The Smart Phone Race

Go ahead, call it a 'Race to the Bottom'.  Our search for the best value in a Smart Phone plan is really a quest for the cheapest Smart Phone plan.  One of the decisions made early in the process was to go with a GSM phone primarily to take advantage of all the 'Bring Your Own Phone" opportunities.  After playing with the bargain-priced T-Mobile $30 for 5Gb/100 Minutes plan, I knew I needed a lot more minutes when I eventually converted to one main phone.

I was convinced that the best route was the SIMple Mobile $40 plan.  Then a friend told me about her weekend in rural Colorado.  You know, one of those areas where there's only Verizon and AT&T coverage.  Where would that leave a SIMple Mobile phone?  Unusable.  They do not claim any coverage off the T-Mobile network.  So much for the $40 plan.

The next move up in price is Straight Talk at $45.  They claim their GSM coverage is the same whether you put their SIM in an AT&T or T-Mobile phone, locked or unlocked.  After reading posts from Straight Talk users, it appears the ones who use an AT&T phone get "throttled" after using more than 2 to 3Gb a month, while users with T-Mobile phones don't have similar complaints.  We'll make our decision soon and report on the results.

As a disclaimer, I notice there are numerous ads for Straight Talk service across our web sites.  We are not compensated for reporting on or leaning toward that service.

T-Mobile's Next Phase

Updated to reflect the MetroPCS/T-Mobile merger is confirmed.

Just after I decided to join T-Mobile for most, if not someday all, of our wireless needs, T-Mobile finalized a spectrum swap with Cricket Wireless.  Then came the news that T-Mobile will merge with Metro PCS.  This may be an easily-approved combination and we're trying to see how it feels from a consumer viewpoint.   With incompatible CDMA vs. GSM technologies, there are a few hurdles to overcome.  Both companies do have a long-term goal to embrace LTE technology.  MetroPCS already uses VoIP so synergies are already possible. We must not overlook the incompatibilities of the networks.  As with the purchase of Nextel by Sprint, the technology problems may never be solved without big losses of money or customers.

For the short term, there should be no need for wholesale handset conversion, it could evolve as users decide to change their needs.  The bigger question is how much the loss of a competitor affects the overall market.  MetroPCS is not available in many US markets, but it serves a number of the largest cities.  This means a loss of competition in the nation's biggest cities but it increases the wireless capacity for the number four network, right where we need it most.

A larger T-Mobile may make it even more difficult for the next largest carrier, Cricket, to survive, forcing them toward another suitor, potentially Sprint.  Sprint came within a whisker of buying MetroPCS.  That means Sprint may still be in the market for the spectrum and customers that Cricket could bring to the table, and woop, another competitor disappears.  Don't overlook the possibility that Cricket could also still join the T-Metro party.

A few years ago we were appalled at the idea of only 5 or 6 national wireless carriers, now we're desperate to keep 4!  We thought the best idea was a MetroPCS-Cricket combination.  Now we're cheerleading to keep T-Mobile and Sprint alive.  It's our own form of Long-Term Evolution!

T-Mobile Wins The Smart Phone Race...for Now

After a false start, I finally landed in the Smart phone arena armed with lots of knowledge about data plans.  The idea was to add a data to our wireless arsenal, without a contract, with hopes that it may some day become the "one and only," and yet not end up doubling our monthly wireless bill.

As with so many users, the "ideal" collection of features, cost and deal-killers are very personal.  For example, my top concerns were price and mobile email.   Yours may be staying in touch with Facebook or YouTube.  What they all have in common is data and what you pay for it.  Until a few weeks ago the best value for that data was the SIMple Mobile $40 Unlimited plan that comes on a SIM and accesses the T-Mobile network.  There are others, but this was our best choice.  SIMple Mobile only provides the SIM, you need to bring your own T-Mobile-compatible phone, unlocked GSM device, or they'll help you find one linked from their web site.  The $40 plan gives you 3G coverage, which is probably more than good enough for most of us.

