Trying to come up with avearge cost of various plans

[soylentgreen77]

Here is what I came up with so far: correct me if I am wrong!

2 year period of cost (not including taxes, fees, etc)

VM:
EVO 3d: 300.00 over two years = 12.50 a month
35.00 a month over two years = 840.00
For a total of (including the phone cost): 1140.00 (47.50 per month) for two years

Unlimited plan 55.00 (including the phone cost): 1620.00 (67.50 per month) for two years

Boost:
Evo Design: 300.00 over two years = 12.50 per month
1st 6 months = 55.00 for a total of: 330.00
2nd 6 months = 50.00 a month for a total of: 300.00
3rd 6 months = 45.00 a month for a total of: 270.00
4th 6 months = 40.00 a month for a total of: 240.00
For a two year total of 1240.00

The total cost with the 300.00 phone over two years = 1540.00 (64.16 per month) unlimited plan.

Boost:
ZTE Warp: 179.00 over two years = 7.45 per month
1st 6 months = 55.00 for a total of: 330.00
2nd 6 months = 50.00 a month for a total of: 300.00
3rd 6 months = 45.00 a month for a total of: 270.00
4th 6 months = 40.00 a month for a total of: 240.00
For a two year total of 1240.00
The total cost with the 179.00 phone over two years = 1419.00 (59.13 per month) unlimited plan.

Straight Talk:
As an example, cost will vary based on the phone you buy. I went with a windows phone just for something different.
Ebay: HTC Titan - Black (Unlocked) Smartphone AT&T = 308.00 (new) = 12.83 per month over two years

“Unlimited” plan: 45.00 over two years: 1080.00

Cost over two years (including cost of the phone): 1388.00 (57.83 per month)

My current VM plan:
25.00 per month over two years: 600.00
Phone was 138.00: 5.75 per month cost over two years

For a total of: 738.00 (30.75 per month) Limited plan over two years

T-mobile is not available in my area. Wi-max is extremely spotty in my area (mainly only in Davenport). I work in a basement, so it will not be available most likely. And isn’t available on the Illinois side where I live.

Final costs:
Current limited 25.00 plan: 738.00 over two years (plan is low due to not needing to buy a new phone) plan will increase since I will buy a better phone than the intercept if I stay on this plan

VM 35.00 plan (with new phone): 1140.00 - 402.00 more over two years
VM 55.00 Unlimited plan (with new phone): 1620.00 - 882.00 more over two years
Boost shrinkage unlimited plan (with new EVO Design phone): 1540.00 - 802.00 more over two years
Boost shrinkage unlimited plan (with new ZTE Warp phone): 1419.00 - 681.00 more over two years
Straight Talk with (new phone): 1388.00 - 650.00 more over two years

Just for the heck of it, I checked out a US Cellular 2 year contract:
450 minutes, unlimited messaging, 2 gigs of data and a “free” phone: 1740.00 ( 72.50 per month)over two years = 1002.00 more over two years than my current plan

[corrupt81]

Why are you including the cost of the phone as a 'per month' charge? I guess technically you could add that to the total, just never really thought of it like that.

I'm in a similar position as well, it seems if you want unlimited minutes then Virgin Mobile isn't your best choice. If you're looking at a long-term carrier with unlimited everything, Boost wins hands down. For just $5 more than Virgin's cheapest limited plan, you can get an unlimited one on the same exact network.
And if you ever decide to add 4g hotspot tethering, it's only $10 on Boost while Virgin is $15.

On the flip side of the coin, if you don't need unlimited everything and as others have pointed out, you may be better off staying with the $35 plan as it'll be a year and a half before you see the true savings of Boost Mobile.
In my case I rarely go over 200 minutes a month (if even that), so starting out on Boost at $55 makes me pay $20 more per month to start out with for minutes I don't even need.
Over the course of 18 months before I get to the very reasonable $40 price, I've spent quite a bit more over that period than I would have if I stayed with VM.

I left VM last year and my grandfathered plan and just signed up again yesterday on the new $35 plan (kicking myself over that one!) with the Venture.
More than likely going to get the EVO 4G when it comes out and add mobile hotspot for a total of $50 a month.
After 18 months Boost would also be a total of $50 a month ($40 for the plan and $10 for hotspot) but who knows what phones will be out in 18 months and where Sprint will be with their WiMax network or if they may start considering adding LTE to prepaid as well.

