Yesterday I described how I saved $50 per month on my cell phone contract.  Today, I am going to share the story about how I got there.  Let me begin by saying it was no cakewalk.

I purchased a new MyTouch 4G last Friday at a mall kiosk in Rockford, IL along with an $80 monthly contract.  The phone never worked properly.  In fact, it didn’t work at all.

I spent Saturday morning on the phone with T-Mobile trying to solve the issue, and the final conclusion was that I needed a new sim card.  Not a big deal, except that I was in unfamiliar territory in Madison, WI without access to the internet, so finding a T-Mobile store would not be easy.

The T-Mobile customer service representative directed me to a nearby Radio Shack for help.  The rep put me on hold while he called the store to verify that they would be able to help me.  I asked if the Radio Shack sim card would be free for me, and the rep said, “Yes.”

Upon arriving at the Radio Shack, I was informed that they didn’t have any sim cards and that I would have to go to a different Radio Shack across town.  So I drove 20 minutes to the Radio Shack at the West Town Mall.

The staff at this Radio Shack seemed to want nothing to do with me, but I pressed them anyway, explaining the situation and asking for the promised sim card.  They refused, saying that I could pay $25 for a new sim card.  Having just purchased a new phone, I wasn’t about to shell out another $25 for a sim card, especially when T-Mobile promised me a replacement one for free.

So, I left Radio Shack angry and disappointed. I decided to cut my losses and head home, with plans to bring the phone into my local T-Mobile store when I got home.

Saturday night I arrived home in Minneapolis and headed over to the T-Mobile store.  After spending the last 6 hours in the car, I had time to stew and was rearing for a battle.  Surprisingly, my local T-Mobile store was unbelievably helpful.

Within 5 minutes, I had a new sim card installed and was on my merry way with a working cell phone.  *and there was much rejoicing*

Buuuut I was still dissatisfied with the phone, itself.  The MyTouch 4G is an amazing phone – twice as fast as my iPhone and with 100x cooler features.  The big downside is that it sucks up battery life like there is no tomorrow.  I had to charge it twice per day.

Ultimately, I decided to return it to my local T-Mobile store, not knowing how the store would react.  Returns are always a weird thing, because stores like Wal-mart and Target accept returns with no questions asked, but other stores can be ornery about returns.  Thankfully, this T-Mobile store was a “no questions asked” type of store.

After explaining my situation, the sales guy at the T-Mobile store gave me everything I wanted – a refund for the MyTouch 4G and a month-to-month plan for $50/month.  +1 for T-Mobile customer service!  They earned my loyalty for the foreseeable future.

Radio Shack, on the other hand, committed the ultimate corporate sin of disappointing a customer and letting the customer leave unhappy when they could have easily helped said customer out.  For better or worse, I will probably never enter another Radio Shack store.  It’s not that I believe them to be all bad or anything, but why waste my time there when there are all sorts of other stores offering the same items?

That particular Radio Shack store definitely suffers from poor management, a topic which I will address in a forthcoming blog post.

My AT&T iPhone bill for the month of November, including taxes, was $97.70.  That included 450 minutes, 1500 SMS messages, and unlimited 3G internet access.  After a quick switch from AT&T to T-Mobile, my bill for December will drop to around $60…AND I will have an upgrade in service!

Below I outline how you, too, can save $50/month or more.

1. When your contract expires, do not upgrade your phone.
   I have and will continue to use an iPhone 3G that I purchased 2 years ago.
2. Move to a cheap month-to-month cell phone plan with T-Mobile or another provider that your existing phone is compatible with.
   In my case, my iPhone 3G works perfectly on T-Mobile’s network.
3. Drop unneeded services.
   I dropped text-messaging (SMS) completely and went with a 200 MB data plan with T-Mobile

That’s it!  Here is how my costs broke down on my recent upgrade:

I WAS paying $39.99/month for 450 minutes; I am now paying $39.99/month for 1000 minutes.  That’s 550 additional minutes per month, which I will use.  I was always counting my minutes and regularly exceeding the 450 minute allotment.

I WAS paying $15/month for 1,500 text messages; I am now paying $0 for zero text messages.  I was receiving around 250 text messages per month and sending 10 per month.  I will not miss text messaging.

I WAS paying $30/month for unlimited internet access; I am now paying $10/month for up to 200 MB of internet.  I was using around 400 MB/month, but I plan on making up for this by using WiFi rather than 3G access.

On top of all that, if I were to get another nice smartphone such as the MyTouch 4G or the G2, I would be paying another $250 or around $10/month for the phone, plus another $20/month that T-Mobile tacks on to contracts that include a discounted cell-phone (plus I would be locked into a 2-year contract!).  So, I am, in effect, also saving another $30/month of which I will only include $10 in my equation since it complicates the math a bit.  But know that the actual savings is around $70/month!  Wow!

When all is said and done, I am saving $45/month before taxes (or $65/month if you include the hardware discount noted above), which will easily end up rounding out to around $50/month after taxes are added in.  PLUS, I am getting more of the service that is most valuable to me – minutes!

