Provider Wars: Part 2
Posted on August 18, 2010 by Brian under Reviews.
As promised, I am back to discuss the rate plans that are being provided by the big 4. That would be T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.
I did extensive research and compared the family plans from all carriers, using my current plan as the base for comparison. To give you a little back ground. I have been with T-Mobile for over 10 years. I started out on just a simple single person rate plan and then about 6 years ago upgraded to the Family Plan and brought my wife’s phone into the mix. The plan we have right now is a 500 min (shared) family plan for $49.99, they don’t offer this any more and we have been very careful to not loose it. We don’t use that many minutes as everyone we know is on T-Mobile and we use Mobile-to-Mobile minutes more than anything. We added a Family Unlimited Text plan a few months after that for $9.99, this is also no longer available and we have been careful to keep this feature. If they were to ever discontinue this feature and force us to change, we would have to pay $9.99 per line instead of the current overall coverage for text messaging. The plan works for us and we have never gone over our minutes. We had data on our lines but only for 30 days as neither of our phones were really data friendly.
Since I had been having trouble getting what I wanted out of T-Mobile I decided to look elsewhere, in case I needed to change providers. I really didn’t want to change providers, like I said; everyone we know is on T-Mobile service. The Mobile-to-Mobile is a real benefit to us.
I started with Verizon. I get a 12% discount through my company on any Verizon account, so this was a perk. The family plan that I looked at was $99.99 for 700 Talk and (unlimited) Text minutes. I would then have to add unlimited data to the account for an additional $30.00 per line. In total with my discount my plan would have been around $150.00 before taxes. This was the lowest plan that they offered in the Family category. I was disappointed that they did not offer a Talk, Text and Data plan in the Family Plans. But looking at all the others this was shaping up to be the best.
Verizon also has the best coverage out of all of the carriers. Their data service is ranked highest amongst JD Power and Associates and due to the purchase of Alltel; they edged out AT&T for the top seat in the customer service category.
With the popularity of the Android market rising almost daily, Verizon offered a very large selection of these phones. The most popular being the HTC Incredible and the Motorola Droid X. Both were not available for purchase when we visited the store and we were told that it would be 24 to 48 hours before any would be in. However, we still felt that if we had to change providers this would be the smart option. As my wife told my friends “I will be a shame if we have to change providers because it means we will have to find new friends on the Verizon network so we can use the Mobile-to-Mobile again”.
The next carrier is AT&T. I am not fond of them ans the only thing they really have going for them is the iPhone. Without that, they would not be in the ranks at all. They were rated third in customer service by JD Power and they slipped in the ranks of customers thanks to Verizon’s acquisition of Alltel. Their coverage is only good in major cities and along major highways. Their data coverage is worse than their cell coverage and with the amount of people that use iPhones in any given city, the network is prone to frequent outages. The kicker though, the thing that I think will come back and bight AT&T in the ass is that they did away with their unlimited data plans. They now only offer 2Gig plans for customers that use data. This is not wise for smart phones that are perpetually connected to the internet like the iPhone. someone like my wife would go thorugh 2Gigs in a little over 2 weeks. You would not be able to stream things like Pandora or Slacker all the time because you would burn through your data too quickly. It’s no wonder that it was recently reported that the sales of the iPhone had recently dropped. Their 700 min Talk only plan was 69.99, I would have to add Unlimited Text for an additional $15.00 per line and then the 2Gig data plan for an additional $30.00 per line. In total it would be $150.00 for the service as well. But the coverage and the lack of anything other than an iPhone was very discouraging.
(Update: AT&T just released the Galaxy S to their line up. This adds another non iPhone option that is in my opinion much better. But with a lack of Unlimited Data, I don’t see this being a popular choice).
Last we have Sprint. Sprint’s appeal is their Unlimited Everything plan. This is unlimited calling to any phone, anywhere in the United States. Also unlimited Text and picture messaging and Unlimited Data. The family plan was $129.99 before taxes. This was very appealing. We would not have to worry about going over our min, we would still be able to keep our friends even though they were on a different carrier and we would not have to worry about data limitations. All in all this was looking to be the economical pick. However, we had the Sprint coverage issues and the fact that they have been in last place among the big 4 in customer service ratings for the last 5 years running. I have a few friends that are on Sprint and they have no problems, as long as they stay in Wichita. They leave the major city and it’s outsville for the coverage. Looking over the review on the web this seems to be the running story.
