VW FamilyPlan questions

[tangomango]

My family has the 1400 Talk plan for a total of 4 lines (2 data), we pay as of now, $166.74. This includes a 22% discount on the primary line only.

It really sucks to have such nice phones but not be on a text plan. Is there any backdoor tricks anyone knows that may help bring down the price? We wanted Talk & Text, but it was coming out to something crazy like $196.xx per month.

We thought about switching to sprint, but the phones were better (DROID!), and the coverage is a LOT better. Damnit, I just wish the discount was put on all lines of the plan and even the data prices (like Sprint does)...and perhaps maybe if it was unlimited to all carriers.

But back to my question, does any happen to know anyway I can bring down the price if we get Talk and Text? Perhaps a clever way to work around it or something that can be done?

Thanks!

 

[tangomango]

Arg, would a Mod. please move this to the following section:

Verizon - Android Forums

:[

 

[Stolz25]

If you have a Droid you can pay 1 or 2 dollars on Ebay for a Google Voice number. Activate that and use it for texting. I've got text messaging blocked to my phone but I get unlimited through that. Only thing is that anyone sending a message to you has to use your google voice number.

 

[Howie]

The only work around I can think of (free) is Google Voice if you can get an invite.
Note: it doesn't all picture / video messages through Google Voice.

 

[russell5]

the thing i noticed is if you switch to talk and text your discount now applies to texting because its on the primary line. So in my case it saved me money then have seperate texting plans on my 2 lines

 

[tangomango]

Sweet, thanks for the replies and input fellaz!

I actually just bought one for $1.35! I'll check it out as soon as the seller sends the info.

 

[tangomango]

the thing i noticed is if you switch to talk and text your discount now applies to texting because its on the primary line. So in my case it saved me money then have seperate texting plans on my 2 lines

Well, that's what I thought I would do too. But the price is still a little outside the ballpark. I would hate paying for so much when essentially, only the droid users are using text (2 phones out of 4).

 

[Stolz25]

It's a little bit of a pain to get set up working right (less so for you since you don't have texting at the moment probably). And it only retrieves texts every 5 minutes (you have to change the setting to that) but it's well worth the savings I think for that little annoyance.

 

[tangomango]

Also, one question to the Google voicers:

If I didn't like Google Voice, is it hassle-free to cancel? Or does it come with some sort of 'contract?'

 

[Stolz25]

It's free, so I don't see any reason to cancel it. All you are paying for is the original invite. But if you want to cancel your number I don't think it's hard.

 

[tangomango]

It's a little bit of a pain to get set up working right (less so for you since you don't have texting at the moment probably). And it only retrieves texts every 5 minutes (you have to change the setting to that) but it's well worth the savings I think for that little annoyance.

I found this:

'While push notifications are not currently available, for those who want to be notified faster than the 5 minute interval, you may want to edit your GV settings to also send you an email when you receive an SMS. The email should arrive soon after the SMS is received, and you can even respond via email, and have the message sent back to the recipient as an SMS.
If you're interested, in your GV account go to Settings > Voicemail & SMS > SMS Forwarding > and choose to Forward SMS messages to your email.'

@

Receiving SMS through Google Voice (Android) - Google Voice Help

That seems like a very comfortable fix!

 

[colnago]

Doh...I though this was a "Volkswagen" thread.

 

[Jrocker23]

I have the family share plan for 700 minutes per month on 4 phones and we took the option of putting the unlimited text option on the 2 kids phones. They charge us $5 per phone but with the kids its worth it.

With your plan, you should have unlimited text on the first 2 lines already. You could add unlimited text to the other 2 lines for $5 each...

I hope I didnt misunderstand your question..

 

[johnlgalt]

Better check that - I thought that I had unlimited for $5 as well, turns out it was 250 per month for that price....

 

[riffdex]

I found this:

'While push notifications are not currently available, for those who want to be notified faster than the 5 minute interval, you may want to edit your GV settings to also send you an email when you receive an SMS. The email should arrive soon after the SMS is received, and you can even respond via email, and have the message sent back to the recipient as an SMS.
If you're interested, in your GV account go to Settings > Voicemail & SMS > SMS Forwarding > and choose to Forward SMS messages to your email.'

@

Receiving SMS through Google Voice (Android) - Google Voice Help

That seems like a very comfortable fix!

Seems like the perfect solution for you. What could be better than having a texting plan (through google voice) without having to pay anything And yeah, as other's have said, google voice is a free service provided by google and it technically shouldn't cost anything to get an invite either, but it's very hard to find someone who has a spare invite, so of course, paying $0.99 isn't a big deal, compared to having to search forever and probably never find a free invite.. haha.

 

[AndroidsOfTara]

If I didn't like Google Voice, is it hassle-free to cancel? Or does it come with some sort of 'contract?'

Google Voice is absolutely free. There is no contract. Use it as much or little as you like.

 

[Jrocker23]

Better check that - I thought that I had unlimited for $5 as well, turns out it was 250 per month for that price....

It is unlimited, we have had the plan for a few years now and added the kids this summer. The online bill shows unlimited for our first 2 lines and the $5 plan for each of the other 2...

