Mobile Rate plans - Promotions

Promotions
Wireless carriers regularly set aside funds to offer promotional deals to their customers. Promotions are designed to drum up new business for the carrier and are only for new customers, not existing customers. (Loyalty is rarely rewarded in the telecommunications industry.) If a new customer activates a phone with the carrier, she qualifies for the promotion. Promotions may include the following offers:

Free night and weekend calling for a year;

A free phone;

A free battery;

Free merchandise or gift certificates;

Extra airtime minutes each month.

Promotions are usually advertised on the Internet, on radio, and in newspapers, but you can normally find the latest promotions by calling customer service. If you are an existing customer, you can still request the promotion. Corporate accounts rarely qualify for consumer promotions, but the corporate account executive may be able to pull some strings because the purpose is to retain the corporate account and develop more business from it. Many account executives are skilled in securing preferential treatment for their corporate customers.

Upgrading from analog to digital
In the early days of wireless phones, everyone used analog phones. In the late 1990s, customers began migrating to digital wireless service. Around 2000, the number of digital users equaled the number of analog users, with about 45 million of each type. The two main reasons for this trend are that digital service is higher quality and is more affordable. When digital service was first made available to the public, carriers offered very attractive pricing. The carriers had invested in building their digital networks and were eager to build their customer base.

The downside of switching from analog to digital is that you must buy a new digital phone, your coverage area may be different, and you may have to get a new phone number.

For some wireless users, digital service is not the best option. Carriers offering analog service are still hungry for business and still offer competitive pricing. Of course, the rate plans vary from market to market, but especially in smaller, nonurban areas, analog service rate plans are usually the best. In these smaller markets, digital wireless service only has limited coverage, so a customer’s analog phone might be more useful.