US Mobile

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camfused

Full time employment: Posting here.
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Several of us were discussing US Mobile in another thread, and rather than continuing to hijack it, I thought I should start a thread just for US Mobile, since I think this carrier will have a lot of interest by our FIRE community.

So, you can go to the US Mobile website to see details, but highlights of this carrier are:
- Runs on Verizon (or T-Mobile) network. The Verizon network they call "Super LTE".
- They have Unlimited All, Pooled ($9/line + $2/GB), and individual plans at reasonable prices.
- 5G runs with no deprioritization, unlike many other MVNOs.
- Unlimited plans "cap" at 75GB high-speed, then are slowed down
- Wifi calling, VoLTE, Visual Voicemail are all included
- Free calling to Canada (on Unlimited plans)
- Unlimited plans include 10GB of roaming data in Europe (so you could use FaceTime or similar to call home from Europe).
- Hotspot is not (currently, see below) included on Unlimited plans, and is $10/month for 20GB

Listening to their CEO, they are NOT participating in the race to the bottom for cheapest plans. Instead, the consider themselves to offer a premium product at a reasonable price.

Also, the CEO has said that in about a week or so, there will be an Unlimited Basic (possibly as low as $20) and Unlimited Premium plan (same $ as current, but with a high cap and hotspot included). He also said that there will be free calling to "everywhere in the world" probably around 3Q of this year.

So, if you have any experience with US Mobile, please chime in.
 
Thanks for creating the thread.

I’m thinking about making the change from T-Mobile. I spend a good amount of time out of the US (2-3 months a year) and want to have a plan that supports international roaming.

I’m going to do some Google research later, but if anyone here has experience with US Mobile outside of the US, then please share.
 
I guess I hijacked the other thread. Since I'm the OP of that thread, is hijacking by me even possible?

Anyway, I'm on the US Mobile 14 day free trial. So far the experience has been trouble free and quite easy. I did not port my phone number to the US Mobile SIM card, I installed their SIM card in an old phone I had and got a new phone number. After about 4 minutes I was able to make calls but not text message. Complete activation took about 16 minutes. My first speed test on 4G: Download 115Mbps, upload 18.8 Mbps, ping 18 ms.

I have used their Live Chat feature two times now and when the AI chat bot could not handle my questions, I was sent to a live person. Both times it has been a pleasant experience.

Today I called with a question about inserting my US Mobile SIM card into my current Verizon phone. What happens? Does Verizon "sense" I have changed my SIM card? Do they care? What happens to my text messages? Are they on my Verizon SIM card? Will I lose my phone number I've had for 20 years? I spoke with a tech named Fayeed, who spoke English very well, in fact had a British accent.

--

The crucial difference with US Mobile vs. all the other MVNO's I looked at was they do not have deprioritization of data connection speed. In other words, you don't get kicked to the curb by regular Verizon customers when the cell phone towers are heavily trafficked. NOTE: (This is only if your phone is on 5G. Phones on 4G are still subject to deprioritization.)

They do have a 75 GB cap on 5G deprioritization. That is, once you've used 75 GB in a month you are kicked to the curb for regular Verizon customers. Previously they didn't have that cap, but a very small minority of people would abuse it, especially with hot spots, so they put in a cap. They used to have hot spots included in the Unlimited All Warp Speed plan, but again, some people abused it so hot spots are now a separate charge.

I'm currently working on convincing my family to switch. We would save $117 a month over our current (flaccid) 10GB plan at Verizon by going to US Mobile and buying an equivalent 10GB plan. If we buy the Unlimited All Plan we still save $74 a month at US Mobile.
 
Evidently, the 75GB cap is Verizon. T-Mobile is 35GB. Per terms:

The small share of heavy data users, using more than 75GB on Super LTE, 35GB on GSM, or 20 GB of hotspot data on either network during a billing cycle may be throttled to slower speeds and lose hotspot capabilities for the remainder of their billing cycle.
Click to expand...

Also sounds like they allow hotspot currently. They just cap it at 20GB, then cut you off completely and throttle your data. Or am I reading this wrong?

Does anyone know what speed you are throttled to after the cap? I've seen some reports of 1 Mbps, which wouldn't be too bad. But nothing official. Just the vague language above.
 
