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Mobile pricing was coming down, etc. until the Sprint/Nextel merger. After that rates went up, plans got stingier, etc. I don't understand why anyone would si

Mobile pricing was coming down, etc. until the Sprint/Nextel merger. After that rates went up, plans got stingier, etc. I don't understand why anyone would sign up for a 450 minute plan. Wouldn't every minute of phone usage be stress-inducing since the next minute might be billed at $0.45 ? I also don't know why mobile companies don't automatically switch customers to the plan that would have been cheapest in a given month before sending the bill.

sdz 16y ago
Not everyone needs so many minutes. In my iPhone usage, for instance, I could get away with almost no minutes at all (especially considering my thousands of rollover minutes). If I could, I'd just buy an unlimited data plan without voice and use Skype for calls. Sadly, AT&T seems to be going in the opposite direction by ending unlimited data. Maybe one day they'll instate rollover megabytes.
- grandalf 16y ago
  But what about a new customer with no rollover minutes?
hazzen 16y ago
I have 300 minutes a month with free nights/weekends. I use maybe 50 minutes in a normal month. I use mostly email/SMS/chat because all of those things are free. Mind you, I don't run a business or have family in different time zones, but it is very possible to use essentially no minutes and still communicate just fine for social purposes.
philwelch 16y ago
"I don't understand why anyone would sign up for a 450 minute plan." I always use less than 450 minutes a month and have accumulated over 3000 rollover minutes with AT&T in case I ever use more. I guess I'm not popular enough to worry about that. "I also don't know why mobile companies don't automatically switch customers to the plan that would have been cheapest in a given month before sending the bill." I think there's a company that used to do that, or still does that. I remember seeing ads for it.
gojomo 16y ago
I'm on a 450 minute plan... and have accumulated thousands of rollover minutes, so there's no risk of a marginal overage minute costing a lot. A small plan makes sense if you're not that chatty, or the people you're chatty with all fall into unlimited nights/weekends/in-network minutes categories.
- grandalf 16y ago
  very well, but wouldn't life be easier if you could just start out with 3000 rollover minutes when initiating the contract? Why must mobile plans hinge upon users making miscalculations and mistakes? You have been lucky (or are a rare case of low usage).
  - gojomo 16y ago
    Oh, I agree less tricky plans and rules would be preferable... but I also understand how they profit the carriers, by serving to charge the price-indifferent and inattentive more. Lots of AT&T practices screw me over -- most recently, being charged for calls that were never answered (but went to voicemail) while roaming overseas. But the availability of low-minute plans that fit my usage isn't one of the problems. That those same low-minute plans trick others into paying overages? Not sure that can be helped. Those distracted by other things will always pay more. Imposing fair disclosure or even a complexity budget on pricing by social regulation or unfair-practices lawsuits might make sense. But imposing a simplified/unified pricing on the industry is likely to backfire. The impetus to design competitive new services for niches -- like infrequent users, or heavy-data-users, etc. -- would be reduced, because innovation requires the same sort of variation that is exploited to confuse. And, regulated utilities can wind up extracting more from the rest of the economy in the long run from lingering inefficiencies and cost-plus regulated prices.
cdr 16y ago
My two college-age siblings plus both parents are all on a Verizon "family" plan with something like 1000 minutes. It's absurdly stress-inducing, with fights and fingers pointed etc if the minutes start to run out.
- gte910h 16y ago
  It sounds like you have nothing like enough minutes
scott_s 16y ago
I have a 450 minute plan. I've never come close to using all of it in a month.

sdz 16y ago

Not everyone needs so many minutes. In my iPhone usage, for instance, I could get away with almost no minutes at all (especially considering my thousands of rollover minutes). If I could, I'd just buy an unlimited data plan without voice and use Skype for calls. Sadly, AT&T seems to be going in the opposite direction by ending unlimited data. Maybe one day they'll instate rollover megabytes.

grandalf 16y ago
But what about a new customer with no rollover minutes?

hazzen 16y ago

I have 300 minutes a month with free nights/weekends. I use maybe 50 minutes in a normal month. I use mostly email/SMS/chat because all of those things are free. Mind you, I don't run a business or have family in different time zones, but it is very possible to use essentially no minutes and still communicate just fine for social purposes.

philwelch 16y ago

"I don't understand why anyone would sign up for a 450 minute plan." I always use less than 450 minutes a month and have accumulated over 3000 rollover minutes with AT&T in case I ever use more. I guess I'm not popular enough to worry about that. "I also don't know why mobile companies don't automatically switch customers to the plan that would have been cheapest in a given month before sending the bill." I think there's a company that used to do that, or still does that. I remember seeing ads for it.

gojomo 16y ago

I'm on a 450 minute plan... and have accumulated thousands of rollover minutes, so there's no risk of a marginal overage minute costing a lot. A small plan makes sense if you're not that chatty, or the people you're chatty with all fall into unlimited nights/weekends/in-network minutes categories.

grandalf 16y ago
very well, but wouldn't life be easier if you could just start out with 3000 rollover minutes when initiating the contract? Why must mobile plans hinge upon users making miscalculations and mistakes? You have been lucky (or are a rare case of low usage).
- gojomo 16y ago
  Oh, I agree less tricky plans and rules would be preferable... but I also understand how they profit the carriers, by serving to charge the price-indifferent and inattentive more. Lots of AT&T practices screw me over -- most recently, being charged for calls that were never answered (but went to voicemail) while roaming overseas. But the availability of low-minute plans that fit my usage isn't one of the problems. That those same low-minute plans trick others into paying overages? Not sure that can be helped. Those distracted by other things will always pay more. Imposing fair disclosure or even a complexity budget on pricing by social regulation or unfair-practices lawsuits might make sense. But imposing a simplified/unified pricing on the industry is likely to backfire. The impetus to design competitive new services for niches -- like infrequent users, or heavy-data-users, etc. -- would be reduced, because innovation requires the same sort of variation that is exploited to confuse. And, regulated utilities can wind up extracting more from the rest of the economy in the long run from lingering inefficiencies and cost-plus regulated prices.

cdr 16y ago

My two college-age siblings plus both parents are all on a Verizon "family" plan with something like 1000 minutes. It's absurdly stress-inducing, with fights and fingers pointed etc if the minutes start to run out.

gte910h 16y ago
It sounds like you have nothing like enough minutes

scott_s 16y ago

I have a 450 minute plan. I've never come close to using all of it in a month.