I tried signing up for Trump Mobile service. Here’s how it went.

June 17, 2025 Updated Tue., June 17, 2025 at 2:18 p.m.

By Shira Ovide washington post

There’s a bunch of questions about Trump Mobile, the new wireless service from President Donald Trump’s family business.

There’s the promised $499 “made in America” smartphone, which experts said was probably impossible to make in the United States. There are ethical concerns about another product capitalizing on the president’s name brand.

And then there’s me, who is trying but so far cannot actually use Trump Mobile’s phone service.

Trump Mobile successfully billed my credit card Monday - at a cost that’s considerably higher than the advertised price - but I haven’t been able to actually start using the wireless service yet.

Don’t let this scare you off. I’m here to persuade you that many more Americans really should try the growing number of alternatives to AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon - although maybe not Trump Mobile.

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You’re probably paying too much for mobile service

Navi, a handy mobile price comparison site, crunched the numbers last year on the cost of wireless service plans and buying smartphones. It found that in many, although not all circumstances, you would save money by ditching one of America’s big three carriers for mobile service sold by Xfinity or Spectrum.

Those two cable TV providers only sell mobile phone service to customers of their home internet service, which isn’t available nationwide. Navi didn’t evaluate the potential cost savings of other alternative phone providers, but they could be considerable.

In recent surveys of Consumer Reports members, customers of smaller mobile phone providers - led by U.S. Mobile, Consumer Cellular, Mint Mobile and Ting - overwhelmingly were happiest with the perceived value and overall service. AT&T was dead last in the customer satisfaction survey, with Verizon and cable provider Optimum tied for second-worst.

AT&T, Verizon and Optimum owner Altice didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

All those smaller phone companies, including Trump Mobile, pay AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon to borrow their wireless networks. (For the nerds, these providers are called mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs.)

If you sign up for Spectrum’s mobile service at $30 a month for an unlimited plan, you’re using exactly the same mobile network as Verizon’s customers. Verizon discloses that on average, its customers on long-term wireless plans pay $146.46 a month per account, which might include multiple phone lines.

In theory, customers of alternative phone providers are lower-priority users on networks like Verizon, which means your data speeds could be slower when lots of people are using the network. In practice, it’s not clear how often data speeds slow down or if you’d even notice.

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Trump Mobile’s not-great start

I cannot recommend Trump Mobile until I’ve tested the wireless service, and my initial experience hasn’t been good.

The first surprise was the cost. Once I entered my personal information and credit card details, a “plan telecom tax” of $17.25 a month was added to the advertised monthly price of $47.45.

Plan price: $47.45

Plan telecom tax: $17.25

Shipping: $0.00

Total: $64.70

That’s a significant cost bump, and it’s not clear if that’s all mandated government taxes or other fees described as taxes, which is a tactic that has been used by some telecommunications providers.

It has also seemed impossible to actually turn on Trump Mobile service on my phone.

A video on Trump Mobile’s customer support website said that new customers should scan the QR code or follow instructions that are provided to start using the wireless service on your existing smartphone. But I had not received a QR code or mobile service activation instructions. (My credit card was billed immediately.)

I spoke to a kind and helpful customer service representative on Monday - Trump Mobile has stressed that its service help is based in the United States - and followed up by email to the customer care team. I was told that if I didn’t pick the option for “instant activation” - which I believe I did - it might take a few hours or a day to get activation instructions.

Sure enough, I did see a QR code and “Activate Now” button in my Trump Mobile online customer account Tuesday morning. When I clicked that button, though, the page for options to turn on my Trump Mobile service said “coming soon!”

A press representative for Trump Mobile didn’t immediately respond to my questions.

I asked the customer service representative on Monday about the added fee and was read a passage from the Trump Mobile terms of service that says subscribers are “responsible for the payment of applicable telecommunication taxes and fess as imposed by the various government agencies.” (Yes, there’s a typo for “fees” and it’s not the only botched word in there.)

Ahmed Khattak, the CEO of mobile provider U.S. Mobile, said he’s not sure that Trump Mobile has the “operational excellence” that is needed to successfully offer the wireless service it promised. But Khattak said that he welcomes more high-profile alternatives to AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to nudge Americans to break out of the Big3 wireless habit. “The more, the merrier,” he said.

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