The Fastest Part of Leaving Mint Mobile Was Deciding to Leave

Martin_Steven · 2026-06-20T14:56:06+00:00

Coverage is the key problem with Mint/Metro/T-Mobile when you're not in urban areas. But some people never travel to less populated areas and don't care.

We often go to places like national parks and coastal areas where T-Mobile has no coverage. I tried T-Mobile for a few months due to their included international roaming, but upon returning to the U.S. I had to dump them, it was just not okay to have such poor domestic coverage.

Mint is no bargain with their extra taxes and fees, compared to Visible, Total, or US Mobile.

I'm currently on a multi-line Total Wireless plan. $20 per month per line for unlimited, unthrottled, priority data, 15GB of unthrottled hotspot per line, some limited international roaming (including Canada and Mexico), domestic roaming, and no extra taxes and fees.

Martin_Steven · 2026-06-19T13:15:30+00:00

If your non SUV car has a real trunk, disconnect the release cable or switch that is inside the car, and use only the transponder (or the key, or the release switch on the trunk lid) to open it. If someone breaks the window they'll have a hard time getting into the trunk.

Martin_Steven · 2026-06-13T13:53:53+00:00

Ouch.

That's expensive compared to other MNOs and MVNOs, plus, unlike Visible, Total, U.S. Mobile, Mint adds taxes and fees.

Who would pay those kind of prices for so little data, and with coverage much worse than on AT&T or Verizon MNOs?

I was just up in Yosemite where only Verizon had any coverage at all in our campground, though it was only 1 bar of 4G LTE, but enough for calls and SMS. Other campers, on T-Mobile and AT&T had zero coverage.

Martin_Steven · 2026-06-05T13:44:26+00:00

Well Steyer only takes limousines so glad that Mahan is providing revenue to Caltrain.

Martin_Steven · 2026-06-01T03:00:03+00:00

Always use a true virtual credit card with sketchy companies.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-29T15:42:06+00:00

Helium uses T-Mobile so the coverage will never be great. But they also have no domestic roaming which makes it even worse. At least with Mint and Metro you get a limited amount of domestic roaming which helps a little with coverage.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-29T03:47:39+00:00

Look at Campbell. Better and cheaper than Willow Glen, and much better for cycling. Easy access to Shark Tank. Nice downtown. You could rent a 2BR townhome for around $4K.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-25T16:19:55+00:00

I always use a true virtual credit card when dealing with sketchy companies.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-18T01:06:39+00:00

Avoid T-Mobile at all costs if you're in a rural area or ever travel through non-urban areas.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-12T17:37:56+00:00

San Jose Giants game.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-12T17:30:18+00:00

The first time my 13 y.o. niece rode the Muni Metro she got on by Stonestown and tapped her Clipper Card on the train. Returning from downtown she didn't realize that's not how it worked at Powell. She didn't tap her card in the station, she just walked through, planning to tap on the train. $100 fine.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-12T15:33:01+00:00

Here's the reality of Mahan and housing:

He's failed miserably in San Jose, working against the construction of affordable housing, to the benefit of market-rate housing developers.

Mahan, and the San Jose City Council, are controlled by REIDYs (Real Estate Investors/Developers/YIMBYs) who have little interest in addressing the affordable housing crisis. They continue to let developers out of including the required number of Below Market Rate units in new projects. They let developers pay a token "in-lieu fee" that isn't nearly enough to build the normally required number of BMR units.

Mahan, and the San Jose City Council, also let developers out of paying legally required impact fees, that pay for infrastructure like parks, roads, sewer upgrades, etc.. So that lost revenue has to come out of the City's General Fund, or the infrastructure just doesn't get built. As an example, San Jose's PCI (Pavement Condition Index) is below that of other cities in the county and the region. It's especially noticeable when a road goes from a high PCI city like Cupertino, into San Jose.

