Official List Of Smartphones That Will Allow You To Retain Your Grandfathered Plan

[aml1025]

Are you willing to take a gamble on that? FB's "official response" is by a customer service agent who may be misreading the company's actual policy as posted on the website.

No way - I already have the Optimus V, so the Elite wouldn't be a big-enough upgrade for me to take the chance! Just passing on what VM is telling their customers on Facebook. It will be interesting to hear how "official" it turns out to be, for those who do jump to the Elite in the next few weeks!

[Extraordinary]

You can't go wrong with the Optimus V at $50-$100*, it's a great phone for the price.

$50 @ Target, Black Friday
$52? @ VM, Cyber Monday
$79 @ BestBuy / Radioshack / Target during sales
$90-$100 @ Online

[BadCredit1]

Are you willing to take a gamble on that? FB's "official response" is by a customer service agent who may be misreading the company's actual policy as posted on the website.

Its true. I just came on here to post a thread about what just happened, but ill post it here instead:

My plan runs up on the 12th every month. So 2 days ago, I added $35 to my account(knowing id need it once the 27th comes), then I went to "switch plans", and switched to the $35 from my $25. It then said that on the 12th, my new $35 plan would start.

Well my plan just went through. I look at my account, and they TOOK my $35, but it says next "pay $25 on 6/12".

So they stole $10 from me, but at least I'll still only be paying $25 from now on.

Sent from my LG-VM696

[exuberance]

Its true. I just came on here to post a thread about what just happened, but ill post it here instead:

My plan runs up on the 12th every month. So 2 days ago, I added $35 to my account(knowing id need it once the 27th comes), then I went to "switch plans", and switched to the $35 from my $25. It then said that on the 12th, my new $35 plan would start.

Well my plan just went through. I look at my account, and they TOOK my $35, but it says next "pay $25 on 6/12".

So they stole $10 from me, but at least I'll still only be paying $25 from now on.

Sent from my LG-VM696

whoa whoa, that seems like a good deal to me, if you do get to stay on 25$/month :-)

edit: just read other threads that says VM now allows you to keep grandfather plan if you activate elite before 5/27. i guess their systems like to mess with us.

[503ducati]

whoa whoa, that seems like a good deal to me, if you do get to stay on 25$/month :-)

Maybe there is a method there to keep the $25.00 plan?

[IsLand_BoY]

I'm debating on trying the Elite and rolling the dice with my $25 plan. I actually have two $25 plans so if I lose one, I always have the other. We'll see though. I really would prefer VM just throw us a bone and offiicially say that the Elite will retain the $25/mo plan.

[primetechv2]

It's kinda sad that VM doesn't care about their oldest customers, but... yeah. They don't. But taking a screen shot of a response on one of the worst-phrased statements of all time, doesn't hold much water.

I'll laugh and/or cry when in another half year, they just cancel the $25 plan.

[Churner]

It's kinda sad that VM doesn't care about their oldest customers, but... yeah. They don't. But taking a screen shot of a response on one of the worst-phrased statements of all time, doesn't hold much water.

I'll laugh and/or cry when in another half year, they just cancel the $25 plan.

Never ever use the phrase "care about... customers" and the name of a company in the same sentence. The choice to end grandfathering on the $25 plan for customers who upgrade to 4G phones was not personal and wasn't calculated to offend anyone. It's just business.

Companies care about revenue. $25 customers don't provide enough of it. It shouldn't be a surprise that a wireless provider whose parent company has filed for bankruptcy took an unprecedented step to increase its revenue.

Companies care about churn. Eliminating the $25 plan completely would have created a lot of churn. I'm just glad they didn't eliminate the plan completely. If they had, I might have been part of the churn.

[feuerball]

The Optimus Elite is a phone that let's you keep the Grandfathered plan, but only if you transfer before 5/27. I got this directly from the horses mouth- asked Virgin mobile specifically via a secure message, if I can keep my 25$ grandfathered rate when I switch to the Optimus Elite.

This is how VirginMobile responded (took them 2 days):

Regarding your e-mail, in the case that you will like to get that
specific type of phone (Optimus Elite), you can surely transfer your
current service to the new phone.

Just to remind you, Virgin Mobile has a new policy that starts on
05/27/2012. After that day, if you purchase the phone and transfer the
service, our system will change your current offer to one of the new
plans rates ($35, $45, $55). Please make sure that you make the change
before that specific day to keep your old plan rate.

[agianne]

It shouldn't be a surprise that a wireless provider whose parent company has filed for bankruptcy took an unprecedented step to increase its revenue.

Which wireless provider and parent company are you referring to?

