Review of Mobi

Reviews
41

Haha, I’m confident you know this, however, in case some reading do not see the humor, I am joking. The reference to both directions being uphill is something my father used to say when he felt the need to point out his generation was tougher than mine as I was growing up.

@muerte33, my dad would also reference walking uphill in both directions in the snow but in his case (and mine) the snow was real. I grew up just outside Boston.

Ironically, when walking to high school from home, there was a route that went up (and down) a rather steep hill in both directions. Said hill was also easily avoided by taking an alternate route. Sledding down that hill was great fun though not exactly safe.

42

Me as well. Southern New Hampshire in my case. So I know a little bit about walking in snow.

One more thing that I did want to point out about Mobi customer service. Not only did their system send me an automated message when the port was complete, but Kayla herself followed that with an immediate personal email letting me know.

Not only did I receive zero notifications of any kind from Dish about the port, but I still have never received the email indicating this transition is occurring. Equally, no email when I cancelled the line (which I’ve had with them for years) after the port to Mobi was complete.

If you are looking for the kind of great customer service we had with Republic Wireless for so many years, look no further than Mobi.

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43

My Daddy must’ve had it worse than your father. His story was “rode my bike up hill both ways in the snow with two flat tires.”

And he grew up in Duplin County, NC, an area not particularly known for either snow nor hills.

@mikenoname, I’m so glad you’ve got things settled! Like you, I did not get the promised cancellation confirmation email on the number I most recently ported out, but the phone shows as cancelled in the account portal.

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44

I don’t recall my father ever talking about his travel travails as a youth. I on the other hand would tell my kids all about having to walk up hill both ways in a windy blinding snow while being chased by wolves. But tell kids that today and they won’t believe you.

I spent a better part of my young years in Massachusetts living at the top of a hill that was used by the local kids for sledding. It was next to a small ski slope the Base had set up. There was a great berm at the bottom for going airborne at the end of a run.

45

We signed up with Mobi today and awaiting activation. They had a few “errors” on their end and we had to wait several times for the rep to resolve those issues… so you should plan to spend significant time on the phone. We asked about a “new subscriber” discount and received $4.00 discount on their basic 1 GB plan for the life of our account. Our total monthly cost will be $7.51 per line. We’re certainly happy about that price!

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46

Hi @AuntTC

Very happy to hear you’ll soon be up and running with Mobi.

Out of curiosity, did you use physical SIMs or use the phones’ eSIMs? The latter sometimes requires Mobi’s engineering team to get Verizon to add the phones’ IMEI 2 to its whitelist database.

Mobi will activate the lines when it confirms port out of your numbers from DISH/Republic/Boost Infinite. In my case, that took about 4 hours. You will receive an automated email from Mobi followed shortly thereafter by a personal email from a Mobi agent when all is done.

Meanwhile, your current DISH/Republic/Boost Infinite service such as it is should continue to function.

47

Hi Roland - we were able to use eSIM and our numbers were ported within an hour! No mention of an engineering team, but maybe that’s why we were on hold so long. We still don’t have enough cellular coverage, but WiFi calling seems to be working perfectly (yay!)

Our voicemail PINs were changed somewhere along the line while porting, so I had to call Mobi to get the PINs reset.

So glad this ordeal is over! Thanks to all of you that stood beside me, encouraged me, and instructed me!

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48

I moved to Mobi about two weeks ago. Thanks to the comprehensive post from Roland above he convinced me to give it a try. The increase in costs for Boost Infinite was the tipping point to move from “RW” after 9 years. Details about my transition to note:

