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Jeez why are individual iPhone plans so expensive now?

K

Kendo

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 4, 2011
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I am grandfathered with AT&T at $80 a month for unlimited data, 450 mins, and unlimited text. My wife hates Sprint and wants to move to AT&T or Verizon. We can't join a family plan because I don't want to lose my unlimited. Are these her only options for AT&T and Verizon?

AT&T - Unlimited text, talk, and 2GB data for $80
Verizon - Unlimited text, talk, and 2GB data for $90*

*There is a current promo from Verizon that is $60 for that plan until 10/15.

Can anyone who has an individual line (non-family) give me their thoughts on what is the best plan available? Thanks.
 
Basically carriers are trying to push single line users to pre-paid with the pricing being so high. Their plans are all geared towards families.

I have AT&T with 1 line right now and have unlimited data with them still, I get a discount which brings it down to about $77 a month.
 
Get Crickett Wireless, an AT&T MVNO, $45 a month for 3GB or a 10GB plan for $55.
 
T-Mobile has an insanely good prepaid plan if your wife doesn't use a lot of minutes. $30 for 100 minutes but 5GB LTE (throttled afterwards) and unlimited text.
 
KingArthurVI said:
T-Mobile has an insanely good prepaid plan if your wife doesn't use a lot of minutes. $30 for 100 minutes but 5GB LTE (throttled afterwards) and unlimited text.
Click to expand...

Where is this plan? I only see a $70 / month plan on their site for 5GB LTE.
 
KingArthurVI said:
T-Mobile has an insanely good prepaid plan if your wife doesn't use a lot of minutes. $30 for 100 minutes but 5GB LTE (throttled afterwards) and unlimited text.
Click to expand...

But, be careful of T-Mobil. Make sure the service is good in your area. Many hate it because of the lousy data service, and others like it. Returned to Verizon after just one day with T-Mobil because of the coverage was very poor. Verizon with me, a senior, got the Senior plan of $29.00 calls $30.00 for data> 2 GB > 200 minutes > unlimited txt. From time to time Verizon has offered a Loyalty plan for one year with 2 GB data > 450 minutes > unlimited txt. Have to look out for it...
 
Kendo said:
Can anyone who has an individual line (non-family) give me their thoughts on what is the best plan available? Thanks.
Click to expand...

The Verizon $60/2gb plan is the best overall for individuals atm IF you are only looking to go through the 'big-4' carriers.

On the Verizon plan you get a free $450 phone subsidy every 2-years. Divided by 24 months that comes out to a free $18.75 Verizon gives you.

So basically instead of paying $60/mo you can look at it as only paying $41.25/mo ($60 - $18.75)... not too shabby for unlimited talk & text + 2gb of data on the best carrier.

Of course... if she can go prepaid then her options open up a bit more for cheaper individual plans.
- Cricket wireless has unlimited talk & text + 1gb plan for $35 a month on AT&T's network.
- Brightspot mobile has 300 min, unlim text, and 3gb plan for $29 a month on T-mobiles network.
- Republic wireless has unlimited talk, text, and 3g data for $25 a month on Sprints network.
 
justinf77 said:
Where is this plan? I only see a $70 / month plan on their site for 5GB LTE.
Click to expand...

It's a prepaid plan. I have it and it meets my exact needs, since I don't talk much on my cell phone but use 3-4 GB of data every month. Even if you talk more than 100 minutes per month, overages on voice minutes only cost $0.10 per minute and if you go over on data, you get throttled or you can reup your high-speed data by resetting the renewal date. Pair the plan with an unlocked phone, and I am still free to switch over to a different plan at any time.

So far, T-Mobile has been great. They now exclude music streaming from your data cap, and recently added free mobile hotspot as well (these features were not announced for prepaid plans, so they could go away in the future). Rural coverage though is lousy, so if you travel a lot and need outlying area coverage, it might not work for you

Even though T-Mobile's prepaid site says that you need to activate it online, I needed operator assistance to activate my service and the $30 plan was available as one of the prepaid option. Keep in mind that it is only available for new service activations, so if you switch plans, you won't be able to go back to the $30 plan (although I've read that you can get around this by buying a new SIM card).

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

----------
ABC5S said:
But, be careful of T-Mobil. Make sure the service is good in your area. Many hate it because of the lousy data service, and others like it. Returned to Verizon after just one day with T-Mobil because of the coverage was very poor. Verizon with me, a senior, got the Senior plan of $29.00 calls $30.00 for data> 2 GB > 200 minutes > unlimited txt. From time to time Verizon has offered a Loyalty plan for one year with 2 GB data > 450 minutes > unlimited txt. Have to look out for it...
Click to expand...

