Okay, so this is the discussion between the S.O. and I: iWant iPhone, he wants something cheaper. We've all heard it, the "omega, you paid how much?" but it's not actually the phone price that he's nagging (he understands the value and I've explained that it's not subsidized), it's the cost of service.
Pre-iPhone, I was all about upgrading to a Treo, and he just wanted a regular phone. Then he tried one at a Sprint store, and he was won over by the contacts, calendar, text messaging, AIM/MSN/Yahoo IM, downloadable apps, email (3rd party clients especially), syncing, BT DUN tethering to laptops, etc. So we were planning on two Treos. Then we realized that we'd better wait a month or two before upgrading because the iPhone would obviously be better.
And it is. He thinks it's gorgeous, brilliant, amazingly easy to use, the web is loads better to surf on it vs. Blazer on Palm/Treo, it's simple, elegant, game-changing, etc. These are all his words. But he just thinks the AT&T plans are too expensive.
To compare, with Sprint, I have a friend of the family who works at Sprint, so I am eligible to get the SERO (Sprint Employee Referral Offer) plan. They have several, but no family/shared plans. Which is okay, we'd still get mobile-to-mobile included.
Here's a Sprint plan breakdown:
1250 minutes
mobile-to-mobile
7pm nights and weekends
unlimited data (EVDO, aka 3g..), tetherable to a laptop so that you can surf on the laptop, including Mac OS X support easily enough
$49.99/month
+$5.00/month for 300 text messages
Total: $54.99/line
So, with each of us having our own 1250-minute plan, it'd be $109.98/month, plus taxes and regulatory fees and all that jazz.
Plus our Treo 755p phones would only be $559.98 for the both of them, and like another $20 for a pack of screen covers, and a few miniSD cards (2gb is about $22).
Compared to with the iPhone and AT&T...
2100 minute family plan (but rollover and shared...)
2 lines
mobile-to-mobile
9pm nights and weekends
unlimited data (EDGE, but it's okay! plus I have WiFi at home and lots of places... but so far it's not tetherable )
200 text messages included
$149.99/month (plus taxes/regulatory fees/etc)
So Sprint would cost $2,640 over the course of the 2-year contract, for more minutes, earlier N&W, no rollover, faster internet that can be used with a laptop, and 100 more texts per month (closer to each of our averages)... and the AT&T would cost $3,600 over the course of two years. That's almost a grand difference, for a lot less... not even counting equipment cost difference of $400 (which it would TOTALLY be worth to get the iPhone versus a mediocre Treo).
Some of the cost could be offset by buying an AT&T phone first, and getting the equipment discount in exchange for the 2-year contract commitment, and then waiting a week or two and buying the iPhone and transitioning to an iPhone family plan as an "existing" customer, and then I can sell those other phones off.
For instance, I could buy two Palm Treo 680s, $300 each ($600 total), and then after I get $200 rebates for each ($400), I'd only be out $200.. but I could sell them on eBay and expect $150-250 for each of them, so potentially $100-200 profit. But that still leaves me with a $1200 price difference combining initial cost and 2-year-service costs by going the iPhone+at&t route... plus I'd have to wait and hope for 1-3 months on the rebates (if a family plan added line can even get the $200 rebate as the AT&T webstore implies), shelling out more initially. That, or just keep one or both as backup phones.
How can I justify this, or should I? Sprint has much better coverage in my area, and I know about two dozen friends and family who have Sprint, but almost no one with AT&T/Cingular (that I want to talk to, anyway).
Plus, it's so tempting to get a Treo and deal with a mediocre smartphone experience BUT be able to wirelessly sync it with my MBP to get internet anywhere that I get wireless signal... then I can browse using the REAL Safari and use iChat and everything else. Could I live with that kind of a compromise? Is anyone in the same boat?
TIA!
Brad
Pre-iPhone, I was all about upgrading to a Treo, and he just wanted a regular phone. Then he tried one at a Sprint store, and he was won over by the contacts, calendar, text messaging, AIM/MSN/Yahoo IM, downloadable apps, email (3rd party clients especially), syncing, BT DUN tethering to laptops, etc. So we were planning on two Treos. Then we realized that we'd better wait a month or two before upgrading because the iPhone would obviously be better.
And it is. He thinks it's gorgeous, brilliant, amazingly easy to use, the web is loads better to surf on it vs. Blazer on Palm/Treo, it's simple, elegant, game-changing, etc. These are all his words. But he just thinks the AT&T plans are too expensive.
To compare, with Sprint, I have a friend of the family who works at Sprint, so I am eligible to get the SERO (Sprint Employee Referral Offer) plan. They have several, but no family/shared plans. Which is okay, we'd still get mobile-to-mobile included.
Here's a Sprint plan breakdown:
1250 minutes
mobile-to-mobile
7pm nights and weekends
unlimited data (EVDO, aka 3g..), tetherable to a laptop so that you can surf on the laptop, including Mac OS X support easily enough
$49.99/month
+$5.00/month for 300 text messages
Total: $54.99/line
So, with each of us having our own 1250-minute plan, it'd be $109.98/month, plus taxes and regulatory fees and all that jazz.
Plus our Treo 755p phones would only be $559.98 for the both of them, and like another $20 for a pack of screen covers, and a few miniSD cards (2gb is about $22).
Compared to with the iPhone and AT&T...
2100 minute family plan (but rollover and shared...)
2 lines
mobile-to-mobile
9pm nights and weekends
unlimited data (EDGE, but it's okay! plus I have WiFi at home and lots of places... but so far it's not tetherable
)200 text messages included
$149.99/month (plus taxes/regulatory fees/etc)
So Sprint would cost $2,640 over the course of the 2-year contract, for more minutes, earlier N&W, no rollover, faster internet that can be used with a laptop, and 100 more texts per month (closer to each of our averages)... and the AT&T would cost $3,600 over the course of two years. That's almost a grand difference, for a lot less... not even counting equipment cost difference of $400 (which it would TOTALLY be worth to get the iPhone versus a mediocre Treo).
Some of the cost could be offset by buying an AT&T phone first, and getting the equipment discount in exchange for the 2-year contract commitment, and then waiting a week or two and buying the iPhone and transitioning to an iPhone family plan as an "existing" customer, and then I can sell those other phones off.
For instance, I could buy two Palm Treo 680s, $300 each ($600 total), and then after I get $200 rebates for each ($400), I'd only be out $200.. but I could sell them on eBay and expect $150-250 for each of them, so potentially $100-200 profit. But that still leaves me with a $1200 price difference combining initial cost and 2-year-service costs by going the iPhone+at&t route... plus I'd have to wait and hope for 1-3 months on the rebates (if a family plan added line can even get the $200 rebate as the AT&T webstore implies), shelling out more initially. That, or just keep one or both as backup phones.
How can I justify this, or should I? Sprint has much better coverage in my area, and I know about two dozen friends and family who have Sprint, but almost no one with AT&T/Cingular (that I want to talk to, anyway).
Plus, it's so tempting to get a Treo and deal with a mediocre smartphone experience BUT be able to wirelessly sync it with my MBP to get internet anywhere that I get wireless signal... then I can browse using the REAL Safari and use iChat and everything else. Could I live with that kind of a compromise? Is anyone in the same boat?
TIA!
Brad
