Walmart Family Mobile Review

Elementary plans, mobile hotspots, and nifty coverage, but it will cost you

Walmart has everything on your list: mayonnaise, toothpaste, and a make new jail cell telephone plan. Yes, the big box giant has stepped into the mobile arena.

If you're the type of person who buys the shop brand products (Great Value, for the win!), then Walmart'south prison cell phone plans might exist perfect for you. Walmart Family Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), which means it offers discount cell phone plans using another company's network.

We'll go over everything you need to know almost the company's plans, operation, and client service in this Walmart Family Mobile review.

Walmart Family Mobile plans

Walmart offers some great plans, only they should toll less

Walmart Family Mobile plans

Cost

Talk and text

Full-speed data

Hotspot capable

Learn more

$24.88

/mo

Unlimited

2 GB

No

$29.88

/mo

Unlimited

5 GB

Yeah

$39.88

/mo

Unlimited

14 GB

Yeah

$0

Unlimited

Unlimited

Yes (upward to 10 GB)

Pros

  • Simple program structure

  • Hotspot capable

Cons

  • Pricier than the competition

  • Deprioritization

What we like

In the crowded MVNO marketplace, Walmart Family Mobile has done some piece of work to stand out. Its plans are simple, relatively affordable, and surprisingly powerful. Plus, they offer mobile hotspots, which is rare. Permit's talk about the details.

Simple plan structure

Walmart Family Mobile has 4 plans to choose from. All of these plans come with unlimited talk, text, and unlimited data at 2G speeds. But 2G is kind of similar punch-upwardly internet: it's so irksome that information technology's basically useless for most tasks.

So the real divergence between the plans is the amount of total-speed, 4G LTE data that y'all can use. Here's a breakdown of the program costs and full-speed data allocation.

Walmart Family Mobile data allotments

Cost

Full-speed data

$24.88/mo.

2 GB

$29.88/mo

5 GB

$39.88/mo.

14 GB

$49.88/mo.

Unlimited

Merely choose the plan that fits your data needs and you're good to become. You can add more data for $ix.88 per GB. And since there are no contracts, yous can always change your programme to one with more or less information.

How much telephone information do I actually need?

Light Bulb

If y'all're wondering just how much data yous need to stream an episode of Schitt'southward Creek, nosotros've got the answer.

Great network

There is 1 affair that Walmart doesn't accept: an actual cell telephone network. Instead of building its own cell towers (which is no pocket-sized task), Walmart just leases T-Mobile'due south. That means you'll become coverage anywhere T-Mobile's network reaches. Cheque out this map to encounter how your expanse looks.

That'southward a lot of majestic. And the network is likely to get even stronger as the visitor'due south merger with Dart moves forrad. That's adept news for Walmart Family Mobile customers. Read the Coverage section beneath for more than info on T-Mobile's network.

Mobile hotspots

Need to exist able to work while you take a cross-country road trip? Want to stream an episode of The Good Place on your laptop while you're waiting for your home internet to be stock-still? And then you need a mobile hotspot.

The cheapest Walmart Family Mobile plan is non hotspot capable (non that you can do much with 2 GB of hotspot information, anyways). But the rest of its plans are. Yous can utilize all of your allotted 4G data with your hotspot on the limited data plans, only the unlimited information plan will cap you at x GB.

What nosotros don't like

Walmart Family Mobile has some potent selling points, it's truthful. But every MVNO has its weaknesses, and we're hither to reveal them all. Muahahaha!

Not the cheapest carrier

When it comes to disbelieve providers like Walmart Family unit Mobile, price is a major cistron. At that place are so many other carriers that offer very like plans on the same networks, then if you're not offering something cheaper, why should anyone pay for your plans?

Unfortunately, Walmart Family Mobile doesn't quite manage to undercut the prices of its competition. For example, the company's 5 GB plan costs $29.88 a month. But you can get more than twice as much data (12 GB) on the same network from Mint Mobile for $five less! Bank check information technology out.