Soo, I'm on AT&T now. Usually think of T-Mobile as my alternative. But we have Pixel phones, I guess we can go Verizon also. May have to research that. Reasoning being Verizon has the best network.
 
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I have ported two of the four number from Cricket (AT&T) over to US Mobile (Verizon). The first line took just under one hour (at about 21:45 last night) for the number to transfer. The second line took about 5 minutes (at 08:45 this morning).

With Cricket, we had 3-4 (mostly 4) bars inside our house and around the neighborhood. With US Mobile, it is 1-2 bars. This sort of does not matter, since we have wifi calling turned on, and I have a great wifi router.

Everything seems to work fine. We had to re-enable wifi calling, and had to set up voicemail, but no big surprises there.

I will see how the signal is around town.
 
camfused said:
I have ported two of the four number from Cricket (AT&T) over to US Mobile (Verizon). The first line took just under one hour (at about 21:45 last night) for the number to transfer. The second line took about 5 minutes (at 08:45 this morning).
Click to expand...

How was the porting process? Easy to understand and execute?

What happened to your old text messages?

With Cricket, we had 3-4 (mostly 4) bars inside our house and around the neighborhood. With US Mobile, it is 1-2 bars. This sort of does not matter, since we have wifi calling turned on, and I have a great wifi router.

Everything seems to work fine. We had to re-enable wifi calling, and had to set up voicemail, but no big surprises there.

I will see how the signal is around town.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see that data. Do you have a baseline from Cricket/AT&T with which to compare?
 
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My concern is domestic roaming (voice/text at a minimum, data would be nice)

Currently I'm on Visible which has coverage only on native Verizon towers.

Our family's vacation cabin is in the mountains in an area dominated by US Cellular.

Right now my cellphone on Visible has NO coverage up in that area.

Anybody know if US Mobile (Verizon option) roams for free (voice/text, I'm willing to pay more for data roaming) on US Cellular?
 
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Qs Laptop said:
How was the porting process? Easy to understand and execute?
What happened to your old text messages?

I'd love to see that data. Do you have a baseline from Cricket/AT&T with which to compare?
Click to expand...

It was painless and nothing is missing. Again, all I had to do was re-enable wifi calling, and re-enable the voicemail message.

As pointed out above, perhaps this works only on Verizon native towers:confused:

I will be doing a cross-country (NC to US midwest, then around KS and NE) trip next week, which is why I wanted to do this switch. It will be interesting to see how ofter I loose signal.
 
ncbill said:
My concern is domestic roaming (voice/text at a minimum, data would be nice)

Currently I'm on Visible which has coverage only on native Verizon towers.

Our family's vacation cabin is in the mountains in an area dominated by US Cellular.

Right now my cellphone on Visible has NO coverage up in that area.

Anybody know if US Mobile (Verizon option) roams for free (voice/text, I'm willing to pay more for data roaming) on US Cellular?
Click to expand...

I called US Mobile yesterday and asked a ton of questions, including about roaming. I was told no, they have no roaming agreements. This is pretty common with MVNOs.

We've been with various MVNOs since I retired in 2013. We get around this issue by using different carriers. Currently, DW has Verizon and I have T-Mobile, both via Redpocket. Then we have an AT&T data-only plan for our camper van, which has a built-in cellular modem and WiFi hotspot.

That's one of the advantages of MVNOs like US Mobile or Redpocket that offer more than one of the major networks.

Even if it's just one person, many phones today have dual-SIM capability. So you can split your data capacity requirements between two carriers at the same MVNO and achieve the same thing.
 
Cobra9777 said:
I called US Mobile yesterday and asked a ton of questions, including about roaming. I was told no, they have no roaming agreements. This is pretty common with MVNOs.

We've been with various MVNOs since I retired in 2013. We get around this issue by using different carriers. Currently, DW has Verizon and I have T-Mobile, both via Redpocket. Then we have an AT&T data-only plan for our camper van, which has a built-in cellular modem and WiFi hotspot.

That's one of the advantages of MVNOs like US Mobile or Redpocket that offer more than one of the major networks.

Even if it's just one person, many phones today have dual-SIM capability. So you can split your data capacity requirements between two carriers at the same MVNO and achieve the same thing.
Click to expand...

Yep, heard the same from them in response to my email inquiry...definitely get a 5G phone if choosing their Verizon option.

