Cell-Phone Savings

What you get for $39.99 a month.

(Photo: New York Magazine)

AT&T Free Minutes: 450
Text Messages ($5 a month): 200
Coverage Quality:* Spotty all over, especially in lower Manhattan.

VERIZON Free Minutes: 450
Text Messages ($5 a month): 250
Coverage Quality:* By all accounts, the city’s most reliable carrier.

T-MOBILE Free Minutes: 300
Text Messages ($5 a month): 400
Coverage Quality:* Coverage gaps all over, from Harlem to Battery Park.

SPRINT Free Minutes: 450
Text Messages ($5 a month): 300
Coverage Quality:* Few complaints, but occasional breaks in service way uptown.

*As found on deadcellzones.com and cellreception.com

Related:

• Archive: “Cover Story”
• Table of Contents: Feb 11, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!