In February 2024 this website crashed for no apparent reason. Despite using professionals at GoDaddy.com it was impossible to restore anything after October 2021 (over 100 posts). I do have many of those post in draft form (no final edit or photos) and I have decided to repost them in that manner. I apologize for typos and other errors. How do I feel about losing all of my original work? Life goes on.

I recently posted on expanding internet options for travelers, and in that post, I mentioned that one of the most convenient and cost-effective ways to do this was to go with a cellular reseller or MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) option. I have gone deep in the weeds on this topic and to say that it can be confusing for the consumer would be an understatement. However, if you are willing to put in a little work you can save quite a bit of cash if you use an MVNO plan as either your primary number or if you are a traveler who wants to have several different carriers so you can maximize your chances at getting a signal when you are in the bush.

We all have different cell phone needs. Naturally, someone who only sends text messages and checks email is in a different category than someone who wants to stream Netflix. In turn, that consumer has different needs from someone who works on the road and needs a constant high-speed connection. Those in this last category need the best of everything to ensure that they are always on. If you are in the last group, you can stop reading this post now; you need high-end resources, not the bargain ones that I’m about to discuss.

I will also mention some of the pluses and minuses that I have had on my journey. However, things change rapidly in the world of cell plans, so use my examples as thinking points, not as ongoing truth. I should mention that I have had a cell phone plan of some sort since 1987, and have used many different traditional network and MVNO plans during that time. For instance, when my kids were young I traveled to a distant city once a week and I had to have a solid plan that worked everywhere. I had a Verizon plan, but my middle school kids were on Tracfones. Why? No one was going to steal a candy bar phone with Tracfone branding, and if they lost the phone it was not the end of the world. Currently, five of us are on a TMobile plan and have been for almost a decade. It has served us pretty well for our urban/suburban uses.

As a retired person who loves to travel to remote locations I have been looking at, and trying, different options to stay connected to my family when I am away. I also need to accomplish the usual things like paying bills, researching topics on the web, and streaming content when possible.

With the above preamble, let’s now get into the weeds.

There are ways to enhance any cell signal, and I touched on some of those in my last post. I’m not going to talk about those options here as this post will be long with just the content on using multiple cell services.

TMobile has been improving over the years and it is surprising how well its coverage has increased. However, there are times when I don’t have a signal while those around me do. With that said, there have been times when others have not had a signal and I have. Although people assume that Verizon has the best overall coverage it may not have coverage where you are. If you really want connectivity you should consider contracting with several carriers. However, that option can be expensive. That is why an MVNO may be a reasonable choice. Note, that cost savings will come with some compromise. The simpler your needs the easier it is to swallow those shortcomings.

An MVNO is a company that buys huge chunks of bandwidth from one or several of the major carriers and then resells that bandwidth to the consumer. In the US there are three major cell companies, Verizon, ATT, and TMobile. A fourth nationwide service is being built out by Dish Network. In “the day” most MVNOs were independent of the big three. However, many are now subsidiaries. For example, Boost, Tracfone, Net10, Straight Talk, Cricket Wireless, and Visible Wireless are owned by traditional cell phone companies. Consolidation may reduce competition, but these subsidiaries are backed by their hugely successful parent companies so it is likely that they will have the ability to update their services as needed. I can’t say how many MVNOs there are, but you can assume that there are dozens, so there are quite a few independent and subsidiary options. Within an MVNO there are often several tiered plans that offer various benefits. I’ll talk about that in a minute, but first let’s explore the big elephant in the room: customer service.

Most MVNOs are web-based, although some, like Boost and Straight Talk, have retail outlets of one sort or another. A rare few, like Consumer Cellular, have great customer support, while others are terrible. Some may only provide support by Chat, while others may have phone, email, text, and chat support.

I recently used chat to solve a problem with Visible (Verizon network) and the process went fairly smoothly. I also wanted to try an ATT hotspot on the MVNO, Red Pocket. They sent me a TMobile hotspot (I already have TMobile) and so I contacted them via text. That was an agonizing process. In the end, it became evident that it would be impossible for me to exchange or return the router and SIM that I purchased, so I’m eating the loss. If you are tech-phobic I would suggest that you use major carriers where you can go into a store and get help.

Most MVNOs only use the towers that are part of the network that they are contracting with. Major carriers have arrangements with other national and regional carriers to provide some sort of service when a phone is out of their service area. This could mean that you will have no service if you are on a Verizon-based MVNO plan whereas your friend has service on a “real” Verizon plan.

Note, that even with traditional plans “partner” towers may not deliver normal services. On occasion, I travel 80 miles to a different city. Twenty-one of those miles are covered by a TMobile partner. You would think that I would have full service there, but I don’t. With 4 bars of signal, I got good phone and SMS service, but any data service (including iMessage) is extraordinarily slow.

Recently, Visible changed its plans and is now completely integrated into Verizon so it can use Verizon’s roaming partners. This will likely be a welcome change, but since this plan just started a few days ago I can’t say for certain.

