Stop Paying for 411 on Your Cell Phone

You still dialing 4-1-1 on your cell phone when you need directory assitance? Well Stop! For example: T-Mobile will charge you $1.49 for a 411 call. Other cell providers costs vary, but they do charge you something.

Instead, try programming 1-800-FREE-411 (800 373 3411) into your speed dial instead.

You’ll have to listen to two ads. One at the beginning of your call, and another just before you receive the number you are looking for. I tried this a few time and it found every residential and business number I was looking for. Unfortunately, there is no option to be automatically connected to the call, but with the way I use directory assitance, this will save me over $10 a month.

 Another good one to try is Google’s Free 411. (1-800-GOOG-411). They will automatically connect you to your number, however they only provide assistance with businesses and commercial properties.

How Do I Cancel Vonage?

So after 2 months trying out T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home (my review) and liking it very much, I decided to drop Vonage. Since most everyone already knows my cell phone number, losing my Vonage number wasn’t an issue, except for telemarketers probably.

I was about to embark on a very interesting ride from what I gathered by reading about earlier horror stories of people being on hold for hours before they can reach someone. So reluctantly, I called the customer service number. After navigating through the web of voice prompts I selected the “Cancel My Service”. I figured this one takes you to a hold queue of 40 minutes then to some person that will do whatever they can to not let you cancel.

To my surprise I was only on hold for 5 minutes until I reached Debra (ID: E25293). Here is where the fun begins. She asked the usual account verification questions, then asked my why I wanted to cancel. I told her that I have this new cell phone. (I wasn’t about to explain to her what Hotspot @Home was since I knew she would never understand it). She then started to tell me how much more my cell phone costs than Vonage. I let her go on for a bit, before I started to become agitated and asked her if she heard what I was saying “I WANT TO CANCEL!” She would just ignore that and tell me what a great customer I have been. This went on for about 10 minutes as she asked a list of questions, which I wrote down. I started asking for her supervisor and each time she told me she was an account manager and then proceeded to offer me more free service. I think I was up to about 4 free months before I told her I was calling their corporate office hung up on her. I was pissed. What a waste of 15 minutes!

I almost called their corporate office, but wasn’t sure which number would get me anywhere. After calming down a little I thought about it and came up with the right strategy … Don’t give them a reason to try to keep you. And that means lie if you have to!

Here was the plan. (I wrote down all the questions I was asked on the previous call and devised answers that would not make it easy for them to keep me).  There are the responses I would use on the next call to cancel:

• When asked why I was cancelling: “I don’t use the service anymore” (This was true since I haven’t had the device plugged in for about 2 months)
• When asked what am I using instead of Vonage: “I am using a cell phone” (Truth)
• When asked how much are you paying for a cell phone: “My company pays for it” (Total lie here)
• When asked if I wanted to keep it for a backup: “My wife has a company paid cell phone that we use as a backup” (Again, another lie)
• When asked if I want to transfer my service to any friends or family: “My family all died in a horrific plane crash on the way to a family reunion and my friends are now homeless after the stock market crash” (Some of my finest work ever)
• When asked about the quality of Vonage when I did use it: “There were so many outages. And the wait time to talk to support was ridiculous!” (Partial Truth)
• When asked if there is anything more she can do to help me keep the service: “No Thank You”

Again I placed the dreaded call to their customer service line and the wait time was less then 5 minutes. This time Christine was my account manager. I didn’t even bother to ask for her ID in the beginning since I thought I wouldn’t need it. So I went through all the questions above her and she noted down my responses. Don’t know if she bought the plane crash one or not! After the last question, that was it! She cancelled it, I got a verification email and no more service. Damn they were persistent though. I guess when you are hit with multiple patent lawsuits you need to keep your customers!

I hope this helps anyone trying to get away from that crazy company!!! Just preplan what you are going to say. Don’t give them a reason to try to keep you as a customer. Don’t elaborate on your answers make them short and sweet. And getting angry and asking for a supervisor did nothing. Just keep calm and keep saying “No Thank You!”, if you can last.

 All I can say here is that Vonage wasn’t a bad service, but with that kind of customer service, I will never touch them again!!!!

Get Out of Sprint Wireless Contract for Free

Problem:

Stuck in a wireless contract with Sprint Wireless and you would like to go with another wireless carrier and don’t want to pay the $200 early termination fee?

Solution:

Call their customer service once a day until they terminate you!

I was reading this post and thought I would share with you. $200 can be a pretty steep fee to pay if you are past your 30 day refund period but are having issues with your service. Many carries are now offering pro-rated termination fees based on how close you are to your contract expiring, but this one is still funy nonetheless.

Update: Hustler $$$ Blog has a good post on upcoming changes to Sprint’s terms that should allow you out of your contract, rather than having to piss off customer service reps!

This post reminded me of INGDirect.com who has a history of dropping customers based on the amount of times you call customer service. Now how is that for a great customer experience?

Ridiculously Cheap Sprint Wireless Service Update

A few people have emailed me to let me know at that the Sprint SERO plan has unlimited text messages if you sign up by 12/31. The cost for unlimited text messages is normally $10.00 / month with this plan.