To accomplish this, I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile.  NOTE: You will want to wait until your contract expires before doing this, or else you will be hit with a cancellation fee from your current service provider. It also required me to unlock my iPhone, which was a single click using the free Blackra1n software.

When I got to thinking about it, I realized that the main things I use my iPhone for are:

• Directions/maps
• Checking email
• Playing mp3s and podcasts
• Making phone calls

As such, I don’t require a whole lot of internet access, nor do I particularly enjoy text-messaging.  For me, this decision was a no-brainer.  I got more of what I wanted (minutes) and save $50/month!

(Photo taken with my iPhone)

I broke down and bought the iPhone a week ago for a number of reasons, but the main reason was for its online social media capabilities.  The tools that I use regularly include Twitter, WordPress, Facebook, and MySpace.  For the last few weeks, I have also been text-messaging (SMS) quite a bit.  Here are the free online social media-related iPhone applications that I use:

• Twitfire
• Twitteriffic (free version)
• WordPress for iPhone
• Facebook for iPhone
• MySpace for iPhone

Twitfire (a Twitter application): Of all my online social media-related iPhone applications, I use Twitfire the most.  I tried out Twitterific before I tried Twitfire, and based on my experience, Twitfire is much more stable.  Using Twitfire, I am able to quickly send tweets containing my current location, post photos (either from library or taken at time of posting), and do “@” replies.  Utilizing all of these features is quite intuitive, though the usability is a bit clunky. For example, the posting of photos takes a few minutes, and the “@” address book doesn’t have all of my contacts listed.  Twitfire has a built-in web browser that converts links into shortened links and allows me to easily place them into tweets.  One HUGE downside to Twitfire is that you cannot read others’ tweets.  To phrase that last sentence differently, Twitfire is used ONLY for posting tweets and NEVER for reading tweets. (Video review)

Twitteriffic is much more robust than Twitfire, but it hasn’t been very reliable, in my experience.  That is, it doesn’t load up half the time when I open it.  This is frustrating.  That said, when it does work, Twitteriffic is a fantastic product that does everything Twitfire does and MORE!  In addition to being able to post photos, geolocation, and tweets, Twitteriffic has a great interface for viewing and replying to tweets.  To summarize, if you can get Twitteriffic to work consistently, it is a much better product than Twitfire.

WordPress for iPhone is simply fantastic.  If you use either self-hosted WordPress or WordPress.com software for your blog or website, then you will love this application.  The current version allows you to manage and publish posts with photos and hyperlinks.  The next version has promised expanded functionality including horizontal keyboard, posting in the future, managing comments, and managing pages.  Unfortunately, the nature of the keyboard makes it difficult to type as quick as I am used to on my home keyboard, which makes posting long posts such as this one difficult to stomach.

Facebook for iPhone is FANtastic!  From the iPhone home screen, this application’s button has a slick, little icon that tells me how many new messages are in my Facebook in-box in much the same way that my “Mail” button does.  The application has interfaces for my “News Feed”, “Notifications”, “Requests”, “Friends”, “Chat”, and “Inbox”.  I am able to view photos and respond to comments and status updates.  I am also able to write and post photos on friends’ walls.

MySpace for iPhone allows me to manage my status, view and comment on friends’ pages, view and post photos, check and send email, and view friend requests.

Some other tools that I use regularly are the Twitter SMS functionality and Flickr email functionality.  Both of these tools allow me to send photos to Twitter and Flickr, respectively, from the photo management interface on the iPhone.

I just got back from the Verizon store, where I tried out all the features of the brand-spankin’ new Blackberry Storm smartphone.  While it has some features that are noteworthy, on the whole it does not stand up to the features of the iPhone and Google’s G1.  I compared the G1 to the iPhone in my last article, so let’s now see how those two stack up against this new Blackberry!

