Which carrier to activate iPhone 7/7 plus on?

[vgpepper]

What phone carrier is everyone going to activate/have activated their iPhone 7/7 plus on? Is it the same carrier you had before or are you switching? Why are you choosing the carrier - price? better signal? unlimited data? Etc..?

I purchased a sim free iPhone 7 plus and am thinking of activating it on AT&T with a small amount of data plan. My current phone, an iPhone 5 is with Walmart family mobile which is through T-mobile.

I used to be on AT&T a long time ago, then my family switched to T-mobile, then to Walmart family mobile. AT&T was the best carrier we had though in the past, but the most expensive. T-mobile doesn't seem to have a good connection, at least not where we live.

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

I voted AT&T as I've been with them in my area for quite some time. The service has worked great for me. But, it may be different for you in your area. The most important part is what does the carrier offer service-wise both in voice and data where you live and travel to. Then, go for current plans/pricing. If the service isn't there, the plan actually becomes more expensive.

Since you have a sim free phone, you have the luxury of trying the various services out during their trial periods. That may be the best way to go.

 

[Hal~9000]

RingPlus

Had them over 6 month with no issues and the following plan:

• $0/mo
• 6000 min
• 6000 text
• 6000 mms
• 6000 mms

 

[vgpepper]

I voted AT&T as I've been with them in my area for quite some time. The service has worked great for me. But, it may be different for you in your area. The most important part is what does the carrier offer service-wise both in voice and data where you live and travel to. Then, go for current plans/pricing. If the service isn't there, the plan actually becomes more expensive.

Since you have a sim free phone, you have the luxury of trying the various services out during their trial periods. That may be the best way to go.

In terms of price the plans I am looking at across multiple carriers are pretty similar. I am leaning towards AT&T because they have great reviews and I think I read in the fine print that they do not charge overage fees for data use, they just slow your service down. I don't use much data anyway. Budget wise it would be best for me to stick with Walmart Family Mobile, as that is one of the cheapest, but the service and connection just isn't good in my area. So I might try out AT&T and see how that works for a bit and like you said I can always switch again later.

RingPlus

Had them over 6 month with no issues and the following plan:

• $0/mo
• 6000 min
• 6000 text
• 6000 mms
• 6000 mms

That sounds like a pretty great plan. I've never heard of RingPlus, but I'll definitely look into them. I still have a few days until my new phone arrives in the mail so I'm looking at all my options while I wait.

 

[HDFan]

Signal quality and coverage across carriers is equalizing, but if you often use your phone from locations that are dead zones for a particular carrier then that carrier isn't for you.

I was with AT&T with an unlimited plan and dropped it because they did everything they could to get me to drop my plan. No tethering, wifi handoff , etc. If you like AT&T but don't want to pay their prices go with Consumer Cellular which allows you to customize your voice, message and data plans to your exact needs. They use the AT&T network.

I travel overseas. AT&T & Verizon charge ridiculous rates, $1 a minute for calls last time I checked. I switched to T-Mobile and calls are $.20 a minute and you get unlimited (but slow) data. In August they gave European travelers unlimited LTE data for a month for no charge. I went through 5 GB of data in 3 weeks. Verizon would have charged me $20K for what I got free from T-Mobile.

They upgraded my basic data package from 3 GB to 5 GB at no charge. They roll over data that you've paid for for an entire year. AT&T & Verizon only rollover for a month. You pay for data that you don't use.

AT&T & Verizon are losing customers to T-Mobile and other carriers. But rather than coming up with creative programs like T-Mobile to meet cell phone customer needs they put their money elsewhere, like AT&T buying DirecTV.

 

[Ca_lvn]

Sprint here $65 unlimited everything five dollars off for auto pay

 

[T5BRICK]

I had been with AT&T for over 15 years but as of last month I switched all 7 lines on my plan over to Verizon. Their plans are now pretty competitive with each other, I get slightly better coverage and their promotions right now ended up giving me a decent amount of bonus data.