Last updated on January 18th, 2023 at 06:18 am
At the CES-2014, T-Mobile again shacked the wireless market with its promise to pay your early termination fees. Sprints also lured customers, be its network ambassador, and get the bill as low as $25/mo under its innovative “Framily” Plan. Just a few days ago, earlier to CES, AT&T also come out with a lollypop of credit up to $450, especially to poach T-Mobile customers, to switch to AT&T. Verizon was silent.
Customers now are allured with these lucrative options but it would be wise if we do some math before switching or opting for a new carrier.
Let us take an ideal example of a family of four people and at most if count friends or relatives we can reach up to seven people in a plan. we assume that all family members are bonded with different contract plans with different carriers but for ease of calculation, we assume all persons have completed six months with the present carrier
All of us are most tempted by T-Mobile’s offer and Sprint’s new “Framily” plan so we assume your family members with AT&T and Verizon may switch to T-Mobile or Sprint.
Suppose one of your family members brought iPhone5S (64GB) for a subsidized price of $400 from Verizon and if he decides to switch to T-Mobile, he gets a credit of $300 for the device. If he is with Verizon for the last six months, then his early termination fee (ETF) would be $350 minus $10×6 months i.e it would be $290 hence he will get a total credit of $590.
Now, he needs to purchase a new iPhone 5S(GB) from T-Mobile which will cost him $800 plus $10 for a SIM starter kit. T-Mobile also offers this device under “Jump” with a payment of $200 down and the rest of $600 in equal monthly installments of $25 for the next 24 months.
At Verizon, he may be using a service plan of unlimited talk & text plus 2GB for which his monthly bill is $100 but at T-Mobile, his service plan is cheaper, he will get the unlimited plan of talk, text, and 2.5GB data for just $60 only.
Hence on porting into T-Mobile, he is paying the upfront cost of $200 plus $10 for the SIM starter kit, a total of $210 against a device credit of $290 so effectively he pays nothing but net credit of $80. He also saves $40 on a monthly plan making him happy with more data usage. Your monthly bill at T-Mobile would be $60 plus $25 for the device so your effective monthly saving is $15 only. Your saving over the next two years would be $80 plus $15/mo, a total of $440. ETF, as levied by the current carrier, will be paid by T-Mobile so it makes no difference except for the time to process it.
Similarly, if another member is stuck with AT&T then he can save $35 for the monthly service plan, a total saving of $320 in the next two years.
For a family of four people, the family shareable plan cost $62.5 for each member in Verizon, $57.5 in AT&T, $40 in Sprint’s Framily plan, and $35 in T-Mobile, it is obvious T-Mobile is the most advantageous but Sprint’s Framily plan facilitate you to bill you separately.
As compared to big boys, T-Mobile and Sprint have less coverage, T-Mobile covered 200 metro locations while Sprint operates in 300 markets as compared to AT&T which has now 488 markets and big brother Verizon has covered almost all areas of the US, 500 markets.
So concluding here, before switching to T-Mobile or Sprint, which are offering attractive plans that may lower your bill but if you can’t get signal reception, it may ruin your daily life.
