Get a full year of Mint SIM phone service for $159.20
This Cheapskate exclusive works out to just over $13 per month for a 2GB plan. Need 5GB? Just under $20 per month. Plus: a game bundle for as little as $1!
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Back in November I told you about Mint SIM, a T-Mobile-powered MVNO with a different proposition than most: big discounts if you prepay for three, six or 12 months. (Incidentally, that three-month promo deal is still available.)
The company's Small plan, for example -- good for unlimited talk, text and data, with 2GB of 4G LTE data -- would cost you $199 for a full year, an effective rate of $16.58 per month. That's an almost unbeatable deal, though you have to be willing and able to pay the full amount up front.
For a limited time, the deal is even better. Mint SIM just offered Cheapskate readers an exclusive: 20 percent off any six- or 12-month plan when you apply coupon code SHOPCLEVER at checkout. Update: Psst. Not sure what's up, but there appears to be another discount already in place, and the code works on top of that. I don't know if this is a glitch or what, but right now I'm seeing the one-year Medium plan in my cart for just $147.52.
Update #2: The double-discount glitch has been fixed, so now the numbers below are accurate. Still amazing prices, though!
With that code, the aforementioned Small plan now totals $159.20, or a little over $13 per month. Again, you have to prepay the entire amount, and in 364 days you'll probably be looking at the regular rate. But that's 2018's problem, no?
Those are awfully attractive numbers, though I suspect many users would prefer the Medium plan, which bumps the 4G LTE allotment to 5GB. It's normally $299, so $239.20 after the coupon code -- an effective monthly rate of $19.93. I'll just say it: wow.
For me, this is getting interesting. I'm currently paying Cricket Wireless $100 per month for five lines, each of them alloted 2.5GB of high-speed data. (Actually, as of today, that number jumps to 3GB. Thanks, Cricket!)
Mint SIM still offers no family or group plans, but for a slightly lower effective rate, my five lines could each have 5GB of data instead of 3GB. The catch, of course, is that I'd have to pony up nearly $1,200 to secure those five lines for the year. Probably not in the cards for a guy known as the Cheapskate.
But! For an individual, especially someone who can get by on 2GB of high-speed data per month (and unlimited slow data beyond that), Mint SIM's deal is truly spectacular.
Your thoughts?
Get this $20 game for as little as $1.
Bonus deal: Game time! Humble Bundle's latest is... well, kind of weird. The different tiers don't seem to make a lot of sense. Because, for example, if you pay $6 for the second tier, you get the action-packed co-op shooter Payday 2: Game of the Year Edition (normally $49.99 all by itself) -- but then what's the point of having Payday 2, which is included in the first tier?
Meanwhile, the $25 tier unlocks John Wick Chronicles, a game that's for HTC Vive only. And at the $45 level, you get the original "John Wick" movie and two tickets to the upcoming sequel. My advice: Grab the $14 tier to get two really solid action games (Dead By Daylight being the other) and tons of DLC.