T-Mobile is the talk of the town this week, thanks to its freshly unveiled UnCarrier plan and the fact that it’s finally getting the iPhone 5 and other older iPhones.  People are claiming that T-Mobile offers the cheapest deal one can ever find for an iPhone 5, but is it really the cheapest? Let’s find out if the claims are true.

iPhone 5 16GB : Compared

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T-Mobile

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Price without a contract: $580

Price with a two-year contract: No contract but an installment plan that would cost $99 for the first payment, then $20 per month for two years.

Early termination fee: No termination fee because there is no contract to terminate

Mobile hotspot: 500MB included, additional hotspot data available at an additional charge.

Data: Unlimited but may be slowed down after consuming 5GB

Text: Unlimited

Voice: Unlimited

Monthly bill: $70

Total cost: $2259

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Walmart-Straight Talk

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Price without a contract: $649

Price with a two-year contract: No carrier contract, pre-paid plan

Early termination fee: No termination fee

Unlimited voice, text and data: $45 a month with a 2GB data cap and Auto-refill option for continued use

Total cost: $1729

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C-Spire

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Price without a contract: $669.99

Price with a two-year contract: $149.99

Early termination fee: n/a

Mobile hotspot: $20 for 1GB

Infinite video streaming, data and messaging: $100

Monthly bill: $120

No activation fee

Total cost: $3029.99

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Sprint

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Price without a contract: $649.99

Price with a two-year contract: $199

Early termination fee: Up to $350

Mobile hotspot: $19.99 a month for 2GB

Unlimited data, talk and text: 109.99

Monthly bill: $129.98

Activation fee: Waived

Total cost: $3319.51

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Verizon

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Price without a contract: $649.99

Price with a two-year contract: $199.99

Early termination fee: Up to $350

Mobile hotspot: Included

Data: Share Everything Plan 2 GB – connect up to 10 devices

Text: Unlimited

Voice: Unlimited

Monthly bill: $100

Activation fee: $35

Total cost: $2634.99 – before tax & shipping

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AT&T

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Price without a contract: $649.99

Price with a two-year contract: $199.99

Early termination fee: Up to $325

Mobile hotspot: Included

Data: DataPro 3GB ($30)

Nation plan for unlimited talk and text: $69.99

Monthly bill: $99.99

One-time activation fee: $36

Total cost: 2635.75

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Summary

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T-Mobile: $2259

Walmart-Straight Talk: $1729

C-Spire: $3029.99

Sprint: $3319.51

Verizon: $2634.99

AT&T: 2635.75

Based on the numbers, Walmart and Straight Talk offer the lowest price for the iPhone 5 at $1729 spending cost for two years,but you have to take into consideration that you pay for the device at full price since Straight Talk is a prepaid service.  The $649 price tag isn’t as easy to bear.

So removing Walmart and Straight Talk from the equation, T-Mobile does offer the lowest price for the iPhone 5.  In two years, if you choose to purchase an iPhone 5 on T-Mobile, you’d just be spending $2259, way cheaper than what AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and C-Spire offer.  Plus if you want to pay for the iPhone 5 in full, you’d just be paying $580, still far cheaper than the alternatives.