Should You Switch to Verizon for the Pre Plus?

Last week during Palm’s heavily anticipated CES Keynote Presentation we were bombarded with quite a few exciting announcements regarding the webOS platform. 3D gaming, Video Recording and Editing, Flash 10.1 and new refined hardware models. The bad news, however, came to existing Pre and Pixi owners who are currently locked into Sprint contracts for at least another year, when Palm announced that the new upgraded hardware models would be exclusive to Verizon Wireless.

Sprint users were the ones who originally embraced the webOS platform upon it’s arrival to the world, but now we are unable to partake in the enhanced goodies that Palm is rolling out at the end of this month. Personally I find that it was worth it to experience webOS a good six months before anyone else could. I enjoyed witnessing the birth of Homebrew and the advancements of Patching and Tweaking resulting in what the platform exists at today, there are only bigger and better things ahead.

I have had thoughts of defecting from Underdog Sprint to “Big Red” just to reap the benefits of double the storage and double the internal RAM on my Pre, and I’m sure I’m not alone in these thoughts. However, there are two hurdles that are presented when one considers switching carriers. One, how much will I have to pay to cancel my contract? And two, how much more will my new plan be? In the first instance, one would normally have to pay $250 to get out of a Sprint contact, but it would just so happen that there is a loophole that you can take advantage of during this month only that will get you out of your contract with no charge to you. Coincidentally during the same month that the Pre Plus launches on a different carrier. As for the second question, how much will your new plan cost you, let’s take a look at the details.

On Sprint, you need to have an “everything” plan if you want to have a webOS device activated on your account. There are three plans to choose from: Everything Data 450 ($69.99), Everything Data 900 ($89.99), and Simply Everything($99.99). The first two plans include unlimited data and text, but have 450 or 900 anytime minutes per month, respectively. Simply Everything gives you… well, simply everything, unlimited data, text and minutes. But the beauty in the first two plans is that now Sprint allows you to call any cell phone on any other network for free (called Any Mobile, Any Time). It’s like having unlimited calling anyway, unless you call a landline, but who does that anymore?

Verizon announced today that they are modifying their plan strategy to make things easier for customers. It is an improvement, but still nowhere near as cut and dry as Sprint plans. They offer Unlimited Talk ($69.99) but that doesn’t include text messages or data, those will cost you an extra $20 and $30 per month for unlimited, respectively. That bumps up a fully unlimited plan to $120 versus $99.99 on Sprint. If you don’t need unlimited minutes but need unlimited data and text, you can have a 450 minute talk plan ($39.99) or a 900 minute plan ($59.99), with the added $50 for talk and web that brings the plans to $90 and $110. All of the three plans I’ve discussed so far on Verizon are $20/month more expensive than the comparable Sprint plans. That’s $480 over 24 months. Plus you don’t get the Any Mobile Any Time feature, and your Nights and Weekends start at 9pm instead of 7pm.

All of these numbers and prices causing your brain to start itching? Mine too, here’s a helpful comparison chart that you can show to all your friends!

So it’s up to you whether you want to stay loyal to Sprint (and save money), and try to bank on the possibility that we will get a Pre Plus, or an even more enhanced version of the Pre, perhaps Pre 2? Some people are crossing their fingers hoping this rumor might hold some truth, even though there is no substantial evidence yet whatsoever. Or if you want to spend a little extra, go to Verizon and get the newest, hottest webOS device ASAP and reap the benefits of double RAM and storage, which will no doubt make your webOS experience an even better one.