Boost Mobile is a wireless telecommunications company active in both the US and Australia. It is one of the most popular prepaid companies in the United States. They provide unlimited prepaid phone plans with unlimited talk, text, and data. The company also offers a large selection of high-quality cell phones, free Tidal music streaming, a shrinking payment option (a monthly discount for the customers who pay their bills on time), and as of recently the best and most reliable nationwide network coverage.
What Network Towers Does Boost Mobile Use
Boost Mobile is a prepaid MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) – a wireless service provider without its own wireless network infrastructure. As such, an MVNO must use another company’s infrastructure and network towers. Boost Mobile uses both T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s LTE network & towers to provide wireless service to its customers. In 2020, after T-Mobile and Sprint merged, Boost Mobile was acquired by Dish. While Dish is building its own 5G service and planning to take Sprint’s place among the nation’s largest carriers, they have secure access to T-Mobile’s network for the next 7 years.
How Good Is The Boost Mobile Network
Before the merge of T-Mobile and Sprint, the country’s largest four carriers had each certain 4G coverage:
- Verizon had the largest 4G coverage, covering 70% of the country
- T-Mobile had 59% 4G coverage
- AT&T had 58% of 4G coverage
- Sprint had 27% of 4G coverage
At that time, Boost Mobile was using Sprint’s network; therefore, their coverage was less than spectacular. After the T-Mobile-Sprint merge, however, T-Mobile’s 4G network covers 99% of the population, and the company has also become America’s largest and fastest 5G network. As Boost Mobile currently has the privilege of using T-Mobile’s network, it’s safe to say that their network is great, wide-spread, fast, and reliable.
Boost Mobile’s Coverage Area
Currently, T-Mobile is rapidly building their 5G network, and at the present moment, they provide access to their 5G network to more than 80% of US residents.
In addition to the fast-growing 5G network, they also offer their reliable 4G network, accessible to 99% of the population. As Boost Mobile uses T-Mobile’s towers and network, they have a similarly large coverage area “boostmobile.com/coveragemap_xp.html”. As they use the same towers, the coverage is officially identical (80% 5G coverage and 99% 4G coverage); however, the company that owns the towers tends to have a slight advantage.
Boost Mobile’s coverage area includes all the areas in the US with a dense population as well as many unpopulated places. The coverage is most reliable in the eastern states and only slightly less wide-spread in the west. You can check out their nationwide network coverage map on their official website “boostmobile.com/coveragemap_xp.html”.
How Boost Mobile’s Coverage Can Compare
Boost Mobile’s coverage can be compared to the new T-Mobile’s coverage, as they are basically the same. Boost Mobile uses T-Mobile’s towers and network; therefore, both carrier companies offer a 99% 4G coverage and an 80% 5G coverage, which is by far the largest in the country.
T-Mobile’s towers, which Boost Mobile also uses, cover over 8300 cities and towns in the US, which is actually twice the 5G coverage area of Verizon or AT&T, the remaining two major carriers in the US.
Check out the current best 5G and 4G coverage below-
The best 5G coverage:
- T-Mobile: 36.7% 5G coverage (80% of the population)
- AT&T: 15.9% 5G coverage
- Verizon: 10.9% 5G coverage
The best 4G coverage:
- Verizon: 70% 4G coverage
- AT&T: 68% 4G coverage
- T-Mobile: 62% 4G coverage (99% of the population)
For a map comparison between T-Mobile (thus Boost Mobile) and Verizon/AT&T 4G and 5G coverage area, check out T-Mobile’s official website. To compare LTE coverage visit their official comparison site “t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map”.
Is The Boost Mobile Network Reliable? How Reliable?
As you can see from the data provided above, Boost Mobile network & towers is very reliable as it uses T-Mobile’s reliable and wide-spread coverage.
When it comes to 4G coverage, they have the third-best coverage in the US (62% of the territory and 99% of the population).
When it comes to 5G coverage, on the other hand, T-Mobile (and thus also Boost Mobile) has the best coverage in the country, covering 36.7% of the territory (more than twice as much as AT&T’s second-best 5G coverage) and 80% of the population.
With these impressive numbers, you can be sure that you won’t lose reception and always stay connected, especially in most urban and largely populated areas. Their coverage is less reliable in remote areas where there is bad coverage – in those areas; you can expect to get patchy coverage at best.
What Other Carriers Use the Same Network?
As of 2020, when T-Mobile and Sprint merged under the new T-Mobile carrier company, all or at least most of the MVNOs like Boost Mobile that formerly used T-Mobile’s or Sprint’s towers and network, now use the new T-Mobile’s towers and network. Some of the many MVNOs that formerly used either T-Mobile or Sprint’s network include:
- Mint Mobile
- Ultra Mobile
- Altice Mobile
- Tello Mobile
- TextNow
- Consumer Cellular
- Metro by T-Mobile
- Net10
- Google Fi
- Red Pocket
- Republic Wireless
- Simple Mobile
- Straight Talk
- Ting
- TracFone
- US Mobile
- Gen Mobile
- Wing
- Freedom Pop
- Pix Wireless
- Project Fi
- ROK Mobile
- Twigby
- Virgin Mobile
Boost Mobile Network GSM or CDMA
First, let’s clarify what these two abbreviations stand for. CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access, and GSM stands for Global System for Mobiles. They are two different radio network standards used by wireless carriers. In the 90s, CDMA was the most used and the most popular network in the US; however, nowadays, GSM network is preferred. CDMA is known for carrying a smaller footprint.