This is why it's good that they offer the test drive program for anyone to try out the network and a loaner iPhone for 7 days free of charge. In my area, T-Mobile's coverage is solid and they've now activated wi-fi calling for the iPhone, which helps if the places you frequent are in weak coverage areas.
 
Last edited:
For those with the tmo 5gig plan, can anyone confirm music streaming is not counted against the data? I thought it would be because the $30 plan is so cheap.
 
I remember them always being around $80... back then it was unlimited data but low minutes. Pick your poison.

If you buy the phone outright you can do ATT go phone plan for $45 a month, which includes 2.5gb data and unlimited call/texts. That's what we would be doing if the 10GB share plan with four lines wasn't a bit better, plus allowed Next upgrades.
 
lordofthereef said:
I remember them always being around $80... back then it was unlimited data but low minutes. Pick your poison.



If you buy the phone outright you can do ATT go phone plan for $45 a month, which includes 2.5gb data and unlimited call/texts. That's what we would be doing if the 10GB share plan with four lines wasn't a bit better, plus allowed Next upgrades.
Click to expand...


Go phone is not $45 for 2.5gb, that's is the $60 plan.
 
Kendo said:
I am grandfathered with AT&T at $80 a month for unlimited data, 450 mins, and unlimited text. My wife hates Sprint and wants to move to AT&T or Verizon. We can't join a family plan because I don't want to lose my unlimited. Are these her only options for AT&T and Verizon?

AT&T - Unlimited text, talk, and 2GB data for $80
Verizon - Unlimited text, talk, and 2GB data for $90*

*There is a current promo from Verizon that is $60 for that plan until 10/15.

Can anyone who has an individual line (non-family) give me their thoughts on what is the best plan available? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Yes if you want one of these carriers then that's pretty much it for your options. Otherwise you'll have to look at T-Mobile or prepaid service like Cricket for decent individual rates.
 
I have some friends happy with Straight Talk. It can use tmo or at&t (you get t o choose!)
 
lordofthereef said:
617aircav said:
Go phone is not $45 for 2.5gb, that's is the $60 plan.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is... I just recently bought one.

You may have to buy a device to get the deal? IDK. Either way, devices on clearance are as cheap as like $30.
Click to expand...

What the...

Can anyone else confirm this? On the official GoPhone page it says $60/mo for 2.5gb. Can't find anything on Google regarding LordoftheReefs claim. Anyone else have the plan that he is talking about? ($45/mo 2.5gb on GoPhone) :confused:
 

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Hal~9000 said:
What the...

Can anyone else confirm this? On the official GoPhone page it says $60/mo for 2.5gb. Can't find anything on Google regarding LordoftheReefs claim. Anyone else have the plan that he is talking about? ($45/mo 2.5gb on GoPhone) :confused:
Click to expand...

I looked online myself when I was told it didn't exist lol. IDK. Was it recently changed? My clearance Lumia 520 came with that. Granted, I am not using it, but that's what is printed on the box. It's the only reason I even knew about the pricing.
 
Poor economy, inflation, prices go up. I was in japan an the cost was astronomical there. I came back here and saw how bad it was compared to my old plan. Got that and now I view the current plans and they are just as bad. I remember paying $25+ tax a month for unlimited data, 2400 minutes, 2000 text messages. We've gone a long way. I also remember paying less than $1.50 per gallon of gas. Now no one cares that our state is putting up to a $2 tax on gas at the end of the year saying it will not be passed to the customers. Yea, right. They're also pushing a $0.50 tax per mile driven on us. I'll have to complain to the military if they pass that. That's $30 a day to work and back, plus gas.
 
Kendo said:
I am grandfathered with AT&T at $80 a month for unlimited data, 450 mins, and unlimited text. My wife hates Sprint and wants to move to AT&T or Verizon. We can't join a family plan because I don't want to lose my unlimited. Are these her only options for AT&T and Verizon?

AT&T - Unlimited text, talk, and 2GB data for $80
Verizon - Unlimited text, talk, and 2GB data for $90*

*There is a current promo from Verizon that is $60 for that plan until 10/15.

Can anyone who has an individual line (non-family) give me their thoughts on what is the best plan available? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Get a VZW unlimited data plan from this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1775323/
 
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