T-mobile vs Verizon, am I missing something here??

[TitanTiger]

I don't know where you live, but I live in an area with decent TMobile coverage but excellent Verizon coverage. I was with TMobile for 7 years. I really didn't want to leave them but I kept holding out hoping for the iPhone that never came. So back in November we jumped to Verizon because they have LTE in my area and AT&T doesn't. I haven't regretted it for a second. Verizon's signal seems to penetrate buildings much better (even a concrete walled basement where my wife works a consignment sale each year she now gets a signal whereas with TMo it was a dead zone), the LTE speeds are great and I never - NEVER - drop calls.

I'm not saying I'll never go back, but I'm quite happy with Verizon over TMo. Those prices are tempting though so if the coverage for your area is really good and they have at least the HSPA+ speeds (their 4G non-LTE coverage), it might make sense. But just know for sure otherwise you'll like the service with Verizon much better.

 

[Applejuiced]

You have been able to basically do the same thing for years now. Use a credit card

Buy the phone at the out-of-contract price and then put it on your credit card. No contract and you can pay off the phone sometime in the future.

True that.
I'm not planning on leaving AT&T so mind as well take the subsidy. But many times before I paid full price for an iphone when I wasn't due for an upgrade charging it on my card like you said. I don't have a problem paying for things I like to purchase.
But it would be nice for people that don't want a subsidy, contract or have paid for their device in full to be able to get cheaper service than those on subsidized monthly plans similar to Tmobiles new approach.
I just think more options similar to that can only benefit the consumer.
Maybe offer both things from subsidized plans like now but also similar no contract deals with cheaper service if you bring your device like offered in many other countries.

 

[2298754]

I just think more options similar to that can only benefit the consumer.
Maybe offer both things from subsidized plans like now but also similar no contract deals with cheaper service if you bring your device like offered in many other countries.

Good point, but in this case, this "option" comes at the expense of mediocre service and coverage.

 

[Applejuiced]

Good point, but in this case, this "option" comes at the expense of mediocre service and coverage.

Yes, I hear you on that.
That's why I'm hoping AT&T and Verizon will adopt something like it in the future if they see it take off with Tmobile.
But I'm not holding my breath

 

[aneftp]

So I've been doing some calculations and it seems to me that T-mobile (for multiple lines at least) is much much cheaper than Verizon. Please see my calcs below and let me know if I'm missing something. (keep in mind this is over a 3 year period - I can use the same phone for 3 years)

Hypothetical 3 line plan over 3 years.

VERIZON
$597.00 : 3 iPhones @ $199 each
$6,120.00 : Plan with 2gb shared data over 36 months

$6,717.00 : Total Cost of phones and plan over 36 months

T-mobile
$1,737.00 : 3 iPhones
$3,240.00 : 500mg family plan x 3 lines

$4,977.00 : total cost


T-mobile savings over Verizon of $1740 over 3 years or $580 per line.

_________________________________

Hypothetical 5 lines over 3 years

VERIZON
$1,495.00 : 5 iPhones
$9,000.00 : Plan with 2gb shared data

$10,495.00 : total cost

T-mobile
$2,895.00 : 5 iPhones
$3,960.00 : 500mb family plan x 5 lines

$6,855.00 : total

T-mobile savings over Verizon of $3640 or $728 per line.

Bad analogy. Run the numbers over 20 month period.

And run it with 4 lines than 5 lines.

Why? Starting at 4 lines post paid att/verizon are about the same as tmobile new plans.

5 lines it maybe cheaper especially with corp discounts with verizon/att.

Why 20 months? Cause that is time for new upgrade.

There are reasons people stick with verizon and att. Especially those with 4-5 lines. Because per line cost is the same or even cheaper than prepaid.

I used to have 4 lines/4 unlimited data/text with any mobile plus A list with ATT. My total cost was $210 per month with my 24% FAN.

Now I dropped 2 unlimited data. So have 2 smartphones plus 2 flips and my bill is down to $155/month. Plus I get 4 subsidies every 20 months worth close to $1600.

That's why it's not necessarily more expensive at Verizon or ATT since they have similar pricing.

For some Verizon may be almost as econimcal per line (with 4-5 lines) as prepaid.

Of course if u have 1-2 lines with verizon u are getting ripped off. But 4-5 lines. The money difference to try to save a few dollars to go cheaper with tmobile isn't worth trouble to lose the coverage area verizon offers or even ATT offers.