Since then I discovered T-Mobile's own generous non-contract $30 plan which gives you 5Gb of 4G data per month (really 30 days), Unlimited Texts, but only 100 minutes of Voice calls.  That's perfect for a 'data-only' phone, but most of us use more than 100 minutes a month.  This is where people start looking at the likes of Google Voice, Vonage and a bunch of apps that help you bypass the regular carriers' "minutes."  This $30/5Gb plan has a curious twist, voice overages are only .10 per minute.  This puts you on a semi-'pay-as-you-go' basis which might make wireless data charges a far easier pill to swallow.  Once those overages hit an additional $10, though, you'll be wishing for the SIMple Mobile plan.  Like always, "Do the math."

If you're interested in the T-Mobile $30 data/text/100 minute plan there are some restrictions, but they're workable.  The most important is that it is for new plans only but that may only mean a new SIM, which may also mean a new phone number, but there are ways around that, too.

Then there's the latest news about who might own T-Mobile, look for that in our next article.

Smart Phone: All or Nothing?

We're almost embarrassed to admit our latest project has consumed the better part of this month.  We're looking for the best value (cheapest?) in a Smart phone and data plan.  The process has been daunting, including waiting for a phone that turns out to have been shipped directly from China.  I'm going ahead and publishing where we stood last week:

We found that the cheapest way to make that step up is to pay an additional amount of $25 per month, minimum.  That's a huge increase for those of us who look for ways to save $5 to $10 a month by shuffling plans or changing carriers.

To do this on the cheap we had to find a Smart phone with 2-year old technology and a Prepaid plan that allow us to pay for broadband by the day, and not use it very many days.  Is there a better, or cheaper, way?  If you're often within accessible wi-fi coverage, most wi-fi capable smart phones will work through broadband and can make calls without an assigned calling account.  With a prepaid calling account, Voice & Text can be had for just a few bucks per month.  If you can limit your new Smart phone's web access to wi-fi, you can do it cheap.  Pay by the day broadband plans are the next step up for $2 or $3 a day, depending on your speed, from 2G to 4G.

Today, the best plan seems to be from SIMple Mobile for $40 per month, using the T-Mobile network.  However, that is best used when you bring your own GSM phone.  If you want a nicer or newer phone, the math changes substantially, based on the fact that most carriers will give you a new phone if you agree to pay a stiff fee for the next 2 years.  We're afraid this project has no clear end, so I'll call it a work in progress.

If you've read this far, be amused with the fact that I had to send that phone from China back as being defective.  Back to square 1.

T-Mobile Acts Like They Mean It

T-Mobile has made some substantial moves recently that makes them a really attractive place for your wireless business.  Here are some highlights:

• They gained a significant amount of cash and spectrum from the failed AT&T takeover.  This helps expand T-Mobile coverage, especially broadband.
• They started to "re-farm" their spectrum to offer LTE broadband at 1700 MHz, and HSPA+ (their form of '4G') on their current 1900 MHz channels, making their higher speed services available to existing iPhones.
• They now offer Unlimited broadband for Smart phones, not available at any price on other carriers.  T-Mobile's price can be as low as $30.
• They now encourage people to bring their unlocked iPhone directly to the T-Mobile store for immediate activation on the T-Mobile network.
• They have hinted at soon selling their own iPhone.
• The FCC gave T-Mobile permission to test the 1755-1780 MHz band for sharing with existing users to see if wireless service is compatible before all old users are required to move.
• They now offer new broadband (USB modem) plans, some are now more generous.
• They have signed up some new MVNO companies (resellers) indicating a new confidence in the continued operation of their network.

There are also some low lights, mostly with Prepaid:

• They have discontinued their unlimited prepaid text plan at $15 per month.
• They have increased the price of the 2nd tier of their prepaid plans from $25 to $30.

There's a lot to like about T-Mobile, some of those things include what they have not done, like mess with Gold Rewards.  Our problem is which phone to choose as we become even more serious T-Mobile users.

