Hidden Plan?

You know I honestly have never heard of this plan, nor have I everk known anybody on a plan like this. 20 minutes for $9.99 would seem rather expensive too, though, I think there are some cheaper prepaid options out there for sure, although I am not too familiar with prepaid.

 

Hi Jodi, and Andy, you might not have heard of this plan because it is known as a "Retention Plan", and someone can only get on this type of plan once they have completed the full term of their contract. You will need to call up Verizon's CSD and choose the option to speak to the retention dept. after your contract is up, and ask them to explain what retention plans are available to customers who don't use alot of minutes per month......I was offered a $15/month "retention plan" that only included 20min/month, and roaming and LD charges still applied.
Jodi the price of these plans may vary depending on what market you are in, so it is possible that it would be $9.99 in your area.

 

Well you learn something everyday! Thank You for correcting me, Ellen!!!

 

De Nada Andy. I learn something new on here myself everyday!

 

Jodi, I'm not sure that I fully understand.
It is already an option to add a line of service for $9.99 to any family plan that is $39.99 or more, so you wouldn't need a retention plan in order to get this price on a second line....You wouldn't be able to add a second line onto one of Verizon's "Retention Plans". Second lines of service are only good on Verizon's $39.99 or higher family share plans, and each line of service that is added would also require a contract term of one or two years as well.

 

Yes, I understand what you are asking now. That's a tough call, because Verizon doesn't offer a family share plan with 900 minutes. I would still call the retention department and see if one of the Reps. will be able to add a line onto the plan that you have now for $9.99. I think they would be willing to work with you as long as you will agree to a new contract term. Make sure that when you call, that you are connected to the right department, as a regular care Rep. will not be able to offer any special deals, other than their regular plans.
Please let us know how you make out with this.

 

That sounds like a great idea, but call forwarding costs you minutes on your line, so the retention plan that includes 20 minutes per month would not get you far if people call that number and you forward it to your normal number. VZW Charges you airtime for call forwarding.

 

Andy is correct. All call forwarding calls will still use up minutes on your plan, unless you have M2M on your plan and are forwarding calls from one VZW line to another.

Verizon's call forwarding link: Answers to FAQs (See question # 5)

 

Actually when someone calls your retention (business) line, minutes are still used up on your business line as soon as your voicemail picks up.
I am not sure I would consider this bogus, because even though you are picking up your landline, basically the call is still routed through Verizon switches, etc. to get there. Some carriers charge you per minute for call forwarding, others give you a certain "minute" bucket for call forwarding per month, and others, Like VZW charge you regular airtime for call forwarding.

 

Ok, it does a little. But, if you are planning on using phone A to return calls from phone B, wouldn't it be easier for you to just keep one line in the first place...
You wouldn't however get charged for VM calls, unless you were checking the messages from your cell phone.

 

Andy, I don't think line B would be charged even if the calls do go to jodi's VM, unless she either answers from her phone or checks the message from the phone.

 

Jodi, what about a pager? We use them at work for on call shifts.

 

If you just need a voicemail box that can forward calls, try grandcentral. There should be some threads about it.

 

You know at my last job on the corpotate website they had a $10 dollar plan with 100 minutes which was not bad if you wanted it for that. Anyways in this circumstance there are plans like this out there.

 

How about at prepay phone for those incoming situations. If the call runs long you can call them back using *67 from your main phone? Or if its just the number you want to protect as opposed to limiting access, How about a lower priced Vonage number with simultanious ring? Give out the Vonage number; if home, pick it up depending on the caller ID or when out have it always ring the cell. You can set do not disturb so no calls get through certain hours.

 

The current retention plan is $20 for 50 minutes 250 night and weekend minutes and americas choice. There is no way to add a share line to the 900 minute plan, there is no set number which is required to do so. There is a retention feature for 1000 in calling minutes, but I was to understand that it only worked with the 34.99 300 minute plan. I wonder if it could be added to the retention plan though.

 

Glad that they found something for you.

 

Good to hear you found something that will work in the mean time & it sounds like the Verizon CSR tried to help you out a lot.

I didn't know they still have these voicemail/pagers around, I guess after getting a cellphone for personal & the job it seems so old school.

 

I'm glad you found something that will (hopefully) work out for you!

Is the pager through Verizon and did the Verizon Wireless rep set it up for you or is it through a different company?

 

Have you considered T-Mobile prepaid? You don't get nights & weekend, but you get a $30 phone and when you add $100, you get 1,000 minutes. With the $100 addition, it won't expire for a year. If you add less than $100 at the time of purchase, its only good for 3 months. When you buy it online, I think it comes with a $10 prepaid, so try it on that first. If you find the coverage decent, get the $100 card.

If it gets stolen, your loss is limited to $130 ($100 card + $30 phone), so there's no worry about getting a $3,000 bill later.