Switched to T Mobile

Ever since we had cell phones, we had ATT.  I don’t know a soul that loves their cell phone carrier.  Such is the way of life when competition is restricted.  Wouldn’t it be great if the competition wasn’t restricted and we had lots of choices?  When the iPhone first came out it was restricted to ATT, which further locked us in since we have always been part of the Apple cult.

When computers went sort of mainstream in 1986, my wife and I bought an IBM.  It was a fortune.  We quickly realized we couldn’t do much with it since we didn’t know how to program.  The software was expensive!  In 1988, we bought an Apple and never looked back.

Since we bought our place up north, cell phone coverage has been an issue.  ATT doesn’t work at all in the woods where we are.  We literally have to drive 4-5 miles to get cell service.  We don’t have wifi (yet) up there but it’s coming.  We actually get fiber internet!  We started looking around.  We know Verizon works.  However, Verizon is expensive and reading Brad Feld’s post has its own issues.

My partner Kenny uses Project Fi.  He loves it.  If I only had to worry about cell service in urban/suburban areas, I’d hop on Project Fi.  Unfortunately, up in Grand Marais it might be an issue.  Especially in the woods.  Bear dens don’t have wifi hot spots yet!  It would also require me leaving the cult of iPhone.  I was willing to break with my religion if it worked up north in the woods but I couldn’t be sure it would.

A few years ago, Fred Wilson wrote about T-Mobile and Project Fi.  He switched over. Fred travels overseas a lot, so T-Mobile’s plan works for him.  I don’t travel overseas a lot, so that’s not a big deal for me. Our kids have Sprint, but they don’t love it.

We hemmed and hawed knowing we had to make a move.  We checked our Verizon’s plan and it was a fortune.  T-Mobile’s is significantly cheaper, and you get more.  We decided to take the risk and make the switch.  We will put a booster in our cabin as well.  But, the online reviews on them are sketchy.  We will see how it performs in the woods.  We are counting on their coverage map to be correct.