Am I stupid for wanting to switch cell providers?

[FerraraZ]

I am forced to make a few cutbacks financially and I feel that because of this it may be time for me to part with my iphone and ATT. I was thinking of selling my White Iphone 3GS unlocked on ebay to help cover the cost of opting out of my ATT contract and to pay for a phone under TMobile.

The Tmobile plan I'd need would cost me around 30 bucks less monthly than what I'm paying at ATT. I dont feel I am fully at loss here because I would be going from an Iphone 3GS to a HTC Nexus One.

I live near West Chester, PA and according to the coverage maps on TMobile I will be covered with 3G and voice service. I guess I wanted to field some responses from Anandtech before making the jump but I am all but certain since I would be saving alot monthly.

 

[novasatori]

how about you call them and tell them you're going to cancel your service & contract unless they meet t mobiles price

 

[FerraraZ]

how about you call them and tell them you're going to cancel your service & contract unless they meet t mobiles price

Hah seems highly unlikely.

 

[Bateluer]

Hah seems highly unlikely.

You forget, AT&T has the iPhone, the penultimate phone, that everyone should grovel at the foot of Jobs for the privilege of touching.

 

[zerocool84]

Nope I'd leave AT&T. Sorriest carrier out there. They are even lagging behind T-Mobile now which is sad. No reason to pay their outrageous prices for sub-par service.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=17298

 

[Double Trouble]

If you really want to save some money, ask yourself if you really need a smartphone and a plan. The geek in me has always wanted an iphone or droid or whatever the latest gadget is, but the reality is that I just need a phone to make calls here and there. You can do that with a prepaid phone for about $8 per month, as compared to a smartphone with a big data plan etc etc at $80 or $90 per month.......

Also, my experience with t-mobile has been that they are fine when there is coverage, but their coverage is much more spotty than some of the other carriers. Find someone who already has tmobile and have them try their phone where you live or wherever you plan to use your phone. You don't want to lock yourself into a plan for 2 years only to realize the coverage there sucks.

 

[lxskllr]

If you really want to save some money, ask yourself if you really need a smartphone and a plan. The geek in me has always wanted an iphone or droid or whatever the latest gadget is, but the reality is that I just need a phone to make calls here and there. You can do that with a prepaid phone for about $8 per month, as compared to a smartphone with a big data plan etc etc at $80 or $90 per month.......

^^^This

If you don't need data for a legitimate business purpose, it's an expensive gimmick. I use a Net10 phone as my only phone, and I spend $15 per month on it. It doesn't do anything special, but it makes calls, and has good coverage in my area. All their phones come with 300 minutes, so it takes some of the bite out of the phone purchase.

 

[HannibalX]

Straight Talk... unlimited voice calls in the US, unlimited data, unlimited texting, unlimited 411, $45/month.

 

[ShawnD1]

You forget, AT&T has the iPhone, the penultimate phone, that everyone should grovel at the foot of Jobs for the privilege of touching.

They're really not any more expensive than a blackberry. I was buying a new phone yesterday and they're both about $600. It's stupid.

Straight Talk... unlimited voice calls in the US, unlimited data, unlimited texting, unlimited 411, $45/month.

Nice. My plan is fairly similar to this but I only get 200 day time minutes and the price is still $45. Mobile internet is so awesome

 

[BarkingGhostar]

how about you call them and tell them you're going to cancel your service & contract unless they meet t mobiles price

I can tell you they will show him the door. AT&T is overrun with cowsumers to ignorant that they are paying a nice fat margin on the cell phone service.

With the week of Xmas exception, I cannot find a real AT&T Wireless store that isn't constantly overrun by cowsumers more than willing to pay for the ability to keep up with the friends.

 

[Fritzo]

Nope I'd leave AT&T. Sorriest carrier out there. They are even lagging behind T-Mobile now which is sad. No reason to pay their outrageous prices for sub-par service.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=17298

The service is going to be about the same- TMobile uses the same GSM wave that ATT uses, and GSM has terrible penetration abilities. This is why GSM doesn't work well in buildings.

Have you considered Sprint? They're a CDSM carrier and their prices should be better than ATT.

