A-List with Rollover

[elmo01]

Beginning Sunday, September 20 ATT will launch a new “no charge bolt-on” feature called A-List with Rollover. AT&T customers can enjoy unlimited mobile calling to and from “VIP” domestic phone numbers at no additional cost.

Customers with individual Nation plans of $59.99 or higher can use A-List to select up to five domestic phone numbers to call anytime. This includes landlines and wireless numbers on any network - without using any of the minutes in their plan.

FamilyTalk customers with plans of $89.99 or more can select up to 10 numbers which any person in the FamilyTalk plan can call as much as they want.

[Kalimotxo]

I'm surprised they didn't start this earlier.

A link for anyone interested: DailyTech - Announces HSPA 7.2 Upgrades for Six Cities, Reveals A-List for Frequently Called Numbers

[mikewho]

Fantastic news. Being able to keep rollover minutes too is great.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by elmo01

Beginning Sunday, September 20 ATT will launch a new “no charge bolt-on” feature called A-List with Rollover. AT&T customers can enjoy unlimited mobile calling to and from “VIP” domestic phone numbers at no additional cost.

Customers with individual Nation plans of $59.99 or higher can use A-List to select up to five domestic phone numbers to call anytime. This includes landlines and wireless numbers on any network - without using any of the minutes in their plan.

FamilyTalk customers with plans of $89.99 or more can select up to 10 numbers which any person in the FamilyTalk plan can call as much as they want.

So this is basically their version of Friends & Family that Verizon has. I wonder what Verizon is going to do to counter it? that is if they decide to do anything, I wonder if they ever considered their own version of rollover mins?

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by Fire14

So this is basically their version of Friends & Family that Verizon has. I wonder what Verizon is going to do to counter it? that is if they decide to do anything, I wonder if they ever considered their own version of rollover mins?

Considering that Rollover has been around for 10 years (I think) and no one else has bothered to match it, I don't think VZ will.

Nice to see AT&T decided to match it. This is especially sweet for those on those Unity plans. Imagine, unlimited calling on AT&T landlines, M2M, and up to 10 non ATT phones.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by Quint101

Considering that Rollover has been around for 10 years (I think) and no one else has bothered to match it, I don't think VZ will.

Nice to see AT&T decided to match it. This is especially sweet for those on those Unity plans. Imagine, unlimited calling on AT&T landlines, M2M, and up to 10 non ATT phones.

Yeah that would be really nice & would make the cell more like a landline phone with 1 fee.
I am sure it will get to that one of these millenium.
As for no one offering the rollover wasn't it patented protected for a while? I don't remember & am surprised no one else tried, as for VZ it would be a killer addition & doesn't hurt to hope LOL.

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by Fire14

Yeah that would be really nice & would make the cell more like a landline phone with 1 fee.
I am sure it will get to that one of these millenium.
As for no one offering the rollover wasn't it patented protected for a while? I don't remember & am surprised no one else tried, as for VZ it would be a killer addition & doesn't hurt to hope LOL.

Even if it was patented, someone could have come up with something similar and called it a different name (like KeepIt )... I would always like to have more but the big boys aren't throwing out a lot of bones and the one or 2 that are don't work all that well for me

The other telcos were probably able to counter the rollover with this (?) "if you were banking minutes, you have too many to begin with... meaning you are paying too much" or they can sell their free M2M...

I guess with the Family & Friends, MyCircle, and myFaves, the prospect of unlimited calling at a rock bottom price was too much to pass up for the consumers... I have to thank Alltel. That had to add pressure to Verizon to come up with something for Alltel and VZW users... the thought of folks never changing their phones and plans or, even worse, leaving had to be unthinkable for Verizon

AT&T probably had some competitive pressure as well to come up with something

[elmo01]

a little more info as it trickles out...

this is not auto-provisioned (you gotta call and ask for it)

it is not clear at this time if it renews your contract (I have not seen anything that implies it does or does not)

it is customer maintained... from the website... customer care can only view ... no access to change or edit...at **any** level

the qualifying rate plans (59.99 single line or 89.99 ft plans and up) are non negotiable... meaning a supervisor or save team CANNOT add this feature to a lower price point...