If I were you, I'd hang on to that $25 plan as there's no point of upgrading to the $35 one if WiMax is spotty or non-existent in your area.
If you were thinking of going with unlimited minutes and wanted a long-term carrier, I'd say Boost Mobile is the way to go.

[JDubTrey]

Why are you including the cost of the phone as a 'per month' charge? I guess technically you could add that to the total, just never really thought of it like that.

I'm in a similar position as well, it seems if you want unlimited minutes then Virgin Mobile isn't your best choice. If you're looking at a long-term carrier with unlimited everything, Boost wins hands down. For just $5 more than Virgin's cheapest limited plan, you can get an unlimited one on the same exact network.
And if you ever decide to add 4g hotspot tethering, it's only $10 on Boost while Virgin is $15.

On the flip side of the coin, if you don't need unlimited everything and as others have pointed out, you may be better off staying with the $35 plan as it'll be a year and a half before you see the true savings of Boost Mobile.
In my case I rarely go over 200 minutes a month (if even that), so starting out on Boost at $55 makes me pay $20 more per month to start out with for minutes I don't even need.
Over the course of 18 months before I get to the very reasonable $40 price, I've spent quite a bit more over that period than I would have if I stayed with VM.

I left VM last year and my grandfathered plan and just signed up again yesterday on the new $35 plan (kicking myself over that one!) with the Venture.
More than likely going to get the EVO 4G when it comes out and add mobile hotspot for a total of $50 a month.
After 18 months Boost would also be a total of $50 a month ($40 for the plan and $10 for hotspot) but who knows what phones will be out in 18 months and where Sprint will be with their WiMax network or if they may start considering adding LTE to prepaid as well.

If I were you, I'd hang on to that $25 plan as there's no point of upgrading to the $35 one if WiMax is spotty or non-existent in your area.
If you were thinking of going with unlimited minutes and wanted a long-term carrier, I'd say Boost Mobile is the way to go.

Assuming that you're coming from another carrier, you'll have to be on Boost for 18 months before you get to $40. For that 18 months, you'll be paying an average of $50 a month. After 3 years, your average monthly service will by $45 but will drop more over time (eg: after 6 years it will 42.50).

If you use less than 1200 minutes, the VM $45 plan is cheaper than Boost until month 37.

As for GF'ing: I wasn't worried too much about being grandfathered because I never thought I'd stay exclusively on the 300 minute plan anyway (as soon as you change, you lose it). The $45 plan is my sweet spot. I didn't actually get VM until after the $25 and $40 plan went away.

[soylentgreen77]

I included the phone as part of the cost as if it were a subsidy. Although I pay for the phone up front, if I use it for two years, then I have an average monthly “cost of use” which works out to the total cost of the phone divided by the total months I used it.
For example: If I buy a 300.00 phone and use it for one month. Then it costs me 300.00 for a phone, for a month. I do the same thing with cars. If I buy a car every 5 years, then the car costs about 300.00 a month. If I buy a car every ten years, then the car costs an average of 150.00 a month (not including repairs, etc)

It is more of a baseline standard, so they are all calculated the same.
Price of plan + cost of phone / divided by 24 month average (the average length of a contract)

I rarely use more than 100 minutes, so I think 25.00 and moving up to a newer “old” 3g VM phone will most likely be what I do…or jump to Boost. But if the data speeds on Boost are no better than VM, then I will most likely stay where I am.

[JDubTrey]

I included the phone as part of the cost as if it were a subsidy. Although I pay for the phone up front, if I use it for two years, then I have an average monthly “cost of use” which works out to the total cost of the phone divided by the total months I used it.
For example: If I buy a 300.00 phone and use it for one month. Then it costs me 300.00 for a phone, for a month. I do the same thing with cars. If I buy a car every 5 years, then the car costs about 300.00 a month. If I buy a car every ten years, then the car costs an average of 150.00 a month (not including repairs, etc)

It is more of a baseline standard, so they are all calculated the same.
Price of plan + cost of phone / divided by 24 month average (the average length of a contract)

I rarely use more than 100 minutes, so I think 25.00 and moving up to a newer “old” 3g VM phone will most likely be what I do…or jump to Boost. But if the data speeds on Boost are no better than VM, then I will most likely stay where I am.

If I used less than 300 minutes I wouldn't even think about leaving.

You may want to consider getting the Elite though, as it supposedly will support the grandfathred plans.

For someone with low voice usage, Boost shouldn't be attractive. It takes 3 years for Boost to break even with VM's $45 plan.

