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Link Roundup – 4/17/2020

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  • The California Public Utilities Commission gave its after-the-fact thumbs-up to the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. Steve Blum offers some good commentary.
  • Joe Paonessa explains the plans for Boost Mobile to begin integrating with T-Mobile’s network. The merger between Sprint and T-Mobile may ultimately lead to a better coverage experience for Boost’s subscribers.
  • Mike Dano discusses negotiations between T-Mobile and Shentel, a company with about a million wireless subscribers.
  • Theories about COVID-19 being caused by 5G have been making their way around. Karl Bode comments in the well-titled article 5G Isn’t Interesting Enough To Warrant These Stupid Conspiracy Theories.

Mint Mobile Makes COVID-19 Data Add-Ons Easier

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In response to COVID-19, Mint Mobile began offering unlimited data at no charge to all its customers. Initially, subscribers who ran out of their regularly allotted data had to purchase 3GB data add-ons that would later be refunded.

Mint has now streamlined the process. Here’s an excerpt from a recent Reddit post by Rizwan Kassim, a co-founder of Mint Mobile:

We heard your feedback, and once we made the decision to extend the program – we rebuilt it in a way with an experience that’s more .. well, Minty. On Apr 15, whenever you purchase the data-bolton, if you qualify, the dollar cost will be $0. No credit card charge, no wallet pull. Easy. You’ll need the latest build of the app.

I thought Mint might have intentionally put a bit of friction in the data add-on process to deter abuse and waste. It looks like there’s a better explanation:

The idea was hatched, planned, got financial and brand approval, configured, launched and messaged the unlimited bolt-on offer in 36 hours, over a weekend by an entirely WFH staff. No joke. The fastest method was not to use our billing system, but to tack on a series of jobs that ran post-charge to refund the balances.

Mint has added some sensible eligibility terms for the free data add-ons:

  • Only subscribers who were customers before April 14 are eligible for free data add-ons
  • Subscribers that downgrade their plans lose their eligibility for free data add-ons

Black Wireless & Mango Mobile Fail To Deliver

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Earlier this year, two brands owned by the operator Red Pocket, Black Wireless and Mango Mobile, began offering what looked like a great deal…While the offer looked amazing, I didn’t bother writing about it. I’d previously had bad experiences with the carriers’ parent company, Red Pocket, and this recent offer looked sketchy.

That’s how I opened a retrospective post about a seemingly too-good-to-be-true plan that Black Wireless and Mango Mobile were offering. In the post, I explained why I found the carriers’ promotional deal sketchy:

  • The descriptions of the offer were confusing and possibly contradictory.
  • While Black Wireless typically offered service over AT&T’s network, the promotion was for service over T-Mobile’s network. Black Wireless was doing a terrible job of conveying that information to potential customers.
  • I couldn’t understand how Mango Mobile and Black Wireless would be able to profitably sell cheap plans with data allotments so much higher than those offered by other carriers piggybacking on the same networks.

I ended my post by suggesting that I may have been too skeptical:

I was suspicious the promotion would end up as a fiasco that looked bad for Red Pocket. However, it looks like the company has sorted things out.

New developments

It turns out my skepticism was warranted. Subscribers that took advantage of the deal are having their plans canceled. Here’s the start of a message Black Wireless sent subscribers on the plan:1

Hello, this is Black Wireless. Unfortunately, we have forfeited our contract with our vendor for T-Mobile services due to business reasons. Your service will stop by April the 10th, thus we contacted you to see whether you wish to continue the service with us and in this case we will add a web credit on your online Black Wireless account so you can use the credit to purchase a new plan with a SIM.

“Due to business reasons” is an awfully vague explanation.2 While I’m not certain what happened, I’m suspicious Black Wireless and Mango Mobile were improperly reselling T-Mobile business lines to non-business consumers.3

Damage Control

A Reddit poster associated with Black Wireless commented in a thread about the new developments.