Sprint Nextel Corporation is the parent company of Virgin Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel is not in bankruptcy proceedings.

Minor point - you said "unprecedented" but I don't think you meant that; grandfathering rates/plans and providing inducements to get people off those old plans happens all the time in telecom.

[agianne]

It's kinda sad that VM doesn't care about their oldest customers, but... yeah. They don't.

I'll laugh and/or cry when in another half year, they just cancel the $25 plan.

I'm curious to know what you are expecting. Are you saying VM doesn't care because they are grandfathering an old price structure and not guaranteeing that you can keep it forever? You could say that letting us keep our old, cheaper plans is a "kindness" on their part - there is no law or regulation that requires them to do that. I would argue they do care on some level because if they didn't, they would have just announced the new rates a few months ago then force bumped everyone up to them.

VM USA is offering us a choice - get us off the old rate plans but get a newer/better phone and the possibility of 4G service (where available...) or keep using the device you've already got and pay the lower rate. I understand that isn't what you want, but not giving you what you want is not the same as not caring.

[aurora40]

I'm curious to know what you are expecting. Are you saying VM doesn't care because they are grandfathering an old price structure and not guaranteeing that you can keep it forever? You could say that letting us keep our old, cheaper plans is a "kindness" on their part - there is no law or regulation that requires them to do that. I would argue they do care on some level because if they didn't, they would have just announced the new rates a few months ago then force bumped everyone up to them.

VM USA is offering us a choice - get us off the old rate plans but get a newer/better phone and the possibility of 4G service (where available...) or keep using the device you've already got and pay the lower rate. I understand that isn't what you want, but not giving you what you want is not the same as not caring.

I agree. I think they are handling it admirably (minus the confusion around the Elite). They don't owe you a grandfathered plan, that's the risk of no-contract service. You can leave any time and they can change the rules any time. They changed their pricing structure (the $25 plan is the only one majorly increased, pricier plans for their heavy users got cheaper) and were nice enough to let people stay on the old one if they liked what they had.

If you stop liking what you have, i.e. your device, you lose that. I don't see anything there to be mad about.

[exit88]

My Elite arrived and I swapped it into my $25 account yesterday (Friday, May 25, 2012). It took a few seconds online, no calls, no troubles.

[Churner]

Which wireless provider and parent company are you referring to?

Sprint Nextel Corporation is the parent company of Virgin Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel is not in bankruptcy proceedings.

Minor point - you said "unprecedented" but I don't think you meant that; grandfathering rates/plans and providing inducements to get people off those old plans happens all the time in telecom.

Yes, I realize now that I remembered incorrectly. Although the company was rumored to be teetering on the brink of filing for bankruptcy back in March, they have not filed. There was a lot of drama around the teetering news at the time and I was remembering it as an actual filing. In fairness, the teetering revelation did turn out to be a tipping point for the change in the way the service is offered. REVENUE is king now and since $25 BT plans don't provide enough of it, the company is trying to tug subs on those plans upward by rewarding them with 4G amidst a "shower of perks" that have yet to be revealed fully.

What I meant by "unprecedented" was that the company is introducing Beyond Talk phones that require leaving behind the grandfathered $25 plans in order to place one on the account. Dividing BT into segments is unprecedented, for VM since the introduction of BT. I pay little attention to what other companies or even other arms of Sprint do, since I and my family's phones that I manage, have been VM customers since 2003.

[primetechv2]

I'm curious to know what you are expecting. Are you saying VM doesn't care because they are grandfathering an old price structure and not guaranteeing that you can keep it forever? You could say that letting us keep our old, cheaper plans is a "kindness" on their part - there is no law or regulation that requires them to do that. I would argue they do care on some level because if they didn't, they would have just announced the new rates a few months ago then force bumped everyone up to them.

VM USA is offering us a choice - get us off the old rate plans but get a newer/better phone and the possibility of 4G service (where available...) or keep using the device you've already got and pay the lower rate. I understand that isn't what you want, but not giving you what you want is not the same as not caring.

^ that's an ad hominem argument, jedge, I prefer not to be referred to as selfish while stating my case

Truth is the Elite is just a turning point for more revenue, which another poster graciously mentioned before me. It will NEVER offer 4G, so I don't understand how you can lump it into the assumption it's somehow superior to older phones when it isn't.

Furthermore, 4G isn't the choice here. If it was, customers could opt for a tack-on fee, which (due to corporate greed, the Invisible Hand, the profit motive, whatever) isn't gonna happen. You have purchased permanent 4G benefits whether you'll ever need them or not.

Money is VM's goal, naturally. Everything else is just a happy coincidence.