Ultra Mobile sells prepaid cell phone plans with free international calls to more than 80 countries and unlimited talk and texting in the U.S. and around the world. After the first month of service, you can choose to renew multi-month plans and get more savings. All of Ultra Mobile’s plans include 5G and 4G LTE coverage up to different data limits, unlimited global texting, and a mobile hotspot.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free unlimited calls ( 80+ countries ) | More expensive than other prepaid plans |
| No long-Term Contracts | Poor Customer Service |
| Up to 10 GB Mobile Hotspot | Data Speed Slow Down After 40Gb |
Ultra Mobile Overview
Best for: Flexibility of short prepaid plans
Price: $15-$49/month
Plan: Unlimited domestic talk and text plus varying high-speed data. Unlimited international calling to 80+ countries and unlimited global text.
Network: T-Mobile
Use your own phone: Yes
What Features Does Ultra Mobile Offer?
All plans from Ultra Mobile come with the following:
- 5G and 4G LTE coverage (whichever is best at the time)
- Wi-Fi calling and text
- Unlimited global text
- Unlimited talk to 80+ international countries
- Mobile hotspot (varies – up to 10 GB on Unlimited plan)
- Bring your own phone or buy one from Ultra Mobile
- Bring your current number or get a new one
- Free 3-in-1 SIM card
Ultra Mobile Plans and Price
Ultra Mobile offer three different plans with 250MB, 2GB, or unlimited data for a single month.
| 250 MB | $15/ Month |
|---|---|
| 2GB | $19/ Month |
| Unlimited | $49/ Month |
When you’re ready to sign up for a plan for more than one month, you can save more with 3, 6, or 12 month plans. The price goes down the longer you sign up for.
If you need more monthly data in the middle of a multi-month plan cycle, you can pay a prorated fee to switch to a plan with more data for the rest of the cycle. Keep in mind, though, that you can only go up, not down.
The other good news is that if you refer a friend or family member and they sign up for a plan, you can get a $10 renewal credit. When your friend or family member signs up with your referral code, they will also get a $10 credit.
Activation Process
When you sign up for Ultra Mobile, you can either bring your own phone or buy a new one. If you’re bringing your own device, use the free tool on the Ultra Mobile website to make sure it will work.
Your free SIM card should arrive within two to three days after you order it, or you can get it from a participating shop. Just follow the instructions on the Ultra Mobile website when it comes.
Phones Available While Selection Process
When you join Ultra Mobile, you can buy or finance any of the most recent iPhones or Samsung Galaxy devices. Ultra Mobile’s prepaid plans aren’t as good as the deals offered by the bigger companies (who offer phones at discounted prices when you commit to 12 months or more). It does, however, offer 0% financing through Affirm for a number of new phones, including the iPhone 12 Mini (starting at $31 per month) and the iPhone SE (starting at $17 per month).
Ultra Mobile Call, Text Performance and Data Speeds
Ultra Mobile uses the T-Mobile network, which is one of the three largest wireless networks in the United States and covers more than 99% of the country. Based on a study of the IHS Markit RootMetrics map of the T-Mobile network, call performance is good in most places in the United States. Only a few rural areas have fair or bad call performance.
When you use Ultra Mobile, T-5G Mobile’s and 4G LTE networks give you fast data. High speeds last until you use up all of your data, at which point it slows down to 3G. Note that the Unlimited plan only lets you use 40GB of data. More than 80% of Americans are covered by T-5G Mobile’s network, which is the largest of the three big wireless networks.
Ultra Mobile Customer Service Rating
Customers haven’t been happy with Ultra Mobile’s customer service (1.7 stars out of 1,102 reviews on Trustpilot), which is a little surprising since the company is small and its subsidiary, Mint Mobile, is one of the most popular operators on the market. People often complain about the price (even though this is part of most prepaid plans), unreliable service (especially when using the international calling features), and billing errors.
Call 888-777-0446 from any phone or 611 from an Ultra phone to talk to customer service. On the other hand, there is a large FAQ section on the Ultra Mobile website.
Some People Review on Ultra Mobile
“For the price 5 stars. If it was big carrier prices, 3 stars. Been using for 1.5 months. Used in San Francisco, San Jose, Hawaii. Overall, works well. Made fixed line calls to Japan for free with no problems. Kept on dropping calls on the Motorola G6 phone and unusable. Totally fine on Pixel 2XL.
In congested areas like airport, Internet seemed to slow down somewhat but fine elsewhere. Strangely, sometimes Internet speed was faster than T-Mobile, the network it uses. (I tested for a month before switching over.) Played data heavy games like PUBG no problem.” – Joe
“Had no issues – bought the SIM at the airport activated it myself and we were able to use it with no trouble while we were on vacation in Los Angeles. The data worked fine for google Maps and WhatsApp – which was mainly what we needed it for, and I loved the fact I was able to call back home to the UK both on my mums home phone and cell phone at no extra cost. lol it costs me more to call her cell phone when I’m in London!! definitely recommend.” – Nanditas Shower
Ultra Mobile FAQs
Who owns Ultra Mobile?
Ultra Mobile was started in 2011 by David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim in the city of Costa Mesa, in the state of California.
Does Ultra Mobile throttle or limit data?
Yes, if you go over your monthly limit, you will notice that your data speed slows down. After 32–50 GB of monthly data use on the Unlimited plan, the speed slows down (depending on the length of your plan).
Does Ultra Mobile have physical stores?
Ultra Mobile works with many stores all over the United States. You can find one near you by using the “Store locator” tool on the Ultra Mobile website.
