Table of Contents


Products Covered


Reminder: MobileMustHave.com does not provide the service directly for reseller plans as outlined in the listing at time of purchase. 


Summary

"Data referral plans" or "reseller data plans" as many people call them can be confusing to understand and manage. This is because you are entering into a relationship with a 3rd party reseller, not the cellular carrier themselves and each reseller has different rules and policies on how they manage access to lines on their account.


MobileMustHave.com ("MMH") has entered into a referral partnership with trusted resellers that we have vetted to ensure the service they provide is as advertised. This limits the chances of customers being duped by false advertising which is common in the data reseller market. As part of your referral or "introduction" to this reseller, we ship you a sim card and introduce you via email to the data reseller who then activates your data line on his account while providing you with instructions on how to pay for service to keep the line in working order. 


Set Your Expectations Properly

Just about all of us have cell phones and most of us have relationships directly with one of the major cellular carriers who provide our cellular service. Most of the carriers have gotten pretty good and providing reasonably good customer service with the ability to call a phone number, speak to someone and get what you need usually same day. This is how data reseller plans should operate too right? Wrong! 


Boy oh boy do we wish this were true but the fact of the matter is data resellers have access to plans that the average person can no longer purchase directly. This means they can charge more for reselling that service and it means that they likely have more customers waiting in line behind you to provide service to if you are not someone they want to work with. This is not an ideal situation for you the consumer but unfortunately at the time of writing this article true unlimited data plans are very hard to come by. If you want unlimited data chances are you will need to work with a reseller and play by their rules regardless of whether you think those rules are fair or in the interest of good customer service. We don't like it either, but it's the current state of unlimited data access as of the time of writing this article. 


Note as of August 2021 we now have data plans with high GB options direct from the carriers. This means you deal with MobileMustHave.com not a reseller. Contact us for more information or simply visit our data plan page.


Activation Process


Once your order ships you will receive an activation email with details about your activation and next steps. This ticket includes important information about your activation as well as next steps. Most activation delays are caused because customers do not read this email or reply to the email with required information.. Review the email and make sure to click the link to review and accept the Data Reseller's Terms of Service.  Once you accept these terms you will receive a reply that your line is ready to be activated. 


The line will be activated in approximately the time listed at the time of purchase. This can range from 5-60 days depending on the plan you selected so make sure to set your expectations properly. If you cannot wait message us at [email protected] and we will issue a refund. If you cannot find the email you can manually open up the ticket on our customer service portal. Visit http://support.cellularactivations.com and login using the email address you used at checkout. Make sure to use the same email address. If you forgot or did not yet set a password you can click the password reset link which will email you a password reset link. Screenshot below. 


 

Installing your SIM Card

Only install your SIM card AFTER the data partner has confirmed it is activated. Make sure to install the correct size sim card. Pepwave's take full size sim cards. Follow the video instructions below on installing SIM cards. 



Activation Delays

Activation delays are not caused by a lack of staff or effort from our data referral partners, they are caused by the fact that a limited number of lines may be activated in a given month to prevent issues with the account. This is to protect everyone. While waiting for an activation is annoying, its not nearly as annoying as being activated then suddenly being cut off due to an account wide issue. These protections are in place to ensure once you are activated, you stay that way. 


If you misplaced your activation ticket you can visit mobilemusthave.com then click "my account" and scroll down to "My Requests". Click on the Cellular Activation ticket and read the entries and reply as instructed. If you do not see an activation ticket email us at [email protected] or start a chat at mobilemusthave.com. Do not open another ticket in the activation system, that will only delay things further. 


Setting up Recurring  Payments

It is incredibly important to setup your recurring payments before your 30 days of pre paid service is up. You will be emailed when your line is activated using the same ticket system shown above. Once the line is activated the data partner will email you a payment link to continue service. You must setup recurring payments before your 30 days of pre-paid time is up. We do not recommend waiting to the last minute as you may not be reactivated if there is a wait list and you will need to get a new sim card and start over. 


Avoid Getting Suspended

The kiss of death for mobile travelers is getting a notice from their data reseller that their plan has been suspended. There are a few common reasons plans get suspended and you can put safeguards in place to avoid getting the dreaded "account cancelled" email from a reseller. 


