Independent advice, or straight to the carrier?
It costs the same either way, which surprises most people. The question is not price. It is whether anyone is looking at the whole picture on your behalf.
Why it costs the same
You are billed by the carrier, at carrier pricing, on a carrier account. Nothing is marked up and nothing passes through us. The carrier compensates us instead of paying a salesperson on their own payroll, which is why our advice does not appear on your invoice.
So the price is identical whether you walk into a store, call the business line yourself, or work with us.
What independence actually buys you
Nobody at a carrier can recommend a competitor. That is not a criticism of them, it is the job. A T-Mobile representative will find you the best T-Mobile answer and an AT&T representative will find you the best AT&T one. Neither will tell you the other is cheaper for your particular mix of sites and lines.
We hold agreements with both, plus Starlink. So the comparison is real work rather than a pitch, and it includes the option of doing nothing. If you are already on the better of the two, we will tell you and you have lost ten minutes.
Somebody runs the change. Porting numbers, activating lines, setting up handsets, standing up connectivity at each site. That work exists whichever way you buy it. The only question is whether you or your office manager absorbs it.
You get a named person afterwards. Not a queue. The week after go-live is when that matters.
When going direct is fine
Two or three lines, one location, you already know which carrier has coverage where you work, nothing complicated. Go direct. There is not much anyone can usefully add, and we will say so.
Where it changes
More than one location. More than about twenty lines, where the published rate stops being the number you pay and the account needs registering with each carrier's pricing desk. Or any site with a connection the business cannot trade without.
Above a hundred lines, or across a portfolio of sites, it stops being a purchase and becomes a sourcing exercise — volume, term, device subsidy, activation credits and service levels, bid by both carriers at once. We run those too.
Working it out
Plain answers to the questions we get asked most, with the pricing next to them.
T-Mobile or AT&T?
Where each one actually wins, the pricing on six lines, and the catch in AT&T's advertised rate.
Read it →When does the price become negotiable?
Under 20 lines you pay the rate card. From 20 to 99 the carriers will quote you — but only if someone registers the account.
Read it →Starlink as backup internet
Three different jobs it can do, what each costs, and why backup and coverage are not the same problem.
Read it →Running two carriers at once
Fiber from one, 5G failover from the other — and when one bill with satellite behind it is the simpler answer.
Read it →How long does switching take?
About three weeks. Why the phones are never the hold-up, and how to avoid waiting on a fiber build.
Read it →Get both carriers priced for your business
Email a photo or PDF of your current phone or internet bill to hello@photex.us and we will price it on T-Mobile and AT&T within one business day. Or call 847-991-9419.