Is this where I ask what carrier/phone/plan is best for me?

I have never had a smartphone but I'm looking to get one soon. But, choosing carriers and plans are getting pretty complicated because I don't know how much data I need and there are just too many things that affect price. My basic phone (a RAZR) has been out of contract for the past 5 years.

The goal is to save money. Please help me make sense of all this.

- Family plan (3 lines)
- contract or not, is fine.
- preferably not AT&T... I noticed an extra 0.61 charge/line on my bill, and sure enough it was mentioned in tech section of news. I don't mind an extra $2 per month for 3 voice lines, but I just hate the feeling of being squeezed for every little bit. Still, I'll stay with them if they are ultimately cheaper.
- Preferably GSM or phones with both CDMA and GSM radios because I might need it to travel abroad within the next year or two.

So it seems like, from a lot of reading, that my main three choices are T-mobile, At&t, and prepaid (Ptel or Lycamobile).

Here is my background:
It's nice to have data, but I don't think I will use it very much other than to check emails. My parents, who will have the other two lines, do not use data at all (so, I would probably be satisfied with the lowest data plan). We also don't use text, though I think that's changing because I sent and received about 20 texts total the past month (which cost me $4 in At&t texting fees @ 0.20/text). We also only use about 300 minutes combined of voice calls that deduct from our voice plan (not including Mobile-to-Mobile, Nights&Weekends).


Here are my options so far, and please let me know if I should consider other options:

Tmobile:
$50+30+10 = $90/month, unlimited voice text and 500MB faster data (2G speeds after 500MB). The university will offer me 10% discount. So, adding all fees, it should come out to about $90/month anyway.
- Buy 3x LG Optimus L9 for $190/ea so the 3 family lines can take advantage of using data/easier time with text (or maybe the Nokia 521 for $130).

AT&T:
1. $40 (450 min nationwide family for 2 lines) + $10 (1 additional line) = $60 after fees and 15% discount. Then + $20 (smartphone and 300MB data for me only) = approximately $80 per month after various fees. Will have to use Google Voice for texts.
$100-200 for subsidized phone with 2 yr contract.

2. $40 + $10 = $60 for 3 lines, but have the entire family on smartphones and get them to use it or to sell it. Price nearly doubles to $120/month. Will selling two of the subsidized phones and replace it with something cheaper (Nokia 521) be worth it? That's also an additional 3 * $100-200 for phones.

Prepaid:
Ptel for awhile. $20 unlimited voice, text, and some data. $60/month, still have to find own phones. (but this price is not locked-in, and can expire any day).

What do you guys think? I know Tmobile is cheaper for individual lines but I saw a few charts that says they are more expensive for family plans.. I made my own spreadsheet to calculate everything but all I did was confuse myself.

For a 3-line family plan, T-Mobile will be your best bet so long as their coverage is decent in your area. It's going to be $90/mo for 3 lines with unlimited talk, text, and data (throttled to 128kbps after 500MB per line). If you do get throttled monthly on any line, you can bump that line up individually to 2.5GB ($10/mo) or unlimited ($20/mo).

Your AT&T calculations are incorrect as they don't let you use the single 450 minute plan for a family line. You indicated that you would get a smartphone for yourself and 2 dumbphones for your family (please correct me if I'm wrong). So, under the traditional plan, it would be:

AT&T Family Plan:
550 minutes - $59.99 (2 lines)
addl line - $9.99
300MB data - $20
Total - $89.98.

Mobile Share (unlimited talk/text):
1GB data - $40
smartphone - $45
dumbphone - $30x2
Total - $145

So, while T-Mobile seems to be the best deal (2 cents more, but unlimited talk/text/data includes with no overages), you don't get subsidized phones on T-Mobile like you would with AT&T. Adding a smartphone will likely add $15-$20/mo to your bill for the first 24 months. So at this point, it's cost versus convenience.

