New York Mobile, a new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), formally launched yesterday, following months of preparation dating back to late 2023. The provider announced it has entered a multi-year agreement with T-Mobile to offer wireless service on their network.
How is New York Mobile Different?
New York Mobile hopes to differentiate itself in a crowded market by offering customers the ability to choose their own personalized phone numbers. They offer exclusive, never before used numbers in New York and nationwide including memorable “Double-Doubles,” such as “212-212-CALL” and “917-917-MIKE.”
“Our subscribers can now secure many highly sought-after numbers while enjoying the speed and reliability of the nation’s fastest 5G network,” said Gio Perone, a principal and co-founder of New York Mobile. “This initiative allows individual and enterprise customers to connect with their identity, location, and brand like never before.”
Jon Horovitz, Principal of Atrium Unlimited Consulting, host of The Boon of Wireless podcast, and contributor at BestMVNO was one of the driving forces in bringing New York Mobile to fruition. He was instrumental in introducing New York Mobile to their underlying carrier, OSS/BSS platform and their US based customer care operation.
Horovitz has often written that MVNOs must differentiate themselves by finding a niche to serve in the market. Allowing customers to choose their own numbers is one way to do that.
Jon commented: “I’ve been assisting New York Mobile for almost two years since they brought me the idea of creating the first MVNO that will allow the customer to choose their number. This is not New York Mobile simply “reselling” numbers from one of the phone brokers; New York Mobile has exclusive access to hundreds of thousands of unique numbers with the iconic 212, 718 and 917 area codes in New York City and throughout New York State and access to millions of numbers across the country.”
He continued: “This is truly a revolutionary concept for both businesses and individuals. We have taken our time to do this right and make sure customizable and personal mobile numbers were affordable for all but also offer premium type numbers that would help to build the brand of small, medium and large business. It’s one of the most unique value propositions that I have ever seen in the MVNO space.”
A quick look at their vanity number selection and it appears numbers start as low as $5/month to license with a higher monthly fee to buy them over the course of 12 to 24 monthly installments. Customers that don’t want a vanity number can also bring their own numbers to the network.
Available Phone Plans
New York Mobile offers two categories of plans; bundled and create your own plans.
Bundled Plans
All bundled plans include:
- Unlimited talk and text with calling to over 85 countries
- Device protection for both new and BYOD phones
- Nationwide roaming
- High-speed data top-ups
Pricing for the bundled plans is as follows:
| 3GB | 10GB | Unlimited (30GB) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $25 | $45 | $60 |
| Hotspot | No | Add-On | 10GB |
New York Mobile advertises their prices as including an optional an auto pay discount on the primary line or multi-line discount pricing on additional lines. The auto pay/multi-line discount is $5/month. They support up to 100 lines of service per account.
Create Your Own Plans
| 1GB | 5GB | Unlimited (50GB) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $13 | $33 | $93 |
| Hotspot | Top-Up | Top-Up | 20GB |
The create your own plan options have two add-ons you can add to each. One is $8/month and give you unlimited calling to over 85 countries. The other is $10/month for device protection.
All plans include unlimited talk and text with a hotspot top-up available with 180 day rollover.
Editor’s Take
From the looks of it, their website still seems under development in places. It’s missing information like what the hotspot top-up costs are. It also has an FAQs page with no actual FAQs on it. Update: 3/15/25 – The website has been updated and the FAQs page now has a database of actual questions and answers.
https://syndicatedsearch.goog/afs/ads?psid=5134551505&channel=AutoRsVariant&cx=r-
New York Mobile’s choose your own personalized phone number option is an interesting new idea for the MVNO and wireless space. Unfortunately, claiming some premium vanity numbers will be a bit too expensive for everyday consumers and may appeal more to businesses. The plans themselves are priced higher than average MVNO plan, but the inclusion of nationwide roaming provides added value that most MVNOs don’t offer.