Today, I received the SIM card by mail. A very good thing from Mint Mobile is that they provide a 7 day free trial period. So I removed a SIM card from an older (working) phone, and put the new one from Mint Mobile. I still can keep my old plan and old phone number. I'm using a new phone number that Mint Mobile assigned to me.
The instruction booklet received by email, provides a pointer to a web site with step by step instructions to configure Android or IOS phones for Mint Mobile. The phone I use for this trial is a Samsung S4, Android, and unlocked (I've read some posting of people that say that locked T-mobile phones will also work, however I can't confirm that at this point).
The configuration of the Mint Mobile service and activation of new phone number is quite simple and took less than 10 minutes . The web site clearly shows what to do. It is matter of adding the service provider information in the wireless network connection settings. It will of course will be much faster and simpler for techies, but non tech people should be able to do it by taking more time. It is simple, just enter some information in a few text fields without making typos. Afterwards, reboot and the new phone number is ready to use. I'm actually impressed with the simple and fast process.
Something else that gave me a very positive impression was the web site for users. It is simple, it works well and fast. In comparison, the Web site from T-mobile is much bigger with more options, but during many months, I wasn't able to access all my account information, or it was hard to find how to do things.
I started testing Mint Mobile's service today, and since I have another T-mobile phone with service, I can compare then side-by-side.
Today's observations (inside the city):
1- With Mint Mobile, I could make voice calls and send/receive SMS and MMS without any problem.
2- The 4G LTE speed from T-Mobile was consistently high (between 25Mbps and 66Mbps, on different places)
3- The 4G LTE speed from Mint Mobile was more inconsistent. But still between 13Mbps and 30Mbps, that should be more than sufficient for most users.
4- Where I noticed a drop in quality, was while driving several miles with Youtube turned on. While T-Mobile did not experience a single drop in quality, MintMobile signal dropped a couple of times and the screen would show 'E' speed instead of 'LTE' . After rebooting the Mint Mobile phone, I could the speed raised to LTE again.
I need to try it more. But it seems that there are issues with LTE, when Mint Mobile changes towers along the way.
I'll continue testing Mint Mobile server before making a change. The quality of service from T-Mobile is very good in my area and at a lower cost than AT&T and Verizon (Sprint is pretty bad in my area). But as of today, I'm considering swapping to Mint Mobile because it would lower the cell phone cost by 50%.
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