Ultra Mobile is a prepaid carrier started in 2012 that offers affordable plans starting at $16 per month. As with all MVNOs in the United States, Ultra Mobile doesn’t actually build their own network for coverage. Instead, they use the T-Mobile network for coverage. All of Ultra Mobile’s plans also include free unlimited international texting and calling to over 80 international destinations.
In 2016, Ultra Mobile launched Mint Mobile (then branded as Mint SIM) to see if consumers would sign up for cell service in bulk 3-, 6-, or 12-month plans from an online retailer.
destinations. and includes international texting and calling with their plans. After the tremendous success of Mint Mobile, which has now spun off to be its own independent prepaid carrier, Ultra Mobile started offering their plans in bulk 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month options too.
The current single-month plans from Ultra Mobile are as follows:
The multi-month plans available from Ultra Mobile offer great discounts on the service. Here are the current options (listed with per-month equivalent pricing):
* The one caveat with Ultra Mobile’s unlimited plans is that they are not truly unlimited. After a certain amount of data usage within the billing cycle, your data speeds will be slowed down. Ultra Mobile’s terms and conditions read:
> “Unlimited data” monthly plan subscribers will experience reduced speeds and increased latency after using 50GB of data in one billing period. “Unlimited data” multi-month plan subscribers will experience reduced speeds and increased latency after using 32GB of data in one month.
50GB and 32GB is typically plenty of data for most users, however some higher data users may consider alternative unlimited data plans with true unlimited data, such as Wing’s $55 unlimited data plan.
Ultra Mobile has a decent selection of smartphones to choose from. Both popular Android phones and iPhones are available. However, the phones are provided through Quality 1 Wireless, which many users online have reported poor experiences with.
For the best experience on Ultra Mobile, we suggest you bring your own, unlocked smartphone to their network. An unlocked phone means it isn’t tied to any carrier or contract. Having an unlocked phone gives you the freedom to switch plans or carriers at any time you want.
You can find great deals on unlocked smartphones on a site like Swappa, with whom we have an affiliate partnership. We feel Swappa can help you save money on your new smartphone, offering discounts between 20% and 50% off.
Ultra Mobile currently does not offer family or group discounts, however they do offer discounts with their multi-month plans. Signing up for 3, 6, or 12 months at a time gives you a better deal on their service.
Ultra Mobile uses the T-Mobile network for coverage. Ultra Mobile also supports T-Mobile’s 5G network. For the best experience using Ultra Mobile, you want to make sure your phone includes the following LTE and 5G bands:
Ultra Mobile includes unlimited stateside international calling to 80+ destinations worldwide for free with all of their monthly plans. All of the monthly plans also include international calling credit to make to countries outside of the 80 that are included. You can purchase additional international calling credit if you need.
International data roaming is currently not supported by Ultra Mobile.
Ultra Mobile adds standard taxes and regulatory fees to the cost of their cell phone plans.
Here is Ultra Mobile’s customer service phone number and email for questions and support:
Ultra Mobile’s customer service hours:
Verizon’s network uses the following LTE and 5G bands to provide coverage:
The bands in bold are Verizon’s primary bands that they use for LTE and 5G coverage.
Make sure your phone supports the primary LTE and 5G bands for the best coverage, performance, and data speeds on the Verizon network. The more bands your phone supports, the better your experience will be.
Verizon’s network provides coverage to over 327 million people across 2.68 million square miles.
This means Verizon covers over 99% of the United States population.
Here’s Verizon’s coverage map, as reported by the independent third party site RootMetrics:
If you’d like, you can check Verizon’s coverage in your area by using the following resources:
You can also download and use the following applications to see if Verizon offers good coverage in your area:
AT&T’s network uses the following LTE and 5G bands to provide coverage:
The bands in bold are AT&T’s primary bands that they use for LTE and 5G coverage.
Make sure your phone supports the primary LTE and 5G bands for the best coverage, performance, and data speeds on the AT&T network. The more bands your phone supports, the better your experience will be.
AT&T’s network provides coverage to over 400 million people across the United States and Mexico.
AT&T covers over 99% of the United States population.
Here’s AT&T’s coverage map, as reported by the independent third party site RootMetrics:
If you’d like, you can check AT&T's coverage in your area by using the following resources:
You can also download and use the following applications to see if AT&T offers good coverage in your area:
T-Mobile’s network uses the following LTE and 5G bands to provide coverage:
The bands in bold are T-Mobile’s primary bands that they use for LTE and 5G coverage.
Make sure your phone supports the primary LTE and 5G bands for the best coverage, performance, and data speeds on the Verizon network. The more bands your phone supports, the better your experience will be.
T-Mobile’s network provides coverage to over 326 million people and currently offers the largest 5G network in the United States.
T-Mobile covers over 99% of the United States population.
Here’s T-Mobile’s coverage map, as reported by the independent third party site RootMetrics:
If you’d like, you can check T-Mobile's coverage in your area by using the following resources:
You can also download and use the following applications to see if T-Mobile offers good coverage in your area: