Dilemma...Some advice, por favor

[fitz_22]

Hello everyone…I am new to this forum (1st post) so I thought I would lay my issue on everyone and hopefully get some good feedback.
My fiancée and I are currently on an Cing./ATT family plan. We share 1300 minutes, N&W, nights at 7. The fiancée just found out she is getting a phone from work. She can pick any phone but the problem is the Service is Verizon. What do I do? We still have over a year left on our contract.
-Do I cancel her line and just start a new 2 year contract with Cing./ATT? (Do I have to pay the $150 to cancel?)
-Do I cancel entire family plan and go with Verizon, so we are on the same network?
I really need to get a new phone also, so if I switch over to an Orange(??) plan I lose my nights at 7pm which I really like. Does anyone know how it works w/ family plans and canceling lines? I HATE Cingular cust serv. They say one thing and something else appears on the bill….anyways

Any advice, experience, thoughts. sorry for the long post.
Thanks

[Andy]

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If you migrate to orange you will have to choose a plan currently offered by cingular. Early nights will cost you extra and your old att plan may be better anyways. If you two talk toeachothera lot being on the same network may save you money. Cingular may also charge you an activation fee if you migrate to orange...not sure if they still do that though

[Steven2420]

Originally Posted by fitz_22

Hello everyone…I am new to this forum (1st post) so I thought I would lay my issue on everyone and hopefully get some good feedback.
My fiancée and I are currently on an Cing./ATT family plan. We share 1300 minutes, N&W, nights at 7. The fiancée just found out she is getting a phone from work. She can pick any phone but the problem is the Service is Verizon. What do I do? We still have over a year left on our contract.
-Do I cancel her line and just start a new 2 year contract with Cing./ATT? (Do I have to pay the $150 to cancel?)
-Do I cancel entire family plan and go with Verizon, so we are on the same network?
I really need to get a new phone also, so if I switch over to an Orange(??) plan I lose my nights at 7pm which I really like. Does anyone know how it works w/ family plans and canceling lines? I HATE Cingular cust serv. They say one thing and something else appears on the bill….anyways

Any advice, experience, thoughts. sorry for the long post.
Thanks

Hello Fitz,

Welcome to WA, and Happy New Year to you. Let me give you an idea.

What I would do, because I just went thru something a little similar, is to lower your monthly plan. Remember that Mobile to mobile is free, so if your fiancee does not mind carrying her Cingular phone in her purse, just for you guys to talk to one another. You will need allot less minutes because she will not be using it for everyday usage. All your calls to each other are free. She will never have to worry about going over on her company phone by making personal calls, and no one will ever question her on what she is usuing the company phone for. Keep the 2nd line, lower to 900 minutes @ $59.99 and avoid the nighmare of penalties.Just a thought!!

Steve

[Andy]

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Originally Posted by Steven2420

Hello Fitz,

Welcome to WA, and Happy New Year to you. Let me give you an idea.

What I would do, because I just went thru something a little similar, is to lower your monthly plan. Remember that Mobile to mobile is free, so if your fiancee does not mind carrying her Cingular phone in her purse, just for you guys to talk to one another. You will need allot less minutes because she will not be using it for everyday usage. All your calls to each other are free. She will never have to worry about going over on her company phone by making personal calls, and no one will ever question her on what she is usuing the company phone for. Keep the 2nd line, lower to 900 minutes @ $59.99 and avoid the nighmare of penalties.Just a thought!!

Steve

But i think he is a blue customer so in order to do this he would have to switch to orange and sign a new two year contract.

[Steven2420]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

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But i think he is a blue customer so in order to do this he would have to switch to orange and sign a new two year contract.

Andy, I did not know that, thank you!!!

[fitz_22]

Thanks for such quick responses!!! All very good thoughts. From my experience, even the smallest change in a plan starts a new 2 year contract starting that day. I have done the 2 cell phone (work & personal) thing in the past and it wasn't a problem for me. However, having my fiancee do it would be a whole other story (we won't get into that here).

Maybe I should go withthe cheapest family plan, I should still have plenty of minutes, but would be locked in for another 2 yrs.

Does everyone agree I am looking at $300 to get out of Cingular?

[fitz_22]

OK...I did some serious number crunching. Let me know how bad my math skills really are. Try and follow this:
I did projections over the next 2 years, flat rate plans, no taxes, fees etc..

Stay w/ Cingular and lower the family plan to 900 min. @ $60/month. That's $1440 over the next 2 years. 900 min should be enough. if I want a new phone I have to migrate over and pay the fees here so approx. $1500

Cancel all Cing. lines and go w/ Verizon. 2 yrs, $60/month, 900 min., I pay an extra $300 to get out of Cing., but we are now in-network and I get a new phone, $1740.

Where it would make sense to do it would be if I could get away with 450 min/month. Over 2 years this is $560 less and makes it look a little more appealing. $880.
I should poll all my friends and see what service they have.

toooo much time on my hands...

[Steven2420]

Originally Posted by fitz_22

OK...I did some serious number crunching. Let me know how bad my math skills really are. Try and follow this:
I did projections over the next 2 years, flat rate plans, no taxes, fees etc..

Stay w/ Cingular and lower the family plan to 900 min. @ $60/month. That's $1440 over the next 2 years. 900 min should be enough. if I want a new phone I have to migrate over and pay the fees here so approx. $1500

Cancel all Cing. lines and go w/ Verizon. 2 yrs, $60/month, 900 min., I pay an extra $300 to get out of Cing., but we are now in-network and I get a new phone, $1740.

Where it would make sense to do it would be if I could get away with 450 min/month. Over 2 years this is $560 less and makes it look a little more appealing. $880.
I should poll all my friends and see what service they have.

toooo much time on my hands...

Just a thought, why not see if your fiancee's company will pay the ETF, (Early termination fee) because she has a contract with another carrier!

[Andy]

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Originally Posted by Steven2420

Just a thought, why not see if your fiancee's company will pay the ETF, (Early termination fee) because she has a contract with another carrier!

That is a great idea. Also since its a company phone wont the company pay for her verizon service?another option would be to keep both phones the way they are and then cancel without penalties when your contract runs out and start a new line with verizon.

[josephd]

If I may add my 2 cents worth, you said the magic word in your original post.... You hate Cingulars customer service. So what I would do (which is why I am not rolling in the dough like Steve )is cut my ties with Cingular because unless a miracle happens overnight your discontent with CS is not going to change and to me that is just as important as good service. I know it is a tough call because it could cost you close to 500 plus depending on the phone of choice at VZW and your ETF with blue. I am not going to repeat what others pointed out here already but it is not hard to figure out, just weigh the costs between the two choices.As for migrating to Cingular if you decide that route there is an 18 dollar migration fee, but I knew the rep so she waived that cost for me so it cannot hurt to ask and the port took 10 minutes so it was quick and easy. Good luck in your decision.