Mobilz Becomes Cross Wireless

The Cross Telephone Company in eastern Oklahoma may have gotten a little too creative with their wireless service when they rolled out "Mobilz".  When you're a tiny rural phone operation, your wireless arm needs to support, not distract from, the main wireline/DSL/TV operation. So Cross wisely renamed their service to "Cross Wireless".  The cellular operation is small enough that when we call the helpful people there they have no idea that we are not seeking information about their wireless home Internet service.

Not to further confuse things, Cross also owns Sprocket Wireless which serves the area "a little farther out" from the Cross Wireless coverage area.  While Sprocket is a slightly more familiar name in that area east of Tulsa, it would be smart to further consolidate to just one name for their cellular operations.  The main reason to do so in larger markets is to get more bang for your marketing money, but in the smallest markets, there just might not be any.

In New Mexico, Leaco Rural Telephone Cooperative changed their cellular service to "NMobile", due to confusion over the "Leaco" name being limited to Lea County.  In central Texas, Mid-Tex Wireless finally assigned their acquired Five Star Wireless name to their wireless Internet service instead of having cellular stores with different names.  However. they also offer prepaid service under the Right Wireless name, so they still found a way to diffuse their marketing efforts.  At least in Oklahoma, consolidation makes sense without losing any more wireless carriers.

T-Mobile's Thousands of Cell Sites

The T-Mobile motorcycle spokesgal has traded her blurring speed in the city for a blurring view of T-Mobile's cell sites.  Indeed, T-Mobile does have a large number of cell sites, part of which was necessitated by their shorter range PCS signals.  However, they have gone one step further and placed a few strategic cell sites in areas ignored by other carriers.  Even the king of covering undercovered areas, Commnet Wireless, has a way to go to match some of T-Mobile's surprise cell sites. 

In my home state of Colorado there are wide stretches of National Forest lands that forbid cell sites either by federal decree or a lack of infrastructure.  However, there always seems to be some kind of RF facility on a mountain peak that begs the question, "Why not here?"  T-Mobile has climbed those mountains where other carriers fear to tread, and has made us huge fans.  There was a time when it took Verizon's extensive network AND its roaming partners to give us the confidence of universal coverage.  Now they seem to be only adding sites where it makes economic sense.  T-Mobile's surprise sites actually has us stopping and scratching our heads.  Not a single home or factory is within coverage of these sites...they are are here only to serve the traveling public.  What a concept!

Rating the Small Carriers

As we try to be the champion of the smaller wireless carriers, we have decided to venture onto what may be rather thin ice.  For years we have Rated the top 10 wireless carriers (which has now dwindled to 8) with a numbering system that reflects how well these carriers best fulfill what we believe are our wireless needs.  In past cases our ratings have irritated a few fan boys, but overall, we find people agree with our observations.

Now, as part of our regular review of every wireless carrier in the nation, we have assigned an "MW Rating", a numeric value we will apply as we make our periodic update on each of these carriers.  Using a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, we decided there has to be carriers that rate a "1", and ones that rate a "10".  The absolute number reflects that "X" carrier is better than "Y" carrier...in our informed opinion.   Over the years we have received complaints about our Reviews, so we expect the number we assign to some of these carriers will once again raise the rankles of those associated with these victims.

Often our view is skewed by incomplete or dated data and that view changes when we are supplied with the right information.  To assign a single number that takes so many different attributes into consideration is a close approximation at best.  We can make a better guess about carriers we are familiar with, and we realize giving a "6" rating to AT&T will be unpopular.  We are still getting stories about AT&T's poor urban coverage, as they continue to suffer through a lack of capacity in major cities.  Even JD Power agrees that Sprint (MW Rating: 7) rates higher than AT&T (MW Rating: 6).  Now we'll also try to compare the best, like Cincinnati Bell (MW Rating: 10) to the rest...like Wisconsin's Element Mobile (MW Rating: 3).  Agreed?