Verizon vs T-Mobile: Choosing a Carrier from the Tech standpoint.
Posted 2 months, 4 weeks ago at 7:00 pm. 11 comments
We’re back with newer more updated information for each carrier. Since this article was last updated, we have seen the introduction of the iPhone. The iPhone has set a new standard on what a cell phone should be. The iPhone will be used as a measurement of quality between teh two carriers. The closer the capabilities are to that of the iPhone, the better the score will be.
Glossary
WAP: This will be the internet for low budget phones. T-Mobile calls this Tzones, while Verizon calls it Verizon Mobile Web. WAP is very limited but you will be able to surf web pages.
JAVA: This refers only to T-Mobile’s gaming capabilities.
BREW: This refers only to Verizon’s gaming capabilities.
Texting Plans
The most hottest features on the market is texting and data. Thanks to the iPhone, full HTML browsing is a must. But if your under a strict budget, you’ll just have to deal with what you get.
T-Mobile Text Plans
- 400 Text Messages for $5.00/Month
- 1000 Text Messages for $10/Month
- Unlimited Text Messages for $15.00/Month
Verizon Text Plans
- 250 Texts for $5.00/Month
- 500 Texts + Unlimited IN Text for $10.00/Month
- 1500 Texts + Unlimited IN Text for $15/Month
- 5000 Texts + Unlimited IN Text for $20/Month
OR
- Unlimited Text + 450 Minutes Free N/Wk For $60/Month
Verizon Wireless has two types of unlimited plans. The Basic voice plan has the option to choose Unlimited IN text. Unlimited IN Texting only applies to messaging other Verizon wireless customers for free, this does not apply to AIM/YAHOO/MSN text messaging. If you have the Select voice plan, all your text messages will be unlimited meaning AIM/YAHOO/MSN is included.
Data Plans
T-Mobile Wireless data plans
- Blackberry Unlimited Add On $20/Month
- T-Mobile Internet Plan $20/Month
Verizon Wireless bundles data together with your voice plan.
- Blackberry for $80/Month
- Smartphone for $80/Month
T-Mobile Phones
Low Budget T-Mobile cell phones are very limited in capability. You won’t be doing much gaming and web surfing since your your hindered by your phone’s memory allocation. Each phone has a different amount of internal memory set for those applications. As such, do not expect too much out of the device as it will be crash under heavy acticity. The bare minimum for techies will now be the Motorola Razr. You should avoid all FREE phones and stick with $19.99 or above. We recommend Nokia 6133, Motorola W490, Samsung T729, Samsung SGH-T339. These phones were selected for their gaming, wap, and music capability.
High budget T-Mobile smart phones are just barely on par with Verizon. The network speeds are slower than Verizon’s 3G service for low budget phones. We recommend T-Mobile Blackberry Pearl & Blackberry Curve. For windows mobile we recommend T-Mobile Shadow and T-Mobile Wing. These phones are capable of running full HTML browsers and can use wi-fi to access the internet.
Verizon Phones
Verizon has been playing catchup with the iPhone ever since it came out. Don’t be fooled by Verizon’s new touchscreen capabilities on their cellphones. They are nowhere near iPhone, and are quite limited to touch and flick.
Verizon replaces the original operating system installed on the phone. This creates a unified approach to most of their cellphones. You can think of it as installing Windows on different computers. They all can run the same applications no matter how cheap or how expensive. Of course if you buy more higher end phones you may get touch capabilities, bigger screens, and TV. But essentially, my 29.99 phone can run the same applications as your 149.99 phone.
Since we are techies here, when selecting a low end phone please avoid the following: Samsung SCH-u340, Verizon Wireless CDM 8905, and Verizon Wireless Coupe. These phones do not have Verizon’s operating system installed, and are pretty much similar to the way T-mobile phones function. Samsung Juke is now the new base phone. This is a huge upgrade from all the T-Mobile phones you get for free. The Juke however does not support downloading music wirelessly. However there are many other phones that can. You can purchase these songs from your phone and download them straight to it. You can also play music on a non-music themed phone, however sound quality may not be good, for example Motorola W755 has substandard music quality based on C|Net’s review.
For Low End Phones we recommend Samsung Juke (No V-Cast Video), LG Chocolate, Motorola Moto W755, and LG VX8350.
For High End phones we recommend LG Chocolate 3, LG Dare, Samsung Gleam, Blackberry Pearl, any Windows Mobile phone.
Gaming
Verizon runs games in BREW. BREW is a great but locked down format. Unfortunately for you, games are much much more expensive than T-mobile’s but you won’t need certain phones to run certain games. BREW is capable of running stunning 3D games. They run very fast with no noticeable slowdown at all.
T-Mobile runs games in JAVA. Java has one plus side over Brew in that you can actually transfer the file from the computer to the phone through USB. Java is really tied down to how much memory your phone can handle. So older phones may not be able to handle more demanding games. Slowdowns can occur quite easily.
