I wrote recently about my patience running out with T-Mobile. There was just 1 price hike too many. I switched to US Mobile which is an MVNO, which basically means they buy bandwidth from the big 3 networks (T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T) and sell it to their own customers. I was paying $40 per line per month with T-Mobile, and I’m now paying $16 per line with US Mobile. Both plans have unlimited data. Let’s talk about the hiccup.
No Service
MVNOs promise that their data will not be throttled. That means that if they provide service to us on AT&T’s network, we’ll get the same fast speeds that AT&T’s direct customers get.
This could be true, or not. It would seem that AT&T would want to prioritize its own customers – they want us to pay a premium to go direct with them so they should give us the faster service. But then the MVNO model really doesn’t work if they’re selling an inferior product. The jury is still out here even though everything I’ve read online says the carriers don’t throttle MVNO data.
That said, I went with US Mobile and selected the AT&T network. More on this in a bit.
My wife and I have both experienced the dreaded no service. The music app goes silent, no bars and no calls. The first time we were in western Mass, which is far from home so we weren’t concerned. It happened a few moretimes and yesterday it cut out one town away on a route we drive frequently.
Choice
I was a little skeptical of MVNOs going in. How can they give me roughly the same service for $25 per month less? Granted I don’t get the T-Mobile Tuesday free offers or the discounted Netflix, but how about the plain old cell and data service?
That’s why US Mobile was attractive to me. I can choose between T-Mobile’s network, or AT&T’s or Verizon’s. When I set up the phone I choose one of the 3 as my network. And my plan allows me to change 2 times for no cost. That way if one has dead spots, I can try another – twice.
I felt better having the option. All the other MVNOs seemed to be tied to one network.
Change
So this morning I made the change. It took me 15 minutes for 2 lines and no issues. I go to the app or the online portal, choose change network, choose my new network (I went with T-Mobile since they worked well for us in the past). I get an email confirmation. I then get an email with a code to scan to activate my new eSim. Piece of cake.
I called, texted, browsed, everything works.
Wrap Up
I’m a little on edge. I prepaid a year for 2 lines.
1 month in, I’ve had some troubles. Saving $25 per line per month is great but not if I’ve got dead zones in areas I frequently travel. And I’m not talking Africa, I’m talking Grafton, MA nextdoor.
I’m hoping T-Mobile’s network will work better. I’ve used them for many years so it should be readily apparent if US Mobile’s version of T-Mobile’s network is not as reliable as when I was a direct T-Mobile customer.
More to come.
Scam Calls
And while I have you, one feature that I realized was more important than I thought. ScamShield. T-Mobile offers scamshield which protects from robocalls and scam calls. It really works. Our volume of scam calls has gone up dramatically since the change. Could be coincidental or could be that we no longer have scamshield. Or it could be related to the network change. Now that our numbers are on AT&T, are they exposed?
More on this in my next update.