Does Mint Mobile work internationally?

Quick answer:Yes. Mint Mobile offers an international service that’s just as flexible as its standard prepaid phone plans.

While you’re on a work trip overseas, you wake up one morning to discover that you’re trapped inside a wooden box with nothing but a lighter, a pen, and your mobile phone. Luckily, you have a full service, but it hits you just before you dial out for help. You ask yourself: Does Mint Mobile work internationally?

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Mint Mobile does work internationally and onsome affordable Android phones. It may be a surprise because Mint Mobile is part of a growing list of budget-mindedprepaid phone plans. The company saves you money bypackaging only the essentials– plans that include talk, text, and data-only starting at $15 per month – so international roaming may seem like a perk only major carriers offer.

How to use Mint Mobile internationally

you could use Mint Mobile abroad by accessing the company’s UpRoam feature. Before you talk, text, browse or stream, though, you have to buy international roaming credits because it doesn’t automatically kick in. Credits are available on the Mint Mobile app in increments of $5, $10, and $20, and they never expire.

Exactly how many credits you will need depends on how much you need to use your service plan and which country you’re in. Traveling in Canada or Mexico will cost you $0.06 per minute to talk, $0.02 per text message, and $0.06 per megabyte of data. But if you travel to almost any of the other 160 countries within Mint Mobile’s network, it will cost you $0.25 per minute to talk, $0.05 per text, and $0.20 per megabyte of data. If you want specifics, you can search rates by country onMint Mobile’s website.

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The problem with Mint Mobile’s international plan

While there’s no straightforward answer for how much data you’ll need when traveling abroad, experts estimate that Americans use approximately 15 gigs of mobile data per month (in addition to the 536 gigs you use on Wi-Fi). If you use that same amount of data somewhere other than the United States, Mexico, or Canada with Mint Mobile, you will end up spending $3,000 per month or $750 per week. Of course, Wi-Fi will alleviate some stress, and you can only use what you pay for ahead of time with even thebest Mint Mobile phones.

Mint Mobile is ok but expensive compared to other international roaming services if it’s all you depend on. They all have their quirks, though. For instance, major carriers like T-Mobile, which shares its domestic network with Mint, tend to offer essential services overseas, like unlimited talk and text, and limited data usage in about 200 countries for a flat rate. Other prepaid plans, likeGoogle Fi, offer unlimited texting and a flat rate for data usage.

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You can use Mint Mobile internationally, but should you?

Mint Mobile’s international roaming service is very much like its domestic plan in that it can be cheaper if you’re conscientious of your usage. But it will be expensive if it’s all you depend on. Fortunately, there are a few alternatives to using your service plan, in addition to seeking out and using Wi-Fi, like buying and using a local SIM card, using a prepaid international calling card, or buying or renting a mobile hotspot for your.

Mint Mobile is a value-focused MVNO that runs off T-Mobile’s 5G network in the US. It differentiates itself from the competition by offering wholesale discounts for its service — you buy multiple months of service at a time and pay less per month as a result. Mint Mobile was partially owned by Ryan Reynolds, before T-Mobile acquired the MVNO earlier in 2024.

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Unlimited on a budget

A hefty discount makes this a no-brainer

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This article is sponsored by Total Wireless.

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