So in my vehicle I also have a flip phone on T-Mobile prepaid (grandfathered plan, pay-per-minute, only a $10 annual refill required) & just added a smartphone on the $5/month plan (unlimited talk/text, 500MB data) from Hello Mobile, an AT&T MVNO.

I've also ordered a SIM kit...$9.99+tax/month for unlimited talk/text, 1GB data (can buy more) from mobi.com (Verizon MVNO) to test as a possible replacement for my current Visible (a MVNO owned by Verizon) service...$25/month unlimited talk/text/data.
 
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OK, I'm making the switch to US Mobile. But first I called Verizon and asked to speak with an Account Retention specialist. They gave me another phone number to call and I was told since I had been with Verizon for 13 years there was a loyalty program available. I was told about the "loyalty program" and it turns out it's simply the current plans they offer to everyone. I could get unlimited 4G deprioritized data for $35 a month per line if I went on Autopay. With taxes the four of us would pay $155.12 a month. We are currently paying $174 a month for 10GB of shared 5G data.

The sales rep at Verizon asked what service I was considering and I told her "US Mobile." I explained US Mobile was using Verizon towers, the Verizon network and that I'd have the same coverage as I do now but I would get 75 GB of 5G data before deprioritization for $100 a month, tax included. The best she could offer me in comparison was 50GB of 5G data before deprioritization for $55 a month, with taxes and fees, about $243 a month.

"Why would I do that if I can get more data at US Mobile for $143 less per month", I asked.

Her answer: "We have international texting included. We have calling to Mexico and Canada included."

"OK, I think I have calling to Mexico and Canada with US Mobile, but I'm not sure about international texting. In any event, not worth $143 more per month to have that at Verizon."

More of this story to come...
 
FYI, 4 days ago, Hassan (the CEO) said we can expect the new plans “in the next couple weeks”. The rumor is there will be a Premium Unlimited All (same price as today but with hotspot included), and a Basic Unlimited All (maybe $5 less and no hotspot, and a lower prioritized cap).

The point is, whatever you think of the plans now, just wait another week or so and look again.
 
Qs Laptop said:
...I would get 75 GB of 5G data before deprioritization...
Click to expand...

Just to be clear... after 75GB, you are not deprioritized. You are throttled down to 1Mbps, best case. You are deprioritized at all times. An exception is customers with 5G phones on Verizon. US Mobile recently announced that customers with 5G phones get the same priority as Verizon post-paid customers, even when they fallback to 4G. Customers with 4G LTE-only phones, and those on the T-Mobile network, are still deprioritized at all times.

Here's the info about throttling and deprioritization from the US Mobile T&C (bold is mine):

The small share of heavy data users, using more than 75GB on Super LTE, 35GB on GSM, or 20 GB of hotspot data on either network during a billing cycle may be throttled to slower speeds and lose hotspot capabilities for the remainder of their billing cycle. Additionally, regardless of data usage levels, customers may experience slower service in times and locations where the availability of network resources is constrained.
Click to expand...

Here's the recent announcement about 5G phones getting priority data on Verizon:

Prioritized data is here. All customers on our Warp 5G network on 5G devices — regardless of plan — will have access to Unlimited Premium Data. That means each byte of data you use on a 5G device on our Unlimited All, Unlimited Bundle, Pooled, and Custom Plans will be prioritized — even on your 4G LTE fallback.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely keeping an eye on US Mobile. I like the 75GB cap and priority 5G data. Although I wish they had the same cap and priority data on T-Mobile, since we would want one line on each. It also appears that they don't throttle video streaming at 480p, which many MVNOs do.

But the current hotspot limitations are a deal killer. We use tons of hotspot data when we travel in the van. We currently use Redpocket which allows full use of hotspot up to the amount of your cap, with no throttling of video streams. So I'll be keeping an eye out for these newly-rumored plans with hotspot. I'd love to see priority data on 4G phones and T-Mobile, plus same 75GB caps on both networks, all of which could be used on hotspot. At $25/line... I just don't think it's going to happen. Hopefully I'm wrong.
 
(Making the switch to US Mobile, continued.)

There will be four lines on the US Mobile plan. I'm getting the unlimited everything, Warp speed plan. Time to order the US Mobile Starter Kits. The starter kits have two SIM cards--one for the Super LTE network (Verizon's) and one for the GSM network (T-Mobile) Once you get the starter kit you pick which network you want and this determines which of the two SIM cards you will insert in your phone.

