Now that Alltel has officially given sway to Verizon in most areas, the latter’s forums are alive with the sound of nervous questions from customers wondering about their rate plan/feature longevity and somewhat vague pats of reassurance from moderators. This vagueness in times of transition is certainly not the BlackBerry Storm — that would be, a Verizon exclusive. Most larger carriers at this point have waged, married and mated one another, none — in the beginning, at least — flawlessly. Sprint labored diligently to stir the unique features of its halves and made more headway than many carriers, but in its transitional time, one could hear many customers from both divisions in a brood over being yoked to “those guys”.
Customer reluctance and carrier vagueness in these situations are both grounded in reality. For customers, they consider potential loss of the features that attracted them to Carrier X long before, and are often provided reassurances that taper off into the caveat: “for now, anyway”. The general rules of carrier match-making seem to be that customers from the purchased (sometimes integrated) carrier are permitted to keep what they have until they want to purchase a phone which requires a specific data feature offered by the dominant carrier. Rates and brand-recognized features are normally grandfathered, customers are mostly allowed even to upgrade to a handset from their new home provider without losing their rate plan.
The reason that carriers, such as Verizon, don’t volunteer (or benevolently grant to an audience foaming at its mouth) specific information on what will happen down the line is twofold.
1. They anticipate the growing pains. Distinct billing systems, call center protocols, systems of customer reward, etc., coming together will inevitably tangle now and then. Carriers realize that, for themselves, it will be costly to train and maintain support staff for this and that, for their customers, marred bills and misunderstandings will grow old. Quickly.
A readily available statement that all immigrant customers be allowed to keep their services for as long as they want would downplay the frustrations the carrier realizes are likely to occur.
2. Not all solutions are present at the outset. Yes, the network does wish customers would assemble on a single-carrier platform, in no small part so that it won’t feel like a harried mother watching fifteen kids of various ages at the park. Yes, it is more than likely that the carrier will benefit fiscally if customers move away from the old and toward the new. It’s also possible that creative solutions are in the works, to which carriers hope their constituents will keep an open mind. Sprint produced a line of Sprint/Nextel hybrid phones. Some carriers offer bundle incentives to those on their mainstream rate plans.
Hopefully, Verizon will pull through this gangly, early-life stage of the transition with grace and will see to it that customers who pull through likewise will be accordingly rewarded.
