So today I had the decision to renew my annual Mint plan. It would be my 3rd year straight on Mint. I know there has been some discussion about this service and I can offer my thoughts on it over the course of 2 years for those who may be shopping around.

There actually is not a lot to consider in my mind. It is a budget service and behaves exactly like it.


*Huge Caveat: These are MY experiences in my daily living with my specific phone (Moto G7) and I speak only for myself*


Data Coverage: Bad to ok depending on area of course. I live in the BCS area and there are huge swathes where my data connection speed is simply bad enough I cannot use even the most rudimentary internet searching. Won't even load a single page inside the Bryan Walmart for example. Might as well be nonexistent. There are random areas that I can utilize smartphone capabilities but don't even try to compare it to the big carrier speed and reliability. You will set yourself up for failure. Trying to send a picture via SMS is pretty much a luxury service for me. I don't even attempt anymore. The days of snapping a quick pic somewhere to send to someone are over for me in the main.

Phone Coverage: This one is a headscratcher to me. Like above, it can be very hit or miss for me. Even in the same building. In my bedroom it is great. Sit on my couch and flip a coin on whether I drop a call or not. move five to the right and its great again. Backyard is great. Garage it gets clippy. If I need to make an important call I am one of those who goes outside to ensure the best connection. May be overkill but again, if I want to ensure the best connection possible. I live in residential Bryan btw. It was juuuuust unreliable enough in my home I went ahead and rebought a phone with wifi calling. Which to me at this stage is a must have.

Now I am sure most of the above is a turnoff for most but I haven't mentioned why Mint exists in the first place. The cost is stupid cheap. Like.....put up with a lot kind of cheap.

So, IMO Mint is great for those who:

• Rarely use smartphone capabilities outside of WiFi
• Don't use much data at all overall
• Don't do a lot of traveling
• Email and text are your main modes of communication
• Are actually budget conscious

I fit all the above to a T. Broke ass college kid living in an urban setting and don't do too much traveling these days and spend 95% of my time in WiFi bubbles. My monthly data usage is <1GB. Of course, if I had good data coverage it may be more. So I have to be aware of that fallacy. But with that, I get the lowest budget plan on Mint. 12 Month bulk purchase for $180. $202 taxed. For an entire year to give me at least the basic communication I need. I know the above sounds like doom and gloom, but honestly I would actually rate Mint as pretty damn serviceable if you are in that bulleted list like I am.

My whole point of this thread was break down my thoughts are I made my decision and before I finished it, I made up my mind and renewed again for the 3rd year running. Pay a little more than my dad does for a whole year than what he does in a single month. Just wanted to share my experiences to date.

TLDR: It's meh to ok to even pretty ok in some areas but it is also dirt ass cheap and has a place in considering phone plans IMO.

Eliminatus said:

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TLDR: It's meh to ok to even pretty ok in some areas but it is also dirt ass cheap and has a place in considering phone plans IMO.

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Love it. works great for me even when travelling. $240 total for 10GB data/month and free Canada/Mexico calling to boot.
I use a lot of data each month, but I also switch to local wifi at home, in hotels, at work or at clients so i rarely scrape the bottom of the barrel.
Tmibile network is very strong nationwide and extremely strong in WA and all the west coast where most of my clients are.

My ;tldr regarding Mint - I've had it now for 15 month (renewal coming up soon) and absolutely love it. I have the 1 year, 4gb plan that averages $15/month. I saw that they have an unlimited plan for $30 now. I will be renewing 1 year / 4gb plan.

I live in Utah and am routinely in the mountains/canyons etc. I get service everywhere everyone else does with their mainstream plan (there's just some places that nobody is getting service)

I almost forgot what it was like to have a cell phone bill.

I'm about to renew for another year in Houston. I rarely have issues with connectivity anywhere in the greater Houston area or even in rural areas south of Houston down to corpus.

I think there prices are about the same as AT&T. I prepay, for the year - 8gb/month, might have up to 8gb of roll over, not sure - and I pay ~320 a year.

im lookin at US mobile

Bradley.Kohr.II said:

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I think there prices are about the same as AT&T. I prepay, for the year - 8gb/month, might have up to 8gb of roll over, not sure - and I pay ~320 a year.

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Mint is $240/yr for 10GB/month.

I've got 5 phones on Cricket with unlimited and it works out to $336 per phone per year at $140 per month.

Very pleased with Cricket.

This was taken about an hour ago right in the middle of the Bryan Walmart.

This is not a fluke and it is not temporary. This is the norm in some places for me. I did try all four extreme corners of the store just to see. Only one gave me a single bar.....on 3G.

Two walmarts, several restaurants, one HEB, a large chunk of land by Finnfeather.... These are all areas off the top of my head I cannot use data on a level that is usable or flat out don't get a signal. All around a mid sized city.

Just an update.

To be fair, I have T-Mobile and barely have service in that same Walmart either. Same with much of its parking lot/chick fil a. And I pay $50 more a month to do it. Thankfully it's the only true dead spot I've noticed in town.

Pretty sure mint uses T-Mobile's towers.

Yes mint is on the T-Mobile network. I've used it for the past six months with pretty good success in the Round Rock area. Doesn't work inside my house sometimes but overall I've been pretty satisfied. You're right about the data though, never seems to work when I really need it.

I now regret renewing. For the past month or so my signal has gone to absolute crap. Even tried a new phone. I drop half my calls in my own home and it takes approximately ten seconds to send a single word test to someone. Forget anything like a picture. Just tried sending a quick work related pic to a teammate with full bars and full wifi on my wifi calling. Just to see. Failed to send 5x times now.

It is actually frustrating me to no ends now. So whatever lowered standard of reliability I was willing to put up with for the price is pretty much gone now.

Anyone else having hell with it lately?