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Well, the talk is nice, but with AT&T's $15 off per phone if you own it, T-Mobile isn't really cheaper anymore, especially with family plans. And with AT&T you can get coverage between cities, not just in them. I'm thankful to T-Mobile for forcing AT&T to keep up, but since they have, I'm going with the better network.

EDIT: My cost comparison for two people who own their phones:

4 Gigs shared on AT&T: $120

2.5 gigs each on T-Mobile: $100

So I guess T-Mobile is still cheaper. But, for me, T-Mobile data does not work at all outside of my home city. Data coverage everywhere is worth 20 bucks to me.




Horses for courses, but AT&T's other anti-consmer polices and missed deadlines are what got me to move.

When I went over data allotment on AT&T, I got charged extra for that month (especially infuriating late in the cycle). Here on Tmobile, I just get bumped down to 2G (acceptable - esp. if it happens 27 days into the cycle).

When TMobile launched the iPhone5 with HDVoice, AT&T and VZ loudly proclaimed that HDVoice was coming "late 2013". Still no news. How long does it take for them to support an additional codec that improves voice and lowers their bandwidth? I'm only waiting for them b/c I have a relative that is still on AT&T, and I'd love the calls to be HDVoice.

TMobile's coverage outside of metros sucks. And I doubt it will get better soon (likely they'll double-down on becoming better than ATT/VZ in-city than worry about low-density areas). If you really need coverage in exurban and rural areas, then yeah, go with one of the two biggies - but you'll definitely pay more.


This is a great strategy for gobbling up marketshare. Definitely an 80/20 move by T Mobile. Couple that with a customer centric product that isn't offered anywhere else and most people will realize they travel in between cities by plane.

Once t mobile establishes a foothold, it will have enough agency and capital to gain access to wider coverage. The biggies will be bleeding revenue and will have to license out their network to T Mobile to compensate.

Sure, their network is not a blanket. But that is temporary. T mobiles approach is likely possible due to differences in their operations which provides a competitive advantage that the biggies can't easily replicate.

Mobile networks will evolve faster than backbone. I'm excited to see what lies ahead.


> most people will realize they travel in between cities by plane.

With T-Mobile I can't even get get 5 miles out of the metro area without losing coverage. We're not talking about road trips across North Dakota, we're talking about a 40-mile drive to the next city over. Hope you weren't super into that Pandora song!


I would rather get charged extra and get a warning. $5/GB seems like a good price to me. Sometimes the extra speed is worth the money and having to call every time you are close to a data cap is insane. Instead, just change me for what I use, but charge a fair rate.


It's still $30/mo (taxes-and-fees inclusive) for T-Mobile's prepaid plan. That's 5GB/mo each for $60/month total.


Yeah, that one is a good deal. I think there's only 100 talk minutes though. That's not going to work for everyone. Plus, no roaming.


It's not capped at 100 minutes though, it just includes that many. They could keep talking more than 7 hours past that before the overage costs as much as the family plan with half the data.


Yep, if you talk another 100 minutes, you pay $40 that month instead of $30. I combine it with having gvoice ring my landline when I'm at home, and the landline is $3/mo unlimited voip via an Ooma box.


Paying $~90/mo for the cheapest iPhone plan that included tethering was an awful deal, but I don't think that AT&T had introduced the $15 off thing at the time. The family plan cut on top of that seems to makt AT&T's prices actually competitive.

Airvoice, an AT&T MVNO, will sell you two plans with 3GB each for $120 or 2 plans with 1GB each for $80.


I've paid 25usd a month (plus tax) for metered after 5GB, sometime later 2.5 after I changed a phone used for years. At no point have I found "family plans" reasonable unless you are used to multi-year contracts that are normally significantly higher than pre-paid.

My most recent change over to http://ting.com/ (Sprint) has a series of data/voice/text brackets you are priced at depending on overall usage. My bill ignoring first month subsidy credit of 25usd resulted in: 26usd before tax. The Bring Your Own Device theme of prepaid carriers lately is lovely, so I have the up-to-date Cyanogen mod on a modern phone I wanted.

I really don't know what venues people are buying these expensive plans at, most seem to revolve around AT&T and shopping malls though.




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