Similarly, Visible Wireless offers an unlimited data plan for almost $10 less than Walmart Family Mobile.

Want a crook canvass for the best MVNO plans on the market?

Deprioritization

When evaluating MVNOs there's always an elephant in the room: deprioritization. This is when the MVNO's parent network (in this case, T-Mobile) decides to slow the data speeds of some customers and prioritize the data speeds of others. By and large, the network will prioritize its ain customers over the MVNO's.

In practice, this ways that you might not be able to live stream your kid's altogether political party if you're in a packed public park. Or you might experience some lag in your Fortnite Mobile game during rush 60 minutes.

If you lot need a programme that won't get deprioritized, try plans from T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon.

How practice Walmart Family Mobile plans compare?

As we've already mentioned, Walmart Family Mobile'due south plans are a bit overpriced when you lot compare them to other discount providers. If you don't believe u.s., just check out this nautical chart of plans that are similar to Walmart's.

Walmart Family unit Mobile plan comparison nautical chart

Walmart Family Mobile family plans

Walmart's family plans pack in more savings than the single-line options

Number of lines

What you become

Toll

1

Unlimited talk, text, and data

$49.88/mo.

2

Unlimited talk, text, and data

$74.76/mo.

3

Unlimited talk, text, and data

$99.64/mo.

4

Unlimited talk, text, and data

$124.52/mo.

5

Unlimited talk, text, and information

$149.twoscore/mo.

Pros

  • Add together up to four more lines

  • Additional lines are cheaper

Cons

  • Pricier than other family plans

What nosotros similar

Walmart Family Mobile actually lives up to the family in its proper name. Hither'due south what we love virtually the company's multi-line plans.

Add up to iv more than lines

Once you lot've got a program with Walmart Family Mobile (any program), yous can add up to four lines. If this were Total House, Danny Tanner could take hold of cell phone lines for his iii daughters and notwithstanding have a line leftover for Uncle Joey.

Bundling your lines together makes it easier to manage your account, pay your bill, and continue track of how much data your kids use.

Save money

The best function of bundling your telephone plans together as a family is the savings. With Walmart Family Mobile y'all can add whatever plan to your original line for merely $24.88 a calendar month. That translates to savings of $25 a line when you're adding unlimited information plans. You basically simply cut your bill in one-half. Nice. Very nice.

Check the chart at the beginning of this section to see just how much it would cost to have up to five unlimited data lines.

Is Walmart Family Mobile not cut it for you?

Light Bulb

Walmart Family Mobile might be the only carrier out there with family in the name, but that doesn't hateful it's got the all-time family plans. Y'all can check those out in this article.

What we don't like

You lot didn't think it would exist all proficient news, did yous? Here's what we institute, um, less good about Walmart'due south family phone plans.

Pricier than other carriers

It really comes downwards to this: price. Walmart Family Mobile's multi-line plans exercise save you some money over their unmarried lines. But they're still not cheap enough to compete with plans from other companies like Visible and Cricket Wireless.

How do Walmart Family Mobile's family plans compare?

Permit's take a closer await at some of the competition. With Walmart Family unit Mobile, a iv-line unlimited information plan would cost you $124.52 a calendar month. Here's what like plans from other companies would cost you.

Walmart Family Mobile family plans comparison

Walmart Family Mobile coverage

T-Mobile'due south powerful network has yous covered

Permit's take a deeper await at Walmart Family Mobile's network. You can come across the coverage that customers will get through T-Mobile in the map above. But what about information speeds?

Fastest Wireless Download Speeds

As yous can see, T-Mobile has the fastest wireless speeds in the industry. That'southward expert news for Walmart Family unit Mobile customers who like to stream music and video on their phone. Keep in mind that your wireless speeds could be throttled due to being deprioritized on T-Mobile's network, just most of the time, you tin can look speedy downloads and uploads on your phone.