[Churner]

What you're calculating there is TCO, Total Cost of Ownership. Those calculations are a good way to understand how long you have to keep an expensive phone to make the equivalent prepaid wireless service cheaper than postpaid wireless. You can't buy a new phone every month and save over postpaid, but you can usually switch phones once a year and come out ahead.

[mfrerkes]

What you're calculating there is TCO, Total Cost of Ownership. Those calculations are a good way to understand how long you have to keep an expensive phone to make the equivalent prepaid wireless service cheaper than postpaid wireless. You can't buy a new phone every month and save over postpaid, but you can usually switch phones once a year and come out ahead.

This is especially true if you resell your old phone on Craigslist or Ebay. I can usually recoop half the phone's original value. That would make my Triumph on a grandfathered plan cost $36.50 per month after resale.

[soylentgreen77]

yeah the Elite is looking good...especially compared to my intercept

[mfrerkes]

Just for the heck of it, I checked out a US Cellular 2 year contract:
450 minutes, unlimited messaging, 2 gigs of data and a “free” phone: 1740.00 ( 72.50 per month)over two years = 1002.00 more over two years than my current plan

US Cellular has a prepaid Android plan, and it is a rip job. I'd even pick AT&T over US Cellular for prepaid service any day.

If you don't care about blazing fast data speeds, I think Virgin Mobile has everyone beat on cost hands down. The problem is most folks with an Android phone want something resembling 3G, and they don't want to worry if a casual Pandora session will cause a sudden termination, like Straight Talk does.

[503ducati]

This is an excellent thread excellent discussion.

[getupkid86]

Id say it's not accurate in terms of total cost of ownership because as long as you take care of your phone, you can usually recover at least half the cost. I'm about to jump ship on Sprint as soon as I can (only $50 ETF). I'm paying $58.90 for 450 AT/UNLIM NW, Any Mobile Anytime, Text, and Data..but on the Optimus S. I wanted the iPhone 4, but they put that stupid $10 'premium data' fee in place. They made it seem like the $10 fee was for 4G phones, so I thought the iPhone was able to avoid it. Hah, no. So for the same data I get on Sprint..I'm going with VM and avoiding the $10 fee.

[billm261]

Id say it's not accurate in terms of total cost of ownership because as long as you take care of your phone, you can usually recover at least half the cost. I'm about to jump ship on Sprint as soon as I can (only $50 ETF). I'm paying $58.90 for 450 AT/UNLIM NW, Any Mobile Anytime, Text, and Data..but on the Optimus S. I wanted the iPhone 4, but they put that stupid $10 'premium data' fee in place. They made it seem like the $10 fee was for 4G phones, so I thought the iPhone was able to avoid it. Hah, no. So for the same data I get on Sprint..I'm going with VM and avoiding the $10 fee.

But depending on what plan you choose on VM it may be worth staying.

Mobile to Any Mobile makes it a virtual unlimited plan so if you needed the unlimited plan on VM it's 55 a month.

If you buy the EVO V is 299.99

Sprints about 15 more a month for truly unlimited (and always faster in my experience) data , great US based CS, Roaming on Verizon etc.

Now, factor in the new LTE EVO is 199.99 and your saving 100.00 on the phone.

[soylentgreen77]

Id say it's not accurate in terms of total cost of ownership because as long as you take care of your phone, you can usually recover at least half the cost.

That is true in some cases, but in other cases the phone value drops rapidly due to the phone not being as good as advertised, or, a slighty better phone comes out at the same price. My intercept is in very good shape, but I don’t think it would sell for half it’s original value. Where-as the Evo 3D might. My wife’s old Loft(no longer in use) is worth more as a door stop than it is as a phone.

[soylentgreen77]

A few more:
Iwireless (for those of us outside of T-mobile):
As an example, cost will vary based on the phone you buy. I went with a Samsung Exhibit T759 - 4G (3.5”)

Ebay: Samsung Exhibit T759 - 4G= 299.00 (new) = 12.45 per month over two years
“Unlimited” plan: 50.00 over two years: 1200.00

Cost over two years (including cost of the phone): 1499.00 (62.45 per month) over two years

Cricket:
Samsung Vitality (the best one available in my area) 3.5” = 99.00(new) = 4.13 a month over two years
Limited plan (300 minutes + Unlimited text/web): 25.00.00 a month over two years = 600.00
For a total of (including the phone cost): 700.00 (29.16 per month) for two years

Limited plan (1000 minutes + Unlimited text/web) 35.00 a month = 840 over two years
For a total of (including the phone cost): 940.00 (39.16 per month) for two years