How good or bad is Unreal these days?

Telecom
1

I saw this 3-month deal from Unreal Mobile on Slickdeals that looks pretty good, but someone mentioned there that you have to use their app to make phone calls. Is that true?

Also, I was reading older threads here on Nth. Do they fully support hotspot now? They do mention that it is supported ( https://help.unrealmobile.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045057772-Using-your-phone-as-a-wifi-hotspot-tethering?sdtid=15265999 ) but don't say how much of the monthly data can be used for hotspot.

Any other caveats, good/bad experiences with Unreal, please share. Thanks much!

2

No app is required for calling. (That's way out of date-- Unreal has been true cellular voice for a long time.)

Hotspot: I can't confirm this is still supported, but the article you linked to does indicate it's supported. The article mentions "Premium" SIMs, which includes all current Unreal SIMs. (The Premium label was used to differentiate the old VoIP plans from the cellular voice plans.)

Historically, when it works, Unreal hasn't had a lower limit for hotspot use.

3

Thanks KentE. I'm a little worried by your "Historically, when it works". Does hotspot usually NOT work with Unreal? TIA.

4

They are part of the Red Pocket umbrella. Customer service is terrible if you have a problem. I once activated a line with them where incoming calls didn't work. It took more than a week to resolve.

5

I can echo bingyee.
My experience with Red Pocket CS makes TracFone CS look not bad in comparison.

6

As I remember, early on hotspot use really was just not mentioned-- neither specifically okayed, nor specifically prohibited. I think AT&T branded devices may have had problems activating hotspot, because they wanted to 'phone home' for authorization. Factory unlocked phones, or branded phones from other carriers that had been unlocked didn't 'phone home' to check, and had no problem.