Remember how ECON 101 taught you that competition was good? 'Tis true! Long after Alltel
introduced the idea of giving customers unlimited calling each month to a select list of numbers, AT&T is mimicking Verizon's
Friends & Family and T-Mobile's
myFaves offerings with its new "A-List with Rollover." Subscribers with individual Nation plans of $59.99 or higher can phone up their very own VIP cast without tapping into their monthly bucket of minutes, theoretically allowing that rollover pool that you never, ever use to grow even larger. For individuals, you'll be able to select up to five domestic phone numbers (mobile or landline) to call for free, while FamilyTalk customers with plans of $89.99 or more can select up to ten numbers. As with competing plans, AT&T users will be able to manage their A-List online and change them anytime, though new numbers do take 24 hours to register. The time to field bids on securing a coveted spot within your own A-Team is now, with the gratis feature opening up to all on September 20th.
posted Sep 9th 2009 9:58AM
Is this included free or is there an extra charge?
Following the read link and browsing to http://www.att.com/alist shows that there is no charge for this feature if you have a qualifying plan (ie. 59 for individuals or 89 for families)
I don't qualify, since I have the plan that comes with my landline . . . I call any AT&T cell or landline without incurring minutes. So my wife and I share our 700 minutes a month and have several thousand rollover minutes.
The problem with the cell companies is that none go above and beyond the competition. They match each other in pricing, features, or promotions like these.
smaller regional carriers are very competitive. metro pcs offers a $40 unlimited everything plan i believe. but i agree national carriers aren''t very competitive.
Someone has to go "above and beyond" in order for others to have to play catch-up, yeah?
You should be able to sell rollover minutes to other users or back to AT&T. Maybe AT&T could put a points system into play like the airlines. You save enough rollover minutes and trade them in for "goods" like a Wii or netbook or accessories or whatever. This way people would use up their rollover and possibly go into overcharge minutes making att money. just a thought
Coworkers and I were just discussing this very idea today - except slightly modified. I'd like to trade rollover minutes for credit on my bill. Like 1000 rollover minutes = $5 off or something. But maybe mix that with the ideas you have of other things. Like car charger, headset, extra battery (except for iPhone people), etc.
I'd love a way to trade in my roll-over minutes to pay for a laptop data plan. Tethering via my iPhone 3G still works just fine of course, but I'd go legit if it was a reasonable price. As a "loyal" ATT customer, it still amazes me that I can't get a deal on a data plan for my laptop. Even Comcast cuts me some slack on my Cable Modem since I have TV and phone service with them.
And yes, with Google Voice I just add that number, then use the GV app on my iPhone and I'm GOLDEN :-) Yes, I installed it before they nuked it.
Now, how about adding unlimited Text Messages to those #'s as well?
I have the 550 family plan and in 5 monhs I have racked up 1100 rollover minutes they should let us sell it back or something. I mean it does come in handy once in a while when you need the extra minutes. Because I used 150 rollover minutes once not always. But I guess it's better that they let you keep it no other carrier does that.
It's a shame rollover minutes expire.
The problem is that they force more minutes on you than you need with the plans, so if you didn't have the roll-over minutes you would likely never dip into overcharge minutes either. What they need to do is offer lower price plans with even less minutes for those of us who don't use the cell phone constantly. I pay way too much with AT&T to use barely any minutes in a month.
AGREED!!
I would like to donate my unused cell minute to a charity, or even to a militiary member overseas. AT&T, ARE YOU LISTENING!!!
good idea - i like that a lot actually. Ability to cash in banked rollover minutes for something. I'm sure all you could get would be some crappy ringtone from a song that pisses you off, but hey it's something right ;)
The only problem is the rollover minutes that you don't use within 12 months expire. So you can only have the minutes you've banked in the last 12 months which for most people probably isn't as much as they would need to get something of worth from a "rewards program"
sfg
If this is free, and you have Google Voice or any other service like that...... now I can talk my heart off.
Aw crap... that's a reply to James above.
Actually you might not be able to. ATT specifically says landline and cell phones only. The question is, will ATT recognize your Google Voice number as one of those?
Personally I would like a $5-10 a month plan that has no texting, no voicemail, and no data. All you get is unlimited calls on 1 line.
Setup that with Google voice and I would be happy.
Right now I do ATT's pay as you go, and it cost 25 cents per minute. That is a pretty steep cost, but I only add $25 of minutes every 3 months. I have yet to find a service that is any cheaper for the extremely low amount of usage that I use.
I don't even come close to using all the minutes in my $40 plan, if they really wanted to compete they would reduce the cost of text messaging, they shouldn't cost a quarter...
cant we just have unlimited voice? it pretty much is now with these stupid ass pick 5 number dealies.
