Mint Mobile vs. Tello: Which budget carrier is right for you?

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Mint Mobile and Tello Mobile are worthwhile budget alternatives to the best cell phone plans from major carriers like T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T. They're especially tempting options for single-line users looking to save on their monthly mobile connectivity bills.

Mint Mobile and Tello are mobile virtual network operators, or "MVNOs," which piggyback off a major carrier's network to deliver cellular service. In this case, both Mint Mobile and Tello operate on T-Mobile's nationwide network in the US. 

As such, there isn't a major difference between Mint Mobile and Tello regarding coverage, reliability, and speed. Instead, the major difference between them is the data allotment in the plans they offer and their pricing. With that in mind, it can be quite simple to pick which one is best for you — go with the plan with the amount of data you need at the best price. As our top pick among the best cheap cell phone plans, Mint Mobile has a slight edge for its excellent user experience and better long-term value at higher data tiers.

However, Tello differentiates itself from Mint Mobile and most carriers with its customizable "Build Your Own Plan." This option lets you customize the data and voice call minutes you want in a plan. It offers the biggest savings if you know you don't need that much data, even if you don't spend much time on phone calls. 

Mint Mobile vs. Tello: Plan offerings and flexibility

Both Mint Mobile and Tello Mobile offer familiar pre-designed plans with set amounts of data.

Whereas all of Tello's plans are prepaid and renew monthly, Mint Mobile offers prepaid plans in three-, six-, and 12-month increments, with significant discounts for paying in longer increments in advance.

Below are the standard, entry-level tiers for the services, which are prepaid upfront for three months (Mint Mobile) or monthly (Tello). However, note that all four of Mint Mobile's introductory three-month plans are discounted to new customers at low prepaid rates, starting at $15/month.  

While Tello has a nominally "unlimited" plan, in that it caps its data at 35GB before throttling speeds, Mint Mobile now offers a truly unlimited data tier, whereas its high-end plan previously capped data at 40GB. However, Mint Mobile notes that unlimited customers who use more than 35GB of monthly data can be deprioritized in congested areas relative to their customers at lower data tiers, and all plans from Mint Mobile are subject to chance deprioritization behind higher-paying T-Mobile customers. See our Mint Mobile vs. T-Mobile guide for further comparison.

At the end of the day, though both MVNOs are featured in our guide to the best prepaid phone plans, Tello offers wider-ranging flexibility and lower costs than Mint Mobile. Tello allows you to create your own customized plan that can lead to incredibly deep savings if you have a good sense of how much data and even how many voice call minutes you actually need on a typical monthly basis. 

Mint Mobile's cost advantage comes into play for higher data tiers over longer-term payments, which provide progressively lower monthly rates. Notably, a limited-time discount drops Mint Mobile's 12-month unlimited plan, our long-standing top budget pick among the best unlimited data plans, down to just $20/month.

In contrast, with Tello's "Build Your Own Plan," you can pick a variety of data and voice minutes combinations with free unlimited texting as standard, potentially costing significantly less than Mint Mobile's least expensive plan, 5GB for $15/month. You can go as far as having no data, 100 minutes for voice calls, and unlimited texting for $5/month. Or, you can get 5GB of data with 100 voice minutes for $11. It's among the best cell phone plans for seniors, as its flexibility and low costs are unrivaled for older adults who might use limited monthly data.

Only Tello offers roll-over data, where unused data (and minutes, in Tello's case) can be rolled over into the next month. However, Tello requires you to manually renew or change your plan every month to carry over your data and minutes. It's possible to do this even with automatic monthly renewal billing; you just need to manually do so in the Tello app at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing cycle. It's not ideal, but at least it's an option.

Neither Mint Mobile nor Tello offers multi-line discounts for families or groups. However, their plans still constitute some of the best family cell phone plans for budget value, as major carriers' group discounts rarely lead to a lower total monthly bill.

Neither MVNO offers separate plans for connected devices, like smartwatches and tablets. 

Read our Mint Mobile review or Tello Mobile review for a comprehensive breakdown of the services' plans. 

