As I mentioned in a previous review, AT&T kicked my phone (Huawei P30 Pro) off of a family plan because it doesn’t support HD Voice. They are shutting down their 3G network in February, 2022 and only newer phones that support HD Voice will continue to work on their network, according to details I can find. In exchange for disabling the SIM card on my phone, they sent me the worst phone ever created. How a phone from 2017 running on 1 GB of RAM and stuck on Android 9 can still work on their new network, yet a flagship from 2019 can’t, is absurd. But it’s also besides the point.

Since the one they sent me was virtually unusable (seriously, even our then four-year-old – whom we gave it to just so he can text back and forth with us – complains about how slow it is), and I wasn’t interested in dropping hundreds of dollars for a new phone, I decided to find other networks that I could use my phone on instead.

Thankfully, I had actually looked into alternate carriers a few months back, because I was actually thinking about switching to a new network anyway. And that’s how I learned about MVNO’s.

An MVNO (which stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator), is different from the major carriers in that they don’t own the networks they operate on. Instead, they pay one of the three major carriers wholesale rates for access to their towers – rates that are much, much cheaper than signing up for the carriers direct – and then pass the savings onto the consumer.

Fuck these clowns.

There are no shortage of choices, with the USA having a reported 139 active MVNO’s as of 2018. Arguably, the most famous of these is Mint Mobile, which is owned by movie star Ryan Reynolds, and who have plastered humorous advertisements everywhere on just about every social media site imaginable.

After a long search, I finally settled on Tello, which I guess is a combination of “hello” and “telephone” that is both simultaneously cute, and awkward. At any rate, they use T-Mobile’s infrastructure – which is compatible with my Huawei device (as are most services now that T-Mobile has swallowed up Sprint…thus giving us even fewer choices in “free market” America).

With that lesson out of the way, let’s take a look at the matter at hand, shall we?

WHAT IS IT?

As mentioned in the preface, Tello is an MVNO that used to operate on the Sprint network, but made the switch to T-Mobile earlier in 2021, following T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint.

NAVIGATION/INTERFACE

Tello’s website is one that straddles the line in appearance between “amateur” and “professional”. I’m no designer, but admittedly the colors (blue on white) are boring, while the quoted prices almost seem too good to be true. It looks like one of those scam sites that actually try to hide the fact they are trying to screw people out of money. However, the high Trustpilot score – as well as positive reviews from users on sites like Reddit – did help to put my mind at ease at least a little bit.

One of the main perks for a huge introvert like myself: everything can be done through the website. Want to sign up for service? No need to talk to anyone: just sign up for your plan online, pay for it, wait for the SIM card to arrive (if you need that) and voila! That’s it. If you need to upgrade or even downgrade at any time, you can also do that through the website. That’s a really big plus for me, as I hate talking to people on the phone or having to interact with anyone in general, especially when many of them exist only to push you into getting extra things you don’t need.

The website is pretty simple and straightforward for anyone who’s ever used the internet before: all the main navigation buttons are across the top, and everything else can be accessed via a hamburger menu in the upper right-hand corner. Navigation options are clearly labeled – and since the options they have are limited – you shouldn’t have a problem finding what you’re looking for.

The dashboard, which you will see right after signing in.

Probably my favorite feature is that your dashboard is displayed immediately after logging in, which displays how much data, and how many minutes you have remaining, along with the date of your next charge. Texts are unlimited across all plans, so it’s weird that they even display a text category in the stats, but it’s still nice to see everything laid out for you without the need for any additional clicks.

Overall, slightly scammy appearance aside, the website is very easy to browse.

SIGNING UP

Signing up is a very straightforward process: simply create an account using an email address and password, and you’re pretty much good to go. Alternatively, you can sign up using your Google sign in (or Facebook, or Apple) to save you even more time during the sign up process.

See if your phone will work on Tello’s network

Once you’ve done that, you need to select your plan. They do have a couple suggested bundles that cover certain demographics (i.e. “For Grandparents”, “For Students”, etc.) that come with a suggested amount of data and minutes, based on the average needs of each. But if you don’t want any of the suggestions, you can easily create your own: set the amount of data you need and the number of minutes, and you’ll see the amount you will pay pop up in real-time. This allows you to see your total cost right up front. Note that it’s not quite your exact total – taxes are not included – but in my case it’s about $.40 per month, which isn’t a big deal.

