Dish Project Genesis Shutting Down – Service Ending August 31st, 2026

It was one of the best mobile internet deals  we have ever tracked - and we always said it was too good to last...

The legendary Dish Project Genesis $20/month unlimited hotspot plan is finally coming to an end, along with Genesis smartphone plans.

Dish this week is notifying all remaining Project Genesis customers that the “Genesis project is officially coming to an end,” with final billing this month and service permanently deactivated for everyone on August 31, 2026.

If you're a current customer, read on for the details...

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What Current Customers Need To Know

According to the customer notice now being sent by Project Genesis, existing customers should expect:

• Final Billing: Recurring billing stops after the July 2026 payment.
• Service End Date: Service remains active for one full month after the final payment and will be permanently deactivated on August 31, 2026.
• Keep Your Number: Customers must port any phone numbers by July 31, 2026, or the numbers will be lost.
• Support: The notice lists Project Genesis support at (833) 238-1780.

Here are screenshots of the notice customers are receiving:

Additionally, smartphone customers are being offered an incentive to port over to Boost Mobile, Dish's primary wireless brand. Customers must do this by calling Genesis support; it won't happen automatically. 

What About Devices?

If you're using a Project Genesis device, particularly the Netgear M6 Pro that came with the hotspot plan and which was shipped locked to only work with a Genesis SIM card, you should not rely on the shutdown itself to automatically unlock your hotspot.

Dish/Genesis does not, at press time, provide any information on device unlocking, so we encourage customers to contact support to try to get the hotspot unlocked or to confirm it is unlocked.

An unlocked Genesis Netgear M6 would work great as a multi-carrier device, as it supports the core bands for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Project Genesis History

Project Genesis launched in 2022 as Dish’s consumer-facing entry point to its new 5G network, built from scratch as a modern, 5G-only native network with no legacy LTE support.

The service soon expanded to 120+ cities, covering 20% of the U.S. population, as part of Dish’s effort to become a new fourth nationwide carrier after the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. 

The plan that mattered most to nomads was the Netgear Nighthawk M6 Pro hotspot option that provided truly unlimited data for just $20/month.

Even better, the plan could use Dish’s native 5G network where it was found - and it would roam onto AT&T and T-Mobile networks everywhere else. In our testing - we found this plan to be a consistently great performer, and it was truly unlimited. Video streams were uncapped too - allowing full 4K streaming.

This combination of features made this one of the best mobile internet deals we have ever seen.

But it was never likely to last. Dish stopped offering the $20/month hotspot plan to new customers over three years ago, probably because it was such a great deal for customers that it was hard to see how Dish wasn't losing money.

Customers who got the plan were grandfathered in - until now.

Project Genesis also offered competitively priced smartphone plans, but a big downside was always limited smartphone support, with only a couple of supported models.

Why Genesis is Shutting Down Completely

EchoStar, Dish’s parent company, ultimately failed in its attempt to become a fourth major carrier in the US. Over the past year, it has sold off most of its wireless spectrum and is winding down the native Dish Wireless 5G network.

As we detailed in our cellular industry update last October,

"It has been clear for a while now that Dish Wireless had no chance of succeeding on its own as a viable business, particularly due to its confusing branding and other missteps that prevented it from building a customer base."

It was clear then that Project Genesis was likely doomed, as Dish/EchoStar focused on saving the Boost Mobile brand as a "hybrid MNO" with a partnership with AT&T.

Then, on June 30, 2026, Dish DBS and certain Dish Wireless subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 restructuring. EchoStar’s own announcement says Dish Wireless “formerly operated a facilities-based 5G wireless network” and that the filing will allow Dish Wireless to complete its transition and dispose of remaining assets.

The company said that Boost Mobile and Gen Mobile are not included in the bankruptcy, but Project Genesis did not receive a similar exclusion.

Boost Mobile Lives On

The Boost Mobile brand will live on as Dish/EchoStar's primary cellular offering.

It's exempt from the bankruptcy mentioned above, and Dish has a long-term agreement with AT&T to preserve the brand and customers. EchoStar has also said Boost subscribers will eventually have access to SpaceX’s next-generation Starlink Direct-to-Cell service through an agreement made with SpaceX.

Unfortunately, Boost Mobile doesn't offer any data-only plans, so it's not an option for customers on the Project Genesis $20/month hotspot plan. 

Concluding Thoughts

Project Genesis was always a strange and fascinating experiment. For a while, it gave early adopters access to a tiny native Dish 5G network, AT&T and T-Mobile roaming, and unlimited hotspot data for only $20/month.

It was one of the rare cellular plans that was both genuinely useful and almost certainly unsustainable.

Anyone still relying on Project Genesis should start looking at replacing it now.

There are several potential alternatives listed in our Top Picks data plan guide. The closest comparison is probably the non-profit plans that operate on the T-Mobile network. These provide unlimited data for a mobile hotspot or router for as low as $15/month.

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