I ditched T-Mobile for Mint and found 3 major drawbacks of smaller carriers - and their workarounds

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A few weeks ago, I shared my journey of switching over to Mint Mobile , after being a T-Mobile customer for more than a decade. As you may have guessed, the move was easy to justify, with mounting price increases and forced plan upgrades being the main reasons.

I'm also saving more than $100 per month now, so that's nice. But going from a big household name such as T-Mobile to a smaller brand like Mint has taught me a thing or two about the downsides of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), too.

Also: I ditched T-Mobile for Mint after 10 years of service - now I'm saving $120/month

They're mostly tolerable, with some unique fixes and lifestyle changes that I've picked up over the past few months. So if you're on the verge of making the switch yourself, here's a breakdown of some of the most common limitations I've faced, and how I'm dealing with them.

I'd like to think that the phrase "you get what you pay for" was coined by the overlords who run major carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, because data deprioritization, or the queuing of network bandwidth in congested areas, is very real.

An example of this was when I attended a Bruno Mars concert just the other night. In high-traffic areas like MetLife Stadium on a Saturday night, customers with higher Quality of Service Class Identifiers (QCI), such as those with premium 5G plans on T-Mobile, will receive priority for available bandwidth.

Those at the bottom of this QCI queue, such as MVNO customers like myself, are not as lucky. The delay in my phone uploading Raye's opening act to my group chat made it very clear where I sat that night within the hierarchy of mobile data speeds.

Also: I compared 5G network signals of Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T at a stadium - here's the verdict

The alternatives here are twofold: you can either force your phone to limit its data connectivity to LTE (instead of 5G) or, with a VPN enabled, tap into public Wi-Fi. In some cases, running on 4G/LTE may be faster than 5G, as most MNOs have tailored their services toward the latter.

In public areas, such as bars, gyms, and airports, the Wi-Fi may offer better, more reliable connectivity than your provider's. Just be cautious of accessing sensitive financial or work accounts, and use a trusted VPN if possible.

When switching from an MNO to an MVNO, it's easy to forget that you likely no longer have the freedom of unlimited (or 60GB, in my case) hotspotting. I learned this the hard way when I had a home internet outage last week and realized how quickly my monthly data allowance on Mint was being drained.