Tuesday, March 5, 2013

T-Mobile vs. Virgin Mobile – Smartphones


 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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