Summary for most of the US. Verizon is the best, but is expensive. T-mobile is decent all around. Best for international travel since they now give you free data roaming internationally which is insane. It will probably be bought out in the near future. AT&T kind of blows and is expensive. Sometimes the data is fast but its generally teh suck. Sprint is usually cheaper. coverage and data kind of sucks.
I pay $160 for 3 phones with sprint, unlimited everything including data. This includes my company discount of 20%. Funny my iphone on sprint always got great coverage in my house, now that I have a Galaxy S4 I have to stand by the window to keep it from getting choppy, my fiance has the same issue with her S4. When it was just me I paid around $110.
Verizon has the best radio spectrum AFAIK. Their signals are better at going through walls and has a longer range where walls don't interfere. More consistent connections. T mobile just bought a block of Verizon's spectrum to implement super fast LTE in at least 1/2 the biggest cities.
TMobile. $75 for 2 phones: share 1000mins talk time, 2gb data, unlimited messaging. Pretty sick deal, and from a black friday deal and some loyalty program I was able to come out with a free Galaxy s3 (after MIR) a few years ago
Luckily my work pays for my phone. With Google Voice I can have my personal number ring on my work phone and know whether it is a personal call or work call. Basically have two numbers on my phone. Before work started paying for my phone I was paying 120 bucks for two lines. Can't remember the limits since this was about 3 years ago but phone plans are pricey. If one of the prepaid services like Virgin Mobile or Straight Talk gets good service over there then I would consider it. You can get a plan for 45 dollars with basically unlimited everything.
On a side note; having problems with my new iphone 5s (battery won't recharge, read is a big problem). I go into apple store and for the first time received terrible customer support. They acted as there is no on going problem, I think he tried to purposely talk over my head about the problem and after about 2 hours there he ended up giving me a new phone with an attitude like I should thank them for being so lucky. Meanwhile, they took my 2 month old phone with all my information on it and said all that info is gone (pictures, texts, voice mail, apps). I'm going to write the experience off on the particular person who was helping me, but the customer service for apple used to be one of the aspects I liked about the iphone. OK back to phone contracts . . .
I've yet to have a bad experience at the Apple Store. But... I have heard similar complaints about the iPhone 5s battery..... which..... makes me nervous, as work just bought me a new 5s today. I guess we'll see - at least it ain't on my dime.
I have a note 3 and unlimited data. I use 12gs a month just for slacker at work. IPhones are such cute little pieces of shit. My girlfriend has one. So cute. My note is great even with all the crap Samsung adds to it. Baller ass IPhone huh? Sounds like kids when I went to school who all had Swatch watches and OP T shirts.
Our arrangement with my in-laws is similar and we have Verizon. Seems like the key to getting a discount is not wherever you work, just having a lot of phones on the plan.
Verizon. 3GB shared data, Unlimited everything else, 2 phones, 140 /month. OP, you may want to reduce your data plan thats what they rip you off on. Specially if you are on wireless all the time (work, home, etc). Had ATT for the last 15 years, and switched. Everyone and their mom is on ATT and the network speeds suffer because of it. Verizon's network can support the users AND their network coverage is the best. I get full 5 bars of LTE on top of Mt Hood Meadows. With ATT, sure I'd get signal, but try doing anything with the data and it just died. 3g flip to 4g flip to 3g, etc.
I had T-Mobile and paid $68 month for iPhone unlimited text/minutes and 300MB data. Horrible cell service. Rarely had more than 2 bars. Recently switched to Verizon. Pay $45/month for iPhone with unlimited text/minutes and 250MB data.
Verizon is the most expensive carrier. $120 is a boat load for 1 phone. You could get service from T-Mobile for half that. I'd only go with verizon if it's the only carrier that gives coverage where you live.
