Should I Switch to Reach Mobile?

Reach Mobile is a unique cell phone company making waves with its excellent customer service and charitable giving. But no carrier is perfect for everyone. So how do you know if Reach Mobile is right for you?

Here’s the short answer: Reach is great for those who want amazing nationwide coverage and want to support a charitable cause. If you’re after the cheapest plan, you may want to look elsewhere. But that doesn’t mean Reach Mobile doesn’t offer good value.

If that sounds like you, you can sign up online in just a couple of minutes. If you’re still not sure, then read on to learn more about what Reach Mobile has to offer.

Reach’s plans start at just $20 a month. That gets you unlimited talk, text, and 2 GB of data. You can pay more to go up to 5 GB, 10 GB, 15 GB, or unlimited data from there.

While Reach plans are pretty much “what you see is what you get,” you do also get mobile hotspot data and international roaming. And you’ll end up paying less for Reach Mobile compared to some other providers that add perks to your plan, like T-Mobile or AT&T.

There are also two things you should know about Reach Mobile plans:

1. The Best Fit data plans charge you only for the amount of data you use. So if you pay for the 15 GB plan but use only 3 GB of data, Reach will charge you the cheaper 5 GB plan price instead.
2. The unlimited plan has a “soft” high-speed data cap of 25 GB. Once you reach that cap, your data speeds can be slowed down significantly if there’s a lot of network traffic.

We’ve already hinted at what makes Reach Mobile stand out, so let’s jump right into the details.

We think Reach makes an excellent mobile provider thanks to its charitable “Get a plan, give a plan” program, its use of T-Mobile’s extensive network, and some of the best customer service we’ve seen.

There’s one feature that really makes Reach really stand out in a market full of cheap carriers: its charitable giving.

“Get a plan, give a plan” is one of Reach’s philosophies. The company teams up with charitable organizations across the globe to provide data to women and students in need.

Reach does this by matching 10% of the data you pay for with your plan and pooling it for non-profit organizations to then share with those in need. This data then connects folks in India, Mexico, and the US with opportunities to learn, network, and find jobs.

While this might sound like a simple corporate marketing ploy, Reach is serious about letting you know where your money is going. You can use its app to track how much talk, text, and data you’ve provided through your plan.

Reach is a mobile virtual network operator (also called an MVNO).

MVNOs are carriers that don’t operate their own cellular networks. Instead, they lease bandwidth from other, larger companies. In this case, Reach uses T-Mobile’s network.

This is good news for Reach customers because T-Mobile has a solid 4G LTE network, and an even better 5G network across the country.

T-Mobile’s network isn’t just large, and it’s also fast.

T-Mobile has some of the fastest data speeds and a rapidly expanding 5G network. This means Reach customers can now access 5G/4G LTE speeds—you’ll just need a 5G-ready phone to hop on the 5G network.

We scrolled through dozens of customer support reviews for Reach Mobile, and we were impressed.

Reach earned 4.9 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot, and the company was also extremely responsive to all comments posted by customers.¹ Even the bad ones.

In a world where it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed or even ignored by poor customer service, Reach’s reputation is refreshing.

Reach definitely has qualities to get excited about, but there are a few things you should know about it before you jump to sign up.

That includes its middle-of-the-road prices and the potential for your wireless speeds to slow down or be deprioritized.

Reach Mobile’s prices aren’t the most expensive out there, but you’ll still find better deals from providers like Mint Mobile and Visible. So if you’re looking for a budget-friendly cell phone plan but love Reach’s charitable philosophy, it might be best to check for a mobile deal.

Because MVNOs like Reach use a network owned by another cell phone provider like T-Mobile, they tend to run into the issue of deprioritization.

Deprioritization means that if there’s a lot of traffic on the T-Mobile network, Reach Mobile customers could see their cell phone data speeds slow down. That’s because T-Mobile prioritizes its customers over the customers of MVNOs that use its network.

You’ll also see your speeds slow down if you use more than 25 GB of data in a month on your Reach plan—this is called throttling. Once you put a toe over that 25 GB data soft cap, Reach slows your data speed to 2G, or about 0.1 Mbps. (By comparison, your 4G LTE speeds are between 5 and 12 Mbps.)

If Reach Mobile sounds like a dream come true, you can sign up for a plan online. You’ll also need to download the free Reach Mobile app to set your account and phone up. (It’s available for both iOS and Android.)

Reach then sends you a welcome kit and SIM card. If you activate your plan seven days after you receive your SIM or sooner, Reach refunds your shipping costs—up to $10.

All right, let’s sum up the good and the bad about Reach Mobile:

All in all, we think Reach is great for those who don’t need a lot of high-speed data and want to help others through charity. (Everyone else should probably look elsewhere.)

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