Friends and Family Starts Feb 15, 2009

I thought that Sprint had Friends & Family trademarked, or was that MCI? Somebody was selling a calling plan for landlines 15 years ago that had that name.

 

LOL, MCI was assimilated by VZW. They have added MCI's uniqueness to their own...

 

Yep, I sure do, and VZW will add Alltel's uniqueness to their own as well...

 

Nice touch but the required plans seem a little steep to me. I wouldn't come close to using 1400 minutes on a family plan so the F & F plan would do me no good at all, especially since Verizon to Verizon calls don't consume minutes anyway - do they?

TMobile's MyFav's seems a bit more consumer friendly.

 

No, Verizon to Verizon calls dont use minutes at all. I'm in the same boat as you Brad. I used to have the 1400 minutes plan months ago, but that was too expensive for me when that is combined with a BlackBerry. I was barely going past 700, so I switched to the 700 minutes plan. Now I barely use 400-500 minutes a month, so it wouldn't make sense for me to switch plans now. I am glad that Verizon at least have an option like this at all. I do like the possibility of almost unlimited calling on three lines being around $100 before taxes, though.

T- Mobile and Alltel's versions are more budget friendly. I wouldnt mind is Verizon offered this as a pay option on the lower plans (or have fewer numbers)... but it is a step in the right direction.

 

I'm with you. That's why I have an old Voyager and not a new BB Storm. If I have "unlimited" data on my plan why can't I use a BB or Windows mobile device without paying more for a special data plan?

I guess the answer is that would be good for my bottom line and not the Borg... Uh, I mean Verizon wireless.

 

I thought I was eligible for VZW "Friends and Family" plan since I have a family plan with 2 lines and 1400 minutes. Seems I am not! According to the plan you must be on a Nation wide plan and I am on an "America's Choice" plan. ( America's Choice must be an old option because it is not longer listed as avaailable) Both the the Nation wide plan and America's choice plan cost $ 89.99 for 2 lines with 1400 minutes so I don't see the difference. Does this mean I must chance the name of my plan to a Nation wide plan and sign up for a 2 year contract? ( Not willing to do that since I will be out of contract in 4 months and considering a carrier change.)

 

Great concept until you consider the price and the strings. Verizon does not seem to get it about the economy, yet. As more companies tank there will be less users to play games with. This Friends and Family thing looks like marketing rather substance.

 

True. If deflation keeps happening the price of everything will have to come down. I'm also considering the move back to Sprint so I can use a windows mobile device without paying for a special data plan.

 

The difference between America's Choice and Nationwide is mobile web is included with Nationwide but you get charged 1.99 per Mega Byte.

 

I don't think the big shots at Verizon got the message, yet.

 

Yeah, I knew a few of the "big shots" at VZW when I was there. The regional sales VP was this short feminine hygiene product that drove a super expensive sports car and talked in that annoying used car salesman speak. He had absolutely no clue about the day to day realities of a store and was basically tolerated long enough to just get rid of him whenever he came to "pep talk" the sales team.

The guys above him were worse. Something about upper management that just makes people complete 's

Oh well, reality will hit them soon enough and hopefully changes will be made.

 

Nice concept but too pricey especially in todays economy. With it starting at the 900 plan ill have to pass. Id rather pay less for something like tmobile myfaves and if i had to upgrade to the $59.99 plan id rather spend it on rollovers from att. At least then i could use the leftover for all numbers and not just 5.

Good concept but just too expensive.

 

It seems like it's expensive initially, but the reason they started the F&F plan, on the second level plans just above the base plans for both single and family lines, has to do with the fact they have 80+ million customers. They would lose money hand over fist if they offered it on the lowest plans.

T-Mobile and Alltel are small enough to be able to offer something like this. It benefits them much more than it would the bigger players.

Now as far as AT&T's rollover, there is a limit. If you use up all your Rollover minutes, that's it! Your done. Rollover is great, but it doesn't harm AT&T's bottom line (as it's not giving away the farm keeping the feature).

I wish Verizon had it on the $39.99 basic individual plan (as that's what I'm on), but they don't. Yes, for Verizon this IS about money.

I'm glad they at least offered something similar to My Circle/My Faves. It wasn't something I never thought they'd ever consider.

I've been with Verizon (and its precursors) for 15 years. They're expensive compared to the others, but they've worked for me and I can live with their behavior. They work where I need them to and I'm happy with their service. In the end, that's all that matters (for me, anyway).

 

Verizon does deserve some credit for it since if you are already on the 900 plan you can add it basically for no extra charge. They would prob lose alot of money if it was available on the $39 plan but if they did it would probably destroy the competition until the competition reacted with something similar.

 

Well, im back in the family. Today in the mail verizon offered me two free months to get service with them again and i took the bait. Didnt think i would but when the offer actually came in i couldnt resist. Another good thing is that im eligible for an upgrade whenever i want so if a new phone comes out that i like i can get it at the new price.

 

I bet they could offer all kinds of better services if they got out of the phone business. Just sell the service. Remember back in the day when nobody owned a phone? When I was a kid everyone leased their phones from the phone company. It was a small extra charge on your bill every month. I still remember when IL. bell opened the phone store where you could actually go in and just buy a phone!

Here's the commercial from 1982...

IL Bell phone store commercial

But, I could be wrong.