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T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

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Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#101

Post by monksy »

pkulak wrote: post #78
jawns wrote: post #20

I've been a Mint customer for about 4 years, paying the annual upfront payment, which works out to $15/mo. And shaking my head at those who are paying double or triple that rate on T-Mobile, even though Mint uses the same exact network. In terms of why T-Mobile is making this purchase, I'm pretty sure it's to take out someone who was eating their lunch. I've always found it strange that an MVNO is able to operate on…

> even though Mint uses the same exact network. It's the same network, but you get the capacity that's left over after everyone on T-Mobile has had their fill. Which is why I don't get why everyone is always so excited about these MVNOs. To me, it's like bragging about how cheap airfare is when you go standby: "It's the exact same planes!".

It all depends on how much they oversubscribe their frequency band.

As a Verizon, Tmobile, or Att customer you might be able to get 1gbps down .. but why do you need that on your phone?

Why are they popular? It makes little sense to pay $90 a month per line. With MVNOs the price is about 20-30$/mo. (Options out there: StraightTalk, USMobible, Lycia, Mint, Visble, Ting, Google FI, etc) Some of these carriers are even getting in international calling and roaming at an affordable price.

Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#102

Post by neogodless »

lopkeny12ko wrote: post #22

Also, did no one from Mint's public relations department review the copy for this announcement before it went live? "Two excited guys, one video"? Seriously?

While I know what you think it's in reference to, it's actually this: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137330/

Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#103

Post by recuter »

nolok wrote: post #90
deepzn wrote: post #28

This is Ryan Reynolds' second company he has sold which he has a "significant stake" in after he sold his Aviator Gin to the big whale, Diageo brands. He's been able to leverage his status and marketing talent to grow those brands significantly. Other actors, athletes also do this, but perhaps he is the most noticeable. George Clooney also sold an alcohol brand to Diageo. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-…

Ryan Reynolds youtube channel is an exemple in how bad 99% of advertising campaigns are. Almost everything he posts are ads for his companies or ventures, and not only am I subscribed but I eagerly watch every content he post as soon as I get the notification. A part of it is that it's funny and well made, the other parts is that the content doesn't have that "bullshit ad" factor, I don't know how to explain it, he k…

90% of YouTube comments are hive mind borderline bot generated "direct quote from video" foam finger NPC I'm with stupid verbal diarrhea. His videos/ads tee up such comments which are social proof to further draw in more viewers that generate more such comments.. and now "ads are fun to watch when Ryan does them".

He gets a pass, fine, sure, but goddamn.. I watched (and yes, enjoyed as a guilty pleasure) a few of those and YouTube recommended me this crime against humanity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3JGsCAu9A

I never thought I'd say this but there is such a thing as too Canadian. Enough already. Go kick a cat or something to balance it out.

At the same time, I recognize there is a lot to be learned from that guy. God I hate marketing. And humans. I mean love. Everything will be fine, just remain positive.

Edit: Not to self, stay in your lane Kowalski. Stay. In. Your. Lane.

Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#104

Post by vel0city »

selectodude wrote: post #62
jawns wrote: post #20

I've been a Mint customer for about 4 years, paying the annual upfront payment, which works out to $15/mo. And shaking my head at those who are paying double or triple that rate on T-Mobile, even though Mint uses the same exact network. In terms of why T-Mobile is making this purchase, I'm pretty sure it's to take out someone who was eating their lunch. I've always found it strange that an MVNO is able to operate on…

>And shaking my head at those who are paying double or triple that rate on T-Mobile, even though Mint uses the same exact network. I tried every MVNO and find myself stuck on Verizon postpaid spending $90/mo because my phone actually works. If you live in a major city, throttling is the norm, not the exception, on these MVNOs.

I've used Mint a good bit in 5 of the top 15 cities in the US population-wise. Other than some events like sporting events or concerts its been acceptable for my needs. Honestly its the smaller towns way out there that usually means I get absolutely no service while a larger network like AT&T or Verizon would give acceptable performance.

And yeah, its "throttled". Doing a speed test right now on a Pixel 6a with good 5G signal I'm only getting 11Mbit down/21Mbit up while I'm sure the same phone on T-Mo proper would be getting >50Mbit, probably 100Mbit easy. But for my needs, that doesn't really matter. I'm not trying to stream a non-transcoded Blu-Ray rip from my NAS to my phone while I'm out and about and without WiFi. Usually if I'm without WiFi its because I'm out doing something, and I'm just wanting to look up something on an app like Google Maps or stream music or look up which aisle some product is supposed to be or get an email/IM or something along those lines. Which, 10Mbit is plenty for all of those needs.

Obviously everyone's usage is going to be different. Some people practically live their digital life entirely relying on their cellular connection and are rarely around WiFi, and its worth it for them to pay more for more performance. Different carriers have different amount of coverage and customers in different parts of even the same city. But for a lot of people like me, I'd practically get no difference in my normal experiences whether I paid $15 or $80 in my usage even if that meant my speeds on the go went from 10Mbit to 1000Mbit, except for my bank account being $780 lighter at the end of the year.

Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#105

Post by haswell »

pkulak wrote: post #78
jawns wrote: post #20

I've been a Mint customer for about 4 years, paying the annual upfront payment, which works out to $15/mo. And shaking my head at those who are paying double or triple that rate on T-Mobile, even though Mint uses the same exact network. In terms of why T-Mobile is making this purchase, I'm pretty sure it's to take out someone who was eating their lunch. I've always found it strange that an MVNO is able to operate on…

> even though Mint uses the same exact network. It's the same network, but you get the capacity that's left over after everyone on T-Mobile has had their fill. Which is why I don't get why everyone is always so excited about these MVNOs. To me, it's like bragging about how cheap airfare is when you go standby: "It's the exact same planes!".

I understand this argument, but in practice it has never been a factor in my daily usage of the service. I think the bandwidth improvements by providers over the years have made this a mostly academic concern.

I live in a major metro area that should theoretically be impacted by sheer volume of use, and I’ve also spent significant time on the road traveling (recent 7K mile overlanding trip through 15 states is one example), and never once experienced a slowdown.

Wireless networks are pretty fast these days, and if I’ve ever been throttled, I just haven’t noticed.

YMMV, and maybe I don’t have use cases that are impacted by this, but after experiencing what I’ve experienced, I have no questions at all about my decision to move away from the big networks.

I’ve used Mint and Xfinity Mobile (Verizon MVNO).

> To me, it's like bragging about how cheap airfare is when you go standby: "It's the exact same planes!"

The experience and cost of using cheap airfare/standby is pretty well documented and rather dissimilar conceptually to what’s going on with MVNOs. The cheap ticket experience isn’t just “same planes”, it brings with it a very real likelihood of failure and customers generally go in knowing this up front.

If MVNOs were unusable as often as standby flights are unavailable, the business model would quickly cease to exist.

I find the notion of bragging about any of this for any reason rather odd, but it’s hard to ignore the significant savings over time.

Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#106

Post by neogodless »

As a Mint subscriber, the main thing that makes me sad is that I may end up having to shop around for (yet) another MVNO if T-Mobile ends up changing the terms/pricing.

Consumer Cellular is great, but still expensive by comparison.

Also, an older family member has modest needs and is budget conscious, so Mint has been great for their cell phone and even their rural internet. And boy they do not like change so if I have to change things again it'll be a pain in the butt.

Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#107

Post by selectodude »

vel0city wrote: post #104
selectodude wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And shaking my head at those who are paying double or triple that rate on T-Mobile, even though Mint uses the same exact network. I tried every MVNO and find myself stuck on Verizon postpaid spending $90/mo because my phone actually works. If you live in a major city, throttling is the norm, not the exception, on these MVNOs.

I've used Mint a good bit in 5 of the top 15 cities in the US population-wise. Other than some events like sporting events or concerts its been acceptable for my needs. Honestly its the smaller towns way out there that usually means I get absolutely no service while a larger network like AT&T or Verizon would give acceptable performance. And yeah, its "throttled". Doing a speed test right now on a Pixel 6a with good…

Ah, in places like New York/Chicago/Los Angeles/Miami it wasn't "slow", it was 5 bars of service and zero network access.

Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#108

Post by Scaevolus »

pastor_bob wrote: post #94
deepzn wrote: post #28

This is Ryan Reynolds' second company he has sold which he has a "significant stake" in after he sold his Aviator Gin to the big whale, Diageo brands. He's been able to leverage his status and marketing talent to grow those brands significantly. Other actors, athletes also do this, but perhaps he is the most noticeable. George Clooney also sold an alcohol brand to Diageo. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-…

The alcohol stuff always amazes me. Making a gin isn't rocket science. Aviation Gin was basically a no-name brand. The fact that attaching a celebrity name brings so much value is mind-boggling to me.

When everything tastes almost identical, branding and marketing is all that can distinguish them.

Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#109

Post by esalman »

mig39 wrote: post #81
esalman wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a football enthusiast I'm also really interested to see where he takes Wrexham.

Hopefully not to just sell it :-( If he does eventually sell it, I hope it's to fans, not a corporation.

That's the thing about success.. if he can turn it into success at a certain level, oil money will be after it.

Re: T-Mobile Reaches Agreement to Acquire Mint Mobile for Up to $1.35B

#110

Post by [deleted] »

haswell wrote: post #105
pkulak wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> even though Mint uses the same exact network. It's the same network, but you get the capacity that's left over after everyone on T-Mobile has had their fill. Which is why I don't get why everyone is always so excited about these MVNOs. To me, it's like bragging about how cheap airfare is when you go standby: "It's the exact same planes!".

I understand this argument, but in practice it has never been a factor in my daily usage of the service. I think the bandwidth improvements by providers over the years have made this a mostly academic concern. I live in a major metro area that should theoretically be impacted by sheer volume of use, and I’ve also spent significant time on the road traveling (recent 7K mile overlanding trip through 15 states is one ex…

[deleted]
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