Can You Trust an MVNO?

You may have heard them called budget carriers, prepaid carriers, or discount carriers—but can you trust them to handle your mobile calls and data on the go?

Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) such as Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Consumer Cellular, and RedPocket piggyback on big networks to offer mobile connectivity at a discounted rate.

Some MVNOs are sold alongside home internet plans under brand names such as Xfinity Mobile, Spectrum Mobile, and Optimum Mobile.

These plans aren’t as popular in the U.S. as you might expect, and that got me curious. I took a deep dive into how MVNOs compare to the “Big Three” carriers (also known as MNOs, or mobile network operators): T-Mobile , AT&T Wireless , and Verizon Wireless .

I found out that MVNOs are a good way to save money, especially if you’re in one of the groups they target.

How much you can save with a budget carrier

You can get a single line of mobile service with unlimited calls and texting for as little as $10 to $20 per month with a budget carrier, compared to rates of $50 to $65 per month from a brand-name carrier. But you may not get a lot of data, and don’t expect bells and whistles.

Most people end up paying a little more for mobile service every month, but there’s still a gap. The average cost of an MVNO is $44 per month, while the average cost of a Big Three plan is $76 per month, according to the results of a 2025 customer survey from WhistleOut.

If you’re shopping for mobile service, take WhistleOut’s mobile provider tool for a spin.

How speed and reliability compare

Mobile data from an MVNO is slightly slower than what you would get from one of the Big Three, on average. It’s also less reliable … but only by a little.

Hard data can be difficult to come by, since there are hundreds of MVNOs out there, and because other factors matter more than overall averages.That doesn’t mean no one has tried, though. The global data analytics firm OpenSignal took a stab at analyzing the speed and reliability of MVNOs in April of 2025, but left out any MVNO associated with a major carrier and all MVNOs operated by cable companies. The data is incomplete, but we’ll take what we can get.

Drumroll please … here’s the breakdown from the industry insider report “Slow but steady: The quiet growth of brand MVNOs.”

• MNO average download speed: 51.1Mbps
• MVNO average download speed: 84.3Mbps
• MNO reliability: 907/1,000
• MVNO reliability: 854/1,000

Honestly, the difference in averages is pretty small. Downloading a typical 2MB photo would take an average of 0.190 seconds with an MNO, but an interminable 0.313 seconds with an MVNO. You probably wouldn’t notice a huge difference with videos or app downloads either.

The reliability scores are a little more difficult to parse, since they rely on a proprietary formula from OpenSignal, but we’re still talking about a difference of less than 6%.

Either way, it’s important to remember that no one actually gets average speeds or has an “average” reliability experience. Instead, we all have thousands of unique experiences, with some faster connections that are really fast and others that are really slow. That’s true no matter who your provider is.

So how often will you be able to connect when it really matters? It’s all relative to other traffic on the network.

Deprioritization

Every mobile network has its own formula for prioritizing traffic on its network, but there are some patterns. First responders usually get first priority, as with the FirstNet system, operated by AT&T.

Next in line are premium wireless subscribers, followed by wireless subscribers on less expensive plans. In some cases, MVNO traffic gets similar priority to these mid-tier brand-name customers. Visible+ plans on the Verizon network and the Cricket More plan on the AT&T network are two such examples.

Other MVNO mobile subscribers and fixed wireless home internet customers are usually next in line.

It all gets pretty technical, with 5G Quality of Service (QoS) Identifiers that define priority, latency, and packet loss rate of mobile data. However, none of that is listed publicly—the law just requires network management documentation, which can be pretty vague. What we do know comes from third-party testing and certain Android apps.

When you think about new network slicing technology and AI network management, it gets more complicated still. The latest tech might make everything feel faster, but a lot still depends on the infrastructure in your neighborhood.

MVNO customer service

Many customers trust brand names to take care of them if something goes wrong, and they worry that working with a budget or discount brand could leave them in the lurch.

When it comes to customer service from MVNOs compared to the Big Three, it’s kind of a mixed bag.

The following is a selection of scores from the latest U.S. Wireless Carrier Satisfaction Study by JD Power, with scores on a 1,000-point scale:

• Consumer Cellular: 721
• Mint Mobile: 715
• Visible by Verizon: 702
• T-Mobile: 631
• Spectrum Mobile: 614
• Cricket: 647
• AT&T: 604
• Verizon: 602
• Xfinity Mobile: 594

Consumer Cellular, a standalone MVNO, earned the highest score, while two MVNOs owned by the Big Three (Mint Mobile and Visible) outdid the brand name. Cable company MVNOs came in at the middle and bottom of the pack, respectively.

In other words, good customer service and owning your own mobile network don’t necessarily go hand in hand.

Do you get more spam texts and robocalls on MVNO networks?

You might see an increase in spam texts and robocalls in two situations: when you change your number or when you lose access to anti-spam software on your plan.

Switching to an MVNO might mean a new number or less spam protection, but it doesn’t necessarily mean more unwanted calls and texts.

No matter which carrier you choose, I recommend blocking all unknown calls on the devices of kids or vulnerable adults, looking into third-party anti-spam software, and getting your name on the National Do Not Call Registry.

What really matters: location, congestion, and devices

5G, QoS, MVNO, MNO … so many acronyms, so many ways to get confused. But here’s the truth: What really matters for your mobile experience are location, congestion, and the device in your hand.

Location matters because connectivity requires updated cell towers. How far you are from the nearest tower and how recently that tower has been updated can make a big difference in the speeds and reliability you experience.

Congestion matters because even if there are a lot of new, updated towers, each network is limited to a certain slice of radio spectrum. All the devices trying to connect to those towers have to share the frequency, so congestion can slow everything down. Prioritization plays a role here, but think of it like a freeway: if traffic is heavy enough, the HOV lane slows down too.

The device in your hand matters because the latest phones have advanced modems and better antennas and can manage limited bandwidth more efficiently.

Here’s the rub: If your local cell towers are old or too far apart, your experience isn’t going to be great. If you compound all that with either a surge in mobile traffic or a phone that’s more than a few years old, you may not be able to make calls or load web pages easily. And you definitely won’t be able to upload a video of that big protest or flash mob that slowed everything down in the first place.

My take: How to get the best connectivity for your needs

The best way to get a good deal on all your connectivity services is to start with home internet.

From there, check out the mobile phone offerings from your chosen internet provider. Most of the big cable companies will let you try a year of unlimited mobile service for free, and you can add additional lines for less than half what you would pay the Big Three. It makes sense for the companies, because they know you’ll spend most of your time on their Wi-Fi anyway. It makes sense for you for the same reason.

If your internet provider is one of the Big Three, or if it doesn’t offer mobile phone service, check out MVNOs. Here, too, it helps to think about the business proposition for the providers themselves.

The Big Three benefit from MVNOs because the MVNOs can reach targeted audiences and offer low prices that don’t dilute the main brand. Those audiences include the following, and more:

• Employees of certain companies
• AARP members
• Walmart customers
• Folks who want to pay for a year upfront
• Anyone who wants to avoid a credit check
• Customers who already have phones they love and don’t want to finance a new one

If you fit into a specific niche and are willing to spend a little time finding the right MVNO match, you could save hundreds over the course of a year—and you should. My research shows that they’re just as good as the Big Three for reliability, customer care, and robocall prevention (and sometimes even better).