Most MVNOs use cloud-based servers. This is not an issue for most, but it does mean that ping times can be long. Ping time is the time that it takes for a signal to go to the server and back to the phone. Long ping times are an issue for those that need very speedy responses, like gamers.

Things to consider when choosing an MVNO:

1. What cell company do they contract with? MVNOs are sometimes not allowed to reveal this information, but they will often hint at the answer, or you can just ask Google. As an example, if you already have TMobile you don’t want to use Mint Mobile as your secondary carrier as they use TMobile towers.
2. Is the network managed? In most cases, the answer is yes. MVNOs will often cap data rates. However, the Mbps will still be high enough for most tasks. However, if a tower is highly congested, data can really slow down. If you are camping in the boonies, this will not be a problem. This would be more of an issue if you lived in a population-dense area (high rise in a big city) or if you were at a big venue (a concert or sporting event). This slow-down phenomenon can happen if you are a customer of the big three too. It was impossible for me to post a photo to Facebook from my daughter’s graduation (from a college stadium) while on traditional TMobile. However, MVNOs often get the lowest priority.
3. What bands are available? Some MVNOs only provide a 4G connection, others include 5G, but not the ultra speed 5G HD bands. Still, others will include 5G HD. Note, that 5G HD has very limited availability for all cell phone customers. TMobile greatly extended its coverage by using low-band standard 5G. If you are using an MVNO that uses the TMobile network in the boonies you want the MVNO to have 5G capabilities (but not necessarily 5G HD). Remember, your phone also has to be 5G capable.
4. Does your MVNO company allow you to use your phone as a hotspot, and is there a limit on how much data you can use in this mode? Visible allows for unlimited hotspot use but caps the data at around 5 Mbps. That is fine for most users, but you won’t be able to run multiple data hogs at the same time using this level of connection. Other companies may limit the GBs allowed to be used as a hotspot. For instance, you may have a 50 GB plan, but only 10 GB can be used via the phone’s hotspot function.
5. Many MVNOs now offer unlimited phone and text, but some very cheap plans may limit these services. Perhaps they will give you 500 minutes of talk time and 1000 text messages per month. These limited plans are super cheap and could be an option if all you want is an emergency secondary backup connection. As an aside, they will often include a tiny amount of data, perhaps 500 MB. It is possible to get a limited plan for as little as $5/month.
6. How much data do you need? Plans start at around 500 MB and go to unlimited data. Most unlimited plans will only give you a portion of that data at high speed. Once you reach your limit they may throttle you when you are on a congested tower, or automatically reduce your speed to an extremely slow rate. Some limited data plans will just stop service when you reach your limit. Each MVNO has its own rules, so read the fine print. There are calculators on the Web that can help you determine how much data you will need.
7. What phones can you use? Most MVNOs are compatible with iPhones and Samsung devices, but they may not be compatible with other brands. Some MVNOs sell phones, while others don’t. Some offer phone financing, while others don’t. An MVNO will usually list compatible phones on its website. Some will have you enter the phone’s IMEI number so they can say with certainty if the phone will work.
8. If you bought your phone on contract from a major carrier you will need to pay it off before you can use it on an MVNO. Then the major carrier will free the phone for use elsewhere (unlocked).
9. Some MVNOs have data plans for traditional separate hotspots, while others don’t. Some will allow you to use your phone as a hotspot, while others won’t. Don’t forget that you can always use an adapter to directly connect your phone to the HDMI port on a TV to stream movies without using an external WiFi device.
10. Some phones now allow you to have multiple carriers on the same device. My iPhone 12 Pro Max will handle both SIM cards and eSIMs (electronic SIM). Installing an eSIM was simple and immediate on Visible. Some MVNOs have the capability to use eSIMs, and some don’t. My eSIM is on Visible and my regular SIM is on TMobile. It is very easy to change between the two providers.

You can reduce your data needs by controlling your streaming. The two biggest data hogs are video streaming (YouTube, Netflix, etc), and audio streaming, with video streaming being the greatest consumer. Watching a YouTube video at 360p will use up around 300 MB (0.3 GB) of data an hour while watching the same video at 4K resolution will consume up to 14 GB of data. That is 47 times more data! Watching a video at 360p on a phone isn’t too bad, but it won’t look very good on a 60” TV. Many MVNOs limit streaming to 420p, which is DVD quality.

Getting back to my Red Pocket experience. After dealing with horrible text customer service I literally gave up and I’m eating the $80 that I spent on a SIM card and mobile hotspot. However, Red Pocket does have great prices and I wanted to see if an ATT-connected MVNO could give me additional coverage. I’m now going to try one of their small phone/data plans which I’ll connect with a cheap Android phone. Red Pocket does allow phones to be used as hotspots, so fingers crossed.

I understand that this was an extremely long post, and I thank you if you have read it in its entirety. Sadly, there was no way to shorten this complex topic (at least I don’t know of any). Happy travels!

Mike