Best family plan?

[EvilYoda]

Hi all, we're nearing another upgrade and contract renewal with AT&T and I want to make sure that we're in the right place. We get 25% off of the contract through my employer. I'm grandfathered on the unlimited plan but honestly I don't fully utilize it. We could get by (easily) with a shared 10GB plan if those exist.

We currently pay $168/mo after the discount which feels high considering our usage (thousands of rolled over minutes, none of us use more than 150-200 minutes a month).

I've always been on AT&T (Cingular) but would consider moving to Verizon. My sister will stay with the iPhone and I haven't decided yet...more than likely staying with an Android platform.

Thanks all.

 

[arod]

How many lines but in general tmobile has the best plans these days as long as they have good coverage in your area.

 

[EvilYoda]

Only 3 lines. Honestly don't know what to think about T-Mobile...their plans sound great but I don't have any experience with their service. Detroit is home...I guess their coverage would be fine here. I travel a lot for work but mostly in large cities.

 

[s44]

Try the T-Mo "test drive".

 

[paperwastage]

yep, t-mobile test drive

I assume you are already financing new phones on your own (aka no device subsidy from AT&T)

If tmobile's network is good, look at the options below: ALl below have music freedom(i.e. music from certain services do not count towarsd data usage). No charges for data overage, you just get throttled to 2G(about 15kBytes/s)


- $90 ish = prepaid $30 100 minute plan, 5GB each, no int'l data benefits
family postpaid plans, yes to int'l data/text benefits
- $90 + (10-15% taxes) for a 3-person plan, 1GB each, unlimited minutes
- $100 + (10-15% taxes) for a 4-person plan, 2.5GB each until end-2015

 

[EvilYoda]

I want to try the T-Mo test drive but I didn't expect the iPhone 6 to release so quickly. No time to do so...my sister wants to pre-order tomorrow! I have a OnePlus One (might switch to a new Moto X...hell, might buy an iPhone 6) so that's paid for but she'd take the subsidy.

Honestly, the T-Mobile music freedom doesn't add a lot of value as none of us would use it. I might take advantage of it when I'm on the road but as of right now, none us stream a lot of music.

 

[paperwastage]

^ then just stay with AT&T for now, no point trying to switch if you don't know how good/horrible t-mobile is in your area

Take the upgrade and stay with your plan. If you need to ever switch, T-mobile can pay off the ETF (if it's not on AT&T Next)... or even if you move to non-Tmobile, it's worth it to take the contract for grandfathered plans and unlock it later somehow (AT&T basically subsidizes $450, if you look at full retail price and subsidy pricing after downpayment... ETF is $325... better than buying full price w/o the subsidy)

 

[EvilYoda]

Yeah, that's what it's looking like. My sister lives in Kalamazoo and apparently T-Mobile is still shit there. We're talking about it tonight, but I doubt we'll make any changes.

On top of that, I'm trying to decide what to do about a new phone - the OnePlus One was mostly a "test" and it's just a lot bigger than what I'd like in a phone. iPhone 6, Moto X...blah.

 

[paperwastage]

Yeah, that's what it's looking like. My sister lives in Kalamazoo and apparently T-Mobile is still shit there. We're talking about it tonight, but I doubt we'll make any changes.

On top of that, I'm trying to decide what to do about a new phone - the OnePlus One was mostly a "test" and it's just a lot bigger than what I'd like in a phone. iPhone 6, Moto X...blah.

if it's Kalamazoo Michigan, the city itself looks fine but once you leave, it's not going to be good

if it's Kalamazoo NE, it looks like AT&T/tmobile sucks there anyways

 

[EvilYoda]

Had no idea there was another kzoo, LOL. Yeah, MI. She's asking around to see what her friends say.

 

[paperwastage]

Had no idea there was another kzoo, LOL. Yeah, MI. She's asking around to see what her friends say.

T-mobile has changed quite a lot in the past 18 months, just in case her friends' experiences may be dated (LTE roll out started 18 months ago...)... that's why it's important to do a Test Drive on your own and decide

If you click on "Speedtests - Download" icon (or click on this link, zoom out), you'll see T-mobile getting 95% of their 50 speed tests above 12Mbps. AT&T has 40% out of 14, Verizon has 50%....

* of course, it highly depends what time the speedtests were run, location, blahblahblah.... but it's consistent with T-mobile user experiences: When you get LTE or 3G/DC-HSDPA, it's fast. Otherwise, you'll get slow 2G/Edge

 

[EvilYoda]

Yeah, your links good and TMo's site says that kzoo is well covered too. Ill drop by a store tomorrow - at this point, my concern is that we have no time to figure it out or do a test drive as my sister will have the pre-order in tomorrow. Maybe stick with AT&T for a year and have T-Mobile pay our ETF fees?

