# Tello mobile plan

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Tello mobile plan and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend Tello as a cheap prepaid US mobile plan that works well as a second line or eSIM, with service running on the networks of larger carriers.

## Why people recommend it

- Cheap monthly plan (4 comments): "I can get all the data/minutes/texts I need for $15 a month on a service like Tello" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49633417)) "the cheapest $5 Tello plan as a second line is great for business use like this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49150616)) "Tello is $5/month and you can activate online." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46269532))
- Works well as second line (2 comments): "the cheapest $5 Tello plan as a second line is great for business use like this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49150616)) "My friend's eSIM experience with Tello was pretty good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46425012))
- Same networks as big carriers (2 comments): "they are just a t-mobile MVNO, so the numbers are part of t-mobile's pool" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46485798)) "Same carrier networks, same quality of service." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46701078))

## What people warn about

- Price marked up on minutes (1 comments): "a 5+ times mark up is pretty rich" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46489988))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [US Mobile](https://hackerapproved.com/p/us-mobile.md): 31 recommend
- [Google Fi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-fi.md): 26 recommend
- [Cape mobile cell service](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cape.md): 19 recommend
- [Airalo eSIM](https://hackerapproved.com/p/airalo.md): 16 recommend
- [Mint Mobile](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mint-mobile.md): 15 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://tello.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Tello mobile plan", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tello/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).