I check my minutes used several times a month via the #MIN feature. I have AC so my Web 2.0 usage is counted as airtime. For the last three weeks or so my Web 2.0 does not show up on my MIN texts at all. It does show in my final bill though.
Always before the Web 2.0 may have shown up several hours after using them, but they always showed up. Anyone else having this problem? It is a problem as sometimes I do come close to my minutes.
Thanks!
Beware of switching your plan. I did that recently because my daughter wanted to upgrade her phone and the phone she really wanted required a switch to the current nation plan (don't know the name of it). The store person told us there was no difference in the plans other than the LG phone required it. When I got my bill next month, it was 15% higher because I was suddenly being charged for megabit pricing at $1.99 per Megabit (or any portion of it). No more using up my airtime.
I would believe that web 2.0 will be megabit pricing. So, make sure to ask lots of questions before switching plans.
So, it looks like this issue still exists--basically all minute counters (whether online at My Verzion, on the phone via #MIN, through customer care, etc.) simply no longer seem to be accounting for airtime used for data for those who are on older plans like America's Choice (where data is charged as airtime). This has started a few months ago it seems and has been quite mileading for those who are not on Nationwide plans and use data on their phones (like Mobile Web)--they would see their usage as much lower and then when they actually get a bill of course the data airtime is accounted for correctly there (as always) and many end up with many more mintues used, and often with overages since they had no idea they were going over.
Now, switching to other plans or anything of that sort is not really an answer to the problem, it's just a workaround. The issue here is that as of a few months ago Verizon Wireless started omitting data usage airtime in the tracking (online or otherwise), which has been misleading to users on non Nationwide plans. Given that this issue results in completely incorrect minute tracking, people have no real way to track their usage (tracking it on their own or via the counters on the phone is just not even close to accurate either). Users on Nationwide plans have no issues like this as their tracking is correct since data isn't charged as airtime for them.
So, what happens to those of us on America's Choice and other older plans? There's certainly an obligation on Verizon Wireless' part to provide proper service and features to them, and being able to track minutes that are used is one of the main features that simply has to be there for all of us who have plans with limited number of minutes.
When will this issue be resolved? It worked correctly all this time until a few months ago, so it can definitely be fixed, and given that it involves something as important as minutes which can result in overages, this would appear to be a pretty big tracking/billing issue that simply can't be ignored.
C, Have you tried speaking to Tech support at *611 instead of customer service? It could be that they are now under the M2M minutes instead as you said you noticed a change there. They normally can provide better information when it comes to features than customer service.
I couldn't offer much assistance as I added VCast when I decided to start using the web on my device. Plus, Elmo to go is a godsend when you have a toddler.
The Americas Choice II and Nationwide plans are the same cost. The only differences is you now can use Friends & Family (Alltel's My Circle) and data is calculated and charged differently.
Thanks for the reply since it doesn't seem anyone is really replying in regards to this issue. Unfortunately I've tried both customer service and technical support (straight from my mobile phone and over a landline) and each time end up getting transferred at least a few times with some of the transfers having long hold times and each time I talk to someone they don't quite seem to grasp the issue (and end up transferring to someone else essentially).
In terms of Nationwide plans, I certainly understand the differences and the pricing being essentially the same, but that's not quite the point in the end--I would like to and I certainly can (since VZW fully supports grandfathering) to remain on the plan I'm on, for whatever reasons, and certainly services like minute usage should work properly no matter if I'm on the latest plan or an older plan (I shouldn't feel I need to switch in order to get basic actually essential services like minute usage which are very much essential to the service VZW provides).
Well, based on some good feedback from some who are involved with VZW on a different forum it looks like some progress was made on this actually known issue--it appears it has been fixed as of today (6/18) and the tracking is back to normal. It took a while, but at least it's back to normal now.
And, what do you know, I went from being at a little over 100 peak minutes for the last week or so to suddenly being at bit under 500 peak minutes used. So, a few days before the end of my billing cycle, while all long I was only seeing very low usage, I'm suddenly over my minutes--if that's not completely misleading I don't know what is. In my case it's a good thing I have overage protection minutes that I got during my last upgrade, but it's still not right though to be penalized like that for an error on VZW's part basically. Yes, I know, the usage is mine of course, but without me having any real way to track it, and relying on VZW's features to do it for me, which they always have and have been promised to do so, is certainly misleading when they don't work correctly and show much lower usage for a few months.
It also doesn't seem that the M2M usage went down, so perhaps my theory of the data minutes being counted there wasn't quite on target (although I'm still surprised at the high M2M usage I seem to have, which is more than usual and I don't quite recall calling that many people on VZW's network).
Again, glad it's fixed, but for those who got hit with overages due to this I wonder if VZW would do something if they talked to them about it.
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