We pay AT&T about $95. monthly for two cell lines, we own the phone. Each line is about $35. and then there’s a $35. fee for 4MG data sharing. T-Mobile (through AAA) is offering two cell lines for $27.50 each with unlimited talk, text and data. Coverage in my area is not an issue.
Sounds to good to be true. Am I missing something obvious or should I jump on the bandwagon?
First, check to see if it’s a promotional rate from T-Mobile, that may go up after 12 or 18 months.
Second, you say that “coverage in my area is not an issue,” but I’d look more closely at that, if possible – are you just basing that on their coverage maps? If possible, see if you know anyone near you who uses T-Mobile, and ask them about it.
I note this second point because my mother-in-law switched to T-Mobile (from AT&T) a few years ago, specifically because she was hunting for a lower price, and even though T-Mobile’s map indicates that her neighborhood has good coverage, the reality is that she suffers dropped calls, and missed calls, constantly. (She complains about this all the time, but she is, frankly, cheap, and is unwilling to switch back, because of the cost.)
A couple of things as former T-Mobile Tech support (over 5 years now, so…)
One. While most phones aren’t going to have an issue, you need to make sure they’re unlocked, especially before you switch, which is normally an issue if you purchased through your current carrier. It’s not normally hard to do, but if you do it after you drop your current carrier, it can be a pain.
Two. Most phones (again) will work fine on a different carrier, but you want to check your specific frequencies supported vs the ones that T-Mobile supports in your area. T-Mobile is making a big push in its mid-band 5g tech for their coverage, which means older phones may have a problem giving good coverage throughout an area. (this is the sort of thing that @kenobi_65’s mom may ben having an issue with, or just a dead zone in coverage)
Three, AT&T’s price is really on the high end. You can and should absolutely shop around, most unlimited coverage plans run around $45 (or less) per line per month, often less with things like autopay/employer/AAA/etc discounts. So even if you don’t do T-Mobile, you can certainly do better.
Okay, now, onto recommendations. If you don’t need unlimited data, you can absolutely do better if price is the focus, but let me put out two T-Mobile Options for your review, but if there isn’t a promotional price issue with the AAA, it is quite competitive.
Would be the T-Mobile’s Essential package, which, I would bet, is similar to the unlimited plan they’re offering you. It’s 45 per month per line with autopay (generally $5 per month more otherwise), and you can be subject to de-prioritization if you use over 50 Gig of data in a month. It’s not exactly throttling, but it can be an issue for some users. Still if you’re using 4G of data month, you’re extremely unlikely to ever hit that.
Alternately, you could go with the T-Mobile prepaid
https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
Where 2 lines with 10G each of data runs you $70 per month, and you still have more than you have with AT&T for far less in cost. But the prepaid plans often leave you with a lot fewer bennies. The biggest being left out of nearly all promotions for things like phone upgrades/trade-ins, which normally only apply to the higher end plans. But if your upgrade needs are few, no biggie.
Again, I -bet- the AAA plan is pretty much a discounted version of the essentials plan I linked first, and it’s a very good price if you clear the first couple of issues I linked above.
As I understand it, Consumer Cellular uses the AT&T network and it’s lots cheaper. That’s what we’re on, FWIW.
But don’t forget “prioritization”. Secondary carriers can find poor or metered service in cases where there’s lots of congestion, while the primary users will not be shut off or metered.