1. Keypad
   The clickable keypad on the Storm has many advantages over the iPhone, but it is a close second to the G1′s tactile keypad.  The iPhone’s keypad pretty much sucks, particularly when you are trying to send a text message and the keypad doesn’t turn when you turn the phone sideways.
   Advantage: tie between G1 and Storm
2. Touchscreen
   The “clickable” screen on the Storm is pretty darn cool.  Unfortunately, the Storm’s touchscreen isn’t very responsive to finger touches.  I consistently found that I could not select menu items on the first try.  Both the iPhone and G1 feature VERY responsive touchscreens.  So, ideally, the iPhone and G1 would adopt a “clickable” screen.  Nonetheless, they hold a lead over the Storm.
   Advantage: tie between G1 and iPhone
3. Speed
   It seems like the Storm has the slowest response time of the three phones being compared here.  That is, the time between when you click on a button until something happens seems to be longest on the Storm.  This is consistent whether you are trying to switch applications, browse the web, or choose a song from the mp3 player.  Both the iPhone and G1 are pretty quick.
   Advantage: tie between G1 and iPhone
4. Applications (software)
   The Storm comes pre-installed Facebook and Flickr applications as well as basic versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.  Unfortunately, you need to pay money to upgrade the Microsoft products if you want to create new documents.  The iPhone comes with email, calendar, Google Maps.  The G1 comes pre-installed with Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Maps (with compass).  There is a wealth of free software available for the G1, a bunch of free and expensive software for the iPhone, and some expensive software for the Storm.  The G1′s open-source Android operating software makes software development easy and open.  Apple’s software store is a bit restrictive, making it less attractive.  That said, Apple’s restrictions and limitations make for a higher-quality product.
   Advantage: G1
5. Quality
   The iPhone and Storm are heads-above the G1 in terms of physical build quality.  The G1 seems to be made out of cheap plastic, whereas both the iPhone and Storm seem to be made of a higher-quality material.
   Advantage: tie between Storm and iPhone
6. Ease of Use
   It’s difficult to find many faults with the iPhone’s intuitive touch-screen operating system.  Both the G1 and Storm offer second-tier imitations.
   Advantage: iPhone
7. SMS and MMS
   Storm outperforms both the G1 and iPhone in terms of sending images via text-message.  Neither of the other phones allow you to do this.  That said, the iPhone’s text-messaging interface is the most intuitive of the three.
   Advantage: Storm
8. Recommendation
   It is clear that each phone has its advantages.  Also, each service has advantages.  For example, T-Mobile’s monthly costs are FAR cheaper than AT&T and Verizons for standard voice/data/text plans.  This is probably the biggest hang-up for me as I think about purchasing one of these phones.  Most of the people I call are Verizon customers.  T-Mobile’s “Pick 5″ would suit me well.  AT&T’s monthly costs would greatly exceed the other two for me if I were to count voice calls.  That said, if most of the people you call are already AT&T customers, then the iPhone would deserve serious consideration.  Ignoring the voice plans, the iPhone offers the best user experience.  It is elegant, easy-to-use, and has a wealth of software (free and expensive) available for download from the  iTunes store.  I am anxiously awaiting the release of the next Google Phone and Storm.  They will surely be WAY better than the first generation versions in terms of build and ease-of-use.  For now, I recommend the iPhone.

I spent 6 hours at the BIG Mall yesterday trying every cell phone and PDA in the place.  I tried the iPhone, G1, and all sorts of other smartphones and PDAs from Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T.  None of them do what I need them to do.  Here’s what I need my cell phone to do:

• Text messaging
• Twitter
• Photo capture
• Ability to email photos
• Video capture
• Ability to upload video to Youtube
• WordPress image upload
• WordPress video embed (Youtube)
• Skype
• mp3 player

The main area where ALL the phones fail is in video capturing and uploading.  My 3-year-old Motorola cell phone has video, photo, and audio capture features.  The iPhone and G1 can only capture photos out of the box.  Why these two phones do not have video capture capabilities is beyond me.  The video image is already streaming digitally through the phone when you use the photo capture feature, why not capture 15-30 frames per second of video and encode it to MPEG?  Is it that tough?  How can my crappy 3-year-old cell phone out-perform both of these fancy, new devices?

The iPhone and the G1 operating systems are WAY more intuitive than the others.  Windows, Palm, and Blackberry operating systems were confusing and seemed chintzy, cheap, and slow.  The Windows OS, in particular, was particularly confusing. Both the iPhone and G1 provide simple touch-screen interfaces where you just touch the icon for “web browser” to search the web.  With the other operating systems, you need a working knowledge of all the buttons as well as some training to figure it out.  Even after being showed how to access the web on non-iPhone and G1 phones by the salesman at both the Verizon and T-Mobile stores, I was confused about how to access the web!  Some could blame me for a lack of knowledge or understanding of the respective operating systems, but I call it bad design.

The iPhone is nicer than all of the other phones I tried.  It feels solid and sturdy compared to the G1, which has a cheap plastic feel to it.  It also is the simplest phone, with only one tactile button.

The G1 tops the iPhone with its tactile keypad.  It is quite difficult and time consuming to type a message free of spelling errors on the iPhone, as my big fingers always press the wrong letters on the screen.  I end up having to use the delete key a lot.  The G1′s keypad is awesome.  Writing text messages and blog entries will be significantly easier with the G1.

On price, the G1 wins, hands-down.  At $70 per month, the iPhone rivals data/voice plans provided by Verizon and AT&T.  But T-Mobile’s offers sufficient voice and unlimited 3G data access for only $50 per month!  That’s a $240 savings every year (almost $500 over the course of your 2-year contract).

Here’s where I stand at present.  I have had a voice-only plan for the last 7 years with Verizon.  I have been happy with their voice coverage.  The only reason I am looking to upgrade my phone and plan is that I have become very interested in text messaging, live-blogging, and Twittering in real-time.  I am still debating whether or not it’s worth the $30-60 more per month to get this functionality in a phone. Any guidance or experience that you can provide with either of these two phones would be much appreciated!

Here’s a video showcasing and critiquing the features of the G1:

And here’s a Youtube video showcasing the differences between the iPhone and the new Blackberry:

And here’s a video showcasing the new features of the WordPress iPhone App (version 1.2):