 

[paperwastage]

Yeah, your links good and TMo's site says that kzoo is well covered too. Ill drop by a store tomorrow - at this point, my concern is that we have no time to figure it out or do a test drive as my sister will have the pre-order in tomorrow. Maybe stick with AT&T for a year and have T-Mobile pay our ETF fees?

yeah, just stick a year. don't rush two things at once, and iPhone is more important

 

[EvilYoda]

Almost started a new thread...I still might. I still like Android and not having widgets will be weird. But the iPhone "just works" for the most part and I have a MBP, so the new features in iOS and OSX are attractive. That and they finally came out with a larger form factor. It's basically the Moto X or iPhone 6 for me. The OPO will get sold, especially since I can get paid value for it.

 

[Compddd]

Tell your sister to wait? What difference does a few weeks make? Save money and switch to T-Mobile.

 

[RossMAN]

Almost started a new thread...I still might. I still like Android and not having widgets will be weird. But the iPhone "just works" for the most part and I have a MBP, so the new features in iOS and OSX are attractive. That and they finally came out with a larger form factor. It's basically the Moto X or iPhone 6 for me. The OPO will get sold, especially since I can get paid value for it.

For iPhone 6, make sure to get a good deal with trade-in.

Moto X for me, waiting for BF hoping they'll offer $150 off or throw in a free Moto hint. Less than 2 months until we find out!

 

[EvilYoda]

Thanks RossMAN, saw that too. I already told her to make sure she gets max value.

 

[RossMAN]

Is $168 after 25% employer discount and includes taxes/fees for 2 lines? Correct?

 

[RossMAN]

Also have you considered Cricket Wireless which would cost you $90 per month offering:

Unlimited minutes, text and 3GB each.
$25 referral credit for both of you - but activation and SIM cards are $25 each so I guess it's a wash?

 

[EvilYoda]

I've seriously considered Cricket for myself but I'm the one that's more open to new things in the world of gadgets. It's 3 lines but one of them is a dumb phone...might change that up in the next year. And yes, it's $168 after discount which is why I'm looking around. The T-Mobile plan is so attractive and I probably get some discount there too.

 

[paperwastage]

I've seriously considered Cricket for myself but I'm the one that's more open to new things in the world of gadgets. It's 3 lines but one of them is a dumb phone...might change that up in the next year. And yes, it's $168 after discount which is why I'm looking around. The T-Mobile plan is so attractive and I probably get some discount there too.

For new accounts, Tmobile now only offers monthly discounts for government/military employees. Unfortunate

If you are planning to upgrade phones often, maybe its good to stick to your current plan. You may be paying $60 more a month, but the device subsidy ($450 per phone for 24 months = $19/month. 3 phones =$60/month?) and grandfathered unlimited might be worth it (though AT&T apparently throttles after 5 GB, dunno what your experience is

Tmobile split the cost of service from phone subsidy. Its good because one can choose to buy cheap phones like nexus or use the same phones for 3 years to save $... But if you upgrade often, it can be more expensive than AT&T, unless you want truly unlimited lte (and you have grandfathered unlimited right now)

 

[DesiPower]

I saw a T-Mo commercial yesterday, 4 lines for $100... cant beat that imo

 

[Dulanic]

I saw a T-Mo commercial yesterday, 4 lines for $100... cant beat that imo

Sure you can... you can get Sprint for the SAME price /w 28GB! How fantastic right! Oh... wait but don't forget the little trick that it kicks up $60 in 2015 that they try to "hide". And their horrible speeds. And those crazy LTE speeds of 4Mbps or less.....

 

[DesiPower]

Sure you can... you can get Sprint for the SAME price /w 28GB! How fantastic right! Oh... wait but don't forget the little trick that it kicks up $60 in 2015 that they try to "hide". And their horrible speeds. And those crazy LTE speeds of 4Mbps or less.....

For T-Mo, even in 2015 you will still get 1GB per line for $100, only catch there is the price of the equipment, now if you got for T399 or similar, that's just $5 a month, so technically for $120 + tax you can get 4 lines with 1GB each.
Dont know about Sprint, tries them once for 3 months, their signal was far worse in my area compared to T-Mo

 

[EvilYoda]

Wait, 1GB a line in 2015? If that's what they're switching everyone up to, fuck that. My sister actually didn't put her pre-order in due to not knowing what provider we'll be with...aaagh.