Which is the best U.S. wireless carrier for your dollar?

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	Which is the best U.S. wireless carrier for your dollar?	By Philip Berne, 10 October 2008

One of our readers asks which carrier offers the best deal. We figure out which of the big four gives us the most talking time.

Reader's question:

InfoSync reader S.D. asks: I am going nuts trying to get the best deal for my dollar. Which is the best all around cell phone carrier?

Editor's answer

That's a great question, especially in these tough economic times, and though the answer might be different for business users who call around to hundreds of different contacts, for the average personal user, we think there's a clear choice that offers the most possible calling minutes for the buck.

Which is ourFave?

For straight up price, we like T-Mobile for a bunch of reasons. First of all, they offer reasonable plans. The most basic T-Mobile plan, with 300 minutes and unlimited weekends (but not unlimited nights), is only $30, which is about the cheapest you'll find without going on a prepaid diet. But the coolest thing about T-Mobile is that if you're a real chatty user, they offer great options to give you all the minutes you'll want without breaking the bank.

First of all, T-Mobile has their myFaves service. Pick 5 friends and you can make and receive unlimited calls to those people. The cheapest myFaves plan starts at $40, and besides the unlimited calling to your 5, you also get unlimited nights and weekends, plus 300 minutes. For the same price, all of the other major carriers, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint, offer 450 minutes, but we think the myFaves option will probably be a better bargain for most people, since it has that unlimited potential.

Wait, it gets better

But what if you want to really chat it up? T-Mobile has a few options that are truly unique. If you usually find yourself within Wi-Fi range, at a Starbucks, at home, or wherever you are, T-Mobile has a plan that gives you unlimited calling if you start your call under a Wi-Fi umbrella. These plans, called T-Mobile HotSpot @Home, rely on a special technology called UMA that lets you make calls over Wi-Fi or regular cellular networks. If you're out of cellular range, UMA technology also gives you great reception if you have a wireless base station nearby. For an extra $10 per month, T-Mobile will give you this unlimited calling option, but the catch is that you have to use a UMA-enabled phone, like the BlackBerry Curve or the Nokia 6301.

Are you also paying for a home phone line? T-Mobile has an option for you as well. For an extra $10/month, you can get a home phone line with unlimited calling. You have to be a T-Mobile mobile customer, and you have to buy a special router ($50) that attaches to your home phone and gives you a phone number and Wi-Fi coverage, all in one, which you can also use with T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home service.

The bottom line

So, for $30/month, T-Mobile offers the cheapest plan. For $10 more, you get the myFaves benefit, which doesn't give you as many raw minutes as the other carriers, but if you're calling the same people all the time, it's a great deal. Add $10 to that total, and you get unlimited calling to everyone you know, if you have Wi-Fi access. Finally, for another $10, you can have home phone service on top of that, with completely unlimited calling. By now you've racked up $60/month in charges, but at this price the other carriers are only offering about 900 minutes, while T-Mobile is offering three different ways to make unlimited calls.