 

[NewAnger]

I tried Verizon for a whole year and finally broke my contract after never having 3G at my house and tons of dropped calls. AT&T was just as bad although my data speeds on AT&T ranged from 0.00 to .50Mbps and sometimes up to 1.50Mbps in the middle of the night.

I broke my recently renewed AT&T contract to move to T-mobile and it has been the best experience ever. I finally have amazing 3G speeds on my 4S and Nexus 4 and Nexus 7. I consistently get between 17-21Mbps and sometimes up to 26Mbps on the Nexus and 4-10Mbps on the 4S. Even on my 3GS I am getting 2-6Mbps on T-Mobile.

I wish I wouldn't have wasted the last 7 years on AT&T one year of that on Verizon.

All I can say is don't listen to all the negative reports on T-Mobile because like me, you may find they are the best carrier out of the others. It just depends on your location. I'm with T-Mobile and could not be happier.

 

[sectime]

Well said.
You get what you pay for.

Except the asshat statement about a lower class of people.
Just read another of his posts "Audi on Tmobile" now I understand the pretentious lower class comment.

 

[NewAnger]

I also wanted to add that when I was with T-Mobile and Verizon, my data speeds were so bad that I could barely use half a gig of data per month.

Since I started my $70 unlimited plan on T-Mobile, I have used 5.6347 GB in two weeks. I keep my WiFi off because it's so freakin nice to have data that I can use after seven years.

 

[sectime]

I tried Verizon for a whole year and finally broke my contract after never having 3G at my house and tons of dropped calls. AT&T was just as bad although my data speeds on AT&T ranged from 0.00 to .50Mbps and sometimes up to 1.50Mbps in the middle of the night.

I broke my recently renewed AT&T contract to move to T-mobile and it has been the best experience ever. I finally have amazing 3G speeds on my 4S and Nexus 4 and Nexus 7. I consistently get between 17-21Mbps and sometimes up to 26Mbps on the Nexus and 4-10Mbps on the 4S. Even on my 3GS I am getting 2-6Mbps on T-Mobile.

I wish I wouldn't have wasted the last 7 years on AT&T one year of that on Verizon.

All I can say is don't listen to all the negative reports on T-Mobile because like me, you may find they are the best carrier out of the others. It just depends on your location. I'm with T-Mobile and could not be happier.

As long as you stay close to I25 your ok

 

[NewAnger]

As long as you stay close to I25 your ok

Not at all. Last week, I drove to Wheatridge for an eye exam. Coming back, I noticed that my 4S stayed on 3G the entire time back home. They have really improved the signal.

 

[2298754]

Except the asshat statement about a lower class of people.
Just read another of his posts "Audi on Tmobile" now I understand the pretentious lower class comment.

Its not even for debate. You actually need to have good credit to get a service from ATT/VZW. They don't just hand out service to any idiot with sub par credit, like Sprint and T-Mobile do.

Upside for TMo is that these people are getting suckered right into TMobiles marketing nonsense. And think they're getting more for less, but that is not even close to the truth.

 

[NewAnger]

Its not even for debate. You actually need to have good credit to get a service from ATT/VZW. They don't just hand out service to any idiot with sub par credit, like Sprint and T-Mobile do.

Upside for TMo is that these people are getting suckered right into TMobiles marketing nonsense. And think they're getting more for less, but that is not even close to the truth.

I had to put a deposit to buy my Nexus 4 on T-Mobile in January. I got the phone, cancelled the two year contract a month later and switched the phone to prepaid. They too required good credit which I didn't have anymore after breaking my AT&T and Verizon contracts. My deposit covered my ETF.

You are probably the same person who made a big deal out of Walmart selling the iPhone because it would ruin the iPhones rep.

 

[CEmajr]

Its not even for debate. You actually need to have good credit to get a service from ATT/VZW. They don't just hand out service to any idiot with sub par credit, like Sprint and T-Mobile do.

Upside for TMo is that these people are getting suckered right into TMobiles marketing nonsense. And think they're getting more for less, but that is not even close to the truth.

Umm no you don't. At least not with Verizon lately. They have significantly lowered their credit class requirements for service recently as several people I know who have atrocious credit were able to get approved for 5 lines no deposit with iPhone 5s. AT&Ts credit requirements are still high and that's mainly due to how long they've been carrying the iPhone and been scammed over from people buying them subsidized to flip overseas and skipping out on the bill. It's all about risk assessment, not a certain class of people.

