Right now I am paying $130/mo (after 23% employee discount) on AT&T. I have 550 minutes shared family plan over 3 lines, two of which are iPhones and the third being a standard cell. The two iPhone lines have 250MB individual data plans, and one has a 200 text add-on. As far as I can tell, this is (shockingly) the lowest price possible for our needs, among AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.
Recently, I've been considering pay as you go alternatives, such as StraightTalk and Virgin Mobile. However, T-Mobile has a deal I simply can't resist. StraightTalk would run approx. $125/mo with unlimited everything (2GB soft cap) on 3 lines. Virgin Mobile would be about $105/mo with 300 min, unlimited text/data (2.3GB throttled). StraightTalk runs on any carrier (I would be using AT&T), and Virgin runs on Sprint (sometimes Verizon), which means I would have to sell my phone because an unlocked AT&T iPhone 4S wouldn't work on Virgin, yes?
Now, I only found out today what T-Mobile was offering, and it looks like I can get 2GB shared, 1000 minutes shared, and unlimited data for $90/mo (buying only the SIM cards). Fortunately, I can get a 12% employee discount that also waives the $105 activation fee for 3 lines, making it $79/mo. This, being a whole $50 cheaper than what I am currently paying, makes me want to pay the ETF of $225 or so, get my 4S unlocked, and make the switch to T-Mobile. The only downside is that if I wanted the iPhone 5, I would have to pay $650 unlocked, but the $450 difference makes up for itself in just 9 months, and that's not even counting the better plan on T-Mobile.
I guess the only thing stopping me from shelling out the ETF and switching right now are the downsides to T-Mobile's network compared to AT&T. I've had no problems at all on AT&T (Washington, DC suburb), but I may just bite the bullet and hope that T-Mobile will be as satisfactory as AT&T was.
Recently, I've been considering pay as you go alternatives, such as StraightTalk and Virgin Mobile. However, T-Mobile has a deal I simply can't resist. StraightTalk would run approx. $125/mo with unlimited everything (2GB soft cap) on 3 lines. Virgin Mobile would be about $105/mo with 300 min, unlimited text/data (2.3GB throttled). StraightTalk runs on any carrier (I would be using AT&T), and Virgin runs on Sprint (sometimes Verizon), which means I would have to sell my phone because an unlocked AT&T iPhone 4S wouldn't work on Virgin, yes?
Now, I only found out today what T-Mobile was offering, and it looks like I can get 2GB shared, 1000 minutes shared, and unlimited data for $90/mo (buying only the SIM cards). Fortunately, I can get a 12% employee discount that also waives the $105 activation fee for 3 lines, making it $79/mo. This, being a whole $50 cheaper than what I am currently paying, makes me want to pay the ETF of $225 or so, get my 4S unlocked, and make the switch to T-Mobile. The only downside is that if I wanted the iPhone 5, I would have to pay $650 unlocked, but the $450 difference makes up for itself in just 9 months, and that's not even counting the better plan on T-Mobile.
I guess the only thing stopping me from shelling out the ETF and switching right now are the downsides to T-Mobile's network compared to AT&T. I've had no problems at all on AT&T (Washington, DC suburb), but I may just bite the bullet and hope that T-Mobile will be as satisfactory as AT&T was.