Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Losing Hope for "My Circle"

In an interview in RCR Wireless magazine, Verizon spokesperson, Robin Nichol, outlined the steps expected to be followed in the transition of Alltel non-divested areas into the Verizon Wireless network. Ms. Nichol compared the upcoming process to the current transition of the recently-acquired RCC/Unicel properties. The big news we can take from this report is that "Nicol said the RCC’s rate plans will be mapped and when a customers’ service agreement ends, they will have to choose from Verizon Wireless plans."

We would expect a company as large as Verizon to ask customers to "join in" instead of allowing a few thousand exceptions to the corporate offerings. This means if you're an Alltel customer in a non-divested market, you have two options. You can sign a new 2-year contract and keep your Alltel plan for that period, or find a way to stay with the divested part of Alltel.

So far, AT&T and private investors are the leading candidates for the divested Verizon/Alltel/RCC markets. But if our favored takeover candidate, US Cellular, is the winning bidder, the chances are even less you'll be able to keep your old Alltel plan. For now, Alltel divested customers will stay in limbo, but will do so on what is still a great network with great plans. We will concede that "My Circle" was really a stopgap measure as all carriers slowly evolve toward Unlimited plans. That is, until all cellular service begins to be provided by just 2 or 3 mega-carriers. Long-live the small guys!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

As many of us expected, VZW is adding a My Circle derivative called "Friends and Family" with details to be released Thursday, 2/12. This feature will be available on plans of $60 and higher (not sure whether this actually will include the $59.95 plans).

The feature will not have an extra charge and will be available to all VZW customers at the appropriate price levels.

Oz Andrews said...

Yes, no sooner do we say it and Verizon creates it. This is a nice additon to Verizon's plans and a good reason for Alltel customers to relax.

Anonymous said...

It looks as if people on a 900 minute plan will be reduced from 10 to 5 numbers, but when you consider that A. the service was not completely eliminated as it first appeared and B. Current Verizon customers who wanted a pick your favorite plan that were outside Alltel and T-Mobiles service and coverage areas are now being given a chance to have a swing at the service. I think we were very lucky.

I hope for those that are divested that they end up with their new company having the grass be just as green as it is on our side. Here is a address to the press release

http://news.vzw.com/news/2009/02/pr2009-02-12.html