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 Message Boards » » You know why rollover minutes are useless? Page [1]  
kiljadn
All American
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Because you can't TRADE them for anything.


I would love for a cellphone carrier to come up with a system by which I could exchange minutes that I have paid for and am not going to use for something equally valuable.


IE:

I pay $75 a month for 5000 minutes. That's $0.015/minute.

I use 2500 minutes. That means I have $37.50 in unused credit left over. Why can't I:

Apply that to my next bill?

Retain that credit and apply it to my next phone purchase?

Use it to get airline miles through some partnership?





Seriously, if companies did shit like this, on the credit card company model, they'd have much better retention rates.

6/21/2009 3:24:25 PM

simonn
best gottfriend
28968 Posts
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but would they make money?

6/21/2009 3:26:14 PM

Spontaneous
All American
27372 Posts
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At first I was going to troll, but that actually sounds like a good idea!

6/21/2009 3:27:23 PM

beatsunc
All American
10824 Posts
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and if you try to step down to a lower plan they wont let you take your rollover mins you paid for

6/21/2009 3:27:52 PM

UberCool
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3457 Posts
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i suspect the reason they won't ever give a credit for unused minutes is people like me: i have 400 minutes a month and rarely use more than 100 (in-network and nights/weekends account for most of my calls). i wouldn't ever be paying anything

6/21/2009 3:28:06 PM

kiljadn
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^ Yeah, actually I'm in the same boat. It blows that I pay so much for so little usage. I converted my "unused rollover minutes" into $$$ and I'm sitting on about $300.



simonn: of course they'd make money. Mine is just a rough draft, but any real implementation would have to be weighted in favor of the carrier for it to be economically feasible


like if they were to give airline miles, for example, they'd work out a favorable rate of exchange with whatever airline.


It's just like currency trading, really. Each stop takes a cut off the top.

[Edited on June 21, 2009 at 3:32 PM. Reason : .]

6/21/2009 3:30:27 PM

jwb9984
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14039 Posts
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i've never had rollover minutes so i'm not clear on how they work. i'm assuming that at the end of the month, if you have left over minutes they just add on to your next months.

do they ever go away though? can you build up rollover minutes indefinitely? after 2 years on a plan with 5000 minutes, and only using 2500 minutes a month, can you have 2500 leftover minutes x 24 months = 60000 minutes??

if so being able to cash them in would definitely be awesome. but maybe you just need a new plan...

6/21/2009 3:37:05 PM

BJCaudill21
Not an alcoholic
8016 Posts
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i dont ever use my minutes. but apparently i went like 1400 texts over so it'd be cool if my rollover minutes would cover that

6/21/2009 3:38:45 PM

kiljadn
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They do expire after a set period of time, which varies.

I don't really have 5000 rollover minutes, I was just illustrating there.

I actually have the lowest plan you can get for my phone, because I talk on it so infrequently. I've never once had to dip into my cache of rollover minutes in 3 years of having this carrier.


And as someone said above, if you change plans, you tend to lose your rollover minutes.

6/21/2009 3:39:50 PM

Noen
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Quote :
"Because you can't TRADE them for anything."


yeah you can.

Check this:

Craiglist Post - "I will sell you a phone + xxxx minutes of talktime for $xx.xx"

Charge them for the phone, the add-a-line fee and they can eat up your rollover minutes. You can setup the phone as a "kid's line" with most carriers, that will cutoff after a certain minute threshold is reached.

As long as you charge less than a prepaid phone service, there's almost zero risk in it for you.

6/21/2009 3:40:13 PM

jackleg
All American
170962 Posts
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i dont think my minutes roll over, i never actually read the bill

6/21/2009 3:42:25 PM

Tarun
almost
11687 Posts
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tree fiddy!!!

6/21/2009 3:43:00 PM

not dnl
Suspended
13193 Posts
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7228 roll over minutes for me. 828 minutes left this billing period

6/21/2009 3:43:08 PM

EUSWALO
All American
619 Posts
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Quote :
"i dont ever use my minutes. but apparently i went like 1400 texts over so it'd be cool if my rollover minutes would cover that "

seriously

6/21/2009 3:45:37 PM

kiljadn
All American
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DAMMIT TYLER


What about the cost of my time to coordinate all of this craiglist and extra line chicanery?


I just want to trade my unused minutes for a new phone

or a plane ticket to San Juan

or any other number of things

6/21/2009 3:45:43 PM

EUSWALO
All American
619 Posts
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they're "minutes" not "miles"

6/21/2009 3:53:40 PM

kiljadn
All American
44701 Posts
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read the original post and try again, dipshit

6/21/2009 3:54:50 PM

dyne
All American
7323 Posts
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no incentive to change. not like you're gonna change your carrier over something like this.

6/21/2009 3:55:41 PM

kiljadn
All American
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Actually I would.

6/21/2009 3:57:31 PM

Kev4Pack
All American
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6/21/2009 3:59:34 PM

Noen
All American
31346 Posts
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Quote :
"What about the cost of my time to coordinate all of this craiglist and extra line chicanery?"


Get some shitty used phone from a friend for free, activate it, put ad on craigslist.

Get cash in hand, and done deal. Maybe an hour of your time?

6/21/2009 4:03:23 PM

nacstate
All American
3786 Posts
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exactly, some people would rather waste that hour posting about it on TWW.

6/21/2009 5:03:16 PM

legatic
All American
7481 Posts
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bitching about this seems kinda silly

cell phone companies used to not offer this at all, at least you sorta get to keep 'em now

also, if you never use more than 1/2 of your minutes why not just go to a smaller plan?

6/21/2009 5:32:50 PM

not dnl
Suspended
13193 Posts
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Quote :
"also, if you never use more than 1/2 of your minutes why not just go to a smaller plan?"


some of us are.

[Edited on June 21, 2009 at 5:39 PM. Reason : at the smallest plan]

6/21/2009 5:39:24 PM

BubbleBobble
BACK IN DA HIGH LIFE
115363 Posts
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because you cry yourself to sleep at night

6/21/2009 6:23:12 PM

kiljadn
All American
44701 Posts
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^ u mad?

6/21/2009 8:05:28 PM

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