Members Mobile - Free phone service for a limited time - Whose network does it use?

[Almighty1]

Been seing ads for Members Mobile on Facebook - Free phone service for a limited time - Whose network does it use?

Members Mobile - Save Hundreds on Your Plan

No-contract, high-speed mobile plans built for credit union members. Save hundreds a year, earn cash ShareBacks and rewards, and switch in minutes with no hidden fees.

www.membersmobile.com

 

[harshness]

If you read some of the descriptions, they present themselves as a "Wi-fi calling service". They also note that if you lose Wi-fi, you lose service.

Putting two and two together and you probably should arrive at the conclusion that there are zero wireless carriers involved.

You acknowledge that Members Mobile does not offer primary line or lifeline services. You should always have an alternative means of accessing emergency response services using traditional 911 or other emergency notification services.

In this case, the service should probably be viewed as a VOIP product.

 

[comfortably_numb]

"Save hundreds on cellular by not having cellular!"

Amazing!

 

[Almighty1]

If you read some of the descriptions, they present themselves as a "Wi-fi calling service". They also note that if you lose Wi-fi, you lose service.

Putting two and two together and you probably should arrive at the conclusion that there are zero wireless carriers involved.

In this case, the service should probably be viewed as a VOIP product.

Interesting. Pronto which advertises as autoswitching between AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile also uses VoIP from the discussions on HoFo and other places.
As this is what I found with search:

Ofcourse the "VoWiFi Terms and Conditions" seems to be comparing it to traditional wired landline home service.
"The purpose of this Disclosure is to inform Members Mobile customers of any differences between the 911 and E911 access capabilities that may be available with the Members Mobile Wi-Fi calling service compared to the 911 and E911 access capability available with traditional wired telephone service."

That part is not even writtien by Members Mobile as I searched the last sentence and let's take a look at Mint Mobile:

https://www.mintmobile.com/911-and-e911-disclosure

where you will find the exact same terms and conditions where it talks about WiFi being required and the last also ends with:

• IN ADDITION, YOU SHOULD MAINTAIN ALTERNATE MEANS OF CONTACTING 911 and E911 SERVICES. You acknowledge that Mint Mobile does not offer primary line or lifeline services. You should always have an alternative means of accessing emergency response services using traditional 911 or other emergency notification services.

UltraMobile says the same thing at:

https://www.ultramobile.com/911-e911-disclosures/

AI basically says this:
A company or plan that "does not offer primary line or lifeline services" means it operates as a secondary, prepaid, or value-added mobile/data provider rather than an official government-assisted telecommunications carrier. These providers cannot apply federal or state Lifeline discounts to your bill.

Lifeline and Primary Line Rules

• • Government Assistance: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) manages Lifeline to lower phone or internet costs for low-income households.
  • State Programs: The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) runs California LifeLine for local discounts.
  • One Discount Limit: Rules state you can only use one Lifeline discount per household, tied to a primary home or mobile line.
  • Standard Providers: Non-participating carriers charge regular retail rates and do not process subsidy verifications.

and while the checking account says:
"There is no monthly maintenance fee, hidden fees or minimum balance required with this account."
so you can technically put in $0.01 and keep a $0.01 there but the other part is in the FAQ:

#3, retail price payment is a bigger concern even if the service was legit as that's not free.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Be careful trusting these "AI searches." They're often VERY wrong. I would say they have an 80% failure rate.

 

[Almighty1]

Be careful trusting these "AI searches." They're often VERY wrong. I would say they have an 80% failure rate.

Yes but Primary and Lifeline carriers, the first would mean they have to actually have a network, MVNO is essentially a virtual network using someone else's network and Lifeline is usually government sponsored for low or free service. So you are right, it is wrong but for some stuff, it is correct.

Mint Mobile is widely known and other than switching the Mint Mobile for Members Mobile in the agreement itself, the agreement appears to be very identical so for all we know, they could just be rebadging Mint Mobile as their own service or this is something that is from T-Mobile for MVNO's except they just don't disclose it. Basically, both are saying the 911 can only be used at home or where you can have a WiFi connection.

 

[harshness]

One must not confuse "network connectivity" with cellular connectivity. Network connectivity can (and likely does) mean LAN Wi-fi connectivity in this case.

There's also the gotcha that you must also be a member of one of the affiliated credit unions to qualify.

 

[Almighty1]

One must not confuse "network connectivity" with cellular connectivity. Network connectivity can (and likely does) mean LAN Wi-fi connectivity in this case.

There's also the gotcha that you must also be a member of one of the affiliated credit unions to qualify.

Sprint and T-Mobile cannot call themselves as cellular connectivity because cellular means what is known as System A (Wireless) and System B (Wireline Carrier). For San Francisco, A would be CellularOne which is now known as AT&T Wireless and B is Verizon Wirelss which was originally known as GTE MobilNet. Sprint and T-Mobile are known as Personal Communications System (PCS) carriers which is known as System C and System D. Cellular means 800Mhz and PCS means 1.9Ghz. As far as network connectivity, it can literally mean any network whether wired, wireless, mobile, cellular, PCS. As I said before, read the Mint Mobile disclosure at https://www.mintmobile.com/911-and-e911-disclosure and you will still reach the conclusion that it WiFi and not cellular, Members Mobile is using the same exact disclosure word for word except replace the "Mint Mobile" with "Members Mobile".