Use a Trusted Device: Found a great deal on eBay for a cellular hotspot you'd like to use with a reseller. Be careful as many devices sold as new online actually have IMEI numbers that are tracked by the cellular companies that may have been reported stolen or flagged for abuse in the past. Using one of these devices on a reseller account can get you suspended in a matter of hours. We recommend always using a new device you purchase from a trusted hardware reseller like MobileMustHave.com 


Track Your Usage:  Use a device such as a Pepwave that has detailed usage and tracking dashboards to help you monitor your usage. Know your usage so that you can spot issues before your reseller flags you for suspension. While these plans are "unlimited" they include abuse clauses that limit the actual usage, typically to no more than 300-400GB in a single 7 day period or 600GB in a 30 day period. These restrictions are in place to protect you and prevent you and hundreds of other users from all loosing access if an account wide suspension occurs. 


Note: MiFi Hotspots that have data usage counters on the screen generally do not work with data reseller plans. This is because the billing cycle date between you and the reseller and the reseller and cell company do not typically match. We do not recommend relying on MiFi hotspots screens to track usage.


Use One Email Address: Most of us have more than one email address but we recommend using the same email address to order service and when signing up for your monthly payments with a data reseller. Resellers often use email addresses to cross reference billing information and customers who use multiple email addresses for purchases can experience issues if the email addresses do not match the original purchase address. It isn't common but we recommend to customers to stick to one email address to simplify the support experience for everyone. 


Pay Your Bill: I know it sounds obvious. By far the most common reason customers are suspended is due to issues with their payment source. Avoid using a debit card that might get declined inadvertently (and debit cards are inherently more risky than credit cards since they have less cardholder protections) and always check to ensure your account has been debited each month. Getting suspended due to non payment can result in extended delays for re-activation especially if lines are in high demand. 


Suspended accounts generally are put at the end of the line for activations. This can mean a wait of upwards of 30 days in peak demand times so it is extremely important that you avoid being suspended for one of the reasons above.


Requesting Cancellation 

If you wish to terminate or suspend service with a referral partner you may do so at anytime. We recommending requesting cancellation at or close to the last day of your billing cycle with the reseller partner to ensure you get the most out of your pre-paid service. Cancelled plans do not receive a prorated refund so manage the timing on when you send a cancellation request carefully to ensure you do not pay for a month where you will not need the service. This means that if you pre pay for 30 days of service and cancel 1 week into that month you will not get a refund for the remaining 3 weeks. 


To avoid this plan ahead and manage your cancellation timeline. We generally say its best to give yourself a 2-3 day buffer from the last day of your billing cycle to request cancellation. If you are not sure about billing cycle date you may request it from the data reseller by emailing [email protected].. Make sure to also provide the email address you used to sign up for service to ensure he can lookup your account quickly.


You can also log into paypal.com or stripe.com depending on who your monthly billing is setup with and suspend your auto payments without speaking to anyone. MMH requires resellers to use payment portals that customers have access to to ensure you always have access to your payment terms and control what and when you are charged. 


Consider new line activation delay timelines listed on MobileMustHave.com listing pages when cancelling your account. In periods of high demand reactivating service can take upwards of 30 days. More information on reactivation of service is listed below.



Requesting Re-activation 

If you wish to resume service do not purchase another referral plan on MobileMustHave.com. First, it is generally more expensive to do so, so best to avoid that but second you have already paid us for the introduction to the data reseller so we cannot process a second introduction when one has already been made.


If you wish to reactivate service you will need a new sim card which can be purchased here. Once you have your new sim card email the data partner at [email protected] and provide the following information in your request. 


  • Full name and email address your account was under previously
  • Original MMH Order Number. This number begins with OLS
  • SIM ICCID Number, generally beginning with 8901 or 8904 (type carefully as mistakes will delay activation)
  • IMEI Number of Modem. Your IMEI is printed on the original box the modem came in, under the battery door of most MiFI hotspots or under the dashboard --> cellular details tab of Pepwave devices. 


Our data reseller will be in touch with revise payment links once they confirm your account and will provide new payment links for reactivation. 


Requesting Assistance

Remember MobileMustHave.com does not have access to the cellular provider or account. We facilitated an introduction and provided a 14 day guarantee for that introduction from the date of your service activation. Just like when you introduce 2 people, things don't always go well and for that we have our refund and guarantee to customers in place. If you run into problems its generally fastest to work with the data reseller directly to resolve issue. If you feel you are not getting anywhere or there is another issue you can always reach out to our team directly by initiating a ticket here on the support portal or by emailing [email protected]


Thank you for being the best part of MobileMustHave.com!