Mint Mobile vs. Tello: Coverage area

As MVNOs, Mint Mobile and Tello Mobile run off the back of major carriers, and both use T-Mobile's network in the US. That means both have the same coverage area as each other and T-Mobile. It also means if you know T-Mobile covers your area well, Mint Mobile and Tello should work for you. 

T-Mobile, and therefore Mint Mobile and Tello, typically have excellent coverage in cities and towns. Coverage is also notably good on major highways, especially with 5G connectivity. However, coverage tends to drop off in rural areas and when you stray from highways. 

Whenever you switch to a new carrier you're unfamiliar with, it's usually a good idea to find out whether the carrier services the area well. You can check T-Mobile's coverage map as a preliminary step, but we find official carrier coverage maps to be optimistic. In this case, you can ask locals in your area who are on T-Mobile (or Mint Mobile and Tello). You could even go on social media services like Nextdoor. Neither Mint Mobile nor Tello will make sense if T-Mobile doesn't properly cover and service the areas you often visit. 

If you're looking for a budget carrier but aren't adequately covered by T-Mobile's network, we recommend Verizon's Visible Wireless. Our favorite option for "budget" unlimited data is its Visible Plus plan. Read our Visible Wireless review or see our guides to Mint Mobile vs. Visible and Tello vs. Visible for comparative breakdowns.

Another worthwhile MVNO option is the versatile US Mobile, which allows you to choose and switch between T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon networks. See our US Mobile review for more information. 

Mint Mobile vs. Tello: Service reliability and speeds

In our long-term testing, we've experienced comparable reliability and speeds between Mint Mobile and Tello, with occasionally slower speeds from both, ostensibly the result of chance deprioritization — an unfortunate reality of using most MVNOs.

Indeed, most MVNO customers will experience reduced data speeds when the primary network is congested, and it's difficult to know where and when deprioritization occurs. T-Mobile prioritizes its higher-paying customers with "premium" data that doesn't get affected by network congestion. 

Both Mint Mobile and Tello include low- and mid-band 5G service, which can deliver faster data speeds over LTE in certain areas. Neither carrier provides access to T-Mobile's high-band 5G service.

Mint Mobile vs. Tello: Customer support

We haven't experienced any major issues with Mint Mobile or Tello during testing, so we couldn't test troubleshooting with more involved issues.

However, both carriers offer straightforward apps to help you manage your plans and services. Both also provide chat and phone support, and we experienced low wait times and helpful agents for simpler queries. 

We're giving Mint Mobile a slight edge over Tello here for its spectacular app, which is well-designed and incredibly user-friendly. 

Mint Mobile vs. Tello: Which should you sign up for?

With coverage, reliability, speeds, and customer support essentially identical, you could choose either Mint Mobile or Tello if you know that T-Mobile adequately covers you. Your decision should be based on price and how much data you need. 

With that in mind, Tello's customizable plan option, the "Build Your Own Plan," offers a lower cost advantage, which allows you to pay as low as $5/month with customizable amounts of data and voice minutes. It's an ideal option for low-data users or those who don't spend much time on phone calls.  

If you're looking for a pre-designed plan, you could go either way for a 5GB allotment, while Mint Mobile offers the best value with its plans for 15GB or more data. Also, Mint Mobile has a promotion for its introductory three-month plans, where each data plan is discounted for new customers at low monthly rates, starting at $15/month. After three months, pricing returns to normal, with the 12-month plans offering the best value. 

Regarding their unlimited plans, Tello's unlimited plan once offered a slight edge in value at $25/month for 35GB of data (prepaid monthly), compared to Mint Mobile's previous unlimited plan at $30/month for 40GB of data (prepaid annually). However, Mint Mobile's subsequent removal of a data cap means its unlimited plans may offer better long-term value for those who routinely use high amounts of data, as you could access more than 40GB of monthly high-speed data if you're not in a congested area. Mint Mobile's 12-month unlimited plan is also discounted for a limited time to an unbeatable rate of $20/month.