Apple iPhone has been available in all of the major US carriers—Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. Only T-Mobile didn’t have iPhone up until now. The fourth major carrier in the country has announced that it will be selling iPhone 5 from the next month, specifically . T-Mobile has also announced how it is thinking about doing away with the carrier-lock plans that you get with a discounted smartphone purchase. In this new method of buying a phone, all you do is pay a tiny amount for the phone upfront, and then pay for the phone in installments over the coming months. You get an unlocked phone and there is no need to go for a data plan from T-Mobile. Check this video out, John Legere, chief of T-Mobile, explains:
T-Mobile’s Mobile Plan
The idea that T-Mobile has put forward is that you can purchase any smartphone for a discounted initial price, you know similar to the contract phone purchases, but you don’t have to sign up for any contract. All you do is pay for the smartphone in installments in the coming months. You can optionally select a data plan from T-Mobile or you can take that phone to any other carrier that you like.
The upfront purchase cost of a smartphone depends on the phone. It could be anything from zero dollars to a hundred dollars. Apple iPhone 5 will be available for 99.99 from . The monthly installments also depend on the phone. It could be as little as 15 to 20 dollars. You can also purchase a phone with the upfront payment of the full amount.
This is what happens when you buy a phone from T-Mobile now. You select the phone, then you optionally select the talk plan, and then you simply check out. T-Mobile sends you an ‘unlocked’ phone, instead of one that is tied to its network for the next two years or so. This means, you are not going to have to stick to the T-Mobile plan, but you can choose any other mobile carrier that you would like.The difference is that the phone you buy from T-Mobile will not be subsidized as in the case of the phone from AT&T or Verizon. In that case, when you buy the phone, you only have to pay an
upfront subsidized cost and then stick with the network for two years or pay up an early termination fee. You never have to pay the full amount of the device. In T-Mobile’s case, you will have to pay the full amount of the phone in monthly installments, and hence it is not actually a subsidized device. Even if you move to another carrier, you will have to pay the installment for the phone to T-Mobile.
Let’s do a minor analysis. On all three carriers, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, basic 16 GB iPhone 5 is priced at 199 dollars (subsidized price).
Existing Carrier Data Plans
AT&T’s carrier plans include unlimited voice and text, but at variable data options. Depending on the data size you need, from 1 GB, 4 GB, 6 GB, 10, GB to up to 50 GB, the price may range from $85, $110, up to $530 per month. That is the contract for 2 years.
Sprint provides unlimited voice, text, and data for 109 dollars. Verizon has plans almost exactly like AT&T, and the cost can be from $80 to up to 375 dollars, depending on the size of the data.
Although Sprint seems to provide the best data plan of these, there are a few additional options to consider. Here is a comparison of the top plans of these three carriers.
For one thing, the Sprint plan is individual and you cannot share it with other devices, unlike the Share everything plan in Verizon which can be shared with up to 10 devices. Also, with AT&T plan, the price will go up to 530 in what is known as mobile share plan that includes 50 GB data (still not unlimited as in Sprint). However, the real difference is in the capabilities of these networks, the speed and coverage. To see the coverage, go to this page.
The network capability is the major factor that affects your iPhone purchase. Things like Verizon’s huge 4G LTE network, regarded to be the largest, and AT&T’s second largest 4G LTE network come in here. Also, AT&T seems to be providing faster connections, but
As you well know, Sprint has less coverage than the other two behemoths. This is one of the reasons why Sprint was not really excited, but downright frightened at a proposed buyout of T-Mobile by AT&T in 2011 (that did not pan out). Here’s Sprint’s distrust expressed to the FCC.
the dropped calls percentage is in favor of Sprint. These things decide whether to go for Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T. In the end, you get the basic idea of how much you pay for data plans with iPhone 5 if you select one of these largest carriers. The advantage is that you are paying a discounted price for the smartphone (199 for 16 GB, 299 for 32 GB, and 399 for 64 GB), which gives a saving of 450 dollars.
Also, you are locked in the specified network unless you pay an early termination fee. The ETF is 325 dollars in case of AT&T and 350 in case of Verizon. Sprint has a variable ETF policy.
Advantage and Disadvantage on T-Mobile
T-Mobile’s plan is really a different kind altogether. If you buy a phone with that carrier, you will have to pay in full for the phone and you have the option to either stick with T-Mobile or with any other carrier. That means, there is no instant savings of 450 dollars as in AT&T or Verizon. Also, there is no need to be stuck with a post-paid data plan that you will have to pay every month for the next two years.
T-Mobile has announced its new carrier plan on . The detailed FAQ of the new plan is here. Basically what you get is unlimited everything (data, voice, text) for just 70 dollars. And you buy the device without any contract, and pay a monthly installment.
There is still a lot of confusion as to how this plan will work out among customers. Most of them still think that they are getting a contract plan in which there is no subsidized phone. Some think they are going to get a locked-on-T-Mobile phone. Well, that’s not the case, and it is the biggest advantage of this. You are going to get an ‘Unlocked’ device and you do not have to stick with T-Mobile. In essence, consider the carrier as a mobile phone vendor.
There is obviously business improvement for T-Mobile, if it plays this card well. It does seem to, so far. One thing you should note is, you can get an iPhone 5 from another carrier at a discounted price, but that price is still starting at 199, and can go up to 399 for the 64 GB phone. Within T-Mobile, the starting price of iPhone is 99 dollars only, and that is an unlocked device. It definitely looks like the most charming option if you are not a fan of 2 year contracts.
You can pre-register for iPhone 5 from T-Mobile here.
A Different iPhone 5
Not only is T-Mobile finally getting the legendary Apple iPhone, but also your experience with the device will probably be slightly different. T-Mobile expanded its network to 1900 MHz spectrum HSPA+ network by , and that covers a few major cities like Los Angeles, Denver, and San Diego, with Las Vegas coming up soon.
HD Voice is a capability the network offers to already unlocked iPhones. This technology promises to provide better call quality by utilizing wideband audio. In CES T-Mobile debuted its HD Voice capabilities, and that is what you will get with its iPhone 5.
A disadvantage is that the Wi-Fi calling feature (calling free over data connection) of T-Mobile is not given through iPhone 5. Other than that, you are getting the regular iPhone 5, but with an option to go for T-Mobile’s new unlimited voice+text+data plan of 70 dollars per month.
Wrap-Up
In short, you have the choice of the three main carriers—AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, from which you can buy a subsidized iPhone for 2 years locked contract, or you can buy an unlocked iPhone, again at a subsidized upfront payment from T-Mobile. With T-Mobile, though, you have to still pay for the phone in the next few months in installments. With other carriers, you don’t have to pay for the phone, but stick with the carrier plan for two years, or pay the early termination fee, ETF.
Which option will you choose? Take the poll: