Tello Mobile offers four fixed plans – Economy, Value, Smart, and Data – and they all include unlimited calling minutes and texts. Each plan offers a different amount of data, ranging from 1GB to 25GB (which comes with Tello’s Unlimited plan). You can also create your own custom plan to your needs, like one with 10GB but zero minutes. 

Tello also offers pay-as-you-go credits – you can purchase anywhere from $20 to $50 worth of credits, and your balance will last for 90 days. The pay-as-you-go costs are: 1¢/min for calls in the U.S., 1¢/SMS, and 2¢/MB for data.

Founded in 2016, Tello Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), meaning it doesn’t own any cell towers. Instead, Tello has partnered with T-Mobile to provide 4G LTE and 5G services. Tello currently offers some of the cheapest mobile network plans, and it’s one of the few low-cost providers to offer international calling and texting services (to over 60 countries).

You’ll get unlimited texts and calls with every fixed Tello plan; however, you can customize your plan to reduce your calling minutes to increase your savings. Tello also offers high-speed internet services with mobile hotspot.

Calling: 

Tello’s Economy, Value, Smart, and Data plans all include unlimited calling. If you opt for a custom plan, you can mix and match your calling minutes and data usage limits. You can choose from zero, 100, 300, 500, or unlimited minutes for calling. You can use your minutes to make calls across over 60 countries.

Texting: 

Every Tello Mobile plan comes with unlimited texts.

Internet:

Tello Mobile doesn’t own or operate any cell towers of its own. Instead, it’s a mobile virtual network operator that uses T-Mobile’s infrastructure, allowing Tello Mobile to offer 4G LTE and 5G services, depending on which is faster in your area. If you run out of data, you’ll still have access to 2G internet. 

Tello also offers tethering with all its plans, so you can turn your mobile into a hotspot and share your internet with friends/other devices at no extra cost. The network provider’s plans let you pick from 500MB-25GB of mobile data. Their ‘Unlimited data’ plan is actually capped at 25GB for their usual 4G LTE/5G offering – once you use up 25GB, you’ll be downgraded to 2G services unless you top up.

Nationwide coverage:

Tello Mobile offers coast-to-coast coverage, and you can specifically look up the coverage in your area up on their website.

Using, setting up and receiving your order from Tello is very easy. If you opt for free standard shipping, USPS will deliver your order within 4-10 business days (provided your order is processed before 12 Midday EST). Your order usually won’t take more than five days to arrive, but 10 is the absolute maximum.  Alternatively, you can opt for priority shipping (delivery in three business days via USPS if your order is processed before 12 Midday EST), or for UPS’s two-day shipping. 

After your Tello GSM SIM arrives, you can set everything up and port your number through the company’s online portal (the whole process shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes). All you need to do is:

1. Head on over to the “Active SIM” section of your Tello account.
2. Fill in the required fields and follow the prompts.
3. The activation process will take around 20 minutes – when it’s complete, the website will let you know. Then, you’ll need to wait another five minutes.
4. Insert your new Tello GSM SIM into your device with the logo side facing up, and proceed to turn your phone on.
5. Follow any steps that pop up on your screen, and your Tello service should activate automatically.
6. If your Tello services don’t automatically activate, try waiting 30 minutes, rebooting your phone, and trying again. Otherwise, you can refer to the manual activation process in your Tello account.