I'm sending two of the starter kits to my sons, who are living at different addresses than DW and me. One is in Arizona and one is here in the Twin Cities. This process was not as straightforward as I thought it would be. I had to order four starter kits three separate times--once for son in AZ, once for other son, and once for DW and me (two kits). This means I had to edit the shipping address three times to get the shipping addresses entered and had to make sure billing address was my home address in each case. I went with regular (free) shipping, which is USPS first class mail.

I was able to find coupon codes I could apply to get the starter kits for free. I used coupon codes FREEKIT, FREESIM, MSPUSM, and WOUT2USM. I am saving coupon code STETSON for when I activate the line(s) as it gives you a free starter kit plus a $20 credit on first month's bill. If you are only moving one line to US Mobile I suggest using code STETSON.

One snag--when I was done ordering I wanted to double check if the shipping addresses were three different addresses while the billing address was one address. I did receive email notifications of each change of shipping address but it didn't show what that address had been changed to. I also received email notifications of an order being placed each time I ordered the starter kit. I could also see my order history when looking at my account online. However, I could not see a way to verify the shipping addresses. So I tried their online support chat. This was relatively easy as the sales tech asked for my order numbers and then confirmed the three cities where the starter kits were being sent.

More to come...
 
(Making the switch to US Mobile, continued.)

I was set to port over all four phone lines from Verizon to US Mobile on Monday evening. I started with one of my son's phones and the process didn't go as smoothly as advertised. You need to have at the ready your phone's IMEI number, your phone number, the ID number of the US Mobile SIM card they sent you, your current carriers account number (in my case Verizon) and your current carrier's account PIN.

The problem was entering my Verizon PIN. I thought this PIN was the number used to access my account, either on my PC or using the Verizon app on my phone. No sirree. This particular Verizon PIN is created by you, the user, and is a called a Number Transfer PIN. An email from US Mobile alerted me that the transfer process was suspended and I needed to contact Verizon and get a Number Transfer PIN.

You have to log into your Verizon account, go to Account Management, find Port Phone Number to Another Carrier, then Create Number Transfer PIN. This PIN is good for 7 days and will be the key to getting Verizon to release your phone number(s) to a different carrier, i.e. US Mobile.

But wait! For some reason all attempts to create the Verizon Number Transfer PIN when logged into my Verizon account on my PC failed. Only when I logged into the account on my phone was I able to generate a Number Transfer PIN. I suppose this is a "security feature." Once I typed in my newly created Number Transfer PIN the process resumed and within 5 minutes my son's phone was on US Mobile.
 
So, the new plans were announced today. For many people, the price will not be as good as the previous Unlimited All plan. The CEO goes into his rationale behind this in this reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/USMobile/c...?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

The good news is that if you already are on the previous plan, you can stay there, and add lines to it. Also, you can ask to be put on the previous plan if you are a new customer.

I am going to stay on the old plan, since it is better for my family.
 
I’m not ready to leave T-Mobile, but I’m traveling Europe right now and the international coverage they have has been bad, worse than I remember. It mostly works, but there were many times that I had no data coverage. And of course, when I did, it was slow.

I’m in Germany right now and decided to try out the US Mobile data only plan. I installed an eSIM and signed-up for 5GB for 30 days. It cost $10 plus $2 for the eSIM.

The only hiccup is that I had to reboot my iPhone a couple of times to get the plan to work. The first time the line didn’t show up under ‘Cellular Plans’ and the second time it only connected to the edge network. After rebooting, I’m on the 4G network and it’s working. I’m not sure about the speeds, but it feels fast enough. I will get a better feel for speeds as I wander around today.
 
camfused said:
So, the new plans were announced today. For many people, the price will not be as good as the previous Unlimited All plan.
Click to expand...


Yes, the new Unlimited Premium plan rolled out yesterday, the same day I decided to bring three more lines over from Verizon to US Mobile.


Wrong-Day-US-Mobile.jpg

I started with my wife’s line and the problems started when I got to the part of the process where I pick my plan, Unlimited All, and received the message, “Your device is not compatible” along with pricing of $52.65. This is odd because my wife’s phone, Pixel 2XL, is the same model as my old phone, which I changed over to US Mobile no problem back late last month. Also, the pricing was wrong (too high.)