 So as a recap:

• 500 minutes (larger minute plans available)
• Unlimited Nationwide long distance
• Unlimited Mobile to Mobile (Sprint to Sprint calls only)
• Unlimited Web/Data Access
• Unlimited Picture Mail (with compatible devices)
• and now Unlimited Text Messages

all for $30 per month? Can you possibly find anything cheaper?!?!?!

See my original Sprint SERO Post for more details and how to sign up for this deal.

T-Mobile Hotspot @Home Review

I spend a lot of time fooling around with Voice Over IP (VoIP), which as most of you know, is a technology that allows you to place and recieve phone calls over the internet for a cheaper rate than the standard phone sytem (PSTN). Usually they offer unlimited plans so you no longer have to worry about long distance calls since they are included, similiar to cell phones these days. Using VoIP is seamless. You use your current phone just like you did before, to the average person you really can’t tell the difference as the sound quality is very good and the way you dial and receive calls is exactly the same.

 I have used Vonage, Broadvoice, VoicePulse, Teliax and IConnectHere. All of them have worked but have had their quirks. I have experienced outages with all of them at least once, wich can be frustrating since you are paying for a monthly service.

I started reading up on a service that T-Mobile was offering called Hotspot @Home. The Hotspot @ Home Service is an addon to your current cell phone plan which lets you make calls from your cell phone over a WiFi router, similiar to that of VoiP, but using a different technology called UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access).

The phones can switch between a wifi router and the cell towers without dropping the call. This is great since when you are near a wifi router the router acts as your signal strength, so if you have a wifi router at home, that calls from anywhere in your home are possible, even your basement. Then as you leave your house, the call will automatically switch to the cell towers without you or the person on the other end of the line noticing it. The reverse is true as well as you near a wifi router that you have setup on your phone, the call will switch from the cell towers to the wifi router seamlessly.

With the Hotspot @Home plan, any call that originates over a wifi router is free, regardless if it switches over to a cell tower during the call. Can you imagine the possibilities here with the abundance of wifi out there these days? You can also use any of T-Mobile’s Hotspots (Starbucks, FedEx Kinko’s, etc) to place free calls. The phone will automatically detect them and connect. This is a free service offered to those that have the Hotspot @ Home plan. The best part about this is that you could technically sit outside a starbucks, make a call over the wifi router, drive away while the call switched to the towers and the entire call will be free!! So even on the go, you can find a way to make free calls.

Currenty there are only 4 Phones that work with the service as you need a dual mode GSM/Wifi phone which supports UMA. The plan is an additional $19.99 addon to your current cellphone plan. But for all the free calls I definetly this this is worth it. All the phones have the ability for you to add a secured wireless router that uses WEP, WPA, etc, so you can use your own wifi router at home. T-Mobile does offer a HotSpot @Home router as an accessory if you currently don’t have a wireless router.

I signed up for the plan 2 months ago and bought the Blackberry Curve. I love it. I have a wifi router at home and at work, which is where I make most of my calls, I barely put a dent in my available minutes!!! I have currently dropped my home phone as well as Vonage, which I was starting to become very unhappy with. So I am saving around $25 per month and I now only have one phone number. No more “Can you call me on my home number so I don’t use minutes?”, all my calls at home are free! The biggest plus for me is that before my T-Mobile coverage at home as very weak, now with this plan, I get full signal at home through my router. The calls are very clear and I have not had a service outage yet. The customer support is very helpful with questions regarding setup/issues as well.

So as a recap, I would definetly recomend this service to anyone that wants to consolidate phone plans as well as makes a lot of calls from their cell phone. I no longer have overages on my cell phone account and am saving money at the same time!

Get the BlackBerry Curve Hotspot @ Home Phone for $99 @ Wirefly.com!

Ridiculously Cheap Sprint Wireless Service

Sprints Employee Referral Plan (SERO) is now open to everyone. Not sure how long this is going to last, but these prices beat anything out there right now.

I recently started telling my friends about this. I signed up a month ago and am loving service, especailly since I am saving around $40 / month from my previous service with Verizon.

Here are the plans:

• 500 minutes for $30.00 / month
• 1250 minutes for $49.99 / month
• 2500 minutes for $99.99 / month

Plans include:
Unlimited Nights & Weekends starting at 7pm!
Domestic long distance
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile (Sprint to Sprint calls only)
Unlimited Web/Data Access
Unlimited Picture Mail (with compatible devices)
*UPDATE* Free Unlimited Text messages (Sign up before 12/31)

Don’t forget that data plans alone ususally cost around $20 – $30 per month, so if you currently have service with a data plan, this is a no brainer.

They also offer the Unlimited EVDO broadband plan at $49.99 / month. This service is great if you can’t get Cable or DSL service at your home, or you always want to be connected.

All plans require a 2 year contract. You can also port your number over to Sprint if you would like to keep it. The phones are shipped out via FedEx 2 Day service.

All Sprints’ current phone lineup is available with these plans with most at a discount.

How to sign up:

• Go to the Sprint SERO Website
• Enter the following email address: savings@sprintemi.com

Like I said earlier, there is no telling how long these deals will last. If you get Sprint coverage in your area, this is definetly worth a look.

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