Being a high school student with no income, I’ve always wanted a better phone than the
slider I currently have. For ten dollars
a month from Virgin Mobile, my plan is amazingly cheap, but I wondered how much
it was to get a decent smartphone with a decent data service. After looking around, the only carriers that
offered prepaid unlimited data were T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile. Both carriers carry the “Samsung Galaxy SII”,
which I consider to be a more than decent phone. I’ve been with Virgin Mobile for a while, and
I always figured that they had to be the cheapest. However, for a high school student with
virtually no income, $35 a month seemed very expensive. However, T-Mobile has a $30 a month plan,
which seems a lot better. Being a
teenager, I never call anyone, so unlimited texting and data sounded perfect for
me. I wanted to leap for the T-Mobile
plan, but the Samsung Galaxy SII on their site was retail price - $499.99. I was shocked, since Virgin Mobile sells
their Galaxy SII for $279.99. I didn’t
think the 5 dollars a month savings would be enough. And it turns out, I was right. As you can see in the graph, the intersection - when T- Mobile becomes cheaper - is at 46 months, or about 4 years. For the T-Mobile plan to be cheaper, you
would have to own the phone for 4 years, which is just not feasible for many people concerned with technology.
For four years, the Virgin Mobile plan would be cheaper. Overall, as I had deduced before,
Virgin Mobile’s plan trumps all.
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