I have never had an issue and have gone over the 250 a couple of times due to following 2 many twitter people.... lol

 

[tangomango]

It is unlimited, we have had the plan for a few years now and added the kids this summer. The online bill shows unlimited for our first 2 lines and the $5 plan for each of the other 2...

I have never had an issue and have gone over the 250 a couple of times due to following 2 many twitter people.... lol

I'm a little confused. You mentioned you have 700 minutes, but is this Talk or Talk & Text?

Roughly speaking, Talk & Text is $29.99 more than Talk. How much are you paying just for the unlimited text on the two phones (rough estimate)?

When I spoke with the VW rep. (both at the store and online) both said that you cannot split the unlimited text plan amongst phones, they are for ALL phones. Meaning I wouldn't get a 'discount' if I wanted it to be on only 2 phones as opposed to all lines.

The only options I see are as follows:

Unlimited M2M + 500 messages = $10.00/month
Unlimited M2M + 5000 messages = $20.00/month
250 Text, Picture and Vids = $5.00/month

that's if I didn't opt for the plan but rather individual plans. And I don't see an option for 'unlimited.'

Would you confirm/deny this once more? Thanks

@others:
On Google Voice I see a balance of $0.10, I was wondering what this is for.
https://wbillpay.verizonwireless.com/vzw/accountholder/services/viewFeatures.action#link

 

[brettlewis]

funny you ask, while in the app store yesterday, under the "verizon" tab, they had an app called "textPlus" the descrition says it allows you to text message for free, without a plan.

I think it is funny that it was in the verizon tab

edit: here is the market page with barcode http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.gogii.textplus/

 

[johnlgalt]

And here is that provider's website - textPlus powered by GOGII

 

[Eurosteve]

Google voice sms works great. And free.

 

[Jrocker23]

I'm a little confused. You mentioned you have 700 minutes, but is this Talk or Talk & Text?

Roughly speaking, Talk & Text is $29.99 more than Talk. How much are you paying just for the unlimited text on the two phones (rough estimate)?

When I spoke with the VW rep. (both at the store and online) both said that you cannot split the unlimited text plan amongst phones, they are for ALL phones. Meaning I wouldn't get a 'discount' if I wanted it to be on only 2 phones as opposed to all lines.

The only options I see are as follows:

Unlimited M2M + 500 messages = $10.00/month
Unlimited M2M + 5000 messages = $20.00/month
250 Text, Picture and Vids = $5.00/month

that's if I didn't opt for the plan but rather individual plans. And I don't see an option for 'unlimited.'

Would you confirm/deny this once more? Thanks

@others:
On Google Voice I see a balance of $0.10, I was wondering what this is for.

I just checked my plan. We have family share plan with 700 minutes.

On my bill its listed as Natonwide talk and text FS 700 for $99.99 per month plus 3 additional lines at $10 each so we pay $140.00 plus taxes & fees and an extra $10 for the unlimited text on the 2 kid phones ($5 each)

On my bill for the main phone (My Fiance) & the second phone (my phone) it shows the minutes and says shared then its shows further down txt messaging and says unlimited for both with no price listed.

Under the kids phone numbers it shows minutes & says shared then it shows txt messaging and says unlimited with a $5.00 charge in the last column for each of their phones.

I dont have friends and family, just the family plan and again its a few years old and could have been slightly different back then I honestly dont know. Just like my vcast plan I had. When they candelled the unlimited $15 dollar vcast plan, I was able to keep mine because they grandfathered people in who had it. Now you have to pay for internet usage and limited at that which we all know.

 

[tangomango]

Hm, that's odd.

My understanding was that if you get Talk and Text, the text messaging is automatically unlimited for all lines.

If you opt for any (700min, 1400min, etc) Talk and Text plan, then you get the following:

'* Unlimited Messaging for sending and receiving (i) Text, Picture, Video and Voice Messages with Verizon Wireless and non-Verizon Wireless customers in the United States; (ii) Text, Picture, Video and Voice Messages sent via email; (iii) Instant Messages; and (iv) Text Messages with customers of wireless carriers on participating networks in Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico...'

so I'm wondering why you have to pay the extra $10 ($5 for each phone) for your kids...because I thought Talk and Text already gives you unlimited texting.

Unless I totally got it backwards...would anyone want to confirm this?

 

[Jrocker23]

Hm, that's odd.

My understanding was that if you get Talk and Text, the text messaging is automatically unlimited for all lines.

If you opt for any (700min, 1400min, etc) Talk and Text plan, then you get the following:

'* Unlimited Messaging for sending and receiving (i) Text, Picture, Video and Voice Messages with Verizon Wireless and non-Verizon Wireless customers in the United States; (ii) Text, Picture, Video and Voice Messages sent via email; (iii) Instant Messages; and (iv) Text Messages with customers of wireless carriers on participating networks in Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico...'

so I'm wondering why you have to pay the extra $10 ($5 for each phone) for your kids...because I thought Talk and Text already gives you unlimited texting.

Unless I totally got it backwards...would anyone want to confirm this?

You are right, I looked again and saw that i was looking at the wrong line on the charges.

Sorry about the confusion...

 

[QrafTee]

You are right, I looked again and saw that i was looking at the wrong line on the charges.

Sorry about the confusion...

If you kids are on the same family plan they should have unlimited text (if you got the talk and text plan) so... why are you paying 2x $5 for the kids plan on top of that?