Try out this map for detailed coverage questions. Around a big metro like Portland you should be fine with TMobile (where Mint Mobile contracts from). Depending on how much rural travel you do is more of the question as to how well it will work for you.

FCC Coverage

I've been using Mint for 1.5 yrs now and love it. Great coverage and signal strength in the Portland metro and surrounding area. I also travel a lot to NH and have never dropped a call or streaming music.

Nothing but good things to say about Mint!

Recently converted to Mint in Central Maine, and I'm happy with it.

I had Boost Mobile when I was in Southern Maine for a while.

It was okay near Portland, but just okay. Terrible anywhere else.

Verizon has the best coverage, but worst price, in my opinion.

Thank you! We have looked at the coverage map, but I hate to rely on the company's own website, I was hoping to hear from someone that actually uses it.

I do appreciate you digging that up though!

That's great to hear! Thank you so much for your reply.

Good to hear! Thank you for taking the time to reply. I have Verizon through work and you're correct, the coverage is great, but damn they're expensive!

I swear I'm not a paid person for Mint but one thing that was an unexpected plus for me was when they suggested a *lower, cheaper* plan for me after my Unlimited 3-month intro period ran out. My account showed that I'm using mostly WiFi and so really didn't need the more expensive Unlimited data plan.

I've never had a phone company recommend that I spend less to match my actual data use, so that was a bit cool, for me :) I'm on the $15/mo plan and pay for the year. If my travel goes up in 2023, I may need to adjust, but for now my data is always easily below the limit bc WiFi is basically everywhere.

I recently switched from Verizon to Spectrum (who use the same network) and you get the same coverage for much cheaper. I've had no issues so far and I drive all over Maine for work

My wife has mint and only loses it in valleys when traveling away from towns, basically has cell service 99% of the time. I use Verizon since I travel to lots of random towns and off-grid areas for work so I need the greater coverage in these spotty areas.

I use Mint in Camden area and have no problems throughout the midcoast. Some dead spots, but not enough to pay more for.

I'm curious about the Greater Bangor area of coverage.

Yeah, I like it. I don’t seem to be able to make a voicemail on it, though. I think that might be more my problem than the company’s but I’m not sure.

I live in northwest York County, so not exactly the greater Portland area, but I go there often enough and never lose service.

I have been using Mint Mobile for ~2 years myself. The service uses T-Mobile and Sprint towers and has great coverage in the Greater Portland area, the only issue area I have run into so far is Higgins Beach in Scarborough, but that has been an issue with every provider I have tried in the past as well.

Wow! That's great to hear.

Where should I mail your commission check?😜

I forgot about Spectrum. As passe as bundles sound, my sister is saving a lot by combining internet, cable, and cell service. Be cautious about data use though. She has the lower data plan, and pays for each Gigabyte over the 1st one. My nephew doesn't always notice not being on wifi, so she gets some surprise bills. Mint's lowest data plan is 4GB, which I consider, much more reasonable.

Appreciate the info! Thank you

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My wife doesn't travel a whole lot, so I would agree the dead spots occasionally would not be worth the extra cost of a better plan. This is the kind of information I was looking for.

Thank you!

Might need to look into it, sadly I'm still in contact with US Cellular.

Northern York county is close enough!

Thank you for your input, greatly appreciated.

With spectrum I was able to get unlimited data for $30 a month for my phone which I found significantly better than 90$ for 2gb with verizon

Check out Tello as well. It's 30 bucks unlimited. It's still T-Mobile network so has all the same strengths and weakness as mint

I had a problem with TMobile years ago ( couldn't get signal in my work/ poor penetration).

Ended up with T . This was a long time ago and they may have improved? I'm sure Wifi calling helps with this too.

I’m a T-Mobile user and I live north of Old Town. Coverage is great and because so few people up here are on it you end up getting 150+Mbps on speed tests. You also get native US Cellular roaming so when I got up to Houlton or PI I have LTE essentially everywhere. I suggest going with a T-Mobile test drive for a few days and making sure it works where you go most frequently first.

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I'm considering switching to Tello, but was kind of weirded out that I had to use an out of state address for my "where will you use service most" location. They don't have (207) numbers so they give you a # based on that fake address until you port yours over. Did you have to do that?

Thank you! I had not heard of them, we'll look into it.

Who wants to talk on the phone when you're at the beach!

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Thank you for the information.

Family from out of state rents a cottage there every summer for 2 weeks. I work a job that has rotational on-call work where I either need Wi-Fi or somewhat decent cell signal..

Been using Mint for over 2 years now in Portland. I pay $240 FOR THE YEAR 😂 unlimited talk/text and 10GB of data a month. Plenty for me and the service has been great.

It’s still shocking to me that people are paying over $50 a month for their cell phones. Some may even still be at $100+ a month 😬

My wife pays over $100 a month, and that's for her line and her mother's. It's crazy. Her contract has finally expired so we're looking for cheaper alternatives going forward.

So happy to hear about your experience with Mint. Thank you for the reply!

lol, it sounds like it! but i'm just a normal person :)

You might consider Visible too then. Similar business model as Mint, but they contract through Verizon instead of T Mobile. Anecdotally I’ve had a pretty good experience through them after a year

I'm mostly in southern Maine, occasionally in central, I've had mint for 3? Years and was Verizon before that.

You'll have less coverage than Verizon in the more rural areas, but I've never had any issues honestly. It's been great, though most of my time is in populated areas southern Maine so it depends a bit on where you're using it.

Shit I pay 100 each month through Verizon with a $10 credit for autopay. But work reimburses me or else I would cancel in a heartbeat. What pisses me off is the smartphone access surcharge which is 20 or 30 I can't remember.

Tracfone might be a good option for you. No messy and complicated contracts, and I only pay less than $50 for three months of service. Plus I get unlimited calls and texting!

It does use Verizon though after they bought them out (used to use all four major carriers), so keep that in mind.

We've had it for decades and we did consider Mint for a while but decided to stick with the classics instead.

Southern side, in Winterport. There are 3 known spots where you are swapping TMobile towers and it kicks off for about a football field, otherwise no issues. I am an aggressive Pokemon Go player if that helps.

My husband does. 20 minutes north of Portland with no problems at all.

I'm in the Belgrade Lakes area and I've been using Mint for a couple years. I've had no problems with it.

MVNOs are where it's at. I just switched from Verizon postpaid to US Mobile and haven't noticed a difference in coverage (I live in Portland). My husband uses Mint, and he really likes it. There have been a few occasions where I have service when he doesn't.

Switched from Verizon to Mint this year (live in greater Portland area) and have had no differences in coverage, you really can’t beat the price. The only negative thing I have to say about Mint is their international plans are crazy expensive, so keep that in mind if you’re someone who travels often. Otherwise, it’s incredible.

I am probably going to switch over my family to Mint once possible. We currently have phones locked in with T-Mobile or else I’d do it now.

We had gone with Mint because the coverage map shows great coverage in our area; the reality was absolutely no coverage in our town and for twenty miles in any direction. (Central part of the state.) We had to change to Verizon.