Walmart Family Mobile cell phones and devices

Maybe it's fourth dimension to upgrade from that iPhone 6 with the cracked screen

If you just picked upward a brand new iPhone 11 Pro that yous don't want to part with, don't worry. Yous can bring your own device to Walmart Family unit Mobile. Simply if yous're working with an older device, yous can catch an upgrade when you lot sign upwards for a plan with Walmart.

Walmart Family Mobile carries many of the best phones from Apple and Samsung. Unfortunately, the company doesn't carry whatsoever Google Pixel devices. Here'south a look at some of the popular models that the visitor stocks.

What meridian phones does Walmart Family unit Mobile have?

Make

Models available

Acquire more

iPhone

iPhone 11iPhone XRiPhone SE (2020)iPhone 8iPhone vii

Samsung

Galaxy S20, S20+Galaxy S10eGalaxy S9, S9+Galaxy J7

If you're looking for a disbelieve phone, you tin nab the Walmart Family Mobile LG Premier Pro Plus for just $79. Or, bank check out these other amazing deals on phones.

Walmart Family Mobile client service

You can call Walmart for customer service, or just a friendly conversation if you're lonely

Unlike the major telecommunications companies, MVNOs similar Walmart Family Mobile aren't analyzed past major customer satisfaction reviewers, like the American Customer Satisfaction Alphabetize. So it's hard to discover hard information on how happy customers are.

But, nosotros tin can say that it was piece of cake for us to become in touch with Walmart Family unit Mobile to discuss signing up, changing plans, and getting technical support. You tin can telephone call the company'southward customer service department at +i-877-440-9758.

Recap: Is Walmart Family Mobile right for yous?

So yous desire a unproblematic, low-cost cell phone plan. That'south reasonable enough. Is Walmart Family Mobile going to make the cut? Here's a quick recap to help you lot determine.

  • Plans: Walmart Family Mobile lets y'all choose between four plans. Fifty-fifty the cheapest plan comes with 2 GB of data. Unfortunately, all of these plans price more than similar offerings from competitors.
  • Family Plans: The family unit plans are where Walmart's cell telephone deals get real. You can add boosted unlimited data lines to any programme for but $24.88 a line. Non bad.
  • Performance: T-Mobile powers Walmart Family Mobile's service, which is practiced news for those who stream, game, or piece of work with their telephone. You'll go coverage in most inhabited parts of Due north America.

Walmart Family unit Mobile's standard plans aren't going to brand our list of the best inexpensive cell telephone plans. Merely for those who want to hook upwardly their whole family unit with unlimited data plans, then you lot might want to sign up for a multi-line plan.

Other recommended deals

We hope you've found a manner to salvage some money on your cell telephone bill, whether it'due south with Walmart Family Mobile or some other company. Simply don't finish there. You tin probably cut costs on your cyberspace neb, too.

Recommended internet plans

Here'south a look at some of the best cheap internet service plans on the market place.

Provider

Monthly cost

Download speeds

Data cap

Acquire more

Xfinity Net $19.99 $79.99 * 50 1200 Mbps 1.ii TB
CenturyLink Cyberspace $50 $65 100 940 Mbps Unlimited
AT&T Fiber $55 $180 300 5000 Mbps Unlimited
Viasat Internet $30 $169.99 ^ 12 100 Mbps 12 150 GB

Data effective 01/17/22. Offers and availability vary past location and are subject to change.

* For the first 12 months. Some packages require a 1- or 2-year contract.

New customers only. Rate requires paperless billing and excludes taxes. Additional fees utilise.

Price after $5/mo Autopay & Paperless bill discount (w/in ii bills). Plus taxes $ fees. Limited availability. May not exist available in your area.

^ For the get-go 3 months.

Easton Smith

Written past

Easton Smith

Easton has worked as a freelance author and researcher for several years, reviewing health, lifestyle, and technology products. He has probably read more Terms of Utilize contracts than any human alive. When he's not sitting in front of a reckoner, Easton spends his time camping, climbing, and volunteering with humanitarian assist organizations.

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