Marco.org

andrewfox defends his Verizon loyalty (regarding this):

We are, however, married to the 17% discount we get on Verizon through Valerie’s company. We are a poor couple just starting out, and that 17% helps out. If Wegmans gave a 17% discount to the phone carrier of our choice, even if we pay more for iPhones, and we would, I could probably convince Val to leave Verizon.

Depending on which plans you use, this could be shaky.

I use the cheapest voice plans with unlimited data and some text messages. On Verizon, that’s $85 plus taxes ($80 base voice+data plan, $5 for 200 text messages). The current iPhone plan is only $60 plus taxes (the base voice+data plan comes with 200 text messages). The new iPhone 3G will use AT&T’s standard plans, which will be $75 for the equivalent service ($70 base voice+data, $5 for 200 text messages).

Your corporate Verizon discount brings the $85 plan down to $70.55 plus taxes — assuming similar taxes, that’s only about $5 per month less expensive than the AT&T plan. I recognize the need for fiscal responsibility, but if $5 per month is a huge deal to you, you really shouldn’t be paying anyone for a smartphone with data service.

Assuming you and your fiance want identical phones and plans under a “family” rate, AT&T wants $10 less than the sum of both — so $140/month. I don’t see any Verizon family plans that include data or even allow smartphones, so I’ll assume that you’d need two separate plans: $141/month. With AT&T’s $1 savings on the family plan compared to Verizon, your iPhone would pay for itself in just over 8 years!