For only the third time in my life, I've changed my mobile company.
I've considered it many, many times, but the effort to switch over something I don't care that much about was never worth it to me. If I can make calls and access the internet, I'm good. But eventually the reasons to switch are far more than the reasons to not switch, so here we are.
My first cellular carrier was Verizon. I liked everything about them and stuck with the company for a little over a decade. Right up until the Summer of 2007. And why did I switch from a mobile carrier that I had been so loyal to? The first iPhone was released, and it was exclusive to AT&T. Had Verizon been able to sell me an iPhone, I would have stayed.
Switching to AT&T was okay. I didn't love them. I didn't hate them. I just went along with them out of sheer momentum for nearly fourteen years. Their coverage was never as good as I had with Verizon, but it was good enough. What was horrific about AT&T was their billing. I have no fucking idea why it was so shitty, but in my last four years it kept building and building until I couldn't take it any more. After I changed plans I spent hours on the phone trying to get my bill straightened out. It never worked. The next month I'd just have to start all over again. The minute I was eligible for T-Mobile's Magenta 55+ plan, I bailed.
The nice thing about T-Mobile was the price. $50 a month. Total. Taxes and fees included. But that price came at a cost... 1) The signal was terrible so many places despite the fact that my handset was showing good bars and 5G. 2) They discriminate against single people, because single-line customers didn't get the perks (like free Netflix) that multi-line customers get, even though single-line customers pay more per line than anybody! 3) They keep changing the game from when I signed up. First I couldn't pay with a credit card any more or they'd take away my auto-pay discount, then they decided to raise the price $5 a month. With no perks, poor quality service, and a price increase, I was done.
And now I've come full circle. I'm back to Verizon. I was going to go with a pre-paid plan just to get the best price, but ultimately went with a regular phone plan because... GET THIS: VERIZON DOESN'T DISCRIMINATE AGAINST SINGLE PEOPLE! Single-line subscribers get all the perks that multi-line subscribers get! So when I factored in an auto-pay discount, a bring-your-own-phone discount, plus the money I would save on stuff I was already paying for by taking advantage of the choose-your-own-perks, I would be paying the same $55 that T-Mobile was charging. Except taxes and fees were not included, so I am paying $8 more. But I was willing to pay it to get Verizon's better service... and to support the fact that VERIZON DOESN'T DISCRIMINATE AGAINST SINGLE PEOPLE! Interesting to note that when I take advantage of other perk savings that are available when my current subscriptions lapse, I can likely recoup the $8, and maybe more...
In three years my "bring your own phone" discount will end. I don't know if Verizon will make an offer to keep me... or if I'll have to switch again... but I think I'm to the point where I'd rather switch for a fourth time than pay more for what I was already getting, so maybe I'll jump to a pre-paid plan then. Or switch carriers. Or give up on a mobile phone altogether.
You can do that, can't you?
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I switched to Visible several years ago. It’s a Verizon subsidiary, using Verizon equipment. And I pay $25-30 a month for unlimited talk, text, and data. I was nervous about switching to a “low cost” carrier but since they are affiliated with Verizon I thought it might be ok and it has been. I brought my own iPhone and it’s been smooth sailing ever since.
I looked at all of those as well… Mint Mobile (T-Mobile’s subsidiary), Visible (Verizon’s subsidiary), and Cricket (AT&T’s subsidiary), among others… but I have friends who warned me that all the subsidiary and affiliate companies have de-prioritized data. 99.9% of the time this will not make a difference, and nobody using them will ever even notice. If I start traveling again or have an emergency, it’s important to me that I have prioritized data when I’m not at home. Granted, this was more important when I was traveling all the time. But I still end up in major cities and don’t want to have to worry about it happening because there’s a bunch of people at my same event or whatever. If I’m at an airport and flights start being canceled and everybody hops on their phone to rebook, I want to be sure I am not deprioritized.
I’ve been on T-Mobile for years and it’s been…mostly fine. Having both my wife and I on the plan means I haven’t stumbled across the horror show you describe – which sucks btw. The 5G signal here in Phoenix is good, maybe big city is ok? However the cell signal at my *house* is awful because we’re in between a couple mountains. This hasn’t necessarily been a problem (yet) because most of the “calls” on my phone are Facetime or Facetime Audio or WhatsApp which all goes over wifi anyway. When the power or my internet goes out it will be an entirely different story.
There has been times when I looked at Verizon and the cost was always prohibitive. But I have multiple lines so that makes it hard to switch when I have multiple people I will be disrupting.