Does Mint Mobile have 5G?

Quick answer: Yes, Mint Mobile supports 5G on all of its plans using the T-Mobile network. As long as your phone supports T-Mobile’s 5G bands, your phone will connect to 5G on Mint.

Mint Mobile has been growing quickly, thanks to the affordability of its plans, but that doesn’t mean anything if the network can’t keep up with the demands of a modern Android phone. Luckily, Mint Mobile supports the entirety of the T-Mobile network, including 5G and LTE depending on coverage in your area. This means you get the best of T-Mobile’s network whether you have one of the latest 5G phones with mid-band support or are still rocking LTE before you upgrade.

Does Mint Mobile have 5G?

Mint Mobile is a prepaid carrier that uses T-Mobile for all of its coverage and was one of the earliest carriers to fully adopt 5G. T-Mobile built a lead in 5G coverage thanks to a combination of low-band spectrum with great coverage and mid-band spectrum with high speeds. T-Mobile is consistently one of the top-ranked networks for speed when 5G results are included with undisputed coverage superiority. If you’ve got a 5G phone and Mint Mobile service, you’ll more than likely use 5G most of the time when you’re not on Wi-Fi.

To get the best out of 5G on Mint Mobile, you’ll want a phone that supports as many of T-Mobile’s 5G bands as possible. Luckily, most of the best 5G Android phones designed for the US market support these bands although some earlier 5G phones, like the OnePlus 7, will lack some of the faster bands. To get the best speeds, make sure your phone supports bands n25, n71, and n41. T-Mobile can aggregate n41 and n25 in some markets for even greater speeds.

The T-Mobile network has some limited mmWave coverage in some city centers and sports arenas. Your phone should support bands n258, n260, and n261 to connect to mmWave although this shouldn’t be a huge priority for most people as mmWave coverage is still quite limited on T-Mobile. T-Mobile is ready to expand further with C-band spectrum licenses in key markets, but the carrier has yet to deploy its C-band spectrum.

Is Mint Mobile’s 5G fast?

Regarding pure technology, Verizon could take the speed crown, but so far, T-Mobile’s 5G performance has consistently been the best overall in reports from analysts, such as Ookla’s quarterly mobile broadband report. That means Mint Mobile has some of the best 5G data speeds in the industry, thanks to its widespread deployment of mid-band Ultra Capacity 5G. The online coverage map lets you see what type of 5G coverage Mint has in your area.

T-Mobile and Mint Mobile also have carrier aggregation in some areas, which can combine multiple 5G bands into one data connection on your phone for improved speeds. T-Mobile can aggregate up to three bands, including two bands at n41 and one at n25. Carrier aggregation is one of the primary ways LTE got to be as fast as it is, so applying the technology to 5G makes a lot of sense.

Even so, T-Mobile’s network still falls behind Verizon’s and AT&T’s in rural areas, with the latter two carriers offering much wider LTE coverage outside urban and suburban areas. The impact on you will come down to how much time you spend in the country. If you drive a lot but spend most of your time on interstates, you should have plenty of coverage, with T-Mobile reporting an estimated 96% coverage on interstate highways in early 2022. However, if you head off the beaten path, your data speeds may suffer or even some dead zones.

Save on 5G data with Mint

Mint Mobile’s network is highly compatible with the majority of unlocked phones working without issue on either LTE or 5G. Most of the latest flagship phones support all of T-Mobile’s 5G bands, including mid-band Ultra Capacity 5G. Mint Mobile is worth a look if you’ve got an unlocked 5G phone and want to save some money on service. If you can pay for one of Mint’s 12-month plans, finding a better deal on 5G data will be tough.