Earlier this week, we did the math and declared prepaid carrier Cricket Mobile to be the best iPhone deal around, but today’s announcement that Sprint’s Virgin Mobile will also be offering the iPhone 4S starting on June 24th changes the math substantially, and Cricket’s no longer looking like such a good deal.
Virgin Mobile’s iPhone deal requires you to purchase a completely unsubsidized iPhone from them up front at $649, $150 more expensive than Cricket. But that initial money spent up front can really pay off over time, depending on which plan you sign up for.
How much? You can save over $1000 over the course of two-years on Virgin Mobile compared to AT&T, Verizon or Sprint.
Here’s how it breaks down:
| AT&T | Verizon | Sprint | Cricket | Virgin | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minutes | $39.99 (450) | $39.99 (450) | $69.99 (Unlimited) | $55.00 (Unlimited) | $40 (1200) | |
| Texting | $20 | $20 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Data | $30 (3GB) | $30 (2GB) | $10 (Unlimited) | $0 (Unlimited) | $0 (Unlimited) | |
| Activation | $36 | $35 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| iPhone 4S (16GB) | $199.99 | $199.99 | $199.99 | $499.99 | $649.99 | |
| 2-Year Total | $2395.79 | $2394.79 | $2119.75 | $1819.99 | $1609.99 |
A couple notes of explanation. In the above chart, we decided to not nickel-and-dime the big carriers. You can get cheaper plans with Verizon and at AT&T, but these are outlier cases when it comes to usability. We decided that 450 minutes, unlimited texting and at least 2GB of data was the bare minimum service most people expect when it comes to their carrier.
With that in mind, while Cricket’s a great deal, Virgin’s $40 a month plan is a real winner. You don’t get Cricket’s unlimited minutes, but you get more than the big carriers, and you’ll pay almosy $200 less over the course of 24 months than you would on Cricket.
If you’re willing to make do with fewer minutes, Virgin has an even tastier deal: a $30 a month plan that includes 300 minutes, unlimited data and unlimited texting. If you opt for that deal, you can have an iPhone 4S for $1369.99 over 2 years, which is over a thousand dollars less than an AT&T or Verizon plan.
Curiously, Virgin’s “truly unlimited” $50 a month plan is the worse deal compared to Cricket. It actually costs $30 more over two years than the equivalent Cricket plan.
The bottom line? Virgin Mobile runs on Sprint’s network, so it offers service roughly equivalent to Sprint, for budget prices. If you can afford $649.99 up front, this is the best deal on the iPhone 4S pretty much anywhere. These prepaid carriers are going to start drawing blood from the big three, mark my words.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
41 responses to “Why Your Next iPhone Should Be Prepaid”
Marking those words sir!
This is not just going to take a bite out of the carriers but Apple’s sales as well since there are very few people who would want a $700 annual phone upgrade….
If you have an iPhone 4s with a current carrier, would you be able to unlock it and use it on Cricket or Virgin after your current contract is over?
Their FAQ states that you cannot use a phone from another carrier.
no, the networks are different, unless you have a Sprint iPhone.
It’s very tempting. Like others here, I rarely use my phone – and mostly for talking to my husband. But, I think you’re missing something extremely important.
Absolutely yes. The iPhone 4s is a world phone so it operates on both GSM and CDMA. You just have to jailbreak, and depending on what your moving from and to, use either a Gevey unlock tool or a software unlock. How do I know? I had Sprint and moved to Red Pocket. One is CDMA, one is GSM. Using the Gevey unlock method it worked like a charm. Not for the faint of heart though since you’ll be doing things that could brick your phone.
This is the exact opposite of true. How would offering the phone on a new carrier without a contract hurt sales for either? It’s likely that people will just make a choice, either go with a prepay company or go with a subsidized company. Either way, Apple makes the sale and in two years, the phone WILL be outdated enough that the person will make that choice again. Do I renew or go prepay? Do I stay prepay or go to another company with a contract. Learn a little more about Apple customer spending habits before making such assumptions my friend.
This was my last iphone that I bought from the carrier–words marked–I’ll be happy to find a cheap (good) prepaid plan! I’ll always buy an iPhone, and the benefit of a cheaper phone to have a contract you can’t break is CLEARLY gone. Wonder what this will do to the product cycle? Will people buy less often (or are they already waiting the 2 years to get every other upgrade?)
I can tell you this, Verizon has great coverage but TERRIBLE customer service and their prices are just plain stupid amounts of high. I have had both Verizon and AT&T, and I am aware I am probably in the minority here but AT&T has made me much happier. My service isn’t as great but it good enough and faster than Verizon in places where the signal is the same for both carriers. Their customer service at AT&T has been amazing.
Now my sister has had bother Cricket and Virgin. Cricket’s service is terrible everywhere and customer service even worse. She switched to Virgin and swears by them. She has signal everywhere my mother does, (who has Verizon) and she has had not trouble getting things from customer service that she needs. I am very tempted to make my next iPhone a Virgin Mobile iPhone.
Let’s talk legit ways to move from CDMA to GSM. There are none.
Coverage depends on your area. Looking at Virgin Mobile and Cricket from Nationwide View, they only have 25% of the nation covered. Both Cricket and Virgin Mobile use the same picture below to a close accuracy. Maybe even less based on an ugly looking picture. Doing a search on Bing, Virgin Mobile states on one phone back in March 2011 “The caveat, of course, is that because Virgin Mobile doesn’t support tethering, there’s the potential for blowback (though I think it’s very unlikely). Thus, use this tip at your own risk.”
