How Five Bars researches and ranks offers

How comparisons work

Five Bars is an independent informational comparison website, not a carrier, retailer, or checkout provider. Plan and device prices come from a curated catalog and public carrier links. We explain the difference between standard service pricing, temporary promotions, required plans, annual prepayment, and estimated device costs.

The default rankings use published cost formulas and user-selected filters—not commissions or paid placement. Price and eligibility information can be incomplete or outdated. A price cannot be considered fully checked merely because a carrier webpage loads.

Four levels of evidence

1. Catalog listing: an attributed advertised price, not a guaranteed checkout quote.
2. Source-reachable: the scanner received a web response; this does not establish the price or eligibility.
3. Partial official headline match: selected price/plan fields matched strict wording on the identified carrier page. Fees, renewal rules, unlocking, coverage, and eligibility remain unverified.
4. Documented human checkout scenario: an attributable human has personally reviewed the current exact offer in an official carrier checkout or obtained a written carrier quote, recorded the first payment and recurring charge including mandatory fees, confirmed ten material terms and recorded the date. The review covers one documented eligibility scenario only; other customers may receive different prices. Missing data cannot earn this status. Reviews age out after 14 days or when material catalog terms change.

Unresolved official price discrepancies are withheld from comparisons and savings recommendations, and remain labeled for investigation. Carriers that block scanning are not bypassed, and their old prices are not treated as newly confirmed.

Official-source research ledger

Our dated source evidence audit distinguishes a published carrier plan rate from an actual checkout quote and a signed full-terms human review. It documents official source URLs and unresolved limitations for the current catalog; unresearched listings remain visibly unresearched. These public source matches are not an independent endorsement or proof of eligibility.

What the totals do—and don't—include

Switch & Save uses the current bill entered by the visitor, the published plan or phone promotion, disclosed prepayment, device costs and user-entered fees. It does not fabricate taxes, carrier-side financing, payoff trade-in values, conditional rebates or phone compatibility. Long-term totals assume today’s listed regular price continues; they are what-if scenarios, not forecasts.

Corrections and accountability

If you find an inaccurate price, incorrect carrier network, unavailable plan, or misleading term, prepare a public correction report. Include the carrier's official URL and the specific discrepancy. The project keeps a review queue and change history. Corrections are reviewed before updating public catalog facts. A reader report is not a human checkout sign-off. The report assistant prepares a local draft; a person must choose to post it publicly on GitHub. No automatic submission changes catalog pricing.

Recent reviewed status and monitor coverage are visible in the Price watch and Sources sections.