[jyl]

Damn I feel good, finally getting the ATT wireless monkey off my back.

Our ATT bill kept going up. About a year ago, ATT stopped subsidizing phones, but my bill kept going up. I decided to switch carriers, but the various plans are so complicated that I got lost in analysis paralysis. I have a lot of friends who had the same experience, choosing a new plan and switching carriers is just too complicated to deal with.

Finally this summer our bill was up to $320/mo for four smartphone data plans (2 legacy unlimited, 2 at 2GB) and a fifth line for the home phone. My daughter was about to leave for nine months in Europe. I couldn't tether my laptop, and had to keep nagging the kids about every 1 GB of data overage. So I finally got motivated to act.

Switched to T Mobile's One plans on four phones plus a fifth line for home. Each phone has unlimited data, although with limited resolution on video and limited speed on tethering. My daughter can use her phone in Europe for data, with same number as here, although calling is expensive (20c/min) so she might buy local sim cards anyway. Saving about $140/mo. Yeah, still not the cheapest way to go, but a big savings over ATT.

I'm read that T Mobile coverage has improved significantly. Looking at some signal strength maps, still seems maybe not as good as ATT and definitively worse than Verizon, but in our area it's more than good enough, and that's where we spend 95% of our time. Tethering is useful and fast "enough" for me. SD video looks fine on a tiny phone screen. Took less than a day to unlock all phones, less than an hour to port over numbers.