Not everyone believes it's okay to pay ridiculous amounts of money for capped cell service if there are other options. The thousands saved by not being on AT&T/Verizon could pay for vacations for some people instead if going to a cell carrier.

Now Tmobile does have significant Edge data in rural areas and along interstates I agree. Most people don't travel far outside their towns though. For a traveling person u definitely wouldn't recommend Tmobile or Sprint but if it works great in your city there's no reason not to choose them over AT&T or Verizon.

Example: I'm on Verizon right now with the iPhone 5. LTE is great over most of my city, sucks in my house though. Have a Tmobile line as well, coverage is equal or better around town and HSPA+ speeds rival or exceed the LTE speeds I get with Verizon. Why pay more for Verizon? Only reason I went with them was because I wanted to iPhone. I can easily walk into a store from all 4 carriers with no deposit and I've been on all except Sprint. Yet I prefer Tmobile, they just lacked the iPhone.


There's never a reason to pay thousands of dollars more if the service for you is comparable. It's foolish and that's what poor people do to try and keep up. Rich don't get rich by wasting money.

Verizon service is great but I'm pretty tired if monitoring my data usage. What good is a strong LTE network and a powerful phone like the iPhone 5 with carriers data limitations in place? I would gladly pay extra for an unlimited data plan if they offered it but unfortunately they don't.

 

[MacR5]

I did run the numbers over 5 lines and the savings are greater with 5 lines than with 3 lines. According to my calculations over 3 years with 5 lines you can save $3,640 dollars which is money that I, personally, would rather spend on travel, education, or hobbies than on a fairly commoditized cell phone service.

And you're not comparing apples to apples, you're comparing a plan with 2 iPhones and 2 flip phones and a 24% discount to a plan with 4 iPhones and more data and no discount. If you want to run the numbers on a 20 month plan over 5 lines all using iPhones then please do, I would love to see the results.

I even ran my Verizon calcs with a 15% discount that we get with them which improves the math a bit in Verizon's favor. In fact, I went with Verizon over ATT (despite getting a better ATT discount) due to the fact that everyone I know who uses ATT hates them and says how horrible their network is - so I paid up for Verizon.

And for me, personally, getting some 2G outside of cities is fine as long as I can talk and msg people and use maps, I'm not watching youtube on the road. Having LTE on Verizon is great and a faster than the 3G I had with T-mobile but the difference is negligible and I preferred having unlimited data and downloading all the podcasts and pandora on the fly that I wanted while out running or exercising. For me, personally, sharing 500mb at high speed and unlimited after that is > 2gb shared between two lines at LTE speeds. Keep in mind this is for me, personally. 95% of my time is spent in the cities, when I'm outside the cities I prefer not to be looking at my cell phone.

Bad analogy. Run the numbers over 20 month period.

And run it with 4 lines than 5 lines.

Why? Starting at 4 lines post paid att/verizon are about the same as tmobile new plans.

5 lines it maybe cheaper especially with corp discounts with verizon/att.

Why 20 months? Cause that is time for new upgrade.

There are reasons people stick with verizon and att. Especially those with 4-5 lines. Because per line cost is the same or even cheaper than prepaid.

I used to have 4 lines/4 unlimited data/text with any mobile plus A list with ATT. My total cost was $210 per month with my 24% FAN.

Now I dropped 2 unlimited data. So have 2 smartphones plus 2 flips and my bill is down to $155/month. Plus I get 4 subsidies every 20 months worth close to $1600.

That's why it's not necessarily more expensive at Verizon or ATT since they have similar pricing.

For some Verizon may be almost as econimcal per line (with 4-5 lines) as prepaid.

Of course if u have 1-2 lines with verizon u are getting ripped off. But 4-5 lines. The money difference to try to save a few dollars to go cheaper with tmobile isn't worth trouble to lose the coverage area verizon offers or even ATT offers.

 

[Essenar]

It's just as bad with AT&T. Do the comparison with them too.

The only carrier that competes is Sprint and good luck getting good data on their network. At least T-Mobile has GSM 3G in some places, which is good for up to about 8 mbps. You have a functional smart phone with those speeds.

With Sprint, you're stuck with their CDMA 3G network in like 90% of the United States. 1.5 MBPS if you're lucky. IF... You're lucky.

