How much prepaid data does the phone come with, and will that expire? I only need this in order to use my university's two-factor authentication app, plus for occasional calls. I'd imagine my usage is

Question

How much prepaid data does the phone come with, and will that expire? I only need this in order to use my university's two-factor authentication app, plus for occasional calls. I'd imagine my usage is <$20/year. And do I need the starter SIM card? null

luislast · Accepted Answer

I haven't used Boost Mobile, but with most of the MVNOs I HAVE used, you prepay on a plan per month, with a certain amount of data, calls and text, so even if you only made or received one call or internet connection in a month, you would have to pay for a full month's service. This would apply for each month you wanted to use it, even without a contract. Since their cheapest plan is $15/mo., there is no way you could pay under $20/yr.--you would have to pay $15x12=$180 in a year.

The cheapest way I can think of to fulfill your needs is this:
1. Get a used, unlocked phone with 5G, on eBay or wherever.
2. Subscribe to the Tello (tello.com) Pay As You Go $20 plan. You get 90 days of service paying 1¢/min⁩. for calls, ⁦1¢/per SMS⁩, and ⁦2¢/MB⁩. Nothing carries over to the next period, but if you can keep your usage down to just the $20 for the 3 months, you would end up paying $20x4=$80. Still not less than $20/year, but more than twice as good as $180/yr.

Virgin Mobile used to have a similar service, but they merged with Boost, so there goes that. Ultra Mobile used to have a super-cheap plan, around $10 or $20 for 3 months, with 100 minutes, 100 texts, and (I think) 100 MB of data, but they discontinued that a few years ago.

LorrieB · Answer

Boost mobile have prepaid plans starting at $25 a month.  The phone does not come with any minutes.  Only month to month plans

luislast · Answer

Oops, forgot the rest of your questions: 
1. It comes with 0 prepaid everything. You get what you pay (extra) for. I think all Boost plans are 30 days.
2. Like every cellphone made in the known universe, you need a SIM card or equivalent (eSIM).

“How much prepaid data does the phone come with, and will that expire? I only need this in order to use my university's two-factor authentication app, plus for occasional calls. I'd imagine my usage is <$20/year. And do I need the starter SIM card?”

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