So looking over everything, I decided that Verizon would be the best choice. They had the best coverage, the best data, the best customer service. Simply the best all around. And with the discount it made it quite enticing.
Update: Since I started this post T-Mobile has finally offered me what I wanted. So we are staying with them for at least another 2 years. By then the iPhone will have been outof exclusivity, all the carries will have a version and with luck everyone will still have the unlimited data plans. If not then I will stay with T-Mo until the end of the world.
Which according to the Mayans, should happen about the time my contract ends.
(no really, that’s what the tablets say…”Flip’s contract ends and the world ends”)
Go figure.
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More of Cass Elliot
Posted on August 17, 2010 by Ching under Videos.
Just in case you’re not familiar with Cass Elliot or Mama Cass, here are some of my favorites (what Brian’s been suffering through the last couple of days):
P.S. If you can’t see the video then you’re probably reading this post through my Facebook notes. Click here for the full blog post (which isn’t really a blog entry, just a series of YouTube vids).
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The War of the Providers!
Posted on August 17, 2010 by Brian under Reviews, Shopping, Wishlist.
Ok, let me start at the beginning.
Several weeks ago (before I left for Germany) my wife decided that she wanted the HTC HD2 that T-Mobile had just released. Unlike me, she did not do her research and find out if the phone was worth the buy. She has liked Windows phones since her first one and she refused to change even though all of the Windows phones that she has owned have failed her in some way.
So we looked and looked and suddenly like a beacon from heaven, Wal-Mart has the HD2 on sale for $50.00! Ching took this as a sign from God that she was meant to have this phone, ok not really but you could see the gears working in her head. I caved and let my baby have what she wanted. I did provide a small protest and point out that all of her other windows phones were crap, she replied with “but this one is different”. So, we made the buy and off we went. She was happy, I was happy that she was happy and for the next few days she set everything up and it looked like all was well.
I get back from Germany and my wife says “Something is wrong with my phone”. I knew this was going to happen. We look at it and then decide to call T-Mo for support. Their first reaction, “let’s do a factory reset, that usually fixes the problem”. I was not keen on this idea. They did this with one of my wife’s other Window’s phones and it screwed it up. We had to reload the whole OS, this was not a good idea. I protested a little but the tech assured me that this was the only solution. I reset the phone and the problem went away. However, a dozen other problems sprung up. After a little over a day, we realized that we were still in the buyers remorse period and we took the phone back, reversed the upgrade and moved on.
We cut to this Sunday. I convinced my wife to stop by the T-Mo store and take a look at the new Vibrant. It’s the latest and greatest that Samsung has produced and is shaping up to be the baddest on the market. The wife absolutely loved it. She was impressed with all of it’s features and was impressed with it’s operation. We left the store and she said. Lets see if we can get it cheaper than 199.99.
This is a great idea since We have been with them since 2000, ever since they were Voicestream. I have never wanted to cancel my service. Hell, everyone I know and talk to is on T-Mobile service. So I called and told them that I was interested in that phone. They quoted me the price and I said. “I’m not on a contract, I get a 12% discount through my company on Verizion, I should just go there”. Like the rep is supposed to I get sent to the retention department.
This rep asks me what I am looking for and I repeat the speech. I basically said, “I am not interested in special rate plans or discounts on service. I simply want a phone cheaper than what I can get from any other provider or from walking down to Wal-Mart” (Wal-Mart currently has the Vibrant for $150.00). She say, “let me see what I can do”. She comes back a few minutes later and says “I can give you that phone for $149.99 on each line but only if that phone stays in service for 30 days. Basically you will pay full price up front and then we will give you the $50.00 after 30 days to each line. Plus, I will lower your Data plan by $10.00 dollars per line for the life time of the account”. I sat there in silence. The rep did not listen to anything I had said. I had already told her about Wal-Mart. I had already told her that I could get two droids for free and that I was not asking for free, I was just asking for something better. Shortly after that, She began to argue with me about the merits of getting the data discount. I advised her that I was just going to go to Verizion (which I still think I am going to do) and she proceeded to tell me how much more it was going to cost me. She did not know that I already looked at the plans, calculated the costs and found that after the 12% discount I was going to actually save $5.00 a month. I pointed this out to her and she just sat in silence. After that I just told her to never mind, I would call back when I had another service provider. Instead of offering me something better, she said “OK, have a nice day” and disconnected.
I know they can offer better, I have a friend that just got one for $99.00 through T-Mo, and he didn’t even have to do anything. I don’t understand what their problem is. I know what they can offer, I know what I can get. Why do they have to play these stupid games with me over this crap.