 

[Applejuiced]

Except the asshat statement about a lower class of people.
Just read another of his posts "Audi on Tmobile" now I understand the pretentious lower class comment.

I wouldn't say lower class but they do target lower income customers.
But those 2 are separate things. I know many low income people that have way more class and ethics than some upper class individuals. But that's another story

 

[aneftp]

I did run the numbers over 5 lines and the savings are greater with 5 lines than with 3 lines. According to my calculations over 3 years with 5 lines you can save $3,640 dollars which is money that I, personally, would rather spend on travel, education, or hobbies than on a fairly commoditized cell phone service.

And you're not comparing apples to apples, you're comparing a plan with 2 iPhones and 2 flip phones and a 24% discount to a plan with 4 iPhones and more data and no discount. If you want to run the numbers on a 20 month plan over 5 lines all using iPhones then please do, I would love to see the results.

I even ran my Verizon calcs with a 15% discount that we get with them which improves the math a bit in Verizon's favor. In fact, I went with Verizon over ATT (despite getting a better ATT discount) due to the fact that everyone I know who uses ATT hates them and says how horrible their network is - so I paid up for Verizon.

And for me, personally, getting some 2G outside of cities is fine as long as I can talk and msg people and use maps, I'm not watching youtube on the road. Having LTE on Verizon is great and a faster than the 3G I had with T-mobile but the difference is negligible and I preferred having unlimited data and downloading all the podcasts and pandora on the fly that I wanted while out running or exercising. For me, personally, sharing 500mb at high speed and unlimited after that is > 2gb shared between two lines at LTE speeds. Keep in mind this is for me, personally. 95% of my time is spent in the cities, when I'm outside the cities I prefer not to be looking at my cell phone.

Again. I said run it over 20 months. Because verizon and even att all offer full (up to $400 subsidies per line) every 20 months. U can always buy the phone and flip it and sell it for profit. Took me a total of 15 minutes selling iPhone 5 when it came out for $625. Almost a $400 profit back last October.

Most people don't keep their smartphones 36 months. They keep it until they are eligible for another upgrade. Which is 20 months.

I am telling u. The savings tmobile gives over verizon with 4-5 lines when factoring subsidies is very minimal. Hardly worth the trouble to switch to a carrier that has less nationwide coverage.

I am not a tmobile hater. Was with tmobile/voice stream /aerial for 15 plus years.

It's just reality.

It's a 2 horse race in this country and tmobile is fighting for 3rd place and still losing ground to even sprint.

 

[aneftp]

Tmobile
That's $110 a month ($110 for 500mb for 5 lines) That's how i got $110 per month. $($2200 over 20 months)
Plus $580 price for iPhone x 5 lines ($2900)
Total cost before taxes for 5 lines over 20 months is $5100 with tmobile with zero subsidies (well tmobile is giving $70 off iPhone retail price)

VeriZon share everything 1gb ($50) plus $40 x 5 equals $250 a month
$250 x 20 months is $5000
Plus $200/iPhone x 5 equals $1000. So $6000

A $900 savings over 20 months for tmobile over verizon.

The million dollar question. Will tmobile still give corp discount with no contract plans.

If they do. Good.

If they don't. That wipes out all the savings quickly. Some get savings As much as 25% from verizon. My brother gets 22%.

 

[Diode]

The million dollar question. Will tmobile still give corp discount with no contract plans.

If they do. Good.

If they don't. That wipes out all the savings quickly. Some get savings As much as 25% from verizon. My brother gets 22%.

They do - although the corporate discounts are much less for T-Mobile. They are in the 8~15% range. Still not bad though considering how much cheaper the plans are.

 

[aneftp]

They do - although the corporate discounts are much less for T-Mobile. They are in the 8~15% range. Still not bad though considering how much cheaper the plans are.

I hope tmobile turns its around. They have been bleeding customers for past 2 years.

Really it's never been the pricing. Tmobile customer service had always been top notch until 2 years ago. That's when they started trying to push people to lock them into 2 more years of contract for almost any minor change in their plans.

Same thing happened with Sprint. There is only so low you can go. U also need customer service support

And of course coverage is most important to customers. In big cities its good. But if u are in semi rural area tmobile isn't the best choice.

 

[sectime]

I wouldn't say lower class but they do target lower income customers.
But those 2 are separate things. I know many low income people that have way more class and ethics than some upper class individuals. But that's another story

I agree, seems the relationship between money and class is inverse, from my experience