Many traditional cell phone plans offer international calling add-ons. But your best bet might be to sign up with a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), like Ultra Mobile, which offers unlimited international text and talk. MVNOs use cellular networks operated by other, larger companies (Ultra uses T-Mobile), which allows them to offer premium coverage for budget prices. What kind of budget? In Ultra’s case, you could get service for as low as $12 a month. Ultra Mobile’s plans are heavily geared towards users who want affordable international calling. So if you’re planning on staying in touch with friends and relatives across the Pacific or Atlantic, there’s plenty to like about it. All of Ultra’s plans include unlimited talk and text to over 80 countries and cheap rates for plenty more. You can check out the full list of international rates on Ultra’s website. Ultra also has a “Call Me Free” program, which means that people from all over the world can call you for what it normally costs them to make local calls. Get ready to hear from all of your long-lost relatives. You can get the 250MB Talk and Text Plan or the 2GB Data Plan for reasonable monthly fees. But the real savings come when you pay for multiple months up front. Also, be aware that some of Ultra’s best pricing comes from promotions that could end at any time, leaving you with a price increase. Ultra will give you discounts when you prepay for multiple months at once. But that’s different from signing a one- or two-year contract for phone service. You can cancel your plan with Ultra Mobile at any time, without penalty. For example, when you sign up for a 2 GB plan from Ultra, you’ll get 2 GB of data on T-Mobile’s premium 4G LTE network, which delivers an average speed of 24.3 Mbps.1 But after using that 2 GB, you’ll get data at 128 Kbps. What does that mean for you? Well, with 4G LTE, you can download a standard-definition movie in about eight minutes. With a 128 Kbps connection, it will take you more than 24 hours. Yikes. Ultra does offer an unlimited full-speed data plan, but at $49 a month, it hardly competes with other prepaid phone plans from companies like Visible Wireless. Ultra has no family plans, and you can’t add any lines to your plan. Dang. You might want to check out these cell phone plans instead. Sure, the price will go up after the first few months of service. But even then, it’s pretty cheap, especially for a plan with unlimited international talk and text. We like Ultra Mobile’s 6GB 3-Month Plan because it gives you a good chunk of data, amazing international calling benefits, and it’s cheap as heck. According to our rankings, T-Mobile has the third-best coverage in the country, but it has great download and upload speeds. In fact, in our most recent research, T-Mobile registered the best upload and download speeds among the Big Three mobile carriers:
T-Mobile’s average download speed: 32.73 Mbps T-Mobile’s average upload speed: 12.9 Mbps
That’s good news for Ultra Mobile customers. Here’s a look at some of the top devices that Ultra Mobile has to offer. But we can glean a thing or two from looking at online customer reviews. Let’s start with the company’s mobile apps, which are used to track your data usage, check your remaining balance, and pay your bill. The company’s app for iOS devices scores an impressive 4.6/5 stars, and its app for Android devices scores 4/5 stars. Reviews of Ultra Mobile on Trustpilot indicate a pretty mixed customer service experience. Its overall rating of 1.8/5 stars is certainly poor; however, the amount of “Excellent” reviews (27%) is almost the same as “Bad” reviews (32%). Many online reviews complain about issues with eligibility. It seems that many customers ordered Ultra Mobile devices or SIM cards online without realizing that they were ineligible for service because they were switching from another provider on the T-Mobile network. If you need to contact Ultra Mobile, there are a few ways to do it:
Customer service: 1-888-777-0446 Dial 611 from your Ultra Mobile device Contact Ultra Mobile through their chatbot
But for everyone else, Ultra’s probably not the best cell phone plan. Most of the company’s plans don’t offer much full-speed data, and its unlimited plans are pricey.
Service plans: Every Ultra plan offers free, unlimited international text and calling to over 80 countries. The main difference between plans is the full-speed data allotment, which ranges from one GB to unlimited. Ultra does not offer family plans. Our favorite plan: Our favorite Ultra deal is the prepaid 3-Month 6GB Plan. It’s a fantastic way to get free international calling and a decent amount of data for around $5 a week. Performance: Ultra uses T-Mobile’s nationwide network. That means super fast speeds (at least until you use up your full-speed data) and impressive coverage. Customer service: The biggest complaint that customers have about Ulta Mobile is its eligibility. Make sure to read the fine print before you sign up.
In short, if you spend an hour every evening catching up with mom and dad in Kathmandu, then you should definitely look into signing up for Ultra Mobile.