Now, there’s one big thing to consider if you’re thinking about signing up: Tello (and virtually every other MVNO) only accept unlocked phones. What does that mean? That means if you purchased your phone through a carrier, then chances are you won’t be able to use it on their network. (I believe you can talk to your provider and they might be able to unlock it for you, but I’m unsure what that process entails.)

If you’re unsure as to whether or not your phone is locked or unlocked, you can enter your phone’s IMEI number on their website and it will tell you whether or not your phone can be ported over. That eliminates the guesswork and will tell you right upfront if Tello is right for you. If your phone doesn’t qualify, you can order one through Tello’s website, but their selection is very limited, and most of the phones they offer are refurbished.

Tello’s shit phone selection.

Assuming you meet the requirements, you just add your chosen service to the cart, add a SIM card if you need one, pay for it, and wait for your SIM card to arrive. Once you get it, you can activate the SIM and get started right away. They offer expedited shipping for the SIM (I believe 2-day shipping costs $5 extra and overnight is $10), but I just took the free basic shipping and received it in 3 days…and that extra day was because of a delivery error. I should have received it in 2.

It was a hugely simple experience that went off without a hitch.

RELIABILITY/SERVICE

Since Tello uses T-Mobile’s network, chances are pretty good that they’ll service your area, unless you live out in the mountains or some shit. That much is a positive. You can also get the same speeds as the actual carrier, which means it comes with 5G data, assuming your phone is equipped to handle it.

However, one thing to note about MVNO’s is the way they operate: how can they provide such steep discounts over signing up with a carrier direct? Well, I already mentioned the way they are able to charge so little while still making a profit, but that comes with a caveat. After all, the major carriers aren’t going to give companies piggy-backing off their cell towers the same level of service as those who are signed up directly with them. This is called “deprioritization”. As the name implies, they reserve the right to throttle – or decrease – data speeds to certain customers during peak times.

You can call a large number of countries for free.

There are several layers of deprioritization, which we don’t need to get into, but obviously direct T-Mobile customers get the best service, with MVNO’s one tier down (ironically, T-Mobile Home Internet users are actually on the lowest tier, meaning customers on MVNO’s actually get higher prioritization over their own internet users).

Obviously, specifics will differ based on area. I live in the suburbs of a major city (major city’s taxes, but billing address in smaller city) and have had no noticeable issues with drops or slowdowns in service, even during peak times.

One other thing to consider if you consistently travel abroad: Tello, like most MVNO’s, does not offer international roaming. That means you can’t use the service once you leave the U.S. However, all Tello plans do include free calls to over 60 countries; it just deducts minutes from your plan the way it would for a domestic call. That means if you have unlimited minutes, you can call overseas until your heart’s content! For the remaining countries, there is a per-minute charge. You can check out Tello for up-to-date rates for every country.

MOBILE APP

The app interface is even more boring than the website.

As with many service providers, Tello has a mobile app called “My Tello”. You can use it to basically do everything you can do on the website, from seeing your remaining balance, to paying your bill, and even to upgrade or downgrade your service.

But maybe the biggest reason to download it is to take advantage of their WiFi calling feature. Sadly, my phone doesn’t support it (it did with a future update, but I don’t get OTA updates since Huawei is on the government shit list) but if yours does, you can use the app to make calls over WiFi, and save your precious minutes in the process.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

The deal I took advantage of when signing up

While almost all MVNO’s offer discounted rates over their big name counterparts, some are still more expensive than others. And some, like Mint Mobile, require users to pay for several months of service at a time (with a minimum of 3), in order to capitalize on the savings. Money was tight, and I’d never used an MVNO before, so I wasn’t interested in getting locked in to several months of service just in case it didn’t work well for me. Since Tello offered month-to-month billing, and at a ridiculously cheap rate, that’s why I opted to go for them.

One of the best things these services, including Tello, tend to offer is a kind of “a la carte” billing idea, that prevents you from overpaying for things you don’t need. For example, in a typical contract with a larger carrier, you pay a set monthly price for a set amount of data (or a higher price for “unlimited”). This amount is the same, regardless of how little, or how much, mobile data you actually consume. MVNO’s streamline that process by basically allowing you to pick what you want to pay.

