So I’ve been doing my research and I think I’ve decided to go with the HTC Touch Pro. It comes out Oct 19th on Sprint.

The Plan:

With this transition I’m making two changes. I’m getting a new phone and getting a new carrier. MS has discounts through AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, but the biggest one is with sprint at 23% off monthly. I want unlimited 3g data and unlimited texts so that part of the bill alone is $46.20 after discount. There were several usage plans available, flat rate $0.06/min, 400min for $30.79, 1000min for $46.19. There are more but I’ve never used more than 715 minutes in a month ever so they’re not feasible. Based on this data and the fact that it is $0.25/min for each minute over the alloted 400/1000 on the non flat rate plans chkno created this graph for me:

As you can see, the flat rate plan is best for all minute usage up to 650 minutes. The 400 minute plan is never a good deal compared to the flat rate plan.

Here is my usage data for the last 18 months with billing estimates had i been using the sprint plans:

Since the most non night and weekend minutes I’ve ever used was 588 it is clear that the best plan is the flatrate plan.

So in total the cost will be:

 $6.93  Flat Rate Voice
+$7.70  Sprint PCS Vision Plan
+$30.80 Unlimited 3g data
+$7.70  Unlimited text
=$53.13 + $0.06/min

Given my typical usage over the last 18 months (408 non N&W min average), the bill should be around $77.61/mo + taxes. A little steep, but worth it when you consider I’m getting all you can eat data, text and laptop tethering.

The Phone:

The phone is really sweet. It meets all of my requirements. It has a nice camera, it has gps, it has a keyboard, it has a high res screen, it supports tethering, it has wifi. The one downside is that it is big, but compared to my current phone it isn’t much of a change so I’m okay with that:

I’m hoping the phone will be free. The HTC Touch Diamond is free right now w/ 2 years on sprint’s Microsoft corporate page. Hopefully they’ll run the same deal for the Touch Pro when it comes out. I’ll post an update when I finally take the plunge.

w810i, it has been nice using you and I will miss you dearly. AT&T, you’ve served me well enough. I’ve had some of the best cell reception of my life with this combo (better than most of my friends) so I’ll be sad to see it go. Hopefully I’ll have as good of service from Sprint w/ the Touch Pro.