One of the most questionable decisions I made before leaving New York was switching to T-Mobile from Verizon Wireless. My 10+ years with Verizon was the longest relationship I’ve ever had and it treated me like a queen - most of the time. Widely known as having the best coverage in NYC, Verizon was a no-brainer even when my mom decided it was time for me to leave the nest and kicked me off the family plan.
Switching to T-Mobile as a traveler has turned out to be one of the best decisions I could have made. Not only is my monthly bill lower than it was with Verizon, I get FREE international text messaging. That means not only are my texts free to send and receive, the people I’m messaging with don’t pay anything either. Additionally, if I need to make a phone call – regardless of if I’m calling a local European number or someone in the States, I only get charged $.20 per minute (in this case, the recipient of my call would pay whatever their long distance rate is). I did quite a bit of research before making the switch, and even the representative I spoke with at Verizon suggested they didn’t have the best plan. Including international coverage would be in ADDITION to my regular Verizon bill. Other carriers had similar models.
And finally: data. I paid for 3G of data per month (can be easily changed if I use more or less data). Here’s the kicker: If I go over my allotted data, I won’t be charged a cent. My standard bill will be the same each month no matter what. All that will happen if I use more than 3G is that the connection will slow down. BRILLIANT!
TIP: For Verizon users with an iPhone, before you pay to have your phone unlocked so a new carrier can take over, have the new carrier check first. Turned out my phone was unlocked so I didn’t have to pay ANYTHING at T-Mobile, I just had to pay for the cancelation of my Verizon account.
Switching to T-Mobile as a traveler has turned out to be one of the best decisions I could have made. Not only is my monthly bill lower than it was with Verizon, I get FREE international text messaging. That means not only are my texts free to send and receive, the people I’m messaging with don’t pay anything either. Additionally, if I need to make a phone call – regardless of if I’m calling a local European number or someone in the States, I only get charged $.20 per minute (in this case, the recipient of my call would pay whatever their long distance rate is). I did quite a bit of research before making the switch, and even the representative I spoke with at Verizon suggested they didn’t have the best plan. Including international coverage would be in ADDITION to my regular Verizon bill. Other carriers had similar models.
And finally: data. I paid for 3G of data per month (can be easily changed if I use more or less data). Here’s the kicker: If I go over my allotted data, I won’t be charged a cent. My standard bill will be the same each month no matter what. All that will happen if I use more than 3G is that the connection will slow down. BRILLIANT!
TIP: For Verizon users with an iPhone, before you pay to have your phone unlocked so a new carrier can take over, have the new carrier check first. Turned out my phone was unlocked so I didn’t have to pay ANYTHING at T-Mobile, I just had to pay for the cancelation of my Verizon account.
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