Sure, many MVNO’s have “unlimited” options (that are in quotes because very few are actually unlimited), but those tend to hit $50 or more per month; still cheaper than standalone unlimited plans on major networks, but also more expensive than a more “customized” plan with set limitations. And let’s be real here: unless you live out in the middle of nowhere, you’d be surprised how little actual data you might use.

Only pay for what you need.

After weighing options for what felt like an eternity, I finally settled on the 6 GB plan, with 300 talk minutes per month (and unlimited texting). I figure the only times I’m not connected to WiFi in a typical week, are during my 20 minute car rides to and from work (each way). I do use Waze for those trips, but shockingly, Waze uses very little data: only about 2 MB each way (yes, that’s not a typo…two megabytes). Outside of that, I don’t do much traveling, so I figured 6 GB would be plenty for me.

I signed up during one of their sales, so I got 25% off normal prices for six months. That means my 6 GB plan costs just $16.50 for the term, and then “jumps” up to $22 once the promo expires. Even $22 is a great price. And, so far through three months, I’ve discovered that the most data I’ve used is still under 3 GB each month. If I’m able to drop to the 4 GB tier once the half-year expires, my bill will only be $17 – an increase of just $.50.

There are a few minor downsides: a SIM card costs $2. That’s not at all an extravagant price, and it’s a one-time fee, but it still seems dumb to pay for something so miniscule. Like, are they really making that much profit off SIM cards to where they can’t just offer them for free? But I guess business is business.

Another downside: In order to use Tello, you have to be enrolled in Autopay. I typically try to avoid this, because I never know how much money I’ll have at any given time in my account, but considering it’s under $20, I don’t mind it. If you don’t want to keep your debit/credit card on file, they also accept Paypal, which is a nice touch.

Lastly, minutes and data don’t automatically rollover from month to month, which means once you autopay for a new month, your data resets to its typical monthly allotment. However, if you manually change your account before the renewal date (by either upgrading or downgrading), then your minutes carry over. I don’t understand the point of that.

SUPPORT

There’s a pretty in-depth FAQ.

I’ve not had a need for support, which I guess can be considered a good thing. Unfortunately, that means I can’t really grade the company on how quickly they respond to requests, or how helpful they are overall. At least, not from a personal perspective.

Their FAQ is pretty in-depth, with dozens of questions that cover the most common issues and questions people have, so hopefully it will prevent you from even having to contact them in the first place, should you have an issue.

One thing I do really appreciate is that they send out emails two days before automatically charging your card, which gives you plenty of time to either cancel if you don’t want to continue using the service, or to upgrade/downgrade (like if you want your minutes/data to rollover).

OVERALL

PROS (+)

+Way cheaper than using a carrier direct
+Solid service…no noticeable hiccups or service issues in five months of use
+Can place calls over Wi-Fi (if supported by phone) which doesn’t use minutes
+Free calls to over 60 countries
+Get $10 in Tello money per referral

CONS (-)
-Only usable for unlocked phones (as with all MVNO’s)
-Terrible selection of (mostly refurbished) phones in their online store
-SIM cards cost $2…not that it’s a budget-breaker, but why?
-International roaming not included
-Data/minutes don’t automatically roll over with automatic renewal; you have to manually change your service prior to the automatic renewal date in order to carry over data

Earn $10 in Tello Bucks per referral.

Tello is fantastic. I signed up during their 25% off for six months sale, and have not been the slightest bit disappointed with the results. The network has been consistent with no noticeable drops, and I even get better performance than I did on AT&T (thanks to Tello’s use of the T-Mobile network). Getting 6GB of data for under $20? You really can’t beat that (and the price only goes up to $22 after the six month period).

I researched dozens of MVNO’s over several days to find one that matched both my budget and performance requirements, and I feel I’ve made the right choice. Surprisingly, according to online data, Tello has an estimated 200,000 subscribers, which is a far cry from the 10 million Cricket users or the 4 million served by Mint Mobile. They deserve way more than that. (To their credit, though, it’s inspiring that they still haven’t resorted to using shady upselling tactics or excessive marketing campaigns in order to boost that number, instead relying primarily on word-of-mouth.)

RATING: 8.5/10