Boost Mobile used to be a subsidiary network operator of Sprint mobile, a CDMA mobile network operator with multiple access. T-Mobile, on the other hand, has always been on a GSM network. As the two companies have merged, Sprint/Boost Mobile and T-Mobile and their MVNOs are both on a GSM network and CDMA/LTE network. As different devices support different network standards, older phones from Sprint/Boost Mobile customers may not work on T-Mobile’s network and might have to be replaced with newer models.
Boost Mobile Plans That Use Sprint or T-Mobile Network
Boost Mobile offers a large variety of different single-line prepaid plans with no credit check and no service contracts. All Boost Mobile plans include unlimited talk and text, a mobile hotspot, and 99% nationwide coverage. The prices include taxes and fees.
- Boost Mobile 1 GB new BYO customers only plan; It includes unlimited talk and text, 1 GB of 4G or 5G data, and 1 GB mobile hotspot. The price is $10 a month. The network used is T-Mobile.
- Boost Mobile 2 GB new BYO customers only plan; It includes unlimited talk and text, 2 GB of 4G or 5G data, and a mobile hotspot. The price is $15 a month. The network used is T-Mobile.
- Boost Mobile 5 GB new customers only plan; It includes unlimited talk and text, 5 GB of 4G or 5G data, and mobile hotspot. The price is $25 a month. The network used is T-Mobile.
- Boost Mobile 10 GB starter plan; It includes unlimited talk and text, 10 GB of 4G or 5G data, and a mobile hotspot. The price is $35 a month. The network used is T-Mobile.
- Boost Mobile 15 GB $HRINK-IT plan; It includes unlimited talk and text, 15 GB of 4G or 5G data, and a mobile hotspot. The initial price is $45 a month, and after six on-time monthly payments, it becomes discounted to $35. The network used is T-Mobile.
- Boost Mobile Go Unlimited 35 GB SD streaming plan; It includes unlimited talk and text, 35 GB of 4G or 5G data, unlimited 2G data, unlimited SD streaming, and 12 GB mobile hotspot. It offers the possibility to add a line for $30 a month. The price is $50 a month. The networks used are both T-Mobile and Sprint.
- Boost Mobile Go Unlimited 35 GB HD streaming plan; It includes unlimited talk and text, 35 GB of 4G or 5G data, unlimited 2G data, unlimited HD streaming, and 30 GB mobile hotspot. It offers the possibility to add a line for $40 a month. The price is $60 a month. The networks used are both T-Mobile and Sprint.
No credit check prepaid plans with family discounts, and 2, 3, 4, or 5 lines all use both T-Mobile and Sprint network. Their data-only plan includes 50 GB of data, a mobile hotspot, and a price of $50, uses the Sprint network.
Important Things About Boost Mobile Coverage – are There Any Limitations of Boost Mobile Which You Should Know About?
As we have established before, Boost Mobile uses T-Mobile’s network – America’s largest 5G network. As such, they offer the best 5G coverage (covering 36.7% of the territory and 80% of the population) and the third-best 4G coverage (covering 62% of the territory and 99% of the population). Even though Boost Mobile should get T-Mobile’s expanded network’s full power, T-Mobile may have a slight advantage. In addition to the huge nationwide coverage, Boost Mobile also provides a strong a reliable 4G LTE signal, faster upload and download speeds, Talk & Surf with VoLTE, and a large variety of Expended Data Network-capable phones. Boost Mobile’s coverage-related benefits are similar to the new T-Mobile’s benefits.
However, compared to T-Mobile, Boost Mobile offers less expensive prepaid plans without a credit check and without annual service contracts, unlimited music streaming, and generally lower prices and more competitive offers. On the other hand, T-Mobile is a larger carrier company with more stores, services, devices, and a larger overall service network.
While Boost Mobile uses the country’s largest 5G network, some consumers find it frustrating that their 4G coverage is the least impressive among the ‘big three’. T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T all offer a wider selection of devices, some of which are not supported by Boost Mobile. They all provide top-notch service, but it may not be worth their higher prices.
Can I Improve My Cell Phone Reception? How to Improve it?
If you are struggling with bad cell phone reception, there are certain ways to improve it.
- One way is to move to an area, where the reception is certainly and verifiably great and reliable. You can verify it in advance by checking your carrier’s website and network coverage map or simply Googling the matter.
- The second, simpler way is to upgrade your cell phone. As new phones feature advanced radio technology designed to get newer and faster carrier signals and spectrums, they get significantly better reception and coverage than older models. For example, T-Mobile introduced a new spectrum called Band 12 a couple of years ago, four times faster inside buildings than the previous spectrum. While the iPhone 5S doesn’t support the technology that can operate on the latest spectrum, the newer iPhone models, including iPhone 6S, 7, and 8, do. Newer devices are more equipped to work on the most recent and fastest spectrums; therefore, they have better reception.
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