T-Mobile #fail
We’ve been considering what we should do with AT&T buying T-Mobile. There have been a number of options. We could leave now, and go to Sprint. We could wait out the deal to see if it happens, hoping it doesn’t. If it does, we could then stay with AT&T (unlikely, due to high prices, poor quality, and poor service) or leave for Sprint. Or, we could get on contract on T-Mobile now, and be guaranteed our plans for 2 years regardless of the outcome of the merger.
There are several complicating factors. T-Mobile had the cheapest family plans, by quite a bit; and Janette just got a G2 several months ago, and loves it, and wants to keep it as long as possible. I’ve been eyeing the new G2X (destined to be the next poster-phone for cyanogenmod), but have no real reason to upgrade my phone at this point (since it’s less than 1.5 years old).
All in all, I’ve been slightly leaning towards going on contract at T-Mobile. This would allow us to lock in the good price we’ve been getting; it would allow Janette to keep her phone for 2 years, for sure; and, it would reward T-Mobile for the years of good service we’ve gotten. In addition, it would allow me to upgrade my phone prematurely. Since the G2X comes out Friday, I was holding off deciding.
All that changed today. Today, T-Mobile announced new data plans, and the family plans are much more expensive. $30 a month more expensive for the cheapest one, and that’s with fewer minutes that we have now. The T-Mobile family plans are now more expensive across the board than the Sprint family plans. The only reason left to go on contract with T-Mobile is to get a few extra months out of Janette’s phone, and for $720 extra over the life of the contract, we could easily buy 2 new phones, so that’s out too.
So, my decision is made. I’m going to wait out the deal, keeping my current plan as long as I can, and then move to Sprint when the deal is signed and AT&T jacks my rates and removes my unlimited data. I can no longer recommend T-Mobile, since I can’t recommend off-contract (due to the merger), and the on-contract plans are no longer compelling.
It’s unfortunate, but certainly not an accident, that these plans were announced 4 days before the release of the G2X and the Sidekick 4G, two of the more compelling phones becoming available soon. If T-Mobile had inaugurated these plans 4 days after the release of the G2X, they may have had a happy, on-contract customer.
