 Until early 2011, the only way to get an iPhone in the United States was to sign up with AT&T. In 2009, the only way to get the Motorola Droid was to sign up with Verizon. Back then, you weren't shopping for a carrier, you were shopping for a phone. But now, things have evened out. All four major U.S. carriers have the iPhone, and they all have the Galaxy S3. And soon they'll all have the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. So the question is, what are you really getting out of your carrier? And why do we all seem to be in such incredibly long relationships with them? What carrier do you have? Sprint. T-Mobile. T-Mobile. AT&T. Virgin. Virgin Mobile. I have Sprint. Verizon. AT&T. I've tried them all, they all suck, but Sprint sucks the least to my experience. The services are alright, but I'm personally thinking about switching over. I'm not sure where yet though. Why have you stuck with T-Mobile for a decade? I don't know, I'm kind of lazy. How long have you had Verizon? For about four years now. Have you ever been in a relationship with a person for four years? Yes. How's that going? It turned out a tragedy. How long have you had AT&T? Since freshman year of high school. Oh wait, you don't know that. So like yesterday? Yeah, yesterday now. Like eight years. Four or five years. It's been maybe five years now. T-Mobile wants you to switch. The newly renegade carrier is banking on an aggressive marketing campaign, and what it says are far simpler plans. For a flat fee and no contract, you get unlimited minutes, messaging, and however much data you want to pay for. As T-Mobile says, there's no two-year commitment required, and you can leave whenever you want. But even cheaper prices don't seem to encourage people to switch, especially because when you do the math, T-Mobile's prices aren't that much cheaper. But it's not the devices, and it's not the prices that keep you committed to your carrier, and no one seems to be happy with that relationship. Would you switch if the price of another carrier is 20% lower? No, not really. I don't want to go through the hassle of changing over. 50% lower? Maybe. How much cheaper, 20%? To be honest, I pay about $10 a month for unlimited data, unlimited text, and I've got three hours of calls. I hate you. You know, I want you to know. I'm moving. Goodbye. 20% cheaper, would you leave? No. They're 50% cheaper. I'd consider it. The wireless carrier has become the longest relationship in your life, and all of us seem to be settling. When those two-year contracts end, the easiest thing to do is just sign back up. T-Mobile seems to be banking on people being fed up with AT&T and the other more traditional carrier plans. And yes, its plans are indeed more transparent. But for today, T-Mobile's biggest competitor isn't AT&T. It's just the apathy.