I tried out Mint’s home internet service to find out if it's actually worth it

Mint Mobile first announced plans to enter the wireless internet market late last year, eventually rolling out service in October. The company’s so-called Minternet service is built on the same network and technology as T-Mobile 5G Home Internet, though its pricing and plan structure work a bit differently.

I’ve spent the last two weeks testing out the service personally to see if it’s actually any good. There are certainly some compelling reasons to consider the service, though it’s not without its downsides either. The biggest question is who it is for, and whether its trade-offs are worth it for most users.

Where Minternet shines, and where it doesn’t

Let’s start with the biggest and most obvious selling point for Mint’s new 5G Home Internet service: pricing. Mint Mobile’s plans cost just $30 a month for those with a Mint Mobile phone plan, or $40 a month for those without it.

This is significantly cheaper than many wired high-speed internet services, though it’s not a massive discount from T-Mobile 5G Home Internet. The latter service costs as little as $35 a month for existing cellular customers, or $50 a month for those without a phone plan.

One catch that’s worth spelling out is that Mint Mobile doesn’t offer month-to-month plans. While new customers can get the service for as low as $30 a month with a 3-month plan, you’ll need to renew annually to continue getting the lowest rate possible. Still, if you don’t mind paying annually, you can save a fair amount here. In fact, you’ll pay the equivalent of less than $50 a month in total for home internet and basic entry-level cellular service through Mint.

Beyond pricing, there are several other areas in which the service impressed me:

• Quick arrival and setup: Just two days after placing an order, the box arrived. I quickly unwrapped everything, plugged it in, and within about five minutes, I was online and ready to go.
• Impressive download speeds: I wasn’t sure how well Mint would do here, as T-Mobile has been a bit mixed in the area where I planned to use the device. My results were fairly decent, as I consistently got around 250-350Mbps speeds during off-peak times, though peak times did drag down to around 125-175Mbps for me on average.
• Latency that’s good enough for non-pro gaming: Typically, I saw latency scores of around 20-60ms, and in my tests, I rarely had any noticeable lag in online games.

Of course, nothing is perfect, and there are certainly some areas where the service wasn’t quite as impressive:

• Upload speeds: My speeds here were typically 4-8Mbps, with better scores around 10Mbps or so. While these speeds were enough for uploading and video calls, the former could be slow, and the latter could have occasional hiccups.
• Linking accounts is a pain: While getting online was easy enough, the actual process of linking account information was actually more of a timesuck.
• Wi-Fi controls are limited: The Mint app offers basic Wi-Fi controls, but you won’t find a lot of deeper features here.
• Throttling is possible: While far from the only ISP to have such a cap, users who consume over 1TB of monthly data may experience slower speeds for the remainder of the cycle.
• Customer service: Mint is known for mixed customer service quality, and so you can expect a similar experience.

Is the service good enough to replace your current ISP?

The big question is whether Mint Mobile’s Minternet service will actually meet your needs. First, it’s important to understand that Mint’s home internet service is a low-priority offering compared to T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet service. If you live in an area with minor congestion, the end result could be a quality of service that’s virtually identical to T-Mobile’s except during extreme peak periods. Unfortunately, it also means that if you live in a high-congestion area, you may see service speeds that don’t quite match the advertised max capabilities.

Even if you do live in an area where performance is solid, it’s important to consider your household needs. For those with only one or two individuals, the 1TB soft cap before potential deprioritization is probably more than enough. Likewise, latency should also be good enough for all but the most hardcore gamers. Conversely, big families might find that the service isn’t up for the job.

The good news is that Mint Mobile offers a 14-day trial, so you can test the service and cancel for a refund if it doesn’t work out. In my own case, I never intended to keep it long-term. Frankly, I  have a moderately sized family full of gamers, so I use a lot more data than this. Still, I can certainly see the appeal for those who have less demanding needs.