Cell phone dilemna and analysis

Me: Just got a cellphone bill and I went way over on my minutes. Goodbye iPhone & AT&T.

L: That rots. Too bad we can't donate minutes. I can't use mine up.

K: Yeah I got a 500 dollar about 6 months ago for the same thing....changed my family plan and went from 700 minutes to 1400 minutes for 20 bucks more and now I am all good as I worked my roll over minutes to over 2000 again. Also Kirb you might want to look online at the ATT site they have a friends plan now where you can add 10 numbers that are non ATT and the calls will be free.....kind of like friends and family...this also helped a great deal cause apperantly I was calling a lot of non ATT users like my brother which was killing me.

L: Yeah, the 10 non-ATT numbers are cool. I can't use up my minutes now. And I'm on the 700 minute plan sharing with 2 other people.

Me: Good idea. I'll take a look. My long calls are to my mother on her landline. One of those calls was $45 - yipes!

My 2g iPhone is getting lines across the display - looks like the screen is starting to go out. Would love to get a Nexus One, but the point is to < the monthly spend. L: Oh, geez, yes, add your mom's # to your free call list. They call it A-List. My brother is on Verizon and now we both just don't worry about it. Me: I wonder if they've changed their nights and weekend hours or something - started using up my rollover minutes in December. I've only got 500 anytime minutes, so I don't qualify for the A-List. Gonna talk with AT&T, Tmobile (nexus one) and Cellular South. K: Oh so you have to have a certain plan to qualify for the Alist Me: Yup - It's gotta be > 800 minutes or somesuch.....

K: load of crap

Me: Paying a visit to the Cellular South store.

Me: Service plans appear to be designed such that one cannot compare apples to apples (pardon the pun).

Me: Or should I say Apples to HTC's?

L: They really are difficult to compare. I stuck with GoPhone for a LONG time because it kept me from worrying about overages. I had a $60/month plan with 600 minutes (actually slightly less, it was $.09/minute). Free nights & weekends and when I went "over" I just paid again. No surprises, always 9 cents a minute. Might be a decent option.

If you do get just a basic phone, Apple has instructions for turning the iPhone into an iTouch. So it will still do everything it does now, just no phone or Edge. You don't really have to say goodbye to it.

Me: Good times at the tMobile store.

Me: I'm going to attempt to summarize my findings. AT&T (iPhone) vs. Cellular South (HTC Hero 6520) vs. TMobile (Nexus One). This may challenge the character limit. Hope it doesn't get truncated.

To stay with AT&T, I'm looking at:
1400 Shared Anytiime minutes
$80 first line
$10 second line
$30 unlimited text (across both lines)
$30 iphone data plan
$15 tax (or so)
$165 monthly
Also, because the screen is going out on my iPhone, I need to buy a new one $99.

Cellular South
Unlimited everything (except multimedia SMS)
$120 for both phones
$12 picture messaging (both phones)
$13 tax (or so)
$145 monthly
But I've got to buy two phones $150/ea (after rebate) +$72 in activation fees = $372
And CS doesn't have 3g coverage in this area. The guy told me it's coming soon.

TMobile
500 anytime minutes (incl unlimited web and sms)
$80 for the nexus one. Can't get it on a family plan out of the gate. Called TMobile and was told I can't upgrade to a family plan for 90 days. Nexus one out of the running.
$179 to buy the Nexus One with two year commitment.
If I were interested some other phone from TMobile (which the guy in the store and the guy on the phone both recommended), it would look something like this:
1500 shared anytime minutes
$130 - both phones
$13 tax
$143 monthly
Then I've got to buy two phones for about $150/each, so $300 out of pocket.

The constraint on this system is that I have two lines and need to keep them together.

AT&T = $3960 service for two years +$99 phone = $4059 tco
Cellular South = $3480 service for two years+ $372 phones = $3852 tco
TMobile = $3432 service for two years + 300 phones = $3732 tco

Color commentary: Strong argument for sticking with AT&T. Cellular South = not the phone I want, and no 3g coverage here. TMobile - If I wanted some lame phone, I wouldn't spend this much for it - prepaid cellular at walmart is $50/month per line for unlimited usage.

L: The 1400 minute plan is actually more than we can use with 3 phones. I've got 2 iPhones, 1 reg and the monthly bill is about $200.

You will save $$ switching, but not a hell of a lot. And AT&T lets you have an iPhone.

L: And make sure you call AT&T and explain to them that you are going to have trouble with this bill and are thinking of leaving. They actually credited an $800 data overage for me once.

Me: I did leave one relevant fact out - the guy I spoke with at the AT&T store called me after I left and offered to remove the overage amount - around two hundred bucks. If I include that in the TCO mix, then the TCO for AT&T drops to $3859, or about a 3% price differential between the low and the high. Not much of a premium to roll with the iphone.

Me: I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at Sprint, too. Monthly charges are significantly the same and there's a $499 one time charge. No thank you.

L: Whoa! Screw that!

There is a lot of AT&T hate out there, and it really pisses me off that I can't tether with my iPhone. Hell, I SHOULD be able to use it as a wifi hotspot.

But that $800 data overage was a legitimate bill. I didn't threaten to leave or anything, I just called and said "You're going to have to work with me. I can't pay this bill. I expected it to be maybe $200. I've been a customer for a long time. What can we do?" Three days later I got a call telling me the whole amount was removed. That bought some loyalty.