Yep, I made the jump--I switched to T-Mobile pre-paid from Sprint's contract. The decision came when I was a whopping 2 days late with paying my Sprint bill and they suspended my service. I struggled with the decision for a couple of weeks and finally decided that my initial instinct was right. It was time to leave the contract cell phone service scene and go pre-paid.
First off, I was paying $80 a month for about 500-600 minutes of actual time used. Sure, I could have gone as high as 1000, but the only time I ever did was when I was putting on my play last year. FYI: $80 starts out as $45 a month but goes up a bit when you want free nights and weekends to start at 7pm. Then it's $50 a month. I also wanted free mobile-to-mobile, that was another $10. After beefing it up to $60, I then wanted to be text messaged every day with how many minutes I had left. This was another $3 a month. From the $63 to the $80 are all taxes. (I think I'm rounding up by like $3, but still.)
Since the bill's due date is just arbitrary anyway and I always do pay my bill, I'm not sure why treating me like a child and suspending my service when I'm a couple days late is acceptable. They didn't even call me to warn me or send me a late notice or even text a warning to me that service was about to be suspended. I think my choice to go pre-paid is perfectly justified because of that.
I got a cheesy, super-cheap Nokia 6101 for $80 with a $30 rebate. It's got no camera or anything, isn't bluetooth and doesn't have a data transfer cable, even--it's kind of quaint really. It does get OK reception in my apartment and that's the most important thing, really. It also came with 60 minutes of talk time and with my next big paycheck I'll be buying 1000 for $100--yep, those minutes cost more but they don't expire for a year and what happens if I move to a place that T-Mobile doesn't support (like another country)? Nada. I don't have to pay any fees to get out of a contract because I'm not in one.
My life just got so much more simple!!
No more paying the bill late, no more random outages of service because I paid my bill late--I just make a quick phone call to T-Mobile to find out how many minutes I have left (a free call) and that's that. I can buy more online, on the phone or at any number of stores--hell, even 7-11 apparently sells T-Mobile minutes!
Life is too short of complications.
Life is too short for contracts.
Go pre-paid, even if it isn't T-Mobile. Get the power back where it belongs--in your hands. Sure, you have to buy your phone and pay for more expensive minutes, but really, you're paying for your freedom.
GOD BLESS A CONTRACT-FREE AMERICA (and the rest of the world, too--no exceptions!)
To read about the last time I switched cell phone carriers, check out: http://thepete.com/cingular-wireless-sucks/
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