With the Tab arriving on five different carriers this month, the choices may seem a bit daunting.
Engadget put together
a guide for picking the right plan on the right carrier – which will be a much bigger cost than the $599 Tab itself over the typical two year usage cycle.
While they are all a fairly similar, some things stick out. If you are a low bandwidth user, Verizon’s $20/month for 1GB seems to be a sweet spot. Verizon (VZ) also offers free hotspot functionality though the data used will obviously count against monthly GBs. Big data users may prefer T-Mobile’s 5GB for $40 plan. Sprint (S) and AT&T (T) both offer free activation where others charge though AT&T’s initial price is somehow $50 more than everyone else’s.
The most important consideration however is how good the carrier signal is in the areas where it will be used most.
Other than network, the Tabs are largely the same between carriers. The biggest difference will be the SIM card slots that come with the AT&T and T-Mobile models. Also, the software the carriers pre-load (all of it passable) may be taken into consideration. I’ve tested both the T-Mobile version and Sprint version and they both work similarly great.
I personally feel that the Tab is set for a price reduction starting with at least $50 off on Black Friday.