Alltel customers