Cell phone plans in the US these days?

[Guest]

My contract with Verizon is up, and I have the opportunity to make a switch. I travel abroad not infrequently, and I saw an ad by T-mobile that they're offering free texting in many countries, which is interesting, but then I looked online and saw that they still rank low in terms of customer service and coverage in the US, which is really important. When I go abroad, I usually just turn off my cell phone and rely on e-mail to keep in touch, because I don't like paying big $$ for plans to use the phone abroad (and I especially don't like it if I have to buy Belgium separately from France, etc.). At Christmas dinner today, my brother told me that using a Verizon phone abroad is very difficult because of different standards "unless you're going to South Korea." I remember that two years ago when I had ATT, I couldn't use my cell phone at work, though. I guess I could ask people at work who uses ATT and if the phones work there now, but I'm still not getting a clear picture on the best choice. I hate these two-year commitments...

[Newly]

I use TMobile and love them. Since they are GSM using them in Europe and most of the world is simple, so long as you make sure the phone is unlocked. My experience with coverage is that so long as you're in a larger metropolitan area it works great, if you live or are out in the middle of nowhere it could be an issue. If you use your phone for data a lot their LTE coverage is not huge, but it is growing rapidly. Unlike Verizon and ATT their prices are reasonable and my experience with their Customer Service has been great. Unlike Verizon and ATT they don't lock people into contracts so they have to treat you well. They also aren't a rent to own company which keeps their rates very reasonable. Their subscriber numbers are growing and they've managed to make ATT and Verizon respond to their new plans, so I wouldn't rule them out without doing more research, especially for someone who travels out of the country a lot.

[adriano46]

Unicorn, I have both Verizon (iPhone) and T-Mobile (GSM phone). I hold on to T-Mobile for making overseas and long distance calls as they are way cheaper than Verizon on all charges. When I go to Europe, that phone is easier to switch out to a local European phone as it is unlocked and can interchange phone cards easily (although I warn people to watch for scams at airports with a new invention where you contract a number which is NOT from the country you are visiting, causing complicated call-back procedures, making iot pretty useless).

 

I am waiting the END of my Verizon contract (one more year to go) and will probably chuck them and the damn iPhone at the same time. I preferred the Blackberry (not very much out of vogue) and will begin seeing what new and/or improved technology is around in 2015 before getting caught again. I dislike enormously these locked company contracts with AT&T and Verizon -- but Verizon had in the past IMHO less blackouts and dropped calls.

 

Someday the US will get smart and join in the same system as most of the rest of the world (GPS) -- in Europe you could easily travel from country to country (and other parts of the world) and never change your phone SIM card, You landed in a new country, turned on your phone, and presto you had service. I may be all for the concept of American exceptionalism but in this -- like in refusal to use the metric system - we are just American boobism.

[Newly]

Don't want to sound like a tmobile shill, but Unicorn the freebies in Europe with Tmobile isn't just the free unlimited texting. You also get minutes at 25 cents a minute (not great but not total rape like when you make an international call on ATT or Verizon) AND you get free unlimited data which while not 3g or LTE is fast enough to use google navigation, web searches, etc. After hearing horror stories of Americans in Europe getting bills in the thousands of dollars after using data in Europe with their ATT or Verizon phones this becomes more important.

[+ newatthis]

I use TMobile and love them. Since they are GSM using them in Europe and most of the world is simple, so long as you make sure the phone is unlocked. My experience with coverage is that so long as you're in a larger metropolitan area it works great, if you live or are out in the middle of nowhere it could be an issue. If you use your phone for data a lot their LTE coverage is not huge, but it is growing rapidly. Unlike Verizon and ATT their prices are reasonable and my experience with their Customer Service has been great. Unlike Verizon and ATT they don't lock people into contracts so they have to treat you well. They also aren't a rent to own company which keeps their rates very reasonable. Their subscriber numbers are growing and they've managed to make ATT and Verizon respond to their new plans, so I wouldn't rule them out without doing more research, especially for someone who travels out of the country a lot.

