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Get 3 months of Mint SIM cell service for $30

After the promotion ends, you'll still get some of the lowest rates around -- provided you're willing to prepay. Plus: Mobile Qi charging for cheap!

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
2 min read

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Mint SIM's latest promotion is pretty sweet, though it's good for only three months.

Mint SIM

Good morning, friends. Hard for me to be glib today in light of some of the heart-wrenching news of the past couple days, so I'll just get right to it.

Do you own an unlocked GSM-compatible phone? Have you been thinking about switching carriers? Here's a little incentive to give Mint SIM a try:

For a limited time, new Mint SIM customers can get $15 off any 3-month plan when using promo code Foxtober at checkout. On the 2GB plan, normally $15 per month, that works out to a grand total of $30 for three months.

The code works on the other plans as well, meaning you can get three months with a 5GB data plan for $45 or three months with 10GB for $60. Once this extended discount trial is over, you'll return to the regular rates -- which I'll discuss more in moment.

I've written about Mint SIM here before. This T-Mobile-powered carrier takes the notion of "prepaid" in a whole different direction: In exchange for highly discounted rates, you prepay for 3, 6 or 12 months of service.

I think the annual option is probably the most attractive for most folks, so let's focus there: Mint SIM's 2GB, 5GB and 10GB plans will run you $180, $240 and $300. Obviously that'll be a little painful to pay up front, but then you get the pleasure of 12 months without a carrier bill.

All of Mint SIM's plans include unlimited talk and texting, and data comes in the form of 4G LTE for the specified amount, then unlimited after that.

Here's what I don't like about Mint SIM: no support for visual voicemail, and no viable mobile-hotspot option for iPhone users. (You're limited to one device at a time, tethered via Bluetooth, not Wi-Fi.)

Can you live with those limitations? For as little as $30, you've got three months to find out. And if you've already tried Mint SIM, hit the comments to let your fellow readers know what to expect.

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This mobile power bank is also a 3-coil Qi wireless charging pad.

ZipKord

Bonus deal: A mobile charger that's also a Qi wireless charger? Yes, please!

For a limited time, and while supplies last, you can get the ZipKord Rockz 4,000mAh mobile Qi charger for $15 shipped. That's after applying coupon code freeship at checkout. At one time these sold at Verizon retail stores for $60 apiece, and they normally run $40 apiece from ZipKord proper.

The Rockz looks like a fairly traditional mobile charger, and in fact it has a 2.1A USB port for charging traditional mobile devices. But it's also a 3-coil Qi charger, great for an iPhone 8 or X, an old iPhone (one that's been slightly modified) or a Qi-compatible Android phone.

New to wireless charging? Here's a primer.