If Unlimited cost $100 what would the advantage be of a family plan when each additional line also cost $100?

Flate Rate? or Flat Rate?

@PeteyNice: True. Sounds nicer though doesn't it? What's even more ridiculous is that each additional line is another $100 (which means that your family of 40 could get individual lines for the same price). If each additional line after 2 was say $30 or $40 then you could save a lot per extra person and it might make sense. Alas.

Call me when its unlimited minutes for 40 bucks... you know what my old LAND LINE could do.

@Falconfire: my CURRENT land line does this - Unlimited local and long distance for $40 a month.

I still don't understand this, but I'm not a chatty woman or a teenager or a business user. I get a ridiculous amount of minutes on the cheapest tier at AT&T, and my rollover account is stuffed. Those are "anytime" minutes. And there's no such thing as long distance. And this is shared with another phone on a family plan. Plus there are sooooo many free nights and weekend minutes, who really uses all those minutes?

For about $50 a month, then, we have two phones that we can't nearly use enough of the minutes on, not worry about long distance, and... what's missing? I don't see $100 per month being worth it unless it was unlimited international calling (and for that, I use Gorilla Mobile).

@PeteyNice: probably two or more free crappy LG phones.

I seem to remember years ago a commerical for a cell phone that was unlimited minutes for 99/month, tha ad hada basketball team... did that go away and then come back just now?

For $65 or so, I get 400 unlimited use minutes from T-mobile shared between myself and my husband on two phones. And 300 text msgs each. Calls to each other are unlimited (t-mobile to t-mobile). I've only come close to the 400 minutes once while I was planning my wedding. I don't see the need to have e-mail access on the go or constant access to the Internet. Everything I've ever needed could be had with a quick txt msg to 'Google' who responds.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't chat for hours on the phone with people and I don't like bringing my work with me all the time.

We could never justify an extra $100 for the second line vs. the extra $9 for the second line we currently have.

We just don't talk on our phones that much. What I want is unlimited data so I can finally justify getting a phone were using the web on it makes sense.

@bohemian: The "extra $100" seems to be for a 3rd line, actually... the family plan covers 2 phones at $200 (hopefully for unlimited everything, but there's probably a few of the features like international data that are still extra.)

What is meant by the 5mb data cap "is out"?

This could be a good deal for someone who wants to dump their land line. Perhaps they pay close to $50 per month for the wired phone and $50 or more for the cell. Go totally wireless and save.
It's the wave of the future, IMHO. If prices become reasonable (not $200 plus taxes and fees for a family plan), I'd kill the landline and go wireless myself.

@GearheadGeek: So that's $100 per line x 2 = $200. Plus $100 for the third lines brings us to $300. That sounds like $100 for each line to me.

Verizon's plans include two lines.

I can't imagine spending that much time with my ear glued to a phone. This would not be a good deal for me, personally.

No roaming? You might as well get Cricket or PCSMetro then (if you're in an available market) at less than 1/3rd the price Verizon is charging.

*Shrug*

Fido used to offer unlimited local calls for $40/mth. Then they were bought out by Rogers. They no longer offer the unlimited plan.

@ptkdude: If they stick to their usual family-plan model, each phone on the family plan will probably get something like their Select or Premium plan... you'll get messaging and/or vcast stuff bundled in. It still doesn't look like a great deal.

@Southern: by "no roaming" they mean "no roaming CHARGE"

@PeteyNice: One bill? Saves paper?

That's all I got.

@GearheadGeek: by "no roaming" they mean "no roaming CHARGE".

Ah, that would make sense. Not too bad of a deal then, considering that you can go anywhere with it. Still seems a bit pricey to me, but I expect the prices to fall as more and more cellular companies start to compete with the "All you can eat" plans. :)

my wife and I share 1400 min/month on our Cingular plan (oh, sorry ATT, you bought our phone company and changed the name, didn't you? Well, f$#@ you b!tches, it'll always be cingular to me!) and we NEVER use up all that talk time. for 99$/month, it's a whole lot cheaper than 199$/month for two lines on this new bs verizon crap. Plus, my colleague has verizon, and his phone ALWAYS loses its signal in the hospital, but mine never does. Go figure.

Cool! I've been thinking about adding data to my existing VZW plan, and this may make the math work better than it has. I can hook into my VZW MOT e815 both with my laptop and my Palm T|X (sorta), so it would make me fully mobile. I'll be calling about this tomorrow. {ProfJonathan, who thinks of this as a birthday present, since TODAY'S HIS BIRTHDAY!}

I have access to the AT&T Premier website because of my job, and found a most interesting, though unattainable, perk. The "perk" was listed as "Unltd Nat'l Minutes Unlimited" but it didn't explain was it was. This might be a glitch, because I was on the phone with a very friendly AT&T rep and she could not find out what this was. It was found on a premier website, and will only come up when I add and/or remove a Plantronics headset as an accessory. Since there isn't a "MORE" option for me to click on, I wasn't able to find out what it was. Believe me, I've tried.

Screen Capture: AT&T Unlimited???