Adventures In Computing: Moving to Mint

      Take away: If you are moving cell phone carriers, double check your phone is actually ‘unlocked‘.

      Not that long ago I switched cell phone carriers. I had been using Republic Wireless since I started using a cellphone. $10/month was hard to argue with (even if prices did rise over time). But, they were eventually acquired by Boost Mobile. And while Boost offered similarly prices, I opted to move away from them. Looking around, Mint Mobile seemed like a good option, so they were who I switched too.

Switching
      Apart from a hiccup with the phone being ‘locked’ to Boost, the switching process went well. Both Mint and Boost were helpful and informative when I reached out to them. Thankfully they both supported online text chat for support, because my phone did stop working as a phone for part of the transition.

      Process looks like it would have been completely seamless, with only a few minutes without service as I swapped sim cards. But the phone was ‘locked’ to Boost, so that caused a delay. I got that sorted, and everything was fine in the end. Originally I brought my own device to Republic, but it sounds like it was ‘locked’ during the transition to Boost. I didn’t pry into if this was a slip up or deliberately applied to all transitioned accounts. That detail didn’t matter to me, the support technician was ‘unlocking’ it so I could move to Mint. And that was the goal.

Why Move
      As for why I decided to change providers, it was all about the App. Boost had taken the approach to run everything, except initial activation, through an App on the phone. Paying bills, updating user account, and more, was handled through their app. Website for initial activation, but that’s it. Good for them and I’m sure that will work for many a customer. Just not me.

      If/when the phone has issues, it would be reasonable to expect the App to also have issues. Maybe not always, but often enough. If there is a website you can login to and manage things, then you may well have a work around. If not, well that can be a problem. So I went looking, and Mint seemed promising enough to switch to.

      Mint also has an App, and definitely encourages it’s usage. But I was able to do everything I needed through the website, without installing the App. Whether I install it or not in the future is besides the point, I know I can do what is needed using the website. The App just gives me another avenue to use.

      I have no objections to Apps for phones, I can see the use case and it seems popular with alot of people. But requiring an App to do essentially everything? Great so long as the phone is working, but if anything goes wrong? Suddenly no access to your account with your provider. Feels like asking for trouble, so I left.

My Usage Style
      I know I’m not a ‘normal’ smartphone user. My phone is for phone calls primarily, text messages secondarily. While I will use it for a variety of other uses (clock, camera, media player, notepad, etc), only the phone and text connect to the outside world. All the rest of it’s uses are more about being a hand held computer then anything else. In fact, that’s why I carry my ‘old’ phone with me at most times, while my ‘new’ one sits on the desk.

      My normal usage has the phone on my WiFi essentially all the time. In the average week, it will be on WiFi for about 168 hours. For more unusual weeks when I’m on a trip or some such, that will be lower. But even then, it would be on the WiFi here and then back on WiFi at wherever I’m going. So ‘data‘ is a non-issue. And for the most part, so is coverage.

      Again, this does not match with how most people appear to use smartphones. Most people I see are using them for non-phone functions constantly, while away from a WiFi source. Thus data is important for them, as are the installed Apps. As I don’t use those, I can’t comment on that aspect of… Republic, Boost, or Mint.

      But if you, like me, just want a phone to make phone calls, and will be on WiFi most of the time, then Mint looks to be a good option.

      Having said that, to get the best prices Mint does have a quirk: you have to pay a year at a time. Not a problem for me. The three month trial period let me test things out enough that I was comfortable with going for a year. And while $15/month is higher then I started with on Republic, it is about where Republic ended up at. So in that regard, there was no financial change to the switch.

The End
      And that is the story of how I switched cell phone carriers. I’ll again highlight how you should make sure your phone is unlocked if you ever switch. But besides that, all’s well that ends well.

As an aside, Mint did give me a referral code. Realistically, no one is going to use it, but it amuses me to share it here. http://fbuy.me/uKg1l