AT&T or Verizon Iphone5 ??

[marathon55]

DH's head is going to explode with trying to choose between AT&T or Verizon for the new iphone..What are your thoughts: here is the pros for each.

Pro's ATT:
1) We have an unlimited data plan on one phone and 2 gig on the other phone, so we are grandfathered into these plans. A heavy month of data for him is 3 gigs and I would push to .75 gig..but back in the day he would use like 8 gigs a month but not anymore.
2) With an old company discount, AT&T is about $20 less a month compared to a new verizon (with discount) plan with 4 gigs of shared data.
3) Can talk and do data at the same time.. not that big of a deal but it's a pro I guess

Cons ATT:
1) We live in the northern Chicago burbs and reception is hit or miss with ATT, we have a M-Cell (mini tower) in our house so we can make calls at home.

2) Can't use our phones as a mobile hot spot with our wifi ipad (shouldn't be that big of a deal but could be)..

Pros Verizon:
1) Voice coverage is much better..
2) Larger LTE network (even though we don't travel much for work)
3) Can share data with ipad, if needed

Cons Verizon:
1) $20 more a month
2) Can't use data and phone at the same time.. (not that big of a deal).

Side Note: We have Vonage at home with is only $9.99+Taxes a month that we may or maynot need with Verizon.

What would you do?

[Deleted]

Are you sure you cant use data and talk at the same time? That must be an Iphone thing if so b/c I have VZW and have for years. I surf and talk on my Droid Razar
ETA to say I can surf and talk at the same time

[marathon55]

Yeah I guess the iphone on VZN doesn't allow it. However, of all the criteria this is near the bottom. I can't recall more than 2 times when I have ever needed to do this.

[Deleted]

Well if you will have enough mins to be able to drop your vonage then I say VZW is better. Is there a termination fee for vonage? You will have to consider that too.

[geneg]

Right now I have the iPhone 4s and use Straight Talk ($45/mo, unlimited talk/text/data, no contract). It worked out that by seven months, we'd break even in total costs over a AT&T or Verizon contract. The iPhone 5 has a nano sim card, but I can't imagine that it will be that long before BYOP SIM companies like Red Pocket and Straight Talk will offer them as well.

[marathon55]

As long as reception in our house is ok with VZN then we could drop vonage, however, we go back and forth on whether having a 'land line' is worth it as our DD gets older..

[Deleted]

Sept 18, 2012 10:38:57 GMT -5 geneg said:

Right now I have the iPhone 4s and use Straight Talk ($45/mo, unlimited talk/text/data, no contract). It worked out that by seven months, we'd break even in total costs over a AT&T or Verizon contract. The iPhone 5 has a nano sim card, but I can't imagine that it will be that long before BYOP SIM companies like Red Pocket and Straight Talk will offer them as well.

Ok I have a question. I know you cant tether with Straight Talk (against their rules) does that mean I can't stream. I like to watch TV online sometimes (like when I am waiting on an oil change) is that a no go too?

[geneg]

Sept 18, 2012 10:43:44 GMT -5 vigurl said:

Sept 18, 2012 10:38:57 GMT -5 geneg said:

Right now I have the iPhone 4s and use Straight Talk ($45/mo, unlimited talk/text/data, no contract). It worked out that by seven months, we'd break even in total costs over a AT&T or Verizon contract. The iPhone 5 has a nano sim card, but I can't imagine that it will be that long before BYOP SIM companies like Red Pocket and Straight Talk will offer them as well.

Ok I have a question. I know you cant tether with Straight Talk (against their rules) does that mean I can't stream. I like to watch TV online sometimes (like when I am waiting on an oil change) is that a no go too?

I honestly have no idea. I'm not sure if it is the tethering that is the problem or if it is amount of data used. It is technically unlimited, but if you go over a certain amount (check HowardForums for how much...they know), they throttle your speed down. I've never hit the limit since I'm always around a WiFi spot.

[Deleted]

Sept 18, 2012 12:00:54 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

Sept 18, 2012 11:17:05 GMT -5 geneg said:

I honestly have no idea. I'm not sure if it is the tethering that is the problem or if it is amount of data used. It is technically unlimited, but if you go over a certain amount (check HowardForums for how much...they know), they throttle your speed down. I've never hit the limit since I'm always around a WiFi spot.

I don't think you can stream via cellular, only via wifi - the limit is probably about 100mb/day and 2GB/month over cellular. So pandora/youtube/TV/etc. can all cause problems if you are using the cellular data - but if your oil change place has wireless, you can use the wireless network to watch TV on your phone.

And for that exact reason I can't leave VZW. I stream all the time over cellular and dont have to worry about overages or capped speed.

[Deleted]

Sept 18, 2012 12:37:08 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

Sept 18, 2012 12:07:20 GMT -5 vigurl said:

And for that exact reason I can't leave VZW. I stream all the time over cellular and dont have to worry about overages or capped speed.

Yeah, if you need unlimited amounts of cellular data, you just need to pay full price for a traditional carrier. I don't have a smart phone, but it would be very rare that I would not be in range of a wireless signal AND have the opportunity/desire to stream video because of the kid (music would be nice in the car, but I generally work from home or am driving the kid around and listening to her CDs anyway). So for lame people like me, a discount carrier like Straight Talk would be fine. But it would not work well for some of my friends.

that sucks b/c I really want to leave VZW. I think their prices are insane. Oh well soon enough. I am sure the grandfathered unlimited data plans wont go on forever