Tello Mobile Plan Review (2026): Low Cost, Reliable Service

But Tello’s latency was quite high in general – not enough to affect Royale Match play, but maybe if your demands are higher. Download speeds for Tello were slow in any location, but not by much.

At home, my cellular 5G data speeds run around 800 to 900 megabits per second on T-Mobile. With the Tello Phone, it was about 30 percent slower. But both these speeds are good in 5G area. They’re orders of magnitude faster than you need for 4K video. If that’s what you’re wondering, I had no problem streaming my usual dose of Josh Johnson comedy.

Interestingly, the upload speed of the Motorola Razr using Tello was actually faster than the older iPhone using T-Mobile. After consulting with my colleague Julian Chocattu, who has covered the phone’s progress for years, I’m more likely to chalk it up to better modem performance by the new Motorola, rather than a secret backdoor to faster uploads by Telo.

It was only in areas with poor or 4G reception that I began to notice real flaws in the Tello’s performance. Near its wooded northwestern ridge on the outskirts of Portland, Telo got fewer bars than T-Mobile — and the data came slow enough to bother me. Some speed tests timed out. Uploads began to crawl even in areas with lower reception than my T-Mobile phone, sometimes reducing T-Mobile’s network speed to just a quarter.

All that is to say: most of the time, Tello worked just like T-Mobile. Except for those sporadic moments when it didn’t. The moments when the Tello’s performance is noticeably poor are usually the moments when you’re demanding the most from your phone: glued to a stray bar of reception, or streaming video while traveling on a train.

When should I replace T-Mobile with Telo?

Whether this compromise is worth it will depend on what kind of phone user you are. Family discounts are better with larger providers. Frequent international travelers should also probably stick with the big boys. International roaming will cost you Telo, as will texting to and from most countries outside Latin America and Europe. Traveling is also when you’re most likely to use a lot of data outside of your Wi-Fi network.

The other big financial difference is how often you upgrade your phone. With Tello, you’re on your own when it comes to purchasing a device, while T-Mobile and other postpaid plans keep you stuck with their high-priced plans by offering the latest and greatest gee-whiz phones at huge discounts.