4 ms·

The problem is, apart from T-mobile, other mobile carriers don't incentivize you to BYO phone. It's buy a $600 phone for $99 and be locked into a 2 year, $70 a

The problem is, apart from T-mobile, other mobile carriers don't incentivize you to BYO phone. It's buy a $600 phone for $99 and be locked into a 2 year, $70 a month contract or BYO phone and be on a $70 month to month contract. With BYO, you're effectively giving the carrier an extra $20 a month due to lack of subsidy. Other countries have much saner systems where BYO plans are $20 a month cheaper.

kelnos 14y ago
It continues to baffle me that more people don't use T-Mobile. Yes, their network isn't quite as solid or blind-spot-free as AT&T's or Verizon's, but you can save so much money on T-Mobile. Hell, it's often more cost-effective to get a subsidized phone on T-Mo with a 2-year contract, then immediately cancel the contract, pay the cancellation fee, and switch to a $20/mo-less no-contract plan. Back when the Nexus One came out, it was $579 to buy it outright, or $179/$279 to buy with a 2-year contract (depending on if you were an existing customer or not). Buy on contract, cancel, pay the $200 cancellation fee, and just then you're already $200/$100 ahead. Then consider you have 24 months on a plan that costs $20 less each month than it would under contract, and that's $480 saved, not to mention the freedom of not being tied to a carrier for those two years if you do decide you want to move. And as a bonus, T-Mo is very tether-friendly. They'll throttle you if you transfer more than some amount of data per month (which I've found to be a non-issue in my personal use), but otherwise they don't care what you do with the data connection.
ek 14y ago
There are a lot of excellent MVNOs worth considering, that don't try to screw over customers and still allow you the benefits of access to a large cell network. Red Pocket, for example, is an AT&T MVNO oriented towards Asian-American customers, and they have a bunch of plans that are very inexpensive while still providing reasonable amounts of service. If I had not received a Galaxy Nexus for free at Google I/O, I would have likely purchased a device for $350 from Google and then activated it on Red Pocket or some other GSM MVNO. It's important to realize that often, prices like $600 for a smartphone are deliberately inflated for the sake of encouraging people to sign their money away on cell phone contracts. This is illustrated by the fact that the Galaxy Nexus, a relatively high-end device, is available absolutely unsubsidized, for $350.

kelnos 14y ago

It continues to baffle me that more people don't use T-Mobile. Yes, their network isn't quite as solid or blind-spot-free as AT&T's or Verizon's, but you can save so much money on T-Mobile. Hell, it's often more cost-effective to get a subsidized phone on T-Mo with a 2-year contract, then immediately cancel the contract, pay the cancellation fee, and switch to a $20/mo-less no-contract plan. Back when the Nexus One came out, it was $579 to buy it outright, or $179/$279 to buy with a 2-year contract (depending on if you were an existing customer or not). Buy on contract, cancel, pay the $200 cancellation fee, and just then you're already $200/$100 ahead. Then consider you have 24 months on a plan that costs $20 less each month than it would under contract, and that's $480 saved, not to mention the freedom of not being tied to a carrier for those two years if you do decide you want to move. And as a bonus, T-Mo is very tether-friendly. They'll throttle you if you transfer more than some amount of data per month (which I've found to be a non-issue in my personal use), but otherwise they don't care what you do with the data connection.

ek 14y ago

There are a lot of excellent MVNOs worth considering, that don't try to screw over customers and still allow you the benefits of access to a large cell network. Red Pocket, for example, is an AT&T MVNO oriented towards Asian-American customers, and they have a bunch of plans that are very inexpensive while still providing reasonable amounts of service. If I had not received a Galaxy Nexus for free at Google I/O, I would have likely purchased a device for $350 from Google and then activated it on Red Pocket or some other GSM MVNO. It's important to realize that often, prices like $600 for a smartphone are deliberately inflated for the sake of encouraging people to sign their money away on cell phone contracts. This is illustrated by the fact that the Galaxy Nexus, a relatively high-end device, is available absolutely unsubsidized, for $350.