AT&T is offering some of its customers an $200 early upgrade discount ahead of their two-year contract expiration. While that may sound like a good deal, you could probably do better if you dump AT&T and jump to another carrier.
Gotta be Mobile, via MacDailyNews:
The problem with AT&T’s early iPhone upgrade plan is that the $200 subsidy is less than half the $450 subsidy that Verizon and Sprint will offer these same customers. Of course, AT&T customers who bought subsidized iPhone 4S’ will need to pay an early termination fee, which amounts to $325 minus $10 for each month of service.
If you purchased the iPhone 4S last October, you would need to pay AT&T an early termination fee of $215. By doing a little math, you can see that it may be a small price to pay to get out of your abusive relationship with AT&T. The math actually shows you’ll come out a few bucks ahead, ($35 to be exact), to say nothing of finally being in a relationship where you’re not made to pay extra for wanting to see the smiling faces of your loved ones over a 4G connection.
Verizon isn’t the knight in shining armor by any means, as they’re planning on charging their current customers the full price for the iPhone 5 if they want to hold onto their unlimited data plans. They also aren’t offering any early discounts for their customers, so they have to wait for the full two year contract to expire before they get any iPhone 5 discount love.
But we’re looking at this from the vantage point of the poor AT&T customer who’s been trapped inside the death star network for lo, these many years…
Here are some obvious advantages:
- The first, and most obvious of all: You won’t be paying AT&T any more of your hard earned money!
- Verizon has a MUCH larger true 4G LTE network than AT&T. Nearly 400 markets, as opposed to AT&T’s current 50 LTE markets.
- You’ll be getting away from AT&T’s much maligned, (and rightly so), lousy call quality and unreliable data connections.
- Oh, and have I mentioned, You won’t be paying AT&T any more of your hard earned money!
If you’re an AT&T customer who has been chomping at the bit to run free of the dark lords, this is your chance. Make a break for it! Fly like the wind! Sure, you have to pay a few bucks up front, but look at it as an investment, both in quality of phone service, your own satisfaction, and most of all, the looks of joy on your loved ones faces when they find out you’re not having to pay extra just to FaceTime with them over a 4G connection.
Oh, and Sprint is always an option for those 271 people who actually live inside of Sprint’s 4G LTE coverage.
