ok i'm with RokJok on this 1. i worked for alltel on both ends of the sepectrum, their retention dept in a call center and then as a tech rep in a store.
i'll clear a couple of things up...
1st you do not need a data plan to use the phone, but you will lose out on being able to sent or recieve picture messages because the Q use the e-mail data feature to send the photo. you can send regular txt messages though no problem.
2nd the unlimited plan that every was refering to was a non-evdo data plan, whats the difference evdo is high speed internet kind of like road runner, the standard datat plan is more like dial up. also when they say its unlimited its refering to unlimited data transfers... what does that mean well if if your veiwing a web page thats heavily load with photos the phone still has to download that info, on the less exspencive plans they would give you up to 4mb free or 10 mb free and then a flat rate after that.
with the unlimited it doesn't matter, but here the catch your still using air time or as most people call it your mins. this is why, if your on one of those plans your bill is out the roof.
the other plan is a high speed internet connection and it doesn't use any of your air time so its truely unlimited. expensive i'll agree, truly unlimited.
when i bought my Q they told me the same things, but having been in the buisness, i knew the work arounds, but i also sit in front of a computer for hours on end at work so the need for the service just wasn't there for me.
as for the commisson, itsmore like a spiff plan for the sales people, all the employees at alltel are paid hourly, they do have a quota to hit yes, and they do get a "Bonus", but if you as the customer remove the internet package or txt mssging or any of those features that they try to sell you, and its within the 1st 6 months of them putting it on. guess what the rep is charged back for, so there is incentive to push it yes, and when i worked in the call center there was alot of people that pulled some shady **it, but they got theirs in the end.
i hope that help some of you better understand the buisness.
o yeah 1 more thing all those extra features i.e txt, web, insurance, and the lot of them is pure profit for all cell phone providers, this is why they lock you in to 1yr and 2yr plans and why you get such a discount on the phones believe it or not they lose money everytime they sell a phone and the features is how they recope it. |