For the past few months I've been debating a change in cell phone carriers (not what first piped into mind with the title right)
My AT&T contract is finally over so I could make a change. But looks like I won't, at least for the moment. Virgin Mbike has a pretty attractive package. For $45/mont I could get 1200 minutes of talk time and unlimited web (4gb high speed). But of course there's a problem. Or rather, a few problems.
1) I'm sure the plan actually comes to more after taxes. My guess is that I would spend at least $60/month, while now my plan has me paying $85/month including taxes. That's not really a huge saving.
2) the plan doesn't include mobile to mobile minutes, so while I only use 300 minutes a month now...usually for phone calls to my mom, the number would sky rocket if I didn't have this feature. I used to use 1400-1600/month. I could get unlimited talk for $55/month, but wouldn't the bill actually come close to my current $80?
3) they won't unlock the phone. Okay, so this is the same as every other carrier, but the problem really lays in that we travel overseas a ton. They don't have coverage in Germany, so I couldn't use my phone there anyway, and they won't unlock it so I can use another carrier while there! At least with AT&T I can use my phone if there's an emergency. It would cost a pretty penny, but it would be an option.
4) In a non-contract plan they could change the rates, and what I have now is already pretty affordable (for a smart phone). Since I'm now month to month, I don't have to worry about contacts anyway. I have unlimited high speed data right now (grandfathered in that way) , so I would hate to switch, and then come back later with a less beneficial plan!
In the end, it's not really worth it to me to switch. AT&T coverage is terrible in Boston, but they have pretty decent customer service, a good website, and are big enough that I don't have to worry about roaming(only dropped calls). I'm really bummed that Virgin Mobile wouldn't unlock the iPhone. If they would have I would have switched in an instance! Now that my contract has expired perhaps I'll jailbreak and unlock my phone anyway...I cam now get a free upgrade with a new contact...a security blanket if something goes very very wrong. I think it should be required that they unlock phones after your contract expires. So frustrating!!
2 comments:
We've been Sprint customers since the dawn of the cell phone era. Seriously, since hubby's first cell phone (around 1995 or so).
No iPhones, we have android. I'm not a fan of apple products. I suppose if my home PC were also a mac, then an iPhone might make sense, but it's not, and apple does not always play nice with my laptop.
Anywho. We get a bit of a discount on the service plan because Sprint really wants business from the Megacorporation I work for. We pay (after fees) $135/ month total for 2 phones with like 1500 minutes and unlimited 4g data, unlimited texting, yadda yadda. We rarely use the minutes--mobile-to-mobile is covered, and we just don't talk on the phone that much I guess. I think without the company discount it would be closer to $150-180/month for the plan. Same plan we've had for 3 years (they might have gotten better or worse since then, don't know).
We would be open to switching carriers, except every few years when we change out phones, Sprint always has the best deal around. Their coverage is good here, and along the highways towards my mom's house, and we don't travel internationally (or haven't in a really long time), so I don't know if that's even an issue.
Amusingly, I've actually contemplated switching TO AT&T. We have Uverse and their long distance phone service in the house, and might get a bit of a discount for combining plans. And in my basement cubicle at work, folks with AT&T service can get reception where us Sprint schmucks cannot. But it really would just depend on the offer.
I actually like AT&T, most of the time. We have a ton of dropped calls, which could be their towers, or just that I have an iPhone in a big city of iPhone users? Also I just have no service in my kitchen. Grrrr. Anyway, the plan I'm on now is pretty good, $85/month for 650 minutes and unlimited text and data (I'm grandfathered in on the data) and we have free mobile to mobile. Since almost everyone I talk to has a cell phone, and I can use our magic jack phone for service calls, I'm still accruing rollover minutes (I have something like 1200). However, I'm always looking to reduce my bill, and now I'm thinking of trying straight talk for a month as a trial. I would keep my AT&T network active for the month (I currently have a credit anyway) and just switch out the sim cards. Turns out AT&T was more than willing to unlock my phone!
I wouldn't mind someday switching out to the newer iPhone, put I also wouldn't mind paying full price to stay away from a contract. I don't need to switch, but on straight talk I could pay $495 for the entire year of "unlimited" talk text and data, although I've read that the data actually caps at 2gb. I currently use under that, but who knows if I'll need more data speed someday in the future! On the other hand, it would be awfully nice to not have a cell bill for a year if I just paid it outright (plus it would break down to less than $45/month).
I had sprint a long time ago, so I'll have to look into it again, but I'm not sure of the coverage area here. They're not as well known around Boston. But it is worth a look!
I have a goal to save $10,000 this year to make up for some of the huge expenses we've had over the past year (renovations, new car down payment, furnishing NM, trips to Europe...and let's not even get into how much our food bill has increased each month now that I have twin boys)). We have a check from selling the Passat, possibly have a lead on selling the classic mini, and we are going to store the nm furniture and rent it out after all in the hopes that we gain, not loose money on it this year. we are entering our own austerity program!
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