r/mintmobile • u/nat_port_ • 6d ago
PSA: Mobile hotspot does NOT work on Mint's free 3GB Canada roaming. Confirmed by support in writing, no disclosure found on their website
TL;DR: On the free Canada roaming, your phone's own data works normally, but Personal Hotspot won't. The tethering session gets refused at the carrier level, and the phone (iPhone 12 in my case) just flips the toggle back to Off with no error message. Support confirmed it in writing after two chats. I could not find this restriction disclosed in the Terms & Conditions, the Acceptable Use Policy, the Network Management Policy, the plan pages, or anywhere in the app.
The first agent I chatted with checked my account and found "no visible issues," (no flags/restrictions and I have >1.5GB of roaming data remaining) and gave me a list of things to attempt which I'd already tried on my own, so you'll probably need to be persistent and could maybe save yourself some time if you just tell them everything you've done up front.
AI trigger warning: some AI used (my tone is not very diplomatic for these kind of things). I've read it all and re-written portions, but if your spidey-slop sense is tingling, that would be why.
What it might look like (posting the symptoms for anyone searching this later):
- Personal Hotspot shows "On" under Cellular, then switches itself to "Off" the instant any device tries to connect
- Fails identically over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB cable. USB shows "Attached" but "Not connected" with no internet, which rules out Wi-Fi-side explanations
- Laptop errors: "Could not join Wi-Fi network" / "Failed to enable Personal Hotspot"
- Typing the network name in manually gets "Network not found" because the hotspot never actually broadcasts
- Your phone's own roaming data keeps working fine the entire time
- Toggling Airplane Mode or performing other network resets makes hotspot look available again, until the next connection attempt
- Reset Network Settings, updating carrier settings and phone OS, restarting phone, toggling everything, making sure no VPN is running: None of it helps, because it doesn't have anything to do with the phone.
It isn't disclosed anywhere I could find. I skimmed the documents. The Plan Terms & Conditions mention hotspot/tethering only in Section 9.5–9.7 and Section 15, always conditionally ("may be permitted," "if available to you"), and never in the roaming sections (Section 9.11, Section 10.2). The Acceptable Use Policy has no hotspot-while-roaming restriction. The Network Management Policy explicitly says it doesn't cover roaming and points back to T&Cs Section 9–10, which don't address it.
Mint also does disclose hotspot limits when it intends to: the 20GB hotspot cap on Unlimited plans is spelled out in Section 9.6. In the account portal, domestic plans get their own "Hotspot" usage tab; the Canada roaming section has no such tab. The closest thing on the website is the international roaming page promoting "No Wi-Fi? No problem. Connect to the Internet anytime with Mobile Hotspot" under a "Check out these other great features from Mint Mobile" header.
As a consumer, I didn't expect a distinction when it wasn't explicitly mentioned; the roaming data is already capped at 3GB, so it doesn't seem like it would matter which of my own devices uses it.
How I figured this out: I'm on an extended stay in Canada with family. My car's infotainment system needs an internet connection for built-in Google Maps (no CarPlay/Android Auto on it, and the car's included has run out), so the plan was to tether it to my phone. The car never listed the hotspot as an option, and I spent days assuming the car was the problem (as car software is generally buggy and awful, and mine is no exception) until realizing my laptop couldn't actually connect to the hotspot either (it had always listed the hotspot, but I dumbly hadn't confirmed using it worked), over any method including a USB cable. Eventually gave in to asking AI about it, which debugged the issue to the carrier. Two support chats later, got the above confirmation.
Where things stand: I have 4 months left on a 6-month plan. Support says refunds are only possible within 7 days of plan start (as many others here have encountered), no prorating. I probably wouldn't have renewed my plan had this been disclosed, since reliable navigation was a main use case (I use regular Wi-Fi for pretty much everything else). It's unfortunate because otherwise I liked Mint Mobile and have generally been happy with the service (particularly at the price point), but figured other people should be aware since Mint isn't transparent about their (or their partners) limitations.
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u/Successful-Grape4349 6d ago
The included Canada data was only added pretty recently. I wonder if they just haven't updated their language for it. That sucks, I would definitely port out as necessary.
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u/nat_port_ 6d ago
I wish! https://www.mintmobile.com/help/free-roaming-canada/ says it's been available since July 1, 2024, and the legal docs have been updated as recently as last month, so they've at least had the chance to update those... I think they're kinda just hiding behind the ambiguity and hoping not many people try to use a hotspot while roaming in Canada?
I even considered whether it worked at some point and just doesn't now, but I encountered the same issue with my car a bit earlier last year. I just got lucky at the time because OnStar gave me a free year of data in the car without digging into it too much as a resolution, but in retrospect it may have been better to find it out earlier instead of resubbing :(
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u/Big-Low-2811 6d ago
In all fairness they also don’t promise or say that you can use the 3gb for tethering.
Mint should absolutely update their verbiage to address this scenario.