We apologize for any inconvenience…We are providing several options for the customers affected, which include switching to our legacy Black Wireless plans and/or refunds for the balance of the time (remaining months) after the period ending April 10th. Black Wireless has been in the telecom business since 1997 and the wireless business since 2011 and we are here to assist you to make this as seamless as possible. Black Wireless is based out of New York. Thank you for your time and be safe during this trying time.

It was good to see Black Wireless joining the conversation, but the comment frustrated me. A bunch of statements in the comment are misleading or only half true.

The people who eventually created Black Wireless existed in 1997, but Black Wireless did not exist yet. Further, Red Pocket took the reigns of Black Wireless in the last several years. While Black Wireless may technically be based out of New York, I feel like the commenter was trying to mislead people about how closely the company is tied to the U.S. I’m pretty sure the company Red Pocket offloads most of its operations to is based out of Chennai.4

In a second comment, the individual associated with Black Wireless gave some level-headed insights:

We did not lose any contract, but merely the plan we had with the underlying carrier due to unforeseen circumstances. We could only do our best at this point to assist our customers in order to make sure they get the service they require or if desired a refund. In this MVNO environment you must understand there are certain criteria we must adhere to and terms we cannot state in order to stay within our business requirements and guidelines with the underlying carrier and contracts/agreements.

If we take the comment at face value, it contradicts what Black Wireless told subscribers via text message: “Unfortunately, we have forfeited our contract with our vendor for T-Mobile services due to business reasons.”

While I’ve found the handling of the whole situation unprofessional, it looks like the companies involved are taking the right steps to offer refunds to affected customers.

Boost Mobile Launches Its Own $15 Plan

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Earlier today, Boost Mobile, a flanker brand of Sprint, followed in the footsteps of many other wireless carriers and announced its own $15 per month plan that includes unlimited talk and text along with 2GB of data each month.

Boost made it clear that this is a short-term deal. Customers who take advantage of the promotion will see their monthly bill double after the first two months of service. Here’s a bit from today’s press release:

This limited-time offer, which also includes taxes and fees, mobile hotspot and 99% nationwide coverage with voice roaming, is available through May 12. After 60 days, the monthly plan moves to $30/month.

We now have several carriers offering a $15 per month plan with unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, and 2GB of data:

  • T-Mobile
  • Metro
  • AT&T
  • Cricket
  • Boost Mobile

In my opinion, the Boost Mobile offer is the least attractive among these plans since it combines both Sprint’s lackluster coverage and a promotional price that only applies for two months.1

Mint Extends Unlimited Data Through 5/14/20

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Last month, I wrote about Mint Mobile offering its subscribers unlimited data at no extra charge from 3/14/2020 through 4/14/2020. I just got an email from Mint explaining that the carrier has extended the unlimited data through 5/14/2020.

Mint’s policies around the free data remain the same. Subscribers that use up all of their regular, allotted data can add more data in 3GB increments. Mint will initially charge for these 3GB data add-ons, but subscribers will be refunded within a day. To be eligible for additional data add-ons, a subscriber must have already used 95% of his or her last data add-on.

T-Mobile & Sprint Merger Officially Closes

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To no one’s surprise, the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint finally closed this morning.1

With the closure of the merger, John Legere is stepping down from his position as T-Mobile’s CEO. Legere will be replaced by Michael Sievert, who was until now the COO of T-Mobile.

I continue to think the merger is going to be bad for consumers over the long term. However, we should see some things that are good for consumers in the short term, like the recently released T-Mobile Connect plans.

AT&T Matches T-Mobile’s $15 Plan

Christian 2 Comments

Last week, T-Mobile began offering a plan with unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, and 2GB of data for only $15 per month. A few days later, AT&T responded by offering its own $15 per month plan with unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, and 2GB of data.

Plan terms

I dug around to learn about the plan’s policies. Here are my impressions at the moment:

  • New subscribers need an AT&T prepaid SIM (costs $4.99).
  • Mobile hotspot and tethering are permitted.
  • Unused data rolls over for one month.1
  • Taxes and fees are not included in the $15 base price.
  • Unlimited international texting to over 100 countries is included.
  • Streaming video traffic will be throttled by default, but subscribers can turn the throttle off.
  • The plan is not eligible for AT&T’s discounts for paperless billing or automatic payments.
  • Data has a soft cap—once 2GB of regular data has been used, additional data can be used at significantly reduced speeds.

