Is Mint Mobile's "Unnecessary" Plan Necessary?

Angelo Ilumba - Senior Writer

Updated 10 November 2025

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What is the Mint "Unnecessary" plan?
Is the "Unnecessary" plan necessary?
Who is "Unnecessary" for?

Mint Mobile's website promotes four main phone plans. However, these offerings aren't the only Mint options. The MVNO has a few hidden plans, including its "Unnecessary" plan, a premium unlimited plan that beefs up its regular Unlimited plan’s high-speed data, mobile hotspot allowance, and (unfortunately) cost.

With a name like "Unnecessary" and Mint's lack of active promotion of the plan, you might wonder if it's any good, worth it, or...necessary. We'll take a closer look at the "Unnecessary" plan to help you find out if it's a good fit for you.

LIMITED TIME: Get any Mint Mobile plan for just $15 per month

Mint's Holiday Promo is here, and for a limited time, new customers and switchers can get any Mint plan for just $15 per month, including Unlimited. The deal applies to 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month plans, and Mint's Unlimited plan includes unlimited talk, text, and data with no hard caps. Paying $15 per month for the 12-month Unlimited plan works out to 50% off its normal price.

In our firsthand testing, we found Mint's unlimited plan to be one of the best options on the market, and two of our WhistleOut staffers switched to Mint permanently.

As a bonus, use the code 15NOW to get another $15 off any 3-month plan. Combining both offers brings the 3-month Unlimited plan down to just $30 total ($10/month).

See all Mint plans

Alternatives to Mint's "Unnecessary" plan

Most of us wouldn't find much value in the Mint "Unnecessary" plan, but Mint's four main offerings are some of the best around. Our guide to the Mint Mobile plans breaks down these four options to help you determine which is best for you. You can also check out the plans here:

Mint Mobile	Mint Mobile Unlimited Data Plan Unlimited 4G LTE/5G data T-Mobile 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 20GB mobile hotspot data Deal: Black Friday: Get this unlimited plan for just $15/mo. for the first 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months of service $15.00/mo $45 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $15/month). Intro pricing for new customers only. View Plan	$15.00/mo $45 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $15/month). Intro pricing for new customers only.	View Plan
Mint Mobile	Mint Mobile 23GB Data Plan 23GB of 4G LTE/5G data T-Mobile 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 23GB mobile hotspot data Deal: Black Friday: Get this 23GB Data Plan for just $15/mo. for the first 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months of service $15.00/mo $45 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $15/month). Intro pricing for new customers only. View Plan	$15.00/mo $45 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $15/month). Intro pricing for new customers only.	View Plan
Mint Mobile	Mint Mobile 17GB Data Plan 17GB of 4G LTE/5G data T-Mobile 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 17GB mobile hotspot data Deal: Black Friday: Get this 17GB Data Plan for just $15/mo. for the first 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months of service $15.00/mo $45 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $15/month). Intro pricing for new customers only. View Plan	$15.00/mo $45 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $15/month). Intro pricing for new customers only.	View Plan
Mint Mobile	Mint Mobile 6GB Data Plan 6GB of 4G LTE/5G data T-Mobile 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 6GB mobile hotspot data Deal: Black Friday: Get this 6GB Data Plan for just $15/mo. for the first 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months of service $15.00/mo $45 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $15/month). Intro pricing for new customers only. View Plan	$15.00/mo $45 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $15/month). Intro pricing for new customers only.	View Plan
Mint Mobile	Mint Mobile Mint Kids Plan 6GB of 4G LTE/5G data T-Mobile 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 6GB mobile hotspot data $15.00/mo $45.00 upfront payment for 3 months <br>(equals to $15.00/month). <br>Intro pricing for new customers only. View Plan	$15.00/mo $45.00 upfront payment for 3 months <br>(equals to $15.00/month). <br>Intro pricing for new customers only.	View Plan

What is the Mint "Unnecessary" plan?

The Mint "Unnecessary" plan is a premium offering from Mint Mobile, catering to heavy data users who find the standard Unlimited plan lacks the high-speed data they want. This plan adds a generous amount of high-speed data and mobile hotspot capability, ensuring that you stay connected at fast speeds, even after consuming a substantial amount of data. In total, you get the following with the "Unnecessary” plan:

50GB of high-speed data
20GB of mobile hotspot data

Just like all other Mint plans, this one comes in 3-, 6-, and 12-month packages. The longer the package, the less you'll pay per month. Here's a look at the pricing for each option:

3 months for $50/month
6 months for $45/month
12 months for $40/month

Who can buy the "Unnecessary" plan?

A big reason why Mint doesn't promote this plan on its website is that it's not available to just anybody. In fact, you'll only see the "Unnecessary" plan as an option for purchase once you are ready to renew your current Mint service.

In other words, the "Unnecessary" plan is only available to current Mint customers.

The "Unnecessary" plan only shows up as an option once you are eligible to renew service.
Image: Angelo Ilumba

Is the "Unnecessary" plan necessary?

Mint is known for its tongue-in-cheek marketing, so it's no surprise that they would name a plan "Unnecessary" while making it seem elusive and exclusive. But the important question remains: Is it worth upgrading to this plan?

For most of us, the answer is simply no. The 50GB of high-speed data and 20GB of hotspot data is much more than the average user will need in a month. The average monthly mobile data usage is between 15GB and 20GB. If you regularly connect to Wi-Fi, that drops to under 10GB.

Who is "Unnecessary" for?

This premium plan isn't for everybody. Still, power users might be enticed, considering the “Unnecessary” plan is cheaper than unlimited plans from the likes of T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T.

The good news is that since "Unnecessary" is only available to those renewing their Mint service, you'll have built-in history to help you determine whether or not the plan is right for you. Mint will even help you out with this. When I tested the Unlimited plan for my Mint Mobile review, the carrier sent me texts telling me that a cheaper plan would probably be best for me because I wasn't using enough data to justify paying for Unlimited.

If you are on the Unlimited plan and find that you are constantly going over your high-speed data allotment and/or your mobile hotspot data, "Unnecessary" is probably a great option for you. If you are on a limited Mint plan, you might want to try bumping up to Unlimited before going to "Unnecessary."

50GB is a big chunk of monthly data. For example, here's what you can do with 50GB of data:

Stream about 100 hours of SD video
Listen to around 10,000 songs
Browse the internet for about 600 hours

Using your data usage history (found in the Mint app) is the best way to determine whether or not "Unnecessary" is best for you. Check out our mobile data usage guide for more help determining how much data you need.

Angelo Ilumba

Senior Writer

Angelo is a highly experienced writer for WhistleOut, specializing in unraveling the complexities of the mobile and tech world so that readers can easily understand what is relevant to them. Angelo has been featured on several publications such as MoneyTalksNews, Yahoo Finance, NPR and more.

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