+1 to my almost namesake

[Tommygunzz]

My company just announced that they are collecting back all of our BlackBerrys and starting a BYOD (bring your own device) program. So instead of carrying 2 devices (one work and one personal) we are now allowed to use our personal device for business, too. In return, they will reimburse (tax free) $80/month towards whatever plan we have. This is in addition to a 22% savings that we get for being with ATT. I share a plan with my partner, and our bill runs about $200/month. We are both grandfathered into an unlimited text and data plan. So with the reimbursement, our total bill will come down to about $120 for 2 phones.

 

In addition, I travel internationally for work, and for the months that I am out of the country, they will reimburse as a travel expense whatever plan I need to add on while I'm away. ATT has separate plans for voice, text and data that can be added to my existing plan in 30 day increments. I left the rates at work, but I think that adding the 3 plans will boost my bill by about $100-$120 a month when I'm overseas. I'm looking forward to being able to the same phone for business and personal use, especially when I travel.

 

BTW Most of my travel is to Asia, and I thought I heard our IT guys say that TMobile and Verizon didn't have the capability for data and voice in China. They were heavily steering us towards ATT, whether we chose to use our own phone for both, or keeping one for business and one for personal use.

[fedssocr1]

I like T-Mo. But I live in the DC area where coverage is good. So, I think it probably depends a bit on where you spend your time whether coverage will be an issue for you or not.

 

I have a Nexus 4 that I bought directly from Google. Since I don't actually use the phone for phone calls much at all, I signed up for their $30/month plan (which is only available to new subscribers apparently) that gets you a small number of talk minutes (I think it is 100) per month plus "unlimited" text and data. I think the data is at full speed (4G) for something like the first 5GB then it throttles down to 3G. But I have yet to hit the cap.

 

When I travel I typically just buy a prepaid SIM wherever I am going which ends up being fairly cheap. I think I paid about US$10 at Taiwan mobile for unlimited data and texting for 10 days or so. Came in very handy for Google maps. In Singapore the SIM was a bit more I think but it also worked out well for me. Or you can just rely on wifi in places with good coverage for your data.

[Newly]

Newatthis, sorry for almost stealing your name, when I first had to come up with a name I had no idea that yours was so much like it. Mea culpa. Tommygunzz, your IT department is giving you a line, GSM is a standard, the only difference are which of the 4 frequencies are used. So long as your phone is quad band, talk, text and slow speed data will be identical. Where it gets spookier is when you want high speed 3g data or LTE, which is quite new to China and which neither ATT nor Tmobile cells from the state will handle. By the way, I have a tmobile home voip phone and 4 persons on my family plan all with unlimited texting and 3 of which have unlimited data for $118 a month, so the saving are quite substantial.

[EZEtoGRU]

I have used AT&T for years. Before my retirement in Dec 2009, my employer (a major multi-national) steered Latin America focused travelers to AT&T. I believe Europe focused travelers tended to go with Verizon. Since my international travel is still mostly to South America. I still use AT&T. It works well for me for voice and data. No outrageous bills.

[+ newatthis]

Newatthis, sorry for almost stealing your name, when I first had to come up with a name I had no idea that yours was so much like it. Mea culpa. ...

No culpa and no problem. I can probably guess the thought process that led to your choosing your screen name.

[rvwnsd]

I just read two articles about wireless communications. The first one discussed Sprint's parent potentially buying T-Mobile. It wasn't clear on whether they are attempting to acquire the US assets or the entire company. If only the US assets, it could spell the end of GSM for T-Mobile customers, as Sprint is solidly CDMA. That would be a personal blow to me because I worked for one of T-Mobile USA's predecessor companies (Aerial) that was one of the first GSM carriers in the US. The second one discussed the end of subsidized phones. Essentially, the customer would pay full price for the phone (either up-front or in interest-free installments over a two year period), but the "subsidy" would not be baked into the price of the monthly plan, potentially resulting in lower prices.

 

Verizon has been fine. I am off contract on both my iPhone and iPad and might switch to another carrier when it is time to upgrade my devices.

[fedssocr1]

The incompatible networks would seem to be a pretty gigantic hurdle to that merger.