If I were by myself instead of on a family plan with Meg, I would get T-Mobile's $30-a-month web/walmart-exculsive no-contract plan with unlimited data and texting (and 100 voice minutes, which is all I need, especially since I can talk over WiFi if need be using Talkatone+Google Voice). Since me by myself would be at least $70/month otherwise, I'd be saving at least $40/mount, which pays for the price difference between a subsidized vs. unlocked phone in about a year (the iPhone 5 unlocked will be $650, and available pretty soon).

If it weren't for employee discount I'm getting with AT&T and the fact that Meg needs more minutes than me, it would even be a better deal for two of us. But in our current situation, AT&T wins.

I liked T-Mobile when I had them, though their rural coverage is minimal.

I've had AT&T for probably 10 years. I've not had major problems.

Which brings me to...iPhone users, which non-Sprint carriers are you on and are you happy with them?

I've had AT&T since it was PacBell out here in SoCal. Through the Cingular days, and now AT&T. I've had them in SoCal and while I was in Dallas. There are areas where coverage sucks (like any cell carrier), and areas where they are stellar. I would ask folks in the areas you are most likely to use it (home, work) and see what they have, and success. And go that way. YRMV is never more true than with cell phone coverage.

I would get T-Mobile's $30-a-month web/walmart-exculsive no-contract plan with unlimited data and texting

Oooh, tell me more about this?

I was all excited by the idea of that T-mobile plan, but then remembered I use my phone for calls for work now, and would need more than 100 minutes. Boo.

I find that AT&T, moreso than Verizon or the others, gets massively bogged down when you're in a crowd. I don't know if that's because they have more users, or a worse network, or too many iPhones or what, but if I'm somewhere crowded (outlet mall, Pride, a game) there's no chance in hell I have signal or ability to call, text, or use the web. Which can be very frustrating.

Ha. So, AT&T new pitch line "For the introverts"

I spend $80/ year with an old cheapass Virgin plan. But I don't use my phone much at all, just for emergencies. Hell, I'm carrying 1200 unused minutes on it now and won't likely be burning them up anytime soon.

I'm hopeless.

Oooh, tell me more about this?

[link]

5GB of data at "up to" 4G speeds, throttled to slower rates after that. T-Mobile is slower than AT&T or Verizon, but if you have patience and don't need many minutes, that's a nice deal.

$60/month gets you unlimited talk and text with up to 2GB of data at 4G speeds. Still a pretty amazing deal, and if you use lots of minutes could save you a pretty penny. AT&T is $100/month for anything similar, so, again: $40/month savings makes up phone cost in a year or so.

If I were thinking about it, I'd take my current AT&T phone (when the contract is up with whoever) OR get a cheap/free old one off Craigslist and try it for a month. Just to see if the service worked for me. No contract!

That may be exactly what I need. Thanks, Gris.

how do people like Virgin's service/coverage/etc.?

Coverage has been fine for me except for national parks (where coverage is often spotty to nil for Verizon and/or AT&T as well) or really remote areas. Virgin is run on the Sprint network. I mostly use the phone for email and FB/Twitter so I can't really report on using other apps or the browser.

I currently have just a dumb phone. I text rarely enough that paying $.20 per is not yet a problem, but I see where it would certainly be useful to be able to text more. I'm considering a phone upgrade but remain leery as my current bill is below $40 every month, and I'd rather not double it [or more] if I can avoid it.

My Virgin monthly bill is a total of $37ish for the $35/month plan that gives unlimited data and texting and 300 minutes of talk. I think it's only more than $35 because I'm in California and there's tax. But you don't have all those fees and taxes that are normally tacked on to contract plans.

I had to buy my phone upfront, but because I was actually saving $15/month vs my flip phone, my BB paid for itself within a year (and I finally had data and texting). Plus, that was the phone I had liked at AT&T anyway.