Mint Mobile Launches Its First Unlimited Plan

As you may know, I switched to Mint Mobile this past year for its incredibly low prices and excellent introductory offers. But it looks like I’ll be paying just a few dollars more each month next year to go from 12 GB per month to an unlimited plan.

I can’t find an actual announcement, but Mint Mobile is trumpeting its new unlimited plan at its website, and you can compare this plan to Mint’s existing plans there as well. I see that Mint is also promoting 5G compatibility across its plans now too. Guys, how about a little PR?

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Anyway, the short version goes like this: Mint is offering a new Unlimited plan for $30 per month, so it’s the most expensive plan now. It still offers 3 GB ($15/mo), 8 GB ($20/mo), and 12 GB ($25/mo) plans as well.

Obviously, in this day and age, Unlimited doesn’t mean literally unlimited, but Mint’s terms are, as expected, quite reasonable: In addition to the normal unlimited nationwide talk and text, unlimited data, free SIM card kit, free international calls to Mexico and Canada, 5 GB of mobile hotspot, and Wi-Fi calling and text, your data speeds won’t be reduced until after 35 GB.

So where I paid $300 for a year of 12 GB, now I could pay $360 for a year of Unlimited. And I suspect that’s exactly what I’ll be doing when renewal time comes around.

Also, enjoy the Ryan Reynolds video.

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Conversation 35 comments

  • jeff.bane

    10 September, 2020 - 9:42 am

    <p>I love my Mint service. Just renewed for the <em>year </em>and it was $200. Including all taxes and fees.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      10 September, 2020 - 11:28 am

      Yeah, it’s such a great value.

      • krayziehustler

        10 September, 2020 - 1:50 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#572619">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>You can actually pay the difference now and get unlimited data. Pay 60 today and your plan becomes the unlimited one. No need to wait a year for renewal </p>

        • Paul Thurrott

          Premium Member
          11 September, 2020 - 8:50 am

          Yep, thanks!

        • SvenJ

          11 September, 2020 - 4:28 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#572644"><em>In reply to krayziehustler:</em></a><em> </em>Not from the OPs $200/year plan. Unlimited for the year is $360. If I could buy the $200 plan and upgrade to unlimited for $60, I'd be on it. Maybe you were talking about Paul.</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • mike2thel73

    10 September, 2020 - 9:52 am

    <p>Paul, does mint allow you to turn off data maximizer (or whatever it's called these days) so that I can stream video in HD?</p><p><br></p><p>So far these last 3 years I've avoided plans with "unlimited" because what's the point of having a 1440P phone if I can't even watch video in HD when I'm away from wi-fi.</p><p><br></p><p>And for those of you who are about to type "you won't see the difference anyway", you don't know what you're talking about because I CAN see the difference.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      10 September, 2020 - 11:24 am

      I’ve never tried to stream video over cellular. Where do you see this? In an app, the phone, or is it something Mint does?

      • Rob.Federici

        10 September, 2020 - 12:41 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#572617">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>it actually says it at the end of the promo video in the text at the bottom of the screen: "videos stream at 480p"</p><p><br></p><p>I cant speak for Mint, but with TMobile that feature is turned on by default but can be disabled which I think is what Mike is wondering.</p>

        • Paul Thurrott

          Premium Member
          11 September, 2020 - 8:54 am

          Ah gotcha. I would never stream videos over cellular, personally. It does seem like the type of thing that should be an option.

      • David L. Berger

        10 September, 2020 - 2:30 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#572617">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>I had that problem with Mint Mobile – couldn't watch YouTube videos, so I switched to Red Pocket Mobile. I will be adding my wife to create a Family Plan that will really lower the cost for both of us. The best thing about Red Pocket is that they support ALL wireless carriers. I am on AT&amp;T and my wife is Verizon so at least one of us will always have service. This will be really useful when we go on vacation and don't know which service is available wherever we are.</p>

      • Kevin Freiburger

        11 September, 2020 - 6:39 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#572617">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>What's your solution for int'l roaming? Buy a local SIM when you travel? Mint's int'l data rates seem cost prohibitive ($.20/MB for most countries). </p>

        • Paul Thurrott

          Premium Member
          12 September, 2020 - 11:39 am

          I’ll enable Fi again when I travel internationally. You can turn it on and off as needed.

  • michael.dice

    Premium Member
    10 September, 2020 - 10:01 am

    <p>This is not a Ryan Reynolds video, it is a Rick Moranis video!</p>

  • Aritting

    10 September, 2020 - 10:51 am

    <p>if you buy the 3gb, what happens when you go over?</p>

    • rob4jen

      10 September, 2020 - 11:07 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#572560">In reply to Aritting:</a></em></blockquote><p>All Mint plans slow to 128KB once you exceed your cap. There's nothing any more unlimited about the new plan than the old ones. It just has a higher cap. </p>

      • Paul Thurrott

        Premium Member
        10 September, 2020 - 11:21 am

        So, this is exactly how the entire industry works. Also, Mint lets you pay by the GB if you want more full-speed data.

