We know this much: there's another iPhone on the horizon. Maybe. And the rumors suggest that the phone will also be available on all major carriers, including Sprint and T-Mobile. Assuming that the hearsay is true, that leaves an awful lot of choice for the confused consumer. If you're planning on finally adopting the iPhone into your life, you might be wondering which carrier is right for you. Read on for a a comparative breakdown of each carrier, even those that don't yet offer the iPhone -- you might even walk away with an itch to end your current phone contract.
With each carrier, there are two main parts of your monthly iPhone bill you'll need to consider: voice and data.
Your voice plan includes the amount of time you can use your phone each month to make and receive phone calls. There are a lot of different options from each carrier. Here's a look at individual voice plans, without promotions, shared plans, or packages:
Your data plan determines how much you can use your carrier's data without being charged extravagant fees. The more you need do these things over 3G or Edge (which means unconnected from Wi-Fi), the larger your data plan needs to be. Once upon a time, you paid one monthly fee for unlimited data and never looked back. Now, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all have metered plans. Sprint, however, still offers unlimited data. Based on what’s available right now, here are the current data plans:
The big variable here is Sprint’s unlimited plan, but will they continue to offer an unlimited affair with the iPhone? If they do, and you are a really heavy data user, Sprint will be tough to beat on price. But for most users, when you look at voice and data plans together, T-Mobile offers more bang for the buck at each price point. It’s close, but we'll go with T-Mobile here.
Best Pricing: T-Mobile
Coverage for both voice and data is the sexy part of a carrier’s marketing plan; it indicates the areas your carrier will provide service for your iPhone. Each carrier has a cool heat map to show how much terrain their voice network as well as their data network covers. Here are the national voice network coverage maps for each carrier:
Unless you travel frequently, the only question to ask about coverage is, "How well does my phone work where I live and where I work?" Only you can accurately answer that question. What might be right for you in Montana, may not be right for you in New York City.
Even if you've studied all the maps and you've read all the message board comments and complaints about each carrier, at the end of the day your carrier choice will rely on your own personal experience.
Best Coverage: That depends on you, partner
The iPhone is so much more than just a mobile phone, and to take full advantage of everything it can do when you are on the go, you'll want to hook up with the best data provider.
Earlier this summer, PC World did a very extensive test of all four wireless providers. Comparing the 3G networks of all four carriers, the results were clear:
T-Mobile outperformed all of the other carriers and, comparatively, Verizon did quite poorly. Verizon’s 4G network produced amazing speeds, but unless the iPhone comes packing LTE, 3G is the only speed that's really measurable. Bearing in mind that criteria, the winner is clearly T-Mobile.
Fastest Data: T-Mobile
The Early Termination Fee -- the amount you'll pay if you want to break your contract -- becomes an issue with more carrier choices. When AT&T was the only show in iPhone town, this fee really didn’t matter because you weren’t giving up the iPhone anyway. But now that you might have your pick from four different carriers, what you'll pay to kill your contract suddenly makes a difference.
Fees that used to be fairly straightforward are now getting more expensive and complicated. And, they can change quickly. Sprint's Early Termination Fee, for instance, just went up 75 percent last week. Here are the current carrier Early Termination Fees:
- AT&T: $325 (subtract $10 for each completed month of your contract)
- Sprint: $350 (for six months, then subtract $20 for each completed month of your contract)
- T-Mobile: $200
- Verizon: $350
It's nice that AT&T and Sprint lessen each month you stay on contract, but it is nicer yet to have a lower Early Termination Fee from day one.
Lowest Contract Kill Fee: T-Mobile
Verizon has a reputation for best coverage and, until recently, AT&T owned the reputation for fastest data network. But times, they are a-changing. With networking speeds clocking in faster than its competitors, unlimited data, and an early termination fee that starts high but scales down quickly, Sprint will bring some great competition to the iPhone game.
However, the overall winner in this fantasy world, where all carriers offer the Apple iPhone, seems to be T-Mobile. In a solid coverage area, you'll have a faster 3G data network with lower monthly costs and a lower early termination fee. But unfortunately, we don't see an iPhone 5 in its future anytime soon. So until then, it's really down to where you've got the best coverage.
Adrian covers daily news as well as the weekly Law & Apple column for MacLife.com. You can follow him on Twitter, if you want to.