Limited time offer

AT&T has repeatedly described its new $15 plan as a promotion and a limited time offer. I don’t know when the plan will cease to be available.2

T-Mobile Connect vs. AT&T’s plan

AT&T’s $15 plan has a handful of substantial advantages over the $15 T-Mobile Connect plan:

  • AT&T has better nationwide coverage.
  • SIM cards are cheaper from AT&T ($5 vs. $10).
  • Only AT&T offers data rollover.
  • AT&T has a soft cap on data, while T-Mobile Connect has a hard cap.

However, it’s not clear how long AT&T’s plan will be around. People who take advantage of AT&T’s offer today won’t necessarily get the same great deal each month for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, it looks like the T-Mobile Connect plans will continue to be available to new and existing subscribers for years.

Update: The $15 plan from AT&T is no longer available.

Image representing the idea of a network

T-Mobile Connect Launches With $15 Per Month Service

Christian 11 Comments

In November 2019, T-Mobile committed to offering a new, budget plan if a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint was approved:1

[The New T-Mobile will offer a] competitive $15 per month prepaid option– half the price of the lowest T-Mobile plan today – to EVERYONE, especially lower-income consumers.

T-Mobile launched that plan last week. I didn’t expect it to be available so soon. It looks like the plan’s rollout was accelerated in response to the coronavirus:2

T-Mobile Connect was announced in November of 2019 as part of 5G for Good – the first planned Un-carrier moves for the proposed New T-Mobile – but in response to customer needs in these trying times, the Un-carrier is launching it this week.

Plan versions

The new T-Mobile Connect plans come with unlimited minutes and texts. Subscribers have two options for their data allotments:

  • 2GB plan – base price of $15 per month
  • 5GB plan – base price of $25 per month

Taxes and fees are not included in the base price of either plan. T-Mobile plans to boost data allotments by 500MB each year:3

T-Mobile Connect also has an Annual Data Upgrade, giving customers an additional 500MB of monthly data, every year, at no additional cost, for the next five years.

Plan terms

I’ve read through a lot of detail’s T-Mobile’s published about the plan. Here are my biggest takeaways from that reading:

  • New subscribers must purchase a T-Mobile SIM card for $10.4
  • International roaming is not available for T-Mobile Connect plans.
  • Data has a hard cap. Subscribers who’ve used all their regular data cannot continue to use the internet at reduced speeds.
  • Up to five T-Mobile Connect lines can be combined on a family plan. Line prices stay constant regardless of the number of people on a plan.
  • Mobile hotspot and tethering are permitted.
  • Video is throttled to 480p by default, but subscribers can turn off throttling.

Metro’s offer

T-Mobile’s flanker brand, Metro, will temporarily offer a plan similar to T-Mobile’s $15 plan:5

For the next two months, Metro is offering a $15 plan – that’s half the price of the current most affordable plan. For 60 days after customers activate, it’s just $15 per month for unlimited talk and text plus 2GB of high-speed smartphone data.

Unless I’m missing something, it seems like anyone who’s torn between the T-Mobile’s $15 plan and Metro’s plan should go with T-Mobile.

My take

T-Mobile’s Connect plans will be a great option for budget-sensitive consumers that don’t use a ton of data. Based on what I’ve seen so far, it looks like subscribers on the Connect plans will have a level of priority on par with most of T-Mobile’s postpaid subscribers. If my speculation is accurate, that may give the Connect plans a big advantage over the budget-friendly plans offered by many of the MVNOs that operate over T-Mobile’s network (e.g., Mint Mobile).

Earlier today, I placed an order for the $15 per month T-Mobile Connect plan. I’ll write more about it once I’ve had a chance to trial the service.

TracFone Botching eBay Orders

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Earlier this month, I posted about a plan TracFone was offering through its eBay store. For a single payment of $40, customers could get one year of service with 3GB of data, 1200 minutes, and 1200 texts. TracFone was offering coverage over a customer’s choice of either AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile’s network. I thought this was an incredible deal for a low-use phone plan, so I decided to place an order.

