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:
Ultra Mobile offers international add-ons where you add international credit to your account. They call this “UpRoam.” You can purchase these add-ons by logging in to your Ultra Mobile account or by calling Ultra Mobile customer care at (888) 777-0446.
A one-time charge allowing you to add $5 of international credit.
A one-time charge allowing you to add $10 of international credit.
A one-time charge allowing you to add $20 of international credit.
