Last updated on March 28th, 2023 at 02:16 am
There are now three major operators in the United States that offer nationwide wireless services viz. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile ( Sprint merged with T-Mobile), and two regional operators viz US Cellular and C Spire Wireless. There are hundreds of other brands which are selling cell phone plans across the country, they are MVNOs. Why and how Cell Phone plan of MVNO is different, let us see.
The MVNO stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator, basically, they take lease lines from major operators, buy talk, and data in bulk at cheaper rates, design their own plan, and offer these cell phone plans to you that means if you buy cell phone plan from an MVNO, you will use wireless network of the major operator, to which MVNO connected.
How Cell Phone plan of MVNO is different from Major Operators
Now, the dilemma is that a cell phone plan is to be purchased from a major operator or from an MVNO so before making the conscious decision, you should be aware of the pros and cons of Cell Phone plan of MVNO and major operators.
1. MVNOs may be offering cheaper plans as compared to the major operators because they buy usage of a host network of the major operators at competitive and bargained prices. They don’t need to invest anything in developing infrastructure as well as wireless networks so they offer cheaper rates.
2. Although MVNOs are using a wireless network of major operators customers may not get the same quality performance as a customer of major operators gets. One study has shown that Cell Phone plan of MVNO customers experiences worst 23% worst speed than major operators. This happens because of data deprioritization. Basically, major network owners (like T-Mobile) prioritize the data speeds of their own customers over those on prepaid plans or MVNO customers.
3. With MVNO, you may not get other things, which major operators often offer as an incentive like cinema tickets, great handset deals, or free gifts. Cell Phone plan of MVNO of T-Mobile don’t get access to T-Mobile’s Tuesday deal app.
4. On the launch of every new mobile handset, major operators generally offer bundling plans, and exchange offers but customers having Cell Phone plan of MVNO may not offer such great deals.
5. Major operators offer many other services along with cell phone plans like broadband services, TV Plans, etc so by combing these services you can save some money with major operators also
MVNO may be good for tourists or who are staying in the USA for a short period because of its cheap price plans and easy procedure to get a prepaid connection but for permanent residents, major operators are the ultimate choice.
If you are not passionate to change handsets so frequently and are comfortable with a little worse speed, then MVNO has no match, go for it.
