Now that there are 3 choices of wireless carriers for the newly announced Apple iPhone 4S you really have to analyze each company to see which has the best plan and the features that fit your needs. Here is a comparison of the plans each carrier will provide for the iPhone, what the costs will be and what the pros and cons are for each company.
AT&T iPhone Rate Plans
| Monthly Cost | $39.99 | $59.99 | $69.99 | ||
| Talk Minutes | 450 | 900 | Unlimited | ||
| Night and Weekend Minutes | 5,000 | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||
| 3G Data Plan - 200MB | $15 per month (overages cost $15 for every 200MB) | ||||
| 3G Data Plan – 2GB | $25 per month (overages cost $10 for every 1GB) | ||||
| Text Messages | 200 – $5.00 | 1,500 – $15.00 | Unlimited – $20.00 | ||
| Tethering Wi-Fi Hotspot | $20/month (requires the $25/month data plan), adds 2 GB data | ||||
AT&T rate plans include:
- Visual Voicemail
- Rollover Minutes (unused minutes from the previous month can roll over for up to 12 months)
- Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile (calls to other AT&T customers)
- AT&T Nights and weekends are 9 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., Monday-Thursday, and Friday night at 9 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. Monday morning.
Here are some pros and cons for the AT&T Network that you might want to consider in any decision you make for which iPhone carrier to go with:
- Only carrier that can support the 14.4MBps download speed the iPhone 4S is capable of
- Can use data and voice at the same time, i.e. surf the web and receive email while talking on the phone via speaker
- AT&T Network is congested and performs terribly in big cities like New York and San Francisco
- Top tier data plan of 2GB is not much and can lead to big overages for heavy users
Verizon iPhone Rate Plans
| Monthly Cost | $39.99 | $59.99 | $69.99 | |||
| Minutes | 450 | 900 | Unlimited (plus 5 friends & family numbers) |
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| Night and Weekend Minutes | Unlimited | |||||
| 3G Data Plan | 2 GB – $30 | 5 GB – $50 | 10 GB – $80 | |||
| Data Overages | 1 GB – $10 | |||||
| Text Messages | 250 – $5 | 500 – $10 | Unlimited – $20 | |||
| Tethering/Hotspot | $20/month and adds 2 GB added to existing data plan | |||||
Verizon Plans Include:
- Visual Voicemail
- Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile (calls to other Verizon wireless customers)
- Verizon Nights are 9:01 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., Monday-Friday, and weekends as starting Saturday morning at 12 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. Sunday night.
Here are some pros and cons for Verizon to consider when choosing an iPhone carrier to go with:
- Strong network coverage and reliable even in big cities that have heavily used networks
- Rated strongly in customer satisfaction surveys
- Cannot talk and surf web on the phone at the same time due to limitations of network
- Not the fastest network and cannot offer the theoretical 14.4MBps download speed the iPhone 4S supports
Sprint Rate Plans
| Monthly Cost | $49.99 | $79.99 | $109.99 | |||
| Talk Minutes | 450 | 450 | Unlimited | |||
| Night and Weekend Minutes | Unlimited | |||||
| 3G Data Plan | 3¢/KB | Unlimited | ||||
| Text Messages | Unlimited | |||||
| Tethering/Hotspot | $30/month – 5GB Cap | |||||
Sprint Plans Include:
- Visual Voicemail
- Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile
- Sprint Nights and Weekends are Monday through Thursday 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and Friday 7 p.m. through Monday 7 a.m.
Here are some positives and negatives about the Sprint Network that you might want to consider:
- Only carrier to offer unlimited data plan pricing, including unlimited text, no overage charges
- Most straight forward pricing, doesn’t require PhD and Excel spreadsheet to figure out ahead of time what your costs will be
- Cannot talk and surf on web on phone at the same time due to limitations of network
- Unknown network stability for iPhone, remains to be seen if network holds up under heavy iPhone data usage
- Most expensive tethering hotspot plan at $30 per month and cannot utilize unlimited data via that
Comparison of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Plan for Different Data Usage Scenarios
Ok, so we know all the rate plans now, but if you’re lazy and just want to know which is cheapest, what’s the quick answer? Well, there isn’t one because each person has different needs and uses their phone in different ways, so the best and cheapest plan for you might be different to the guy or gal sitting next to you. However, for the sake of comparison, let’s assume you want unlimited talk and text and then compare the costs of a few levels of data usage on the iPhone between the three carriers:
| AT&T | Verizon | Sprint | |
| 2GB Data, Unlimited Talk/Text | $114.99 | $119.99 | $109.99 |
| 5GB Data, Unlimited Talk/Text | $144.99 | $139.99 | $109.99 |
| 10GB Data, Unlimited Talk/Text | $194.99 | $169.99 | $109.99 |
So clearly if you use a lot of data and want unlimited talk and text Sprint will be cheapest for any new customer. However, if you don’t need the unlimited talk and text then you can shave a lot off of your Verizon and AT&T bills by cutting back on talk minutes and text message allotments.
There’s one big IF I should mention here though – if you have unlimited data for $29.99 from Verizon or AT&T because you were grandfathered into the deals they once had for that, your best bet is most likely to stick with your current carrier. You can no longer get those deals from Verizon or AT&T, neither offer any sort of unlimited data plans to new customers, but if you signed up when the plans were available over a year ago you can continue with it. Think of it as a loyalty discount.
Also, if you’re a student or your employer offers a discount then there is an easy way to save another 10% – 15% off of your monthly bill at all three carriers. Just check out these three articles on how to get the student or employer discount from each carrier:
- AT&T Student / Employer Discount
- Verizon Student / Employer Discount
- Sprint Student / Employer Discount
Some have asked if there will be any discount on the actual iPhone 4S hardware from any carrier. The answer to that is no, the pricing for the iPhone 4S will be the same no matter who you buy it from, which is as follows:
- Apple iPhone 4S 16GB: $199 with 2-year contract
- Apple iPhone 4S 32GB: $299 with 2-year contract
- Apple iPhone 4S 64GB: $399 with 2-year contract
- Apple iPhone 4: $99 with 2-year contract
- Apple iPhone 3GS: Free with 2-year contract (AT&T only)
- Sprint iPhone 4S Order Page
- AT&T iPhone 4S Order Page
- Verizon iPhone 4S Order Page
- Apple.com Order Page (for those who want to buy without contract)
Great article! Thanks for the information and bottom line up front.
The only thing to add to your info is that with both AT&T and Verizon if you already have an unlimited data package on your existing plan it will be Grandfathered over to your new iPhone 4S plan at the same rate you are already paying per month.
Thanks Joey, and great point on that, there’s definitely an incentive to stick with your existing Verizon / AT&T carrier if you have the $29.99 unlimited data plan. I should have thought of that since I actually do with Verizon!
Superb