This consumer-first MVNO keeps growing by doing the opposite of T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T
While the Big 3 in the US is using apps and AI to attract new customers, one MVNO is still building retail stores.
Consumer Cellular keeps building new stores | Image by Consumer Cellular
Not all wireless firms are forcing their subscribers to use an app to handle their transactions. If you read PhoneArena regularly, you know that we were early with the news that T-Mobile was making the transition to a digital-first carrier. Currently, most routine transactions for T-Mobile subscribers have to be done through the T-Life app including:
- In-store check-ins.
- Bill Payments.
- Changes to customers' accounts.
- Perks and Rewards including T-Mobile Tuesdays.
- T-Mobile Money accounts, Home Internet, and SyncUP devices.
- Security and Network featuring Scam Shield, and eSIM transfers.
Consumer Cellular is considered the MVNO for the elderly
You may have heard of Consumer Cellular as being the place where older people go to buy flip phones and choose a wireless plan. But the MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) also does sell certain smartphones including the Pixel 11 base model and the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The truth is that Consumer Cellular does focus its ads on older adults 50 or older.
For example, Consumer Cellular is an official AARP partner. And while it doesn't come close to hitting the subscriber numbers of Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, it does rank number-one for customer satisfaction almost every year according to J.D. Power and the American Customer Satisfaction Index. As an MVNO, new customers end up using the AT&T wireless network while some legacy accounts still connect to the T-Mobile network.
16 consecutive times Consumer Cellular has ranked number one for customer satisfaction
Since it is focused on attracting older customers, Consumer Cellular doesn't try to match what the US Big 3 are doing. In other words, instead of turning digital and trying to get its customers acclimated with the idea of using an app to handle most transactions, Consumer Cellular continues with the build-out of retail stores it started four years ago.
Why won't you use Consumer Cellular?
Hmm. Perhaps the CEOs running the Big 3 carriers in the US, AT&T's John Stankey, T-Mobile's Srini Gopalan, and Verizon's Dan Schulman, should stop and wonder what Consumer Cellular is doing differently that allows them to win customer satisfaction awards year after year.
Consumer Cellular CEO Ed Evans had a good explanation as to why his company is focused on building up its retail presence by opening stores instead of having its customers install a special app in order to do business with them. It has to do with the average age of Consumer Cellular customers, which is about 64 compared to 41 for Verizon subscribers.
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More Consumer Cellular customers come from Verizon than AT&T and T-Mobile
Comparing how Consumer Cellular does business with T-Mobile, Evans said, "We're hearing all kinds of crazy stories that somebody walks in and before the rep will even talk to them, they make them download the T-Life app onto their phone. Imagine this 75-year-old who walks in trying to get a question answered and they're trying to force this."
Typical Consumer Cellular promotion. | Image by Consumer Cellular
Consumer Cellular has been getting new subscribers from those leaving T-Mobile due to the forced migration to a digital-first carrier. But that is not the number one source of new customers for Consumer Cellular, according to Fierce Wireless. The latter says that Verizon is the carrier that grows the largest number of eventual Consumer Cellular subscribers.
Surprisingly, AT&T is second and T-Mobile third. You might have thought that the digital shift would have made T-Mobile first, or second at best. But thanks to T-Mobile's younger customer base, fewer of its subscribers depart to Consumer Cellular than Verizon and AT&T subscribers.
The company just opened its 100th store and hopes to have 125 before year's end
Consumer Cellular was forced to build up its retail presence when Target decided to stop carrying its plans and phones. Earlier this summer, the company opened its 100th store in Salem, Oregon, and hopes to have 125 locations up and running by the end of the year.
But here's the thing. You don't win customer satisfaction awards so often without catering to subscribers. So Consumer Cellular customers who want to use an app can use the My Consumer Cellular app offered by the MVNO to manage their account. The app is available from the App Store for iOS, or through the Play Store for Android.
While Consumer Cellular continues to build more retail stores, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T are reducing the number of company-owned locations.
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