If you read everything else, it tells you they use T-Mobile and it would not be LAN Wi-Fi connectivity as why would anyone need data from phone if they already have internet connectivity since one will be pushing the same data capacity usage over both the in-home Internet WAN and also the mobile provider. To be a member of Safe1 which is the credit union mentioned, it costs nothing except opening and linking the Safe1 checking account which has no monthly balance requirement, no monthly fees. That part is already mentioned. The only thing is one will lose $35 as it's not free since you have to pay for one month of service first at the retail price before the free offer will kick in so basically you should have $35.01 in the account so $0.01 balance remains to prevent the linked account from auto-closing due to a zero balance. So like mentioned in my earlier response, step 3 in the how to qualify is what will be the real cost.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Sprint and T-Mobile cannot call themselves as cellular connectivity because cellular means what is known as System A (Wireless) and System B (Wireline Carrier). For San Francisco, A would be CellularOne which is now known as AT&T Wireless and B is Verizon Wirelss which was originally known as GTE MobilNet. Sprint and T-Mobile are known as Personal Communications System (PCS) carriers which is known as System C and System D. Cellular means 800Mhz and PCS means 1.9Ghz.

I don't think any of that applies anymore...

Plus Juan said the Big 3 will all be using the same network soon... unless I misunderstood

 

[Almighty1]

I don't think any of that applies anymore...

Plus Juan said the Big 3 will all be using the same network soon... unless I misunderstood

Well, that's how it is by definition as I have been a tester and used mobile between 1989-1997 before being a paying customer. Cellular and PCS are two different things if you look at the actual definition.

As for the big 3 all will be using the same network soon, it would help if this was official word from the big 3 and not speculation since it will not happen as they are all competitors of each other unless they all merged because of SpaceX competing with them. It would help if you actually linked to what Juan actually said as it could be a misunderstanding or not.

I couldn't use Members Mobile even if I wanted to as I don't have a phone that supports eSims which is a requirement. Not to mention, I will stick to Verizon or something like USMobile which has Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile as the last two do not even work at my house since I have AT&T for my Ring Alarm backup and I have joined Nielsen Ratings which uses T-Mobile and it was unable to get a reliable signal. Even Verizon is spotty. If I went up or down 500 feet, then it will work better as I am at the edge in the edge of two towers for each provider.

 

[Juan]

Well, that's how it is by definition as I have been a tester and used mobile between 1989-1997 before being a paying customer. Cellular and PCS are two different things if you look at the actual definition.

As for the big 3 all will be using the same network soon, it would help if this was official word from the big 3 and not speculation since it will not happen as they are all competitors of each other unless they all merged because of SpaceX competing with them. It would help if you actually linked to what Juan actually said as it could be a misunderstanding or not.

I couldn't use Members Mobile even if I wanted to as I don't have a phone that supports eSims which is a requirement. Not to mention, I will stick to Verizon or something like USMobile which has Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile as the last two do not even work at my house since I have AT&T for my Ring Alarm backup and I have joined Nielsen Ratings which uses T-Mobile and it was unable to get a reliable signal. Even Verizon is spotty. If I went up or down 500 feet, then it will work better as I am at the edge in the edge of two towers for each provider.

Boy are you in for a shock


AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Plan to launch new joint venture that helps end dead zones | News Release | Verizon AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Plan to launch new joint venture that helps end dead zones

 

[Almighty1]

Boy are you in for a shock


AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Plan to launch new joint venture that helps end dead zones | News Release | Verizon AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Plan to launch new joint venture that helps end dead zones

Interesting, and just like I said, it's related to SpaceX and the JV is satellite based as the reuters news is more complete. It's still only a plan and until it's actually launched and available, it really means nothing. I am sure it will fix coverage, hopefully it has good latency.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-wireless-carriers-launch-joint-venture-address-rural-dead-zones-2026-05-14/

I guess anything is possible since Comcast and Spectrum are also in a joint venture for mobile phone service which started as a joint venture in 2018 as Verizon MVNO's and both have already gone satellite based which is already available over a year ago:

Comcast, Charter Launch Mobile Platform Partnership

Comcast and Charter are building a new OSS/BSS system for mobile services, and they're doing it together.

www.lightreading.com

Spectrum Mobile and Comcast Xfinity Mobile Launch Phone Service From Space With iPhones & Android | Cord Cutters News

Charter Communications and Comcast announced this week, that their mobile divisions, Spectrum Mobile and Xfinity Mobile, have rolled out satellite-based connectivity in collaboration with Skylo, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) provider. The feature, now live on Samsung Galaxy S25 and Google...

cordcuttersnews.com

 

[Juan]

