For the first time in, gosh - 16 years? - I've ported my phone number to another carrier. This was an unnecessarily difficult process that had me immediately thinking back to my MBA program and high switching costs. Or an older post here, where I detail self-inflicted hobbies.
I thought I'd write this up in the hope that it could help someone else down the line. If you're reading this, that could be you!
But first, some backstory.
The Un-Carrier that couldn't
At one point, I was a happy Sprint PCS customer. The pricing was right, the coverage was adequate, and the Edge / 3G speeds on the network could handle everyday tasks. It was only my wife and I on the plan, and we had just moved from AT&T, who's pricing was high, coverage was adequate, and Edge / 3G speeds couldn't handle the massive influx of customers from previous iPhone launches.
Sprint was actually good and had a lot of usable cellular spectrum, which is what attracted T-Mobile to move to acquire. Again - classic MBA shit!
There was this push from John Legere, the T-Mobile CEO, to be "The Un-Carrier." This meant aggressively courting customers to grow and compete with AT&T and Verizon Wireless by offering great deals for new and existing customers.
As my family grew, we added lines when the kids were at an appropriate age to have mobile phones. My daughter first, followed by my son. We had 4 lines, and were on a great unlimited plan for the majority of our time with T-Mobile.
Three strikes
The first strike against T-Mobile was forcing us off our legacy plan and onto a new plan that cost more and offered less. Our bills would increase by $6/line. Across 4 lines, that was $24/month (or $288/year). For no reason other than greed.
The second strike was when we were on vacation in Croatia and looking to buy Hrvatski Telekom eSIMs for unlimited data. We couldn't add an eSIM to my son's line because the phone was carrier locked due to still having 3 installment payments remaining on the device. I paid around $90 to pay off his phone in order to add the eSIM.
What was bizarre is that Hrvatski Telekom and T-Mobile are all subsideries of parent company Deutsche Telekom! The call is literally coming from inside the house!
The third strike was that by paying off the phone early, we were hit with a higher monthly bill due to promotional credits expiring on that line.
The economics of switching
Our T-Mobile monthly bill crept up to $232.40 for 4 lines ($58.10/line).
I have an AT&T Signature discount through my employer, which got me thinking it was time to kick the tires on pricing out alternatives. What I found was kind of shocking:
- 4 lines of service with Autopay checking/savings debit was $50 per line
- We already have AT&T Fiber internet, so we would get a bundle discount on the internet line (hell yeah)
- The AT&T Signature discount would further lower the bill by 20% per line
- Ordering through Costco waived all line activations (saving $35/line), AND we're eligible for Costco Shop Cards and up to $250 in bill credits per line
The dust is still settling on that first bill, but it's looking a lot like my Wireless service will be $160 + fees and taxes, and my Fiber internet line will drop by about $25.
I still need to add my Apple Watch, but that would only add like $5 (and I believe an additional 20% off that whole $5 – don't spend it all in one place, right?).
MVNO vs. "The Big Three"
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I also have an eSIM through US Mobile, a fantastic MVNO. I was able to test drive the AT&T network for coverage using their Dark Star (lol) network, which runs as a first class citizen on AT&T Wireless' network.
I run all of my Forest Park Rangers FC business through my US Mobile phone number so there's a clear separation of the non-profit company and my personal line. 90% of the time I have it parked on the Warp Network (Verizon Wireless) because I get shit for signal on T-Mobile at my desk at work, where I spend 3 days a week.
Ultimately, I opted to get the family on AT&T because we're able to stack all sorts of discounts and bundles - something that we wouldn't get with US Mobile. Believe me, though, I thought long and hard on it. 4 Lines of service on Unlimited Premium would be $24.92/mo per line in year one, and then $32.50/mo per line in years two-plus.
Regardless, both AT&T Postpaid and US Mobile are vastly cheaper options than the $232.40/mo for 4 lines at T-Mobile.
Switching feels good after all these years.
