INPulse A Little Disappointing...
On the plus side, the new AC No Roaming plans seem to be an improvement for many (though not all) people. A good marketing point for them too. I may switch to one soon, though its somewhat of a mixed bag (appears that some former roaming areas are now regular network, but some are now 'no service').
On the downside, the new INPulse prepay plans don't seem to be good, if you give a crap about that sort of thing (VZW should, prepay is going to be an increasing share of the market). It basically breaks down to $30 a month for free IN-calling and free Nights, with peak calls and weekend daytime calls costing 10 cents a minute. Meh.
It would've been good if only VZW had thrown in free Weekends as well- 30 bucks for free IN, Nights, and Weekends is a good deal for a prepay user. Given the lifestyle of the typical prepay customer (probably young), you could see 'em racking up the weekend and night minutes. Which I guess to VZW was precisely the problem, but c'mon... its NOT PEAK.
Harsh to say it, but the Cingy GoPhone prepay 'plan' (one of the few good things they inherited from ATTW) is a better deal for the majority of ppl, if you're willing to spend $40 a month (300 peak, 1000 night & wkend minutes).
At the $30 level admittedly GoPhone is nothing to crow about (200 minutes, period)... light users would be better off with Virgin Mobile, which is more flexible and the minutes don't expire.
Speaking of which, that seems to be the other major bummer of INPulse... the refill cards expire pretty quickly once activated and the minutes go bye-bye. Admittedly that's true of a lot of the prepays, but not all, and its a hassle. Why not make prepay simple and easy? Virgin does, and thats a lot of why they're doing well even though their pricing structure is atrocious for heavy users.
Seems like VZW is still regarding prepay as 'something it's gotta offer' rather than a major opportunity to grab a lot of new customers, please them, and eventually turn them into VZW contract customers. No-credit teens and college students eventually grow up and get good jobs, eh? 😉
On the downside, the new INPulse prepay plans don't seem to be good, if you give a crap about that sort of thing (VZW should, prepay is going to be an increasing share of the market). It basically breaks down to $30 a month for free IN-calling and free Nights, with peak calls and weekend daytime calls costing 10 cents a minute. Meh.
It would've been good if only VZW had thrown in free Weekends as well- 30 bucks for free IN, Nights, and Weekends is a good deal for a prepay user. Given the lifestyle of the typical prepay customer (probably young), you could see 'em racking up the weekend and night minutes. Which I guess to VZW was precisely the problem, but c'mon... its NOT PEAK.
Harsh to say it, but the Cingy GoPhone prepay 'plan' (one of the few good things they inherited from ATTW) is a better deal for the majority of ppl, if you're willing to spend $40 a month (300 peak, 1000 night & wkend minutes).
At the $30 level admittedly GoPhone is nothing to crow about (200 minutes, period)... light users would be better off with Virgin Mobile, which is more flexible and the minutes don't expire.
Speaking of which, that seems to be the other major bummer of INPulse... the refill cards expire pretty quickly once activated and the minutes go bye-bye. Admittedly that's true of a lot of the prepays, but not all, and its a hassle. Why not make prepay simple and easy? Virgin does, and thats a lot of why they're doing well even though their pricing structure is atrocious for heavy users.
Seems like VZW is still regarding prepay as 'something it's gotta offer' rather than a major opportunity to grab a lot of new customers, please them, and eventually turn them into VZW contract customers. No-credit teens and college students eventually grow up and get good jobs, eh? 😉
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BetterThanJake said:...
On the downside, the new INPulse prepay plans don't seem to be good, if you give a crap about that sort of thing (VZW should, prepay is going to be an increasing share of the market). It basically breaks down to $30 a month for free IN-calling and free Nights, with peak calls and weekend daytime calls costing 10 cents a minute. Meh.
It would've been good if only VZW had thrown in free Weekends as well- 30 bucks for free IN, Nights, and Weekends is a good deal for a prepay user. Given the lifestyle of the typical prepay customer (probably young), you could see 'em racking up the weekend and night minutes. Which I guess to VZW was precisely the problem, but c'mon... its NOT PEAK.
Harsh to say it,
(continues)
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