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      10 September, 2020 - 11:23 am

      Data speeds reduce or you can pay for more full-speed data by the GB.

  • JH_Radio

    Premium Member
    10 September, 2020 - 11:11 am

    <p>Data I'll never use. </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      10 September, 2020 - 11:20 am

      I said that until we lost days of Internet this past month and used my entire data allotment tethering.

  • sajohnson53402

    Premium Member
    10 September, 2020 - 1:41 pm

    <p>Paul, did you give up Google Fi for Mint??</p><p>Also, how do you find service, as you do a lot of travel (or at least used to).</p><p><br></p><p>I have Fi, and though I'm pleased, I am always looking to cut costs.</p>

  • fraXis

    Premium Member
    10 September, 2020 - 1:55 pm

    <p>How is the cell phone signal/reception?</p><p><br></p><p>I would love to switch my family of 7, from AT&amp;T to Mint to save $$$, but I am always worried about getting bad cell phone signal/reception if I do so. I remember hearing that back in the day, the cell phone towers used to prioritize the big 3's signals (Sprint, Verizon, AT&amp;T), and would low prioritize all 3rd party carriers. Does anyone know if this is still the case? There must be some drawbacks using a 3rd party cell phone provider vs. using the premium ones (AT&amp;T, T-Mobile, Verizon)?</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

    • KingPCGeek

      Premium Member
      10 September, 2020 - 4:08 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#572646">In reply to fraXis:</a></em></blockquote><p>They are an MVNO for T-Mobile. I am sure there is some prioritization that can go on.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      11 September, 2020 - 8:50 am

      I’ve never had any issues, but then I’ve also not left the area because of COVID. I assume it’s as good as any T-Mobile connection.

  • crunchyfrog

    10 September, 2020 - 5:02 pm

    <p>I've looked at these in the past and scanned the Mint plans. If you have a family, it really does not work out as each lines pays the full amount. My T-Mobile plan has a high cost for the first line but each add-on is $10 so essentially it comes out the same or even higher. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Mint unlimited $30 plan is an intro price and makes you buy 3 months up front to get that price. I am not clear what the cost really will be if you go month to month.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      11 September, 2020 - 8:43 am

      I think they stopped doing that. I was looking at upgrade costs and it was the same pricing.

    • waharris007

      12 September, 2020 - 11:09 am

      <blockquote><a href="#572710" class="md-opjjpmhoiojifppkkcdabiobhakljdgm_doc"><em>In reply to crunchyfrog:</em></a></blockquote><p>Best Buy has the SIM kits and plans on sale right now. I just ordered 12-month plans for me (12gb), my wife (3gb), and my kid (3gb). Including tax on the purchase, that takes care of my family for $52/month. That's a lot better than the $220 I'm paying Verizon right now. </p>

    • behindmyscreen

      14 September, 2020 - 7:41 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#572710">In reply to crunchyfrog:</a></em></blockquote><p>I am grandfathered onto the same plan :-)</p><p><br></p><p>The zero rating makes it hard to leave.</p>

  • mclark2112

    Premium Member
    10 September, 2020 - 10:48 pm

    <p>Ok, OK. I bought a Mint SIM to try out in my old iPhone 7 Plus. I've been with ATT/Cingular/ATT for 20 years. The savings is just too big. If my testing goes well, I'm changing.</p>

  • waharris007

    12 September, 2020 - 10:52 am

    <p>I'm test-driving Mint this week and hoping for the best. I could replace my family's $220 Verizon bill with $65/month with Mint. That's a serious discount. One warning about the new unlimited plan, though, that prevented me from getting it: You can only hotspot 5gb, which is LESS than the other plans. If you get the 12gb plan, you can use the full 12gb via hotspot if you want to. It's weird that the unlimited plan didn't at least match the feature of the next tier down. However, I put my test Mint SIM in my MiFi hotspot device to see if it'd work. Even though it's not supposed to, it worked just fine. So that means I can just buy my MiFi it's own 8gb plan.</p><p><br></p><p>I had T-Mobile for three years before switching to Verizon a couple of years ago. As long as the coverage is at least as good as what I had with T-Mo, I think we'll be fine.</p>

  • Scott O'Connor

    13 September, 2020 - 12:02 pm

    <p>Aren't they all unlimited? The only difference in the plans look to be when the throttling occurs? </p>

  • basic sandbox

    21 October, 2020 - 6:11 pm

    <p>Paul, do you continue to use Mint Mobile when you are in Europe?</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      22 October, 2020 - 8:50 am

      I’ve not been to Europe since I switched to Mint Mobile but, no, that won’t work. I’ll use a Google Fi SIM when that happens and temporarily reenable the service for that time. (You can switch Fi on and off as needed.)

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