Interesting, and just like I said, it's related to SpaceX and the JV is satellite based as the reuters news is more complete. It's still only a plan and until it's actually launched and available, it really means nothing. I am sure it will fix coverage, hopefully it has good latency.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-wireless-carriers-launch-joint-venture-address-rural-dead-zones-2026-05-14/

I guess anything is possible since Comcast and Spectrum are also in a joint venture for mobile phone service which started as a joint venture in 2018 as Verizon MVNO's and both have already gone satellite based which is already available over a year ago:

Comcast, Charter Launch Mobile Platform Partnership

Comcast and Charter are building a new OSS/BSS system for mobile services, and they're doing it together.

www.lightreading.com

Spectrum Mobile and Comcast Xfinity Mobile Launch Phone Service From Space With iPhones & Android | Cord Cutters News

Charter Communications and Comcast announced this week, that their mobile divisions, Spectrum Mobile and Xfinity Mobile, have rolled out satellite-based connectivity in collaboration with Skylo, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) provider. The feature, now live on Samsung Galaxy S25 and Google...

cordcuttersnews.com

There is a reason verizon is getting rid of their corporate stores and laid off 13k wireless employees

 

[Almighty1]

There is a reason verizon is getting rid of their corporate stores and laid off 13k wireless employees

Maybe it's just how things are in the current environment just like everything is gone, Microsoft Store, Sony Style stores, etc. As long as they get the business, it's better to close down retail physical locations, getting rid of people to save money. Seems like the big 3 even without the JV already has their own partnership with someone providing the satellite coverage like T-Mobile's T-Satellite for example. The things they can charge for can change as either the stuff went free or it's unlimited and no longer metered so the revenue will be less as time goes on. Voice was originally by the minute charged, text was charged for each sent/received so the only thing left is data and even those are going to unlimited. XFinity for example has free unlimited roaming, unlimited data, unlimited text even traveling in other countries which probably will be the same for other carriers as well in the near future.

 

[comfortably_numb]

XFinity for example has free unlimited roaming, unlimited data, unlimited text even traveling in other countries

And if you have home internet with them you get a year of mobile for free

 

[Almighty1]

And if you have home internet with them you get a year of mobile for free

View attachment 193394

Depends as the only way I can get it is to port out of Xfinity Mobile first and then port back in and then pay the activation fee since I don't have a need for another line as free means $7 a month for the fees and taxes per line. Not to mention, I cannot sign up for just one line on the new plans so it will actually increase the cost of the Pay By the Gig line from $20 to $30 month or basically costing $10 more per month as the second line is my mom's who has never used the phone even for 1 second since 2018/2019 when the line was established, being illiterate does not help and she has never used phones after having to do the full 11 digit dialing from 7 digits with physical buttons.

My other concern is losing the Voicemails but that even happens when switching between Android and a iPhone using a Sim card.

 

[comfortably_numb]

free means $7 a month for the fees and taxes per line.

I'm not getting charged taxes and fees. It's $0 every month

 

[Almighty1]

I'm not getting charged taxes and fees. It's $0 every month

View attachment 193397

What are your typical taxes and fees when it's not $0.00 per month with any carrier? Taxes and fees have always been charged as my mom's being 2nd line was free with 1 gig of shared data and the $7 in taxes and fees had always been charged. The state one is in also decides on whether taxes and fees get charged or not. San Francisco is expensive for taxes and fees, as the 911 fee is what is costing the $6+. If one lived in the next city, it's $1.00 for taxes and fees which is charged regardless if you are on a $0.00 plan or a $100 plan.

It's even in the fine print of the offer:
"Free Mobile Select Line: New Xfinity Mobile phone customers only with 300 Mbps internet or above. Discount limited to value of 1 Mobile Select line ($30/mo value). Taxes and fees extra. After 12 months, regular rates apply. Limit one discount per account."

California is a state that charges taxes on the full retail price before the discount. Just like California does not tax on Internet while Texas does for example. Each state is different on if they tax when something is free or not.

 

[comfortably_numb]

What are your typical taxes and fees when it's not $0.00 per month with any carrier?

None.. I always buy "all inclusive" rate plans that include taxes and fees in the price. TMO has them, also US Mobile

 

[Almighty1]

None.. I always buy "all inclusive" rate plans that include taxes and fees in the price. TMO has them, also US Mobile

TMO used to have them but the new plans no longer include them, USMobile does too. XFinity NOW does too but those are pre-paid and it's actually $25 with no taxes and fees per month but they didn't allow switching from Xfinity Mobile. Howard Forums since 2017 or 2018 when there was the $0.00 per month plans from Xfinity before they started charging $12 and now $20, people were comparing what they were paying for fees and taxes. But regardless, I will need to move the 2nd line elsewhere as XFinity Mobile does not allow different rate plans on different lines and all lines have to be changed to the same plan. USMobile is a different type of model since one basically prepays ahead of time to get the lowest prices. I'll consider other carriers after backing up my voicemails with the phone number, date/time stamp and getting a new phone as I am still on a 2016 iPhone 6S Plus which already cannot get a lot of apps that I am using a free lifeline Android phone which is also out of storage for those apps I need as 32GB is not much.