Three months ago, I decided to give Mint Mobile a try. Ryan Reynolds said in the introduction video when I started my 7-day free trial, “Wonderful. I’ve worn you down.” That was certainly one way to put it. Like many of you, I had seen the YouTube ads for quite some time, and the $15/month 5GB plan just seemed like such a good deal compared to everything else out there. Now, as I reach the end of my 3-month introductory period, I can finally provide my thoughts on the good and bad of Mint Mobile so you can decide if ditching an expensive premium carrier for their “no bill chill life” is for you, or if you’d rather stick with your hefty monthly bill.

My biggest issues with Mint Mobile were early on. The first problem occurred when I had ported my number over from my old provider. My old number had mostly transferred over, however the RCS chats were still trying to go through the trial number that they had provided for me. Basically, my texts were sent from two different numbers depending on if I was texting an iPhone user or an Android user. I called customer service and waited for a couple days to see if it would resolve itself to no avail. Finally, I decided to just ask for a new SIM card with a new number so I could start fresh. Their customer service department was very friendly and made this process extremely easy.

My second issue with Mint Mobile came when I was conducting a lengthy text conversation on a car ride. I was texting back and forth while streaming music, and at the end of the trip, I received a notification from Mint Mobile saying that my number had been suspended for “suspicious or unreasonable activity,” and to call their support line to get the issue resolved. When I called the support line, I was extremely frustrated to find that I was after their operating hours and that I wouldn’t be able to call until the next weekday (it was Friday at the time.) It left me without phone service for a couple of days. I figured that my ban had something to do with music streaming, as there is a stipulation in their terms and conditions about no nonstop audio streaming. However, when I called the next Monday, it turned out that my text conversation had tripped their spam filters. At first I was concerned that Mint would not work for me because I would regularly text for extended periods, but the customer service representative simply turned off the spam trigger on my account so I would no longer be banned for this sort of thing. It has not been an issue since, so while that experience was alarming, it was by no means a dealbreaker.

So I’ve told you about the bad of Mint Mobile. All of those issues occurred within the first week, and I’m pleased to report that I have had a much better experience since. Mint is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), meaning that they lease data from the towers of the big carriers. Mint Mobile exclusively uses the T-Mobile network. I found the coverage to be just okay. It worked in all the areas you would expect it to, but in rural areas I found that I often lacked service where others on Verizon or another network had it. This is not just a criticism specifically on Mint Mobile however, in theory, T-Mobile customers (who paid far more) would experience this issue as well. As for the speed of the network, it was perfectly adequate for my use. In the times I ran speed tests, I achieved anywhere between single digits at the lowest to well over 100 mbps. While the first number sounds pretty low, I do not stream video or browse the internet for hours using my mobile connection. Rarely, I would run into the issue where I supposedly have a perfectly strong signal (according to my 5G bars) but I would be unable to load websites. This seems to mainly affect certain areas at a time though. This brings me to the other concern people often have about lower cost wireless providers, which is deprioritization. This is the process of slowing down the wireless service of people on cheaper plans to ensure better service for those who spend more. There have only been a couple times where I have noticed particularly bad deprioritization. Once was at a track meet; this makes sense because it’s an area that normally doesn’t have a ton of wireless users that all of a sudden received hundreds more people using the networks. Another was during a power outage in my neighborhood, this also makes sense because people that would normally be on their home Wi-Fi were now suddenly all using the mobile network. Both of these times, websites would often not load for a while, only here and there. It was frustrating but did not happen often, and the service was fantastic otherwise.

Despite the sometimes hit or miss network quality, I am happy to report that the customer experience has been absolutely phenomenal. Between their clever marketing material, their transparent website and all the deals they kept surprising me with on top of their already great prices, I could tell this was a company working in my best interest. Their website is very nicely designed and their customer support is extremely friendly. Like I mentioned earlier, when I ran into issues I had no problems getting them resolved. Their app makes it very easy to check my data usage and manage my account. Also, despite being a low-cost carrier, I did get a couple nice freebies thrown in. A month or so into my service, I got an offer for 6 free months of Paramount Plus because the movie IF (starring Ryan Reynolds, of course) had just come out. Finally, when it came time to renew my plan, they threw in a $15 credit, which was a nice surprise.

The last thing to cover is by T-Mobile’s recent purchase of Mint Mobile for $1.35 billion. This definitely made me nervous at first, because I figured it could only mean price hikes or constant upsells to T-Mobile’s own plans. However, my fears were soon put to rest when Ryan Reynolds and Mike Sievert, the CEO of T-Mobile, made a YouTube video together promising to lock the price to $15 a month as well as add a few nice features to Mint Mobile. For example, we now have spam call screening and 3GB of free roaming in Canada! This acquisition has only been official for a couple of months now, but so far I have not had any issues with the magenta overlords.

Now at the end of these three months, will I renew my plan? Despite these three months not being perfect, the answer is yes. I will be renewing to the 12 month 5GB plan, meaning I pay up front for a whole year to get that $15 a month. It’s definitely a little scary to pay for your entire year of wireless coverage at once. “What if something goes wrong?” That’s always a possibility, but Mint seems to be the type of company that seems to genuinely care about their customers and always making their experience better. While it might not be for everyone, I have been overall satisfied with Mint Mobile, especially for the price.