T-Mobile Jump, AT&T Next, Verizon Edge: Which Saves You the Most Money?

Within the space of little more than a week, three of the largest carriers in the US have introduced completely new plans to go alongside traditional contract agreements and prepaid services. T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless, with their new plans called Jump, Next, and Edge, respectively, are all going after the same thing: subscribers who want to get the newest smartphone as quickly as possible. That’s not the only thing that brings these new plans together, however. They’re all extremely complicated. And make no mistake, carriers like it that way – it’s easier to overcharge if customers don’t know it’s happening. So let’s untangle the secrets behind these plans to see which (if any) are a good deal. The best way to analyze these plans is to take a real-world example. For the charts below, we’re looking at what you’d expect to pay for a Galaxy S4 on each of these carriers using one of their new plans.

Read the full story at The Verge.

Shelly Palmer Radio Report – August 16, 2013

A few months back, Samsung showed off a brand new phone: the Galaxy S4 Active. It had a solid processor, the same gorgeous screen and many of the other features that makes the original S4 stand out. But the S4 Active was also touted as dust-proof and waterproof up to three feet for up to half an hour. As it turns out… that’s not exactly the case. Enough users experienced problems with the S4 Active that AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the device, has created a program to replace Galaxy S4 Active phones that show evidence of water damage. The program entitles you to a one-time exchange for another S4 Active, which will hopefully stand up to life and the great outdoors a little bit better. Samsung and AT&T have said that the phone is “whatever-proof” and said it is particularly useful for taking underwater photos and videos. So far, that hasn’t been the case, so if you find yourself with a water-damaged S4 Active, head into AT&T for a free replacement.

AT&T Fares Well at Apple, Sprint Outperforms at Best Buy, While Verizon Does Better at Mass Retail

The bulk of each cellular carrier’s sales come through their own stores. That’s why it seems like there is one at every corner.

But there are other important retailers, including Best Buy and Apple stores, as well as the Costcos, Walmarts and Targets of the world. The carriers, however, don’t benefit equally from each third-party store that carriers their products.

A survey from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners finds that AT&T, for example, gets 57 percent of iPhone sales at the Apple Stores, compared to 28 percent for Verizon, with the remainder going either to Sprint or unlocked devices that find their way to T-Mobile or another carrier.

Sprint, meanwhile, fares well at Best Buy, where it and Verizon both accounted for 21 percent of sales, according to the survey. Verizon, meanwhile, did best at big-box stores such as Walmart, Target and the warehouse chains.

“AT&T appears to do better than its average at Apple Stores and the Apple website, which makes sense seeing as it has offered iPhone the longest, and iPhone 5 launched in the survey period,” Consumer Intelligence Research Partners’ Michael Levin said in an email interview. “It does a little worse at Amazon. In contrast, Verizon does better at mass/warehouse retailers (Walmart, Target, etc.) and worse at Best Buy and eBay.”

The survey polled customers who activated phones between October and December, so Apple is likely overrepresented, given the iPhone 5 launch. For example, the study found Apple’s stores to be bigger than most carrier stores, including those of Sprint and T-Mobile.