This was a hard decision, but thanks to Mike at T-Mobile, we had a nice plan which was basically $30/month with unlimited data in the US. However as T-Mobile One degraded (first we lost unlimited data roaming so it is only 2G roaming, then it was capping of bandwidth, then capping of hotspot and finally a $5/month price increase), it looked like less of a deal. They also no longer allow a $5/month discount if you pay with your credit card, so you have to be smart about doing payments as well (you can prepay without penalty it turns out).
The new 5G Go looked good, but the prices were even higher. Separately, for our work, we were experimenting with MVNOs, first we found Google Fi which was $10/1GB but at least you could pause the lines, then we found US Mobile which allowed line pooling.
But their latest deal is that they have deal with all three carriers under interesting code names, so there is Warp (Verizon), Lightspeed (T-Mobile) and now Darkstar (AT&T), and with Unlimited Flex for $17/month with a year paid, you get 10GB of premium data, high speed hot spot but no international pain at all. But at half the price of the of T-Mobile.
The interesting thing is that if you pay for Unlimited Premium at $32/month (with a year paid in advance), then on Darkstar (AT&T), you get 100GB of data, 50GB of premium hot spot and 10GB/month of data in most of Europe . That’s a nice deal.
They also allow unlimited switching of networks so when in the US for a while you can switch to Warp (Verizon) and get an Apple Watch plan ($7 value) for free.
We did the switch and it seems to work fine, so the recommendation is:
- When you are mainly in the US and if you don’t need a Apple Watch plan, the Flex Unlimited is great at $17/month with an annual payment
- If you are traveling a bunch and also have an Apple Watch, then get the Unlimited Premium at $32.50/month with an annual payment. Then when overseas, you switch to Dark Star (aka AT&T) which gives you 10GB per month in. Europe and 5GB in most other places. When you are in town, move to Warp (Verizon) and turn on your Apple Watch for free.
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