I just got an unexpectedly large cell phone bill. Most of the excess was due to us going over our allotted “peak time” minutes (although, I STILL don’t understand how that can happen when we have a gozillion “anytime” minutes but that’s another thread, I guess…)
Uh, anyway, I called Verizon to ask what happened (because derned if I can understand the 97 page bill they send each month) and have discovered that they consider “peak time” to be Monday thru Friday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
That’s 14 hours a day! How can “peak time” be more than half the day?! I always sort of equated “peak time” to “drive time”, like maybe 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
I am disgusted. I’m sure they gave me some literature when I signed up that said it in little bitty letters so it’s my fault for not knowing…but Really! How can they justify this? Bastages.
Um, so…is that “peak time” for everybody? Or is your cell company different? Please feel free to share other ways in which you are screwed by your cell company as well. I want to have some company.
Most cell phone companies are extending peak time to 9 p.m.
Sprint, for a new customer, is from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
If, however, you are a valued customer, you can call the retention department and get a new plan - one that has peak time ending at 8 p.m. You are actually quite lucky to have an 8 p.m. cutoff instead of 9 p.m.
I get 1,300 anytime minutes (which basically equates to peak time) and 3,000 evening and weekend (8 p.m. to 7 a.m.). $50.
Peak time is also referred to as “Daytime Minutes” - and I certainly do not, in any way, wish to be insulting - but I do think that most cell phone customers know this or make a point to find out right away simply because of the serious risk of overage. I’m pretty sure that your cell phone company would expect you to know this - unfortunately for that large bill.
What kind of plan do you have?
I am a cell phone technology nazi and am familiar with most of the companies and their service.
Most cell phone companies are extending peak time to 9 p.m.
Sprint, for a new customer, is from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
If, however, you are a valued customer, you can call the retention department and get a new plan - one that has peak time ending at 8 p.m. You are actually quite lucky to have an 8 p.m. cutoff instead of 9 p.m.
I get 1,300 anytime minutes (which basically equates to peak time) and 3,000 evening and weekend (8 p.m. to 7 a.m.). $50.
Peak time is also referred to as “Daytime Minutes” - and I certainly do not, in any way, wish to be insulting - but I do think that most cell phone customers know this or make a point to find out right away simply because of the serious risk of overage. I’m pretty sure that your cell phone company would expect you to know this - unfortunately for that large bill.
What kind of plan do you have?
I am a cell phone technology nazi and am familiar with most of the companies and their service.
I believe when Pacific Bell (bought out by Cingular) first started the free nights package, peak time was from 7a.m. to 7p.m. (correct me if I’m wrong on this). By the time I got around to signing up with Cingular, it was 7a.m. to 9p.m.
We have Verizon, and our plan is 1000 mobile-to-mobile, 3200 night/weekend and 300 shared anytime minutes, all for $55.
You’re not insulting…I just wish they would call them “Daytime minutes” instead. That would be less misleading for me.
I was thinking our “anytime” minutes were the 3200 night/weekend ones. Now that I have looked closer at my bill, I see that it is different. We didn’t really get any sort of a plan description that wasn’t all fine print. I have asked them to send me something that is like a bulleted list so I can tell exactly what we get. This bill we get is 12 pages long EVERY month! It lists each call made or received and also has a list of credits and charges, and that is the part that gets me. It’s just not clear.
We did use up almost 600 of our mobile-to-mobile, which I find amazing. I can’t believe we call eachother that much!
Anyway, I am surprised to hear that other plans have peak time until 9 p.m. I guess we are a little lucky. We just have to monitor our usage and not do stupid things like call from the cell phone when we are at home and can use the home phone (which hubby does quite a lot since he doesn’t want to get up and get the home phone)
I have VoiceStream. My plan is Unlimited Mobile to Mobile, Unlimited weekends (12 am Saturday till 12 am Monday, or the 48 hours that actually make up Sat/Sun), and 800 weekday, with no “peak time” or discounts during the week.
I’m with Sprint, and my “anytime” minutes used to be from 7 AM to 8 PM, but then I changed my plan to get more minutes, and it changed to 9 PM. Kind of a pisser.
Tibs, don’t get yer panties in a bunch about 3G just yet. I work for a cell phone company and there’s some “challenges” with it (like our impending bankruptcy), but most of the industry is switching to 9 PM times for the night and weekend minutes, however, there is some talk (and that’s really all it is: talk) about moving back to the 8 PM start time.
The reason everyone’s switching to the 9 PM start time is that so many people were calling at 8, that it overloads the system.
3G Technology on phones basically means that they take up less bandwidth - phones can be either 3G Voice or 3G Data. With a 3G voice phone, you’ll have a longer battery life, better connections, blah blah blah. And with 3G Data, you can just download stuff from the wireless Web faster - though this isn’t all that important to me. 3G is a little more in depth than that but all the benefits of a 3G phone aren’t realized until more people get 3G phones. I’ve been trying to find a certain thread on a list that I’m on which explains it very well.
Geobabe, if you want 8 p.m. as your peak end time and you have been a customer of Sprint’s for a while, then I suggest you call the retention department at 1-888-298-9547. I called the retention department because I was considering changing carriers. I had 1000 anytime and 6500 evening/weekend starting at 9 pm for $75. My new plan is 1300 anytime and 3000 evening and weekend starting at 8 pm for $50. Many people who post at Sprintusers.com or Phonescoop.com have used this method to get a better plan and an 8 pm end peak time because it really does encourage people to switch carriers if they can’t talk before 9.
