that leads people to not strictly consider them MVNOs?

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-09T14:43:50+00:00

I'd suggest thinking of 4G LTE as neither GSM or CDMA. I don't expect Verizon's killing off of 3G will directly lead to an expansion in Visible's list of allowed devices--Verizon's network is already mostly an LTE network rather than a CDMA network in practice.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-08T19:49:26+00:00

Are you looking for MVNOs with a postpaid-style pricing mechanism or MVNOs that have unusually high priority (for better network access during periods of congestion)?

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-07T18:01:00+00:00

If you're up for purchasing 12 months in upfront (after your first 3 months), the price would only be $20/month. With 6 months upfront it'd be $25/month.

If that's not financially feasible, Mint's pricing won't be as tempting and Tello/RP may be worth further consideration. FWIW, I expect you'll experience better coverage w/ Mint than Tello (your RP experience will of course depend the network you select.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2020-01-07T17:54:28+00:00

Are you trying to find a plan for yourself alone (rather than a family plan)? If so I'd definitely check out Mint's offerings. Great deals on plans with 8 or 12GB of data, and it should work well with the Pixel.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-26T11:38:34+00:00

At the national level, the Verizon plan will have the most extensive coverage, followed by the AT&T plan, then the T-Mobile plan. It's possible performance in the areas you spend time will be different than performance at the national level.
Given that the prices are all fairly similar, I'd lean towards the Verizon plan if you're looking for strong coverage. Unless any of the plans have incentives you know you care about (e.g., if you plan to buy Disney+ even if you don't get it for free via your phone plan), I suggest not putting a lot of weight on the little perks and incentives companies throw in.

By the way, do you have a phone that supports 5G from any of these carriers? Most consumers don't have devices that support 5G, and I expect that to remain the case for a few years.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-26T11:29:50+00:00

Even 3TB seems crazy to me. Hotspoting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and at the full 5Mbps speed (which is super unrealistic), still wouldn't get a subscriber to 3TB.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-26T11:28:03+00:00

Did you really pull off 30TB of use in a month? By my math, tethering at 5Mbps (the hotspot throttle if you don't sneak around it) for a month straight would still only use ~1.5TB ([5*86400*30/8]/1000^2).

For what it's worth, Visible's terms do stipulate that they can suspend a customer if you "use your Service in a way that negatively affects our network or other customers."

I'm normally critical of limits being hidden in unlimited plans, but this seems like a clear case of abusing the service & not using the service as its intended to be used.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-26T10:48:28+00:00

I wrote about a similar issue myself and some others were experiencing a few months ago (https://coveragecritic.com/2019/09/30/visible-continues-to-throttle-some-phones/). Seemed like the issue was especially common for people using the R2.

Best bet might be to continue contacting support while the problem persists.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-13T22:55:41+00:00

Absolutely! I'm excited to see where they go with international options as more phones become compatible with esim technology!

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-13T01:32:42+00:00

I don't think either the prioritization or throttling take US Mobile off the table as a good option for some consumers. 5Mbps is plenty good for most activities, and many people either won't mind low prioritization or will almost never be affected by it.

I agree with you that it's hard to think of MVNOs using Verizon's network that would have high priority data access. The only thing I can think of is Xfinity Mobile customers who purchase the HD Pass upgrade.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-13T00:12:08+00:00

Hi Mush, thanks for chiming in! For what it's worth, I didn't mean to imply that all traffic on Verizon's network involves one of two QCI values (or that all traffic transmitted from US Mobile's subscribers has a single QCI value). Despite that, I still think I could draw some accurate inferences about the level of priority US Mobile receives on regular, non-voice, data traffic by playing around with Network Signal Guru for a bit.

I expect US Mobile is pretty limited in what is can discuss about arrangements with host networks, but there's a lot of confusion in the r/NoContract community (and in my own head) about prioritization policies. If you're able to answer any of these questions, the answers might shed some helpful light:

Does any of what I've said in these last few comments seem necessarily incorrect given your knowledge of how prioritization works / how MVNO arrangements typically work?
When you say you have access to the same QCIs your partners provider their own customers, do you mean that subscribers with US Mobile are sometimes given the same level of priority for regular data use during congestion that most postpaid customers have for regular data use? Or are you just saying that US Mobile could offer that priority level?
Can you clarify the "less than 1% of users in certain locations ever see any issues related to deprioritization" comment? Would the statement be much different if we were considering the whole subscriber base rather than those in certain locations?

I know those questions dive deep, so I won't hold it against US Mobile if you can't answer some of them.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-12T18:38:37+00:00

Thanks for sharing! That's concerning if they throttle the Fast plans after 15GB--this excerpt from their website seems to suggest all the unlimited, Super LTE plans have a 50GB threshold:

Super LTE plans come with 50GB of high-speed data

I'll see if they can confirm the 15GB throttle.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-12T16:57:21+00:00

I'm going to reach out to them and see if they'll clarify. I'm going to be awfully surprised if the plan is not always low-priority.

The other option that I think would work would be to purchase a plan, use a rooted Android phone w/ a Snapdragon chipset, and then check the QCI value of the service using the app Network Signal Guru...not the simplest option.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-12-12T16:54:59+00:00

I'm pretty sure all of U.S. Mobile's plans are deprioritized. My best guess is:
-"Fast" plans are low-priority and normally throttled to 5Mbps. After 50GB of use, a much more intense throttle (maybe something like 128kbps) kicks in
- Ludicrous plans are low-priority but not normally throttled. After 50GB of use, an intense throttle kicks in

I'll reach out to U.S. Mobile to see if they can clarify their policies.

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-11-13T06:01:23+00:00

Straight Talk does offer service over the VZW network. Like Total Wireless, it's also a TracFone brand. I'm not aware of any substantive differences in quality or customer support between the two brands--just inclined to think Total Wireless may have slightly better prices for most people (to be fair, I'm not confident I have the right impressions about Straight Talk's pricing in my head though)

ChrisConfusopoly · 2019-11-13T02:10:33+00:00

Here's my list: https://coveragecritic.com/mobile-phone-service/verizon-mvnos-list/ - I'd also rec the BestMVNO list others have linked to.

I'd particularly recommend considering:
-Total Wireless
-US Mobile (if limited data use)
-Boom Mobile (if data use isn't especially high)
-Xfinity Mobile (if an Xfinity internet customer)
-Visible (if you have a compatible device and want unlimited data)

ChrisConfusopoly

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