Verizon has the best service, but they're also the most pricey

 

[FoBoT]

tmobile and android are great

 

[ViviTheMage]

Nope I'd leave AT&T. Sorriest carrier out there. They are even lagging behind T-Mobile now which is sad. No reason to pay their outrageous prices for sub-par service.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=17298

coverage > fastest speeds in 1-2 cities. T-mobile's 3G footprint is tiny, AT&T's is rather large, at least where I live.

 

[ravana]

Get a G1 off craigslist and prepaid Tmo voice/data if you are not a heavy user.

 

[spaceman]

luke wilson v katherine zeta jones..when u boil it down

 

[vulcan195]

I am surprised nobody has suggested Page Plus Cellular (pagepluscellular.com) ... they use the Verizon network. So you get the reliability of CDMA technology but at a much lower cost than Verizon.
They are really good. You can use out-of-contract Verizon phones on their service (since its the same network). Google "Howardforums pageplus" ... and you can see what others say.
My 12-yr old is on the prepaid plan. For $10 you get 100 minutes (they expire in 120days). My son only uses the phone to call us from the school bus stop or things like that. So the $10 last us a very long time. Highly recommended.

 

[Platypus]

If anything, you're smart for wanting to dump AT&T

 

[mmntech]

What's the cheapest iPhone data plan? I cut mine down to $50 a month by getting the 500mb plan and 200min talk time. It's still pricey but not as bad. This is Rogers/Fido mind you here in Canada.

Before you dump your provider, check what the contract cancellation fee is. They're usually quite steep, in the range of several hundred dollars. I don't know what AT&T's customer service is like (though I hear its pretty bad) but you might want to try haggling with them first to get a lower rate or a cheaper plan. Just prioritize what you need. Cell companies are usually happy to let you change plans. You just have to ask.

 

[evident]

it really depends where you live whether ATT is good for you or not. i live in the philly metro area and it's been rock solid.

you should get rid of your iphone and data plan, and just stick w/ a basic phone w/ minimum calling minutes and 200 text messages. those minutes roll over. I pay about $40 a month for my phone, vs my gf w/ her iphone paying roughly $90 a month. what a ripoff.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

You forget, AT&T has the iPhone, the penultimate phone, that everyone should grovel at the foot of Jobs for the privilege of touching.

I do not think you know what the word "penultimate" means.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/penultimate

pe⋅nul⋅ti⋅mate

–adjective
1. next to the last: the penultimate scene of the play.
2. of or pertaining to a penult.

The iPhone is the next to last cell phone?

 

[Fritzo]

I am surprised nobody has suggested Page Plus Cellular (pagepluscellular.com) ... they use the Verizon network. So you get the reliability of CDMA technology but at a much lower cost than Verizon.
They are really good. You can use out-of-contract Verizon phones on their service (since its the same network). Google "Howardforums pageplus" ... and you can see what others say.
My 12-yr old is on the prepaid plan. For $10 you get 100 minutes (they expire in 120days). My son only uses the phone to call us from the school bus stop or things like that. So the $10 last us a very long time. Highly recommended.

They have data plans?

 

[kalrith]

If you really want to save some money, ask yourself if you really need a smartphone and a plan. The geek in me has always wanted an iphone or droid or whatever the latest gadget is, but the reality is that I just need a phone to make calls here and there. You can do that with a prepaid phone for about $8 per month, as compared to a smartphone with a big data plan etc etc at $80 or $90 per month.......

Also, my experience with t-mobile has been that they are fine when there is coverage, but their coverage is much more spotty than some of the other carriers. Find someone who already has tmobile and have them try their phone where you live or wherever you plan to use your phone. You don't want to lock yourself into a plan for 2 years only to realize the coverage there sucks.

This. I was paying $60/month for two cell phones with AT&T (just a voice plan) and switched to T-Mobile ppd, which now costs me $16/month. I've supplemented my minutes with MagicJack, which costs $20/year and I use whenever I'm at home. T-Mobile's worked great for me so far. I just use their sim cards in my two AT&T Motorola phones that I unlocked.

 

[coolVariable]

T-Mobile's coverage map is just sooooo horribly small.
3G coverage is essentially non-existent.
AT&T's 3G coverage has been nothing short of amazing.
If you travel around the least bit ... you might need AT&T if you want 3G while traveling. And I don't know about you ... but I am most heavily dependent on my phone's internet when traveling.