I wonder how this will work with the existing network? Right now if you call another ATT landline or cell phone you don't use your minutes. If this is layered on top of that I'll be down to using almost no minutes.
you do realize they offer unlimited right??? they have for 2 years or more
Wow so you have to pay $60 for an eligible plan plus $30 for the data plan (because the ONLY reason to have AT&T is the iPhone), plus who-knows-how-much for added fees, taxes, tags, title (~$20?) so you're paying well over $100 already just to get the A-List. And getting the A-List, for me at least, would basically alleviate the need to get the $60 plan in the first place because five numbers probably make up 80+% of my cellphone use.
So this is practically worthless for many of us because AT&T aren't letting you get the A-List with their only affordable Nation plan, the $40 one.
Given how expensive $70+tax/tags/title/month is, even their base plan should qualify for A-List. >:(
Holy crap, they also charge you separately for text messaging? What the hell. Your plans are an effing joke, AT&T. You actually make the iPhone undesirable, and that's a very hard thing to do.
"And getting the A-List, for me at least, would basically alleviate the need to get the $60 plan in the first place because five numbers probably make up 80+% of my cellphone use."
An excellent point - but probably the very reason they gave it a minimum. I'm on the $40 plan and would actually like to go lower though. I don't ever come close to my 450 min. Ever.
My wife and I have a total bill of $130 after taxes right now with the 550 family talk plan ($59) and the two $30 data plans. We would have to bump up to the 1400 ($89...$160 total with data and taxes) plan which would make the A-List worthless as that amount of minutes would cover the people we call. Way to F this up ATT.
"And getting the A-List, for me at least, would basically alleviate the need to get the $60 plan in the first place because five numbers probably make up 80+% of my cellphone use."
Exactly.
Besides that, I find that most the 4 lines on my FamilyTalk plans are either between each other, or to the mobile phones of our friends. As such, it all gets covered by AT&T's "free mobile to mobile" feature. Noone ever calls anyone's landlines during daytime, anyway. Only mobiles. And in the evenings, it's those free NWE minutes.
I agree with other posters that this new A-List thing is a gimmick. AT&T is just dressing up in a different way those same "free" minutes you're under-using.
P.S. you know how many Rollover minutes I have? I just checked: 6,267.
Yeah it's a pretty useless ploy by AT&T! Also, right now Premier customers can't use it. At least not yet. Why would I want to jump my plan up to the $80 plan plus $9.99 for an additional line when I have all of these rollover minutes? Now if they count the data/messaging plans, I'm all over it!
Exactly my scenario – i was so excited thinking my wife and i could get iphones (finally!) with the 550min plan. We NEVER go over out 700 min verizon plan (because all the people we call are in network). Having 10 lines we could call for free would completely cover us. No way we're switching to ATT.
I drive a big 80's van, so can I be on their A Team?
$20 says this will exclude iPhone. It's ATT, they have to fuck this up somehow.
My money is on my Google Voice number coming up as "invalid" or something else ridiculous.
How come an Individual plan of 59 or more can pick 5 numbers, but family talk of 89 and up can only pick 10 for the whole family group. Kinda f'd up. So if you have 5 people on your family plan you pretty much can only choose 2 numbers a person. Since chances are everyone on your family plan isn't calling all the same people. Another FAIL by At&t.
these crappy ideas only work if they have a small talk plan. My wife and I have the smallest family talk plan, and I think we usually use about 10% of our minutes.
I don't qualify but I have almost 3,000 rollover minutes (I use about 10 of 450 a month) so I guess I am all good.
I want unlimited calls to the"A Team"
LOL, if only I was able to keep a call active for more than few minutes.....come on att!! invest some money on your towers in NYC
Don't feel bad. It's the same in Chicago as well.
lol, I pay $100/month but my "plan" is $39.99... funny joke AT&T
iPhone?
Well Damn...took them long enough....
Although I dont use my phone during the day much anyways the wife sure does....and its usually with a select 5-6 people...so this is cool
so ummmm yea...After looking at the "plan" I have for family talk being just $49/month...I guess the fact that my BILL is $180/month for 2 iPhones with unlimited Texting means NOTHING for this....THANX AT&T!! you can eat a Dick now....
You need a shorter Engadget name , nobody really cares what your PSN , XBL, Steam, or Hustler ID is
hmmm if you knew that ALL BlogSmith sites were connected then you would know that the REASON thats there is for people on Joystiq...I dont care whether it appeases you or not....
Same here, when I first saw this I was pretty excited since my wife and I both have iPhones but her grandmother is on our plan and uses up most of the minutes. But when I looked into my "plan" it won't qualify, we also have Premier so I don't think we can use it anyway. Thanks AT&T!
I never use my 450 minutes as it is, but hey it will still be nice to have this feature.
Now, I'm expecting an update to this post in a few hours adding the stipulation that this feature will not be available to iPhone customers because "the unique capabilities and high usage of the iPhone"
Its nice to see Att in positive light, this will come in hand. I don't talk to more than 5 people for long periods of time. Good job Att.
Meh, with T-Mo I get unlimited calling for $50 a month.
I've already got like eleventy billion rollover minutes. I pay for 450 minutes, and use about a hundred. How about come cheaper voice plans, AT&T? All I use is data.