Cellular Plan Options, Shopping Around...

[monty-ny]

Hello!

Wanted to get in touch with the most educated people, which is you, on cellular plans. We live in Upstate NY as we have AT&T as our provider. We have 4 phones on the plan and are paying just over $200/month (two 32GB 5S and two 128GB 7+ on the Next Plan which was buy one get one free). We continue to evaluate T-Mobile and Verizon but really wanted everyone's opinion which options to look at and costs. From what I can tell, T-Mobile offers the best value for the money but it's always not about the $$. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I thank you in advance for your guidance.

 

[campyguy]

My family is from NY but is now pretty much spread out except for one of my sisters, living in the Finger Lakes region, near Schroon. She's on VZW. My other sis lives in FL but travels to Upstate like my brother and I do; she is on ATTWS, which works great in FL but not so much around the Finger Lakes.

My brother and I usually travel back (me from Seattle, him from Sitka) about the same time, I visit a friend in Sugarloaf while we're there. I always carry one VZW and one ATTWS handset, he carries two GCI handsets (one work, one personal) - GCI roams on TMo in the Lower 48. I can offer that my VZW handset and my resident sis iPhone works perfectly while Upstate, my ATTWS and my other sis's iPhones (ATTWS) are hit-and-miss in the hills. My brother's phones - roaming on T-Mo - are pretty much useless outside Albany or The City.

If I was full on ATTWS, I'd wait until the iPhone Next comes out, and take advantage of a port-in deal offered by VZW then. I run a small company, and my VZW rep is all up in my face about getting me to sign up for a renewal for my 50-odd lines - they're hard up for customers, and I'll bet that they'll offer some great deals when the next iPhones come out.

You couldn't pay me money to move to T-Mo where I'm at (WA/OR/CA) or where I regularly travel (NY, NJ, TX, MO, ID, MT). Once T-Mo gets their "Band 12" crap together - a few years out IMHO - I may have a different opinion.

 

[desertman]

Whether or not $200 for four phones is (too) much or not depends a lot on what you exactly have (minutes/texts/data) and what you actually need for each of the phones.

I, for example, need hardly any data on my phone and have a $20 (incl. all taxes) plan with unlimited minutes and texts and 250 MB data with Boom Mobile in the Verizon network. Maybe you also find something with Boom Mobile (www.boom.us) that fits your needs. With Boom Mobile you have to bring your own phone and can choose between the Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint networks.

 

[Velin]

We moved to Verizon and are very happy we did so. Without belaboring the point, we had dropouts and no service with other providers, especially on the West coast and in the hills in most places.

Moving to Verizon basically fixed all of it. Having service trumps all.

 

[hallux]

My family is from NY but is now pretty much spread out except for one of my sisters, living in the Finger Lakes region, near Schroon. She's on VZW. My other sis lives in FL but travels to Upstate like my brother and I do; she is on ATTWS, which works great in FL but not so much around the Finger Lakes.

Not to derail the topic but you might consider checking your geography. Schroon is East of I-87 and North of Albany by about 90 minutes, near the NY/VT border, the Finger Lakes are West of Syracuse. I had to look it up myself, just to be sure, but that's where Google says Schroon is, compared to the Finger Lakes.

 

[campyguy]

Not to derail the topic but you might consider checking your geography. Schroon is East of I-87 and North of Albany by about 90 minutes, near the NY/VT border, the Finger Lakes are West of Syracuse. I had to look it up myself, just to be sure, but that's where Google says Schroon is, compared to the Finger Lakes.

That's where my sis lives, we hang out around the Lakes - we've been vacationing their since the late '70s. Look up "Ruthie Bie" relative to FDR at Hyde Park, you'll see we've been NY'ers for a while - that's my mom in that pic… We know our way around the state, me thinks? I was alluding to decent VZW coverage in my OP. Cheers.

 

[charlyham]

Hello!

Wanted to get in touch with the most educated people, which is you, on cellular plans. We live in Upstate NY as we have AT&T as our provider. We have 4 phones on the plan and are paying just over $200/month (two 32GB 5S and two 128GB 7+ on the Next Plan which was buy one get one free). We continue to evaluate T-Mobile and Verizon but really wanted everyone's opinion which options to look at and costs. From what I can tell, T-Mobile offers the best value for the money but it's always not about the $$. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I thank you in advance for your guidance.

If you are satisfied with the ATT network and are not under contract, you can switch over to their prepaid service from Cricket Wireless. It is owned by ATT and is about half the cost.

 

[monty-ny]

Thank you all for your advice and insight!