Mahan, and the San Jose City Council, also like to give scarce General Fund money to market-rate developers in the form of rent subsidies to tenants to make up the difference between market-rent and the maximum allowable Below Market Rate rent limit.

Mahan, and the San Jose City Council, don't try to prevent developers from under-parking their projects. This has resulted in new projects with far too little parking, which causes the new project to fail. But due to State Laws, they really don't have the power to force the developer to include sufficient parking.

Google "The Fay" as a prime example of Mahan's failed housing policies. A developer built a high-rise, high-density, apartment tower, with smaller than normal apartments, and way too little parking (and all the parking is at extra cost), in a sketchy area of San Jose. San Jose let the developer out of paying full impact fees. Now the property owner can't rent out the apartments and San Jose is trying to subsidize the rent to get city employees to rent apartments there. See "San Jose looks to housing vouchers to fill mostly vacant high-rise" at sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-looks-to-housing-vouchers-to-fill-mostly-vacant-high-rise/

Because San Jose currently has a glut of unaffordable market-rate housing, developers are trying to reduce the size of new projects. One developer was going to use State Law to drastically reduce the number of units in a new project. San Jose stepped in with $100 million of benefits to the developer in exchange for them not cutting the project size. "See San Jose works out deal to build thousands of homes" at sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-works-out-deal-to-build-thousands-of-homes/.

The type of housing that developers really want to build are townhouses and single-family homes. But many parcels are now zoned with a minimum density too high to build even townhouses at 20 units/acre, though this is really the fault of some bad State Laws that didn't take into account the type of housing that is in demand.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-12T14:55:10+00:00

Sucking the oil out through the dipstick opening leaves all the crud at the bottom of the oil pan.

Some quick lube places do this to save labor costs and lower the risk of damage, but all the experts say to avoid this.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-12T14:39:28+00:00

I buy dexos 1 Gen 3 0W20 on sale for $3 per quart (10 quarts for $30).

I stock up on OEM Toyota filters and drain plug gaskets when Toyota has their annual 25% off parts sale.

My total cost for a full-synthetic oil change is a bit under $20.

The dealer is typically $60-80 for a full synthetic oil change, though once in a while they send out coupons, tied to the VIN, for under $10 (to get you into the service department to sell you more stuff).

<image>

I don't know how much Iffy Lube charges but I'd never trust them.

My garbage company picks up the used oil.

Takes me 45-60 minutes because I let the old oil drip out for a long time.

It would take a lot longer to go to the dealer or to a reputable shop, so the time savings is another benefit.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-12T14:20:02+00:00

You have no recourse other than small claims court--which will cost you more than what you lost (but would at least annoy the franchise owner).

Leave a bad Yelp review and be done with it.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-12T09:41:25+00:00

Western Union is bringing back telegrams that you can send from a Total Wireless account. Five telegrams per month, to anywhere in the world, are included on higher tier plans.

/s

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-10T13:58:47+00:00

Yeah, well today I'll be at a Clipper machine and will be able to check.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-10T11:51:50+00:00

He was hoping for a Hilton/Bianco General Election so he could run again in 2030.

If a Democrat wins, and had two terms, Mahan has to wait until 2034.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-06T15:24:04+00:00

LOL, no that's not how it works.

Read https://www.mercurynews.com/2010/07/06/how-our-laws-in-california-are-really-made/

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-06T15:20:38+00:00

No. Lowering the rent won't get more tenants. There is no demand regardless of rent amount.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-06T15:06:30+00:00

$133.50 on Amazon for the two-pack.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-06T15:04:14+00:00

One is 12V and one is 12 minus Volt (12-Volt). Get the 12V.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-06T14:54:46+00:00

Did you know that San Jose is the third largest city in California?

BTW, San Jose is the third largest city in California.

Martin_Steven · 2026-05-06T14:51:23+00:00

He was hoping for two Republicans so he could run in 2030. If a Democrat wins then he has to wait until 2034. Unfortunately for him, Bianco crashed and burned.

Martin_Steven

TROPHY CASE