Excluded numbers:
900 numbers.
Directory Assistance numbers.
Voicemail pilot numbers.
Customer’s own mobile number.
Mobile numbers of any subscribers on the FamilyTalk group.
Numbers identified as fraud.

as more is released and/or amended I'll keep you posted

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by Quint101

Even if it was patented, someone could have come up with something similar and called it a different name (like KeepIt )... I would always like to have more but the big boys aren't throwing out a lot of bones and the one or 2 that are don't work all that well for me

The other telcos were probably able to counter the rollover with this (?) "if you were banking minutes, you have too many to begin with... meaning you are paying too much" or they can sell their free M2M...

I guess with the Family & Friends, MyCircle, and myFaves, the prospect of unlimited calling at a rock bottom price was too much to pass up for the consumers... I have to thank Alltel. That had to add pressure to Verizon to come up with something for Alltel and VZW users... the thought of folks never changing their phones and plans or, even worse, leaving had to be unthinkable for Verizon

AT&T probably had some competitive pressure as well to come up with something

Yeah thanks Alltel for putting pressure on the big guys "now that they did that they got bought out lol"
It does seem like they all have to come out with something new every so often & probably were pressured to do something to keep people interested or re-sign etc... When you think how most people are they like new & shinny & different all the time so it comes off that way & makes alot of sense.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by elmo01

a little more info as it trickles out...

this is not auto-provisioned (you gotta call and ask for it)

it is not clear at this time if it renews your contract (I have not seen anything that implies it does or does not)

it is customer maintained... from the website... customer care can only view ... no access to change or edit...at **any** level

the qualifying rate plans (59.99 single line or 89.99 ft plans and up) are non negotiable... meaning a supervisor or save team CANNOT add this feature to a lower price point...

Excluded numbers:
900 numbers.
Directory Assistance numbers.
Voicemail pilot numbers.
Customer’s own mobile number.
Mobile numbers of any subscribers on the FamilyTalk group.
Numbers identified as fraud.

as more is released and/or amended I'll keep you posted

This sounds exactly like Friends & Family, I do mine online & it's a good thing Customer Care can't make any changes to it, it protects at&t from fraud or lawsuits.

As for a contract extension, that would be a bad move, considering the carriers don't require one now for plan changes & I would be surprised if they did make that a requirement & possibly loose customers, so I doubt they would do that part.
Thanks for the info update & keep us posted.

[Simon5282]

I almost posted this in the news section. Can it be moved to the news considering that it also has to do with how competition from other carriers has influenced this?

[bobolito]

A major turn off for me is the absence of unlimited texting to the five numbers you select in your A-List. Same thing with Verizon. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of the feature itself. T-mobile, on the other hand, includes unlimited txt to your faves.

[elmo01]

and now a site....

A-List from AT&T

[JasonLAllerdings]

I would like to see Verizon go after Sprint and match with unlimited to any Mobile on any network and keep their Friends and Family. I can always dream.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by bobolito

A major turn off for me is the absence of unlimited texting to the five numbers you select in your A-List. Same thing with Verizon. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of the feature itself. T-mobile, on the other hand, includes unlimited txt to your faves.

I guess the idea's behind this are:
1. Unlimited texting now to anyone on any carrier is what they would rather you have and I guess they figure most of these people have the texting plans now.
2. It won't work to landlines yet, so if you pick all landline #'s then it's a moot point to offer unlimited texting & they may have taken this into consideration.

[KyleAndMelissa22]

I see this as a good thing in some ways, but the rollover is not as useful
when most people I would talk to already fall in my 'circle.'

I use an average of around 10,000 minutes per month and at least 98% of that falls into the unlimited numbers already,
so I'd have a bucket of rollover minutes that I pay for that I'll never need or use.
Maybe I could give them away to someone else who really needs them, lol