I think tomorrow I will escalate to a supervisor. I am tired of all of these silly reindeer games. If I cant get satisfaction then it’s time for a change. If they are going to make me pay over $100.00 for a phone then I am going to go someplace else.
Stay tuned tomorrow boys and girls when I reveal who is the best service provider and who sucks big…Ok, I got a little carried away there. But seriously, Stay tuned, there is more.
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Driving Brian Crazy with My Horrible Singing
Posted on August 16, 2010 by Ching under Life, Videos.
Didn’t feel like getting up today. Probably because I didn’t get much sleep or rest this weekend. I was looking forward to my spa treatment, but they called me at the last minute to reschedule. The therapist who was going to perform the service called in sick. I think it worked out for the best because I was on call this weekend and I didn’t really want to get a phone call during the treatment when I’m supposed to be relaxing. Also, they are going to give me a warm stone foot massage to compensate me for the inconvenience of having to reschedule. So I was disappointed, but I think the free add-on makes up for it. Now I have a two and a half hour spa treatment on Sunday to look forward to… Incidentally, this actually works with my workout schedule as well because group fitness classes are canceled at North YMCA for this coming weekend so they can resurface the studio floors. So I won’t have to rush from the gym to the spa clinic. It was a blessing in disguise, really.
So yesterday when they called me to reschedule, Brian had flashbacks of our bad experience at Healing Waters years ago when we both actually took vacation days and were planning our day around our spa visit and then they canceled on us. Same issue, sick therapists. Brian who is a bit of a “Negative Nancy” and was reliving the bad Healing Waters experience started bitching, moaning, and complaining and even took to his Twitter to rant and rave. I’m like, “It’s all good… No big deal… It just gets pushed back a week…” I was honestly disappointed because I could’ve really used a good massage and some RNR after the rough Saturday I had, but I learned long ago that it’s pointless to get upset over things you have no control over. Plus, there’s usually a silver lining to everything. As it turns out, moving it to next Sunday actually works out better overall.
This morning, I got up and got ready for work though I didn’t really feel like it. After a bowl of Fiber One Shredded Wheat cereal, I was good to go. Pretty much. I was actually in a pretty good mood. I was in a “singing in the car” mood, which was not so great for Brian because I’m tone deaf. LOL.
I popped in my Cass Elliot (Mama Cass to most folks) CD and proceeded to sing along, in my special off-key car singing voice, to Make Your Own Kind of Music, One Way Ticket, It’s Getting Better etc. I think Brian was ready to strangle himself. Of course, he couldn’t because he was driving, but I think that might have been why he was driving so erratically this morning.
He was like, “This is worse than Kings of Leon!” Yeah, he’s a party pooper.
We both had dental appointments today so we took off work a couple of hours early this afternoon. I was still in Cass Elliot singing mode, though. After the dentist, we stopped by the house to change out of our work clothes before heading to his parents’ house for dinner. Brian’s parents said they had an anniversary gift for us so we figured we’d come by and the four of us could have dinner and all that jazz.
As we were about to walk out the door, Brian asked me if I wanted to take my car or his truck. I replied with, “It doesn’t matter to me either way. Let’s take the truck.” Not really thinking about it. I just figured, Crichton doesn’t ever get driven so it would be nice to drive him once in a while.
So we’re driving South on Webb Road to his parents’ house when I felt a song coming on and it didn’t dawn on me that I couldn’t sing along to my music because my Cass Elliot CD was in the car! We were just past Douglas when I realized how he’d tricked me! He wanted to take the truck. He was hoping that I would choose the truck. In doing so, there would be no singing in the car on the way to dinner. What an evil, manipulative, conniving trickster!
“I was wondering how long it’d take you to figure it out,” he said laughing.
I’ll let him win this round, but he needs to look out. I’m going to sing to him on the way to work even louder and more off-key than ever before tomorrow morning. =P
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Spa Therapy
Posted on August 15, 2010 by Ching under Health, Things to Do.
Speaking of free stuff, I’m looking forward to my spa appointment today. I’ve got an appointment for the “Tropics” package at Serenity which includes a 90 minute massage (I opted for Swedish instead of therapeutic massage this time), soothing coconut mango hand and foot exfoliation treatment, and finished with a warm shea butter treatment. After the crazy weekend I’ve had, I could really use some pampering. Someone out there is looking out for me. Thank you! =)
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