  • Activation I did the entire SIM purchase to activation from the mobile app and it was seamless. Once you get the SIM in the mail you activate it via the app and thankfully the SIM’s ICCID was pre-populated so I only had to squint to read the last 4 digits as a confirmation. Next, confirm device compatibility by entering the IMEI and your zip code for service confirmation. Waited (maybe a couple hours, wasn’t paying attention) for an email confirmation that it was activated and THEN insert it in the phone.
  • Service As mentioned in posts above, Mobi rides on Verizon’s network. Dish had us on AT&T. My work phone uses VZW so I know the coverage is good enough outside the home, unfortunately inside the house is spotty during peak times so my work iPhone uses WiFi calling with VZW. With AT&T we didn’t need WiFi calling for reliable calls. Obviously YMMV.
  • Phone compatibility Testing a Motorola G (7th gen, from '19) we bought from RW: WiFi calling does not work. MMS and SMS works. After swapping SIMS a few times for thorough testing, turns out WiFi calling wasn’t working on Dish either!! I never heard a complaint from my wife so I assumed it was working but thanks to AT&T’s better service it wasn’t a problem. After the failed WiFi calling I was on the fence if I want to continue with Mobi but I figured I’d get a new phone and make it work.
  • Porting a number We chose to get a new number (might have been a mistake) to test the service and then port the old one. We had to call Mint customer service and after maybe 15 mins on hold and 30 mins on the phone the port process was underway. When completed we got an email like customer service said. One problem though: Google’s RCS was still using the newly provisioned number after the port completed. So message recipients would receive a message from the wrong number. One time, a message started a 3-way chat with our new#, ported# and intended recipient. From my phone, I can’t tell what outbound number is being used and didn’t notice the 3-way chat but my friend showed it to me on his Samsung. We test RCS periodically and a couple weeks later it is still using the new provisioned #. For the meantime I have RCS disabled. Emailed Mobi support and they gave us some good instructions (I’d already tried them too) to clear settings and said it might take 30-days for it to fully switch over. I’m thinking a new phone would help speed things up.

FWIW: I’m thinking about the Pixel 7. First time stepping away from Motorola on Android for a personal device. Thanks to this forum post I learned about Swappa and see some good deals. Hopefully the device works. Motorola’s website has carrier compatibility listed on each phone and calls out explicitly Republic Wireless and “Other MVNOs on Verizon’s network”. I noticed the Edge+ 2022 is compatible for VZ MVNOs the Edge 30 is not. I can’t find the equivalent info on Google’s website. Instead they talk about 5g support for the Pixel but they don’t call out other Verizon MVNOs.

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49

Follow-up after the new-to-me Pixel 7 arrived: WiFi calling works great and RCS is sent from the correct #.

Not Mobi related but FWIW: After two mid-to-low level Motorola purchases (the first smart phone my wife ever owned), The $360 to buy a top-ish-tier phone was worth it. Camera, speaker phone, and screen quality are a huge improvement.

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50

I tried Mobi a little more than a year ago and liked everything - the people were nice, the service worked, and the price was quite reasonable since I don’t need much data.

I ended up having to leave because the phone I preferred to use was not compatible with their network.

I’ve recently been given a new phone, and Mobi has confirmed it is compatible, so I’ve placed my order for a new SIM card. I’ll be moving my former Republic Wireless (now Boost Infinite) number to Mobi before my next bill is processed in November. This “transition” will bring the final count of service lines I have moved away from DISH for myself and my family to eight, and this former “biggest fan” of Republic Wireless will be closing out a disappointing chapter in my life.

Update: Boost Infinite came through with the correct credits in advance of my November bill, so I’ll stick with them just a bit longer to see how things play out during this 6-month transitional period. I’ll still be re-joining Mobi, just not quite as soon as I had expected.

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51

After being with Mobi now for a couple of months, I can say with confidence that you are just beginning an exciting new chapter that will look a lot like what we all loved so much about Republic. Mobi is great, and the price is very reminiscent of what we used to pay with the Refund plans!

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52

2 posts were split to a new topic: Boost Infinite App Reports Data Use Incorrectly

53

Are new Mobi customers put on the T-Mobile or Verizon SIMs?
I would assume they can use ESIMs on Pixel 6a and above.
T-Mobile signal is the best in my house (AT&T and Verizon are weak).
AT&T should be the best in our subdivision because we have a tech that lives down the street from me!

54

Unless there’s been a recent change, it would be Verizon. The new T-Mobile network service is, as far as I know, still in beta testing.

