Recently Married - What phone plan to get

josh22 said:

I believe I can't use my phone on AT&T and she can't use her phone on Verizon. Is that correct?

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what in the world does this mean?

josh22 said:

Recently Married

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What? the days of fancy phones are over buddy, all $$ are going toward rent and food.


Call quality is on the carrier, not the phone. U been living there for a while, u should know.

Pre-paid is a money saver as long as you already know your usage pattern, and you are ready to move out of your contract(s).

Recently Married - What phone plan to get?

The one without commitment

josh22 said:

Sorry for being unclear.

I believe Verizon ihpones use GSM technology, while AT&T iphones use CDMA technology. Therefore phones built for these respective network will not be compatible with each other.

Although, I am not an expert, so not sure if this is correct or not.

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oh....lol. sorry. i should have realized you were asking if you could bring one of your phones over to join the other on a network.

i think you are correct.

I'd say the big three are pretty good. Oh, and congrats on your marriage

josh22 said:

Does anyone know if we can use our two current phones on any network right now? Or, no matter what, we will have to buy at least one new phone so they use same network technology?

thanks.

josh

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Sounds like you will need at least one new phone. The Verizon iPhone 4 does not have a SIM card and will not work on GSM networks such as AT&T.

The AT&T iPhone 4S will not work on CDMA networks such as Verizon.

josh22 said:

Sorry for being unclear.

I believe Verizon iphones use GSM technology, while AT&T iphones use CDMA technology. Therefore phones built for these respective network will not be compatible with each other.

Although, I am not an expert, so not sure if this is correct or not.

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You've got it mixed up, Verizon uses CDMA while AT&T uses GSM.

josh22 said:

Hello all,

I have been on a family plan with my family for many years on Verizon. I have an iphone 4.

My wife had been on her family plan for many years and has an iphone 4S with AT&T. Keep in mind AT&T and T-Mobile work in the NYC subway system.

We are both leaving our old family plans and will start a new plan for just the two of us in the next month. We live in NYC.

We both really like our iphone and want to stick with them. We use a reasonable/regular amount data and minutes each month.

I believe I can't use my phone on AT&T and she can't use her phone on Verizon. Is that correct? So one of us is going to have to get a new iphone. Although we are both happy getting new iphone 5s too if it is cost effective (but also are happy with our current phones).

What phone plan do you recommend? I know there are a lot of prepaid plans out there, but do they make sense? Or do the big companies make more sense? Our only real requirement is to have reliable phone service.

Any information is appreciated.

Thanks.

Josh

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T-Mobile is great in NYC. $110 for two lines with unlimited talk text and data. But you will have to get iPhone 5 to get all the benefits. Also att and T-Mobile work in the NYC subway system.

If all you need is relaible phone service (to be clear I am reading this as data speed isn't a big deal) I would recommend Tmobile, assuming they have a good coverage map in your area (and NYC does). The two of you will get unlimited data and texts plus 500mb each of high speed (unlimited 2g) for $80 plus taxes. Your wife can bring her 4S (will need to get it unlocked, but AT&T may do that for her, if not, it's a one time $5 ebay service). You will, however, need a new phone. TMO is offering the iPhone 5 for $100 down and $20 a month for 24 months (essentially making your monthly rate $100). You will not have to sign any contacts. If you stop paying monthly, you will simply have to pay whatever remains on your iPhone 5 cost. Conversely you can get a used GSM iPhone of any flavor and use it on TMO network.

One thing to note is that only the 5 currently being sold (models sold before the beginning of may excluded) will run on all of tmobile's 3G (HSPA/+) network. What this means is that an iPhone 4, 4S, or an "older" 5 will likely be stuck on edge unless in a network refarmed area. Even the older 5's will have LTE, where available, though.

The price for the T-Mobile iPhone 5 has been increased to $150, but they have relatively good coverage around LI, so I'm sure NYC is even better, and the subway service sounds cool, haven't used it yet as I don't go into the city often.

You can use the AT&T iphone with T-Mo but you'll only get "4G" in their refarmed areas, but their Edge coverage is fine, and some of their edge is being changed to "4G" so look out for that too.

I'd suggest getting T-Mo (as its much less costly than VZW or AT&T) getting their iPhone 5, and selling the Verizon 4S to make up the difference.

And congrats on the marriage!

Tmobile for the win.

Well really it depends how much you want to spend, and which network is best in your area.

But basically if you go on AT&T or Verizon, you'll have to buy at least one new phone.

If you go T-Mobile or Sprint, you'll need two.

Now technically on T-Mobile you can use the phones you have now, but fast data coverage will be limited and I would not recommend doing this.

wordoflife said:

Well really it depends how much you want to spend, and which network is best in your area.

But basically if you go on AT&T or Verizon, you'll have to buy at least one new phone.

If you go T-Mobile or Sprint, you'll need two.

Now technically on T-Mobile you can use the phones you have now, but fast data coverage will be limited and I would not recommend doing this.

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He's in NYC. According to the map it's all been refarmed.

T-Mobile has fairly good service in NYC and their voice and data plans are reasonably priced. Also, if you can still trade in your iPhone at a T-Mobile store, that would allay some of the costs of purchasing a new phone as well as using their monthly payment plan for the phone.

Be sure to get the divorce cancellation rider that allows contract termination when divorce is final.

ggmissmolly said:

Be sure to get the divorce cancellation rider that allows contract termination when divorce is final.

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I wish these two the very best. Asking for a rider is just basically saying "I don't have faith in our marriage, so I must plan for our eventual divorce."

As to the OPs original question, I recommend looking to see if either of your jobs or schools can get discounts through any of the major carriers. If you can, I recommend the one that will give you the biggest discount.

josh22 said:

Thank you all for your feedback. I am very surprised how many people are recommending T-Mobile. Did not expect that. I expected straight-talk or some other unknown prepaid carrier.

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Pre-paid are for people who already know they want to move on that direction. As already mentioned, you should know your usage pattern and/or have hard monthly target, like u say I don't want to pay more than $30/mo and that's that.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join the contract of <state your name, carrier, and termination date>..."

Applejuiced said:

The one without commitment

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lol I see what you did there

I've got verizon. 2 smartphones, insurance on both. Unlimited talk, text, 4gb data and i pay about 175 a month

I switched to Verizon a few months ago and signed up for the $70 unlimited share plan, 4gb data. Add my line access fee of $40 and my bill is $106 after discounts. I brought my wife onto my account the other day. She was on an old unlimited data plan, paying $85 a month. She bare uses 200mb a month, as do I. I had Verizon merge her onto my plan. All we pay is another $40 for her line access fee and she simply shares my unlimited calls and texts and my 4gb of data. So $106 + $40 come out to about $150 with taxes as opposed to the $190 we were paying separately. I suggest getting a Verizon shared data plan and doing the same thing.