Multiple listings

TracFone had a few different listings with the $40 per month plan. In one version of the listing, customers could select the network of their choice from a drop-down menu:

In another version of the listing, TracFone was offering customers a product that included three SIM cards (one for each of the available networks). Customers who purchased from this listing could use the SIM card for their preferred network and discard the two unused SIMs.1

Receiving the wrong item

I wasn’t confident which network I wanted to use during my trial, so I ordered from the three-SIM version of the listing. A few days later, I received my order in the mail, but it only included an AT&T-compatible SIM card.

When I looked back at the eBay listing, it suggested the product only included an AT&T-compatible SIM. This left me confused. I wondered whether the listing had changed or if I’d just made a mistake. TracFone’s customer support on eBay assured me the listing hadn’t changed (emphasis mine):

We have read your e-mail today, March 20, 2020 at 3:25 PM EST. This is in regard to your TracFone Prepaid Wireless Smartphone Plan+SIM-1200 Min, 1200 Txt, 3GB Data.

Please be informed that nothing has changed, but we have added several listings of the same item with different options.

However, the listing had changed. Here’s a screenshot from the listing’s revision history:

Looking back at an archived version of the listing, it’s clear TracFone quietly changed what it was offering. Here’s a product image from the time I placed my order:

Here’s an image from the listing today:

Other reports of issues

Around the time I received my SIM card, I learned other customers who purchased the $40 plan were experiencing issues. A Reddit thread and a discussion on HowardForums detailed the problems. Some people experienced the same issue I had. Other people received SIM cards that didn’t have any airtime or data attached to them.

Those who tried to work out issues with TracFone’s customer support often had a hard time. TracFone’s regular support agents aren’t used to dealing with purchases made through eBay. As I experienced, TracFone’s support on eBay isn’t necessarily all that helpful.

That said, people who tried to get a refund right away (rather than sort out issues with TracFone’s support) probably had an alright experience. eBay is generally buyer-friendly. I doubt many refund requests were denied.

eBay feedback

TracFone’s feedback on eBay shows that issues were widespread. While the $40 plan makes up a minority of TracFone’s sales on eBay, almost all of TracFone’s recent, negative feedback is related to the plan.

TracFone's recent, negative feedback scores

I can’t recommend the plan

I gave my AT&T-compatible SIM a try. Fortunately, it had airtime and data attached as it was supposed to. Service was fine in my brief testing. Still, I can’t strongly recommend the plan. And I wanted to. A year of service for about $3 per month is an amazing deal. The combination of mistakes in fulfilling errors and a lack of customer support agents that can solve issues is a deal-breaker.

UNREAL Mobile Duplicates Mint Mobile’s Pricing Structure

Christian 6 Comments

The MVNO UNREAL Mobile recently revamped the structure of its plans. Here’s a screenshot of the carrier’s new offerings:

UNREAL Mobile Plan Options

Copying Mint

If you follow the wireless industry closely, this may look familiar. UNREAL Mobile has duplicated Mint Mobile’s plans and pricing.1 The structure isn’t just similar between the companies. It’s exactly the same. Mint even offers the same special deal for new customers that purchase 3 months of service.

UNREAL runs over AT&T’s network. In many respects, AT&T has a better network than T-Mobile, Mint’s host operator. Still, I’m not ready to say UNREAL is a better option than Mint. I had a lousy experience with UNREAL’s current parent company, Red Pocket. Joe Paonessa of BestMVNO had a lackluster experience with UNREAL itself.2 That said, the new prices are excellent for service over AT&T’s network. Despite my reservations, I’m still tempted to trial UNREAL’s service.

Bogus “Unlimited” Plans

UNREAL offers extra data at vastly reduced speeds for customers that use up all of their allotted, regular data.3

In Unlimited Plans At 2G Speeds Are Bogus, I argued that it’s ridiculous to describe plans with this policy as “unlimited plans.” Mint has enough integrity not to advertise its basically identical plans as “unlimited.”