I called their 800# and was immediately connected to a technician. Faisal spoke English very well and explained they were rolling out a new Unlimited Plan and I should either clear my cookies in my browser and retry or try the porting process in a different browser.

Wait…a new Unlimited Plan? Do tell. The Unlimited Premium plan is 100 GB of data, 50 GB of hotspot data per month, unlimited calls and texts, 5G service. $45 a month plus taxes/fees. 2 lines are $40 + fees; 4 lines are $30 a month plus taxes/fees. The old Unlimited Plan was $25 a month if you brought 4 lines, 75GB data, no hotspot.

I told Faisal I wanted the new Unlimited Premium plan. I was told to retry the process in a different browser and select the Unlimited Premium plan. Using Microsoft Edge browser I repeat the process, Once again I got the “Your device is not compatible” error and I don’t see an option to buy the Unlimited Premium plan. Faisal gives me a different, temporary IMEI number to try and I repeat the process. Now my phone is compatible but I don’t see the new Unlimited plan. Faisal says to refresh the webpage. I do so and the new Unlimited Premium Plan pops up on screen next to a plan called Unlimited Basic (which resembles the plan I put my son on two days previously—75GB of data, no hot spot.) I select Unlimited Premium and move on to the shopping cart and successfully switch over my wife’s line.

My line is next and the exact same problems occurred. The same solutions were employed—temporary IMEI, refresh browser on plan selection page, and success. My son’s line is next and same thing happened. By now I was practiced at doing the process and it actually went as smoothly as they advertised, about 2 minutes. All in all, I spent about 50 minutes getting three lines switched over, most of it spent with the first line.

I must comment on the skill and ability of the technical support people at US Mobile. They are very good. Compared to Verizon they are PhD’s who speak English. In fact, I shudder to think how long I would have been on the line with Verizon techs had they been given the same problem.

The fun doesn’t end yet…
 
Qs Laptop said:
...The Unlimited Premium plan is 100 GB of data, 50 GB of hotspot data per month, unlimited calls and texts, 5G service. $45 a month plus taxes/fees. 2 lines are $40 + fees; 4 lines are $30 a month plus taxes/fees. The old Unlimited Plan was $25 a month if you brought 4 lines, 75GB data, no hotspot...
Click to expand...

Where is this information on their website? Every time I click on a plan, it takes me to a page to set-up an account.

Where are the specifics? Like, for each of their two networks:

How much data is included?
Is it prioritized?
Do I need a 5G phone for priority data?
Is it prioritized on 5G only?
Or is 4G also prioritized?
How much hotspot for each network?
What happens when I exceed the hotspot limit?
What happens when I exceed the data limit?
Is video streaming throttled?
If so, to what speed?
How much international roaming?
Is there any domestic roaming?
If so, on what network?
How much are taxes and fees?
 
I opened a chat session with US Mobile. Asked where I could find answers on their website to specific questions, such as what I posted above. He said, just ask me. So I copied and pasted the list of questions. He attempted to answer some of the questions. But it was like pulling teeth. At the 20 minute-mark, I gave up.

I finally asked, Do you really NOT disclose this information (in writing) on your website? He said no, but he would email it to me. That was 5 hours ago. Nothing.

IMHO, US Mobile is 10lbs of BS in a 5lb bag.

The CEO promises stuff that never happens. For example, priority data is now 5G only. When you drop to 4G, or if you have a 4G phone, it's deprioritized at all times. And always deprioritized on T-Mobile. So priority data is a hollow promise.

Every other MVNO discloses these details. Why the smoke and mirrors?

They seem to have a cozy relationship with Verizon but not T-Mobile. The caps on T-Mobile are horrible and same price as Verizon. That's just plain dumb.

Judging from the reactions on Reddit, I'm certainly not alone. These new plans have been a PR disaster. And deservedly so.
 
RetiredAndLovingIt said:
This comparison was posted on Reddit yesterday that you might find helpful.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19OgiaB9ofvoZWM79mMuR-XPBqUcGBagXILSYFm2Fh3U/edit#gid=0
Click to expand...

Thanks. But still no info about video throttling or domestic roaming. More to the point, if it's not clearly posted on their website, it's not an authoritative source of information. Just more smoke and mirrors... SGOTI. Why do they not post the specific terms and conditions? Like every other MVNO? 5lbs of BS, IMHO.
 
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