Hello everyone.
I am currently shopping for my first solo wireless plan. I have had AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint over the years, and AT&T and T-Mobile are my top picks (I refuse to give my business to Verizon and Sprint has no service where I need it) but due to T-Mobiles lack of coverage in certain areas that I frequent where my current AT&T iPhone 4S has plenty of service, AT&T was my front runner. I was comparing the two, and found T-Mobile adds a $20/month fee for Nationwide 4G coverage, so I checked AT&T plans out, similar $70/month plan (plus additional x/month rates for added services), not a problem. Then I noticed this $50/month fee for a smart phone. Are you kidding me? They cannot be serious, can they?
I have bad credit (older collections, young stupidity), with all current never a late or missed payment for my 2 year old auto loan. I understand that I would have to pay a deposit that can exceed $700 if your credit is that shot (my auto loan has been in good standing since March 2011 when I originally bought my vehicle). In past experieces, older debt doesn't hurt you as bad as new/current debt, so I figured my crappy score and old history wouldn't hurt as much as my current good history would help (I just refied my auto loan, cut my rate in half). Now I'm reading on the net that AT&T doesn't care, they don't review your report at all (I used to pulled credit reports at my old job, I know how to read them and I can decipher good current accounts from old charge-off's and collections and make a decision on whether an individual is worthy of borrowing.) My credit report has my auto loan, a cable bill and my secured credit card all in good standing, no late payments, no delinquency, no collections. Then there are my credit cards from when I turned 18 and screwed off, another cable bill my room mate never paid, though she told me she did, and the rest being medical bills that I've been making payments off since before I was approved for my auto loan (high down payment+high interest rate) all with no missed or late payments and no collections. I have plenty of good credit building up since mid-2009. Pre-2009, the credit card charge-offs and the cable bill (currently waiting til after Christmas to pay this off, they offered me a pay-for-delete if I pay the full balance due), and my credit card debt falls off my report next year, so thats not a worry for me. That being said, my credit score continues to drop because of the old bad debts. T-Mobile already approved me for an account, the cost of my equipment went up slightly, but not bad compared to a $250-$750 deposit. However, I work as a Water Distribution Operator and our company-provided radio's don't work at our remote locations (that I frequent), and we have 2 daughters and because of this I absolutely need a phone that works in my remote locations. My iPhone 4S has plenty of service in all but one location (I spend a total of 20 minutes a shift at that location). My coworkers T-Mobile phone never has reception in the field until we're almost back to the street, his wife calls me regularly when we work the same shift.
So I've been trying to balance and decide, but I honestly don't think I can pay such a high deposit, +$50 a month just because I need a smart phone (I use my phone for my side business and GPS). I have generally had a good experience with AT&T (when I didn't it usually was a result of our account holders mistake, not AT&T), at one point I had an AT&T phone and a T-Mobile phone (differnet purposes, different phones) and I feel that AT&T provided better service and coverage, but if that $50 a month rate is why our family phone bill has been so high, I don't blame my ball-and-chain for wanting to switch to prepaid for her and our girl, but I literally need better service then the service I'm used to from T-Mobile.
Has anyone had any luck with having certain monthly fee's waived? I have no delusions, I know that my credit issues are my own fault, which is why I've been working my tail off to see to it that I fix what I can and be sure that nothing new is added to it (I had a defaulted pay day advance due to a death in the family that I paid off almost immediately, haven't checked my report since then but I was told it wouldn't be reported, so if it WAS, then thats the only negative thing on my report), but really, it's ridiculous. I may even consider the $50/month extra if it was unlimited and I could tether so I could use my laptop in the field instead of my wifi tablet (not so much fun with some of the things I deal with at work), but its neither. I tried getting my own account 2 years ago but the deposit was some crazy number I couldn't afford so I stayed on my parents account and then when I moved in with my woman I started paying the bill and she added a line for me.
So sorry for the novel, blame it on the scotch, but does anyone have any advice to aid in getting some fee's waived or the deposit dropped down to a more managable level? It would be much appreciated. I refuse to give Verizon a single cent from my pocket, and Sprint coverage is minimal at best (even in my bedroom in the middle of a busy metro area).
Thank you in advance for you time!
Steve