Tello Mobile Review: A Low-Cost MVNO That Holds Its Own Against T-Mobile—Data Speeds Are the Trade-Off
I know I am paying too much for my phone plan. I have known this for years. Like about two-thirds of America, I use a postpaid unlimited phone plan from one of the big three cell phone carriers. In my case, it is T-Mobile, which has the best 5G coverage and speeds, according to analysis from OpenSignal and Ookla, not to mention a whole bunch of perks I forget to use, like free AAA membership. Some part of me just wants “the best” phone service. And so here I am, paying $75 a month as a baseline cost on a grandfathered unlimited plan—and that is before I factor in loss insurance or phone payments. But I have long known that I could get access to those same T-Mobile cell phone towers, and ostensibly the same 5G service, for a fraction of the price by using any number of prepaid mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) phone plans that use T-Mobile's network. Am I just a sucker, I wondered? With my budget cinching tighter each month, I decided to test this hypothesis—the one about me being a sucker. So I tried a budget phone plan from Tello Mobile. Tello is a no-frills, no-commitment phone carrier that ranks among the lowest-cost unlimited phone plans in the US. Tello rents bandwidth on T-Mobile's network and costs as little as $10 a month for a plan with starkly limited cell data but unlimited texts and calls. My assumption was that Tello's service would be notably worse than T-Mobile's, or that its limitations would be more limiting. But a couple of weeks later, I have not found this to be the case. After roaming the earth (OK, mostly just Oregon) while running data-speed tests on both T-Mobile and Tello, I can attest that Tello's reception was reliable and that the data speeds were comparable (though not quite equal) to T-Mobile’s. The reason, most likely, is that T-Mobile’s vast investment in 5G service has left lots of bandwidth to spare—removing the technical limitations that previously made budget prepaid phone plans a much dodgier choice. With Tello, I still risk that my data might be deprioritized during moments of extreme congestion, though I did not witness this even when sidling up to a sports stadium. There also are no discount phone upgrades, no protection plans, no free international roaming, and no particular perks. But for a low-data user like me—I use 12 gigs a month and am almost always tethered to Wi-Fi—Tello costs less than half as much as the comparable T-Mobile plan.
The $25 Phone Plan
The process of signing up for the Tello prepaid plan turns out to be a complete nothingburger, as long as I have got a compatible unlocked phone. I was done in five minutes. I selected the $25-a-month unlimited plan online ($27 with fees), scanned a QR code using my phone's camera to get an eSIM, and promptly received a new working phone number. I did not switch my existing number to Tello for this test, but this option is available. The $25-a-month plan I selected is Tello's top-tier plan, with 50 gigs of high-speed data and unlimited horrible-speed data. A 10-GB hot spot is also included, which turned out to be pretty fast when I tested it: about 4G data speeds. There are no family plans or discounts, but for a solo phone user, Tello is about as cheap as it gets, especially if you use very little cellular data. Below the top tier, Tello allows you to build any number of plans with unlimited talk and text but absolutely rigid data caps. Above your allotted maximum, the data simply stops flowing. For $10 you get a mere 2 gigs of data per month. For $15 you get 10 gigs. And $20 gets you 20. Plans that limit call times offer even lower entry points, though the core structure remains the same: you pay for exactly what you need, nothing more.
Data Performance and Deprioritization Risks
During my testing across Oregon, Tello's data speeds were consistently comparable to T-Mobile's, though not identical. The key difference is deprioritization: Tello customers are given lower network priority than T-Mobile's own postpaid users. In theory, that means during moments of extreme congestion, Tello data might get squelched. In practice, I did not witness this even when sidling up to a sports stadium. The most likely reason, according to my observations, is that T-Mobile's massive investment in 5G infrastructure has left plenty of bandwidth to spare, effectively removing the technical limitations that historically made budget prepaid phone plans a much dodgier choice. Still, the risk remains—if you are in a densely packed area during a major event, your speeds could falter more dramatically than a T-Mobile postpaid customer's. In low-reception areas, data speeds also falter worse, which is a notable downside compared to the parent network.
What You Give Up for the Savings
Tello's no-frills approach means you lose several features that big-carrier customers might take for granted. There are no discount phone upgrades, no protection plans, no free international roaming, and no particular perks like free AAA membership or streaming subscriptions. The service is not as good for frequent international travelers, as roaming options are limited. There are also no family plans or multi-line discounts, so if you are covering multiple people, the math may not work as cleanly. On the upside, the transparent pricing and fully customizable plan options make it easy to avoid paying for data you do not use. The $10 plan, for example, gives you unlimited talk and text with just 2 gigs of data—ideal for someone who lives on Wi-Fi. The $15 plan bumps that to 10 gigs, and $20 gets you 20 gigs. For users like me who average 12 gigs a month, the $25 top-tier plan is more than enough, costing less than half of my $75 T-Mobile baseline.
Market Context
As of May 30, 2026, the broader crypto market shows Bitcoin trading at $73,832, up 0.2% in the last 24 hours, while Ethereum is at $2,023.10, down 0.1% over the same period. This data reflects the current financial landscape in which consumers are increasingly seeking cost-saving measures like budget MVNO plans.