Yes, eSIM is available on Mobi. Pixels as old as the 3a series are eSIM capable.

If you’d prefer not to wait for Mobi’s forthcoming T-Mobile network service, I also have household lines on Tello. Tello uses T-Mobile’s network and eSIM is available. Like Mobi, I’ve found Tello’s customer service to be excellent as have others:

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55

I’m so sorry, southpaw. It was a good run while it lasted. We’ve been on Mobi for a couple of months and we are so pleased. Wifi works like a charm - just like it did with the original RW. Which is a good thing, since Verizon towers in our area have been down for a few days (due to a line being cut?).

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56

Among the reasons Mobi has earned my loyalty is I occasionally gain insight into how the industry works:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mobi/comments/17spmub/comment/k8ujhbu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

57

Hey @rolandh,you mentioned in another thread that “MobileX does not have its own carrier bundle because buying iPhones from Apple at wholesale for retail sale is a requirement for an Apple carrier bundle.” (MobileX (Now Out of) Beta - #42 by zfighter) Because of this, you had to download and install a configuration profile from Mobile X in order for things to work on your iPhone properly. Is the same true for Mobi for your iPhone as well? Or did everything (WiFi calling/SMS/MMS included) just work after activation was completed?

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Hi @zfighter,

The short answer to your question is Mobi’s Verizon network service does not require a configuration profile. With the possible exception of visual voicemail everything just works. If, and only if, one is moving an active Mobi SIM from an Android to iPhone (or vice versa), then one would need to ask Mobi to reset visual voicemail on the back end.

For those wondering why MobileX’s Verizon network service requires a configuration profile while Mobi’s does not, read on.

Mobi, like MobileX, does not sell iPhones to its retail customers, therefore, Mobi, like MobileX, does not have its own carrier bundle.

Mobi’s Verizon network service is known as a “light” MVNO meaning Mobi is relying on the network infrastructure of its carrier partner Verizon. MobileX is a “full” MVNO relying on Verizon’s network for coverage, however, routes network traffic through its own cloud network core provided by OXIO.

Both Mobi and MobileX leverage Verizon’s iPhone carrier bundle provided by Apple. On iPhone, it is the Apple carrier bundle that sets the default APN(s). Mobi’s service relies on Verizon’s network infrastructure to route traffic, so the default Verizon APN works and there is no need to edit it. Since MobileX routes network traffic through its own core infrastructure, the default Verizon APN needs to be edited.

Manually editing the default Verizon APN on iPhone, unlike most Androids, is not possible. To work around the inability to manually edit the default Verizon APN on iPhone, one needs to use a configuration profile. While Apple configuration profiles can do many things, all the MobileX configuration profile does is change the default Verizon APN to the one needed for MobileX’s service.

One may create their own Apple configuration profiles on a Mac using Apple Configurator. I’ve examined MobileX’s configuration profile using Apple Configurator and verified all it does is change the APN from the Verizon default to one specific for MobileX.

Bottom line; I’ve been a more than satisfied Mobi subscriber since December of 2020. Now that DISH has retired the Republic brand, Mobi is my primary mobile service provider. That said, I also like what MobileX is doing in the market and wouldn’t let the need for its configuration profile (which does nothing more than edit the default Verizon APN) on iPhone stop me from using the service.

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59

As a MobleX iPhone SE user, I strongly agree with everything @rolandh writes, in general—as well as in this particular instance. If you want to sign up with MobileX, I would humbly suggest reaching out to customer support first. They will make the process easier via QR codes, and responsive, clear step-by-step.

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60

Just activated my first of two SIM cards with Mobi over the phone with a customer service rep. Nothing to report yet cell service-wise, but I wanted to point out that for some reason they offered me a discount of $6/month… permanently. I said, “Oh, is this just a first-line discount for new customers?” Rep replied, “No, it will apply to your second line as well.” I am NOT complaining, but… whaaat? It’s already only $10/month! Why do you need to charge less!? Anyway, hopefully they don’t go out of business or anything from charging too little. Haha.

Customer service was excellent, by the way.

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