T-Mobile’s new Value Plans launch next week and third-party retailers are ramping up with new training docs and guides to help employees with the transition. Given that T-Mobile’s company owned retail stores are moving to Value Plan only environments, national retailers are showing off the cost comparison with the new Classic plans. There are a few discrepancies listed here however, specifically since we learned yesterday the price of the Galaxy S III in company owned stores will be $69.99 and not $99. Second, no two-year equipment contract will be required with T-Mobile’s new Value Plan structure which may or may not be a notable difference to some.

Unless I’m missing something, Costco’s document is pretty convincing that until you pay off the handset, Value Plans and Classic Plans can cost similar amounts. The real advantage may lie in T-Mobile’s trade-in program which will allow customers to put the trade-in amount against the overall cost of the device. Anyway you look at it, a trade-in should offset some of the total 2-year cost as CostCo words it establishing a clear advantage of the Value Plan side. Surely you’ve got a phone lying around you can get rid of to help offset some of the balance, right?

So where do your opinions lie, are you moving into the Value Plan camp?