With the AT&T Family Share plan, you may or may not go over your minutes. Texting with Google Voice means giving your friends 2 numbers, 1 to call and 1 to text. This gets real old real fast. At 300MB, you likely will go over your limit and incur overages. Just be prepared for that.

A MVNO like Straight Talk likely won't be a good option for you. Unlimited everything for $45/mo per line ($135 total), pay full price for phones outright, uses TMO's network without roaming, and they aren't as lenient with going over their "unlimited" hidden limits.

Take the AT&T Family Plan for lowest upfront cost and subsidized phones, since you don't use much text/data. Or, take the T-Mobile plan for the combination of cost and convenience. AT&T will offer the superior network in most areas, but there are exceptions.

EDIT: You mentioned a 15% discount for AT&T. Which employer? AT&T and T-Mobile handle discounts differently. For example, Government/military discount is 15% off voice, 12% off features. For T-Mobile, they apply the 15% to the entire line (15% off $90 leaves you with $76.50 before taxes), assuming you get the same discount with T-Mobile. For AT&T, they applied the discount to our plan like this:

$59.99 (15%)
unlim text for $30 (12$)
unlim data iPhone for $30 (12%)
unlim data for feature phone for $10 (0%)

AT&T states that discounts are only applied to data plans total $30/mo or more. So, don't expect that your 15% will apply to the entire plan.

Thanks for the explanation.

It shows 17% discount on the AT&T Premier billing page, but it's actually 15% discount from UNC Health Care. It does not apply to the cheapest data or text. T-mobile offers 10% discount, instead of 15%, through their Advantage program.

AT&T does have a 450 min family sharing plan for 1st 2 lines and $10 for 3rd. It's not advertised on the website (I only got it after I went through retention a few years ago). I think it's 2000 minutes for nights/weekends instead of unlimited.

Leaning towards T-mobile for the moment - plus I'm not sure when Google Voice starts putting limitations on their service.

Should I just wait until the newer-gen smartphones come out later this fall?

FanZ said:

Should I just wait until the newer-gen smartphones come out later this fall?

Click to expand...

If you do that, you'll be tempted to wait for the next-gen phones in the Spring.

My rule has always been to wait until I'm ready to upgrade, then wait until a phone that meets my requirements comes outs, and then jump on it. Something better will always come out.

I just did the t mobile plan with 3 lines, one got a nexus 4, I got a note 2 and the other a s4. Its $57 a month for the phones alone, then $90 for the 3 lines. $147 for three lines isn't bad honestly

Alright, I think I made my decision: going with Tmobile, 2 Nokia 521s and 1 Nexus 4 for me.

The total, according to my weird calculations for Tmobile after 2 years is $2886 ($2665 after selling off phones after 2 years).
The total for AT&T for 1 smartphone and 2 basic phones with text messages and minimal data: $2901 ($2601 after selling devices) after 2 years.
The total for AT&T for 1 smartphone, 2 basic, and no text messages after 2 years is $2228 ($1930).

The nontext AT&T option is cheaper but it doesn't account for any overage charges (probably $3 in text per month, maybe once or twice excess data charges). But Tmobile just offers a lot more functionality, and I'm sure I can get my parents to start using text or the internet (using their phones as GPS, even). It's just a lot more convenient.

Thanks, all, for helping me make some sense of all these factors.

If you're not going to use much data definitely check out Ting. They're a Sprint MVNO so they're CDMA, but they offer phones that have both CDMA and GSM radios, and you can also bring a used Sprint phone onto them.

For your use case, you can get 500 minutes, 100 texts, and 100MB of data month, split across 3 lines, for $33 a month.

(I use them too, and for just checking e-mail, 100MB of data is enough).

If you have an H2O dealer around you look into the family plan, $40 a month unlimited talk/text on first line (with 100mb data) and $10 off per additional line meaning $100 a month total for 3 lines, AT&T MVNO, GSM