There is a relatively new MVNO on the market with a pretty cool business plan.
Giv Mobile uses T-Mobile’s network to provide pretty good coverage to everyone and promises to
donate 8% of your monthly plan to up to three charities of your choice. There are currently a whopping thirty-seven charities to choose from ranging from education to ASPCA to Feeding America charities.
As for actual specs, they have
four different plans, which I’ll overview in a moment. The only real difference between the plans is the data. All of the options include unlimited talk, text, MMS, global text, voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, 3-way calling, direct international dialing (with varying amounts of international calling credit) and free long distance.
When the company first started, they had almost no plans for data. Now, however, I think their data plans are decent for casual to medium users. All of the plans have unlimited data, but depending on how much you pay, you may or may not have access to high speed. Here’s the net overviews for data users:
$29/month – max speed is 2G, high speed is not an option. This is good for people who don’t really use data. This plan also donates $2.32/month to charity
$35/month – 500 MB 4G LTE data. After that, you get throttled down to 2G. This plan donates $2.80/month to charity.
$45/month – 2GB 4G LTE data before throttling to 2G. This plan donates $3.60/month to charity
$65/month – 4GB 4G LTE data before throttling to 2G. This plan donates $5.20/month to charity.
I’d say that’s pretty much on-par with some other companies, and would be fantastic if you aren’t really a data user–I mean, that’s a lot to get for $30 – $35 a month and no contract. Below is a snapshot from their website of their map coverage. If you go here, you can actually zoom in and see exactly how coverage looks in your area. Seems pretty spotty, but if you’re in the right area like Fla. or Minn., it would be great.
The phone selection with Giv isn’t terrific, but they have a promotion where you can pick from several free (slightly lower quality) phones when you purchase 2 months of the $35, $45, or $65/month plan. You can also bring your own phone and buy a SIM for $5.
Giv is owned by PTel Mobile, which has done lots of charity work, so it is neat to see them expand their scope. Overall, it looks like Giv is set to be a pretty good competitor to the other MVNOs out there, and the ability to donate to charities makes me wish that they had better coverage in my area. It is somehow empowering knowing that you’re helping out tiny bit just by having a phone through them. And who knows? Maybe they’ll continue to expand and push the market in a new direction.]]>
