This is the second part in our seven-week series of 7for7, seven reasons to wait for Windows Phone 7 debuting later this Fall.
Carrier variety may not sound all that compelling to get a phone, but when you begin to shop around you’ll start to notice just how important it is. And while this may be a “feature” that rivals only the iPhone, it’s still reason enough to be on the 7for7 list.
Comparing to just the iPhone, which at the time of this article is still heavily-rumored to be on Verizon’s network by early next year, and its exclusivity deal with AT&T we can work with prices from the other three big carriers in the United States (sorry International folk, I don’t know prices outside the US). For this article’s sake we decided to just look at AT&T’s iPhone pricing and look at comparable plans on other carriers.
For the purpose of this hypothetical situation let’s say that you’re a newcomer to AT&T, locked into a 2-year plan that you’re just beginning. Aside from the basics, you have unlimited “anytime” minutes (with a redundant free mobile-to-mobile) and unlimited text and web…well, there’s no unlimited web/data with AT&T anymore, so you have 2GB.
AT&T iPhone pricing for 1 line
Unlimited “anytime” minutes – $69.99
Unlimited text – $20
2GB of data – $25
Total price: ~$115/month before taxes and other fees
2-year price before taxes: ~$2,760
T-Mobile comparable pricing for 1 line
T-Mobile’s website sets up Individual Plans with Talk+Text+Web all together, the price for all three together is below. We used a myTouch plan for comparison. We also used the 2-year contract price, it’s important to note that a no-contract price costs considerably less.
Unlimited “anytime” minutes -
Unlimited text -
Unlimited data -
Total price: ~$100/month before taxes and other fees
2-year price before taxes: ~$2,400
Total savings after 2 years: $360
Spring comparable pricing for 1 line
Sprint also bundles everything, but you might know of their Simply Everything plan. We chose the HTC Evo as our phone to compare.
Unlimited “anytime” minutes -
Unlimited text -
Unlimited data -
Total price: ~$100/month before taxes and other fees
2-year price before taxes: ~$2,400
Total savings after 2 years: $360
Verizon comparable pricing for 1 line
For Verizon we chose the Droid X.
Unlimited “anytime” minutes + unlimited text – $89.99
Unlimited data (for personal use) – $29.99
Total price: ~$120/month before taxes and other fees
2-year price before taxes: $2,880
Total savings after 2 years: -$120 (a loss)
*Prices may vary with special deals, different phones, and different bundles.
The price savings may not be much (especially for Verizon, ouch!) but it’s still a savings if you decide to go with one of the smaller carriers. But the best part, unlike the iPhone, is that carriers will be competing for your business. Sure, certain cellphone providers will snatch an exclusivity deal with some manufacturers–like we’ve heard already–but that just motivates them more. Unlike Apple’s phone, you don’t have just one choice, you have the freedom to choose which carrier you like the most be it because you have used them for a long time, they have better coverage near your home or job, or just because their prices are better.
Competition is always better, no?
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7for7 series:
#7: August 24th - Windows Phone Live, SkyDrive, and the cloud
#6: August 31st - Carrier variety
#5: September 7th - Hardware and devices
#4: September 14th - Zune
#3: September 21st - Apps and easy app development
#2: September 28th – TBA
#1: October 5th – TBA
Special: October 11th – Microsoft keynote & Windows Phone event