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans.jsp
unlocked iphone plus simple mobile or red pocket is all you need.
Here are some questions to consider.
Buyer beware: Virgin Mobile’s 3G network in Washington-Baltimore region is atrocious. I have a MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot gathering dust in a desk drawer because it’s essential unusable.
Buyer beware: Virgin Mobile’s 3G network in Washington-Baltimore region is atrocious. I have a MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot gathering dust in a desk drawer because it’s essential unusable.
So what about the ability to browse and talk at the same time? That’s the only reason I’m still with AT&T. If another carrier had this option, I’d switch in a heartbeat.
StraightTalk Rulles! $45 unlimited talk and text AND 2GB of data! What else you need? Bring your out-of-contract AT&T iPhone and then enjoy it!
Actually texting costs carriers more than anything but also makes them more money than anything. Its been in the news quite a bit lately that texting is an archaic and expensive technology. It costs them a lot.
I will admit, it is tempting. Especially since VZW is taking away my unlimited data. However, my only issue is that Virgin’s 3G data is that of Sprint’s – painfully slow. Also, going from VZW to essentially Sprint doesn’t seem so awesome either
No mention of Straight Talk which has a bring your own GSM phone, including iphone, option.
This will be very very tempting next year when Sprint gets LTE everywhere and if Virgin gets to use their LTE. Sprint is the only US carrier who has stated they are committed to VoLTE, which will be awesome for not just voice quality purposes but because it will also overcome the CDMA limitation of not being able to use voice and data at the same time.
The problem with this (and many similar calculators I’ve seen), is that it assumes all of us are paying the Big Three for texting. Many of us have realized there are great apps on the iphone (along with imessage) that allow you to text unlimited for FREE. If you remove that assumed $20 for texting from the equation, the gap between narrows significantly. Then, if you are someone like myself still on the unlimited data plan from at&t ($20/month), you actually come out ahead with at&t over any of the prepaids.
please add in the unlimited mobile to any mobile with the texting plan for at&t, 450 minutes is only used for landlines with the unlimited text plan for at&t
What will make you even more insane is if you compare the big 3 carriers prices/offerings to what people in Europe get. We pay twice the price for half the service.
On an AT&T Family Plan with 5 iPhones. Three of these are the 3GS, one is a 4 and one is a 4S. We pay $55.00 a month per line. $275.00 total.
As long as I have my unlimited data on VZW I will keep them. Now they are announcing that it’s done, then I will seriously consider who will be my carrier for the next iPhone
It is a painful price.. BUT I LOVE IT
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cant you jailbreak any iphone and put it on any network?
Okay, this has been confusing me, so can someone explain?
Aren’t the prepaid plans also tax free? That makes it an even bigger savings.
Aren’t the prepaid plans also tax free? That makes it an even bigger savings.
There’s also StraightTalk; they give out unlimited plans (unlimited data included) for $45 a month, you just have to get your phone from elsewhere (in the case of the iPhone, directly from Apple for $650). They run on AT&T’s network so you’ll get an HSPA+ connection
Just did a post about this recently – I’m interested in it too. I think it’s an awesome thing, a huge change in the mobile service provider arena, will certainly effect some bigger companies, and does a lot of other cool stuff (like put more iPhones out there in people’s hands) – Things like that, for example (more iPhones out there) helps companies like us (we repair the screens). Way cool.
A word of caution…you DON’T get the same service as a Sprint customer. I have had Trac Fone or Straight Talk for 4 years nowm and my father has a Virgin Mobile phone. And while it is fine for our uses, it IS a slight downgrade from the service of their regualr customers. (My Trac Fone was AT&T while my Straight Talk is Verizon) They give their own customers first priority
I have an iPhone 3GS that used to be on an AT&T contract. I haven’t done anything to jailbreak it. If I switched to StraightTalk, would it work? Or do you have to jailbreak? And does anyone have experience with StraightTalk in NE, MO, or NYC? How’s the service?
Sprint roames on Verizon towers – giving their customers better basic voice/data coverage.
Cricket partnered with Sprint in 2010 to use their towers – but that doesn’t include roaming on verizon.
While roaming on Cricket you may be required to enter a crcedit card number or flex bucket account to use your phone.
Not as familiar with Virgin Mobile, but it seems as though it is similar to Cricket in coverage.
BTW – once the LTE networks are substantial enough – there won’t be a need for voice plans – as VOIP/WEb/Tethering on LTE will only need data-only plans. Which will make it easier for subsidized carriers to hide cost.
Also these prepaid companies are paying the big 3 for access to their towers for their users. It’s like an retail in-store brand (Walmart has GreatValue and SamsChoice) or a store owner that owns the shopping center his competitor is leasing – they may lose a few customers but they make it up by collecting rent w/o the headache of staffing/inventory…
When Virgin can offer me good coverage with 4G LTE, then i’ll gladly leave VZW for them. Until then, i’ll gladly pay a premium for premium service
“These prepaid carriers are going to start drawing blood from the big three, mark my words.” What?! You are now predicting yesterday’s weather! Great job!
It is insane to spend that kind of money on a phone. Who the hell talks 450 minutes per month? My plan expired 2 months ago so I am on prepaid now. Turns out I can get by on 50 MB per month (mails, some tweeting on the road) and 75 minutes calltime. That sets me back 12 dollars per month and I will keep dong that for as long as there is life in my 3GS. No wonder unlimited use is off the table with most providers, the way a lot of people appear to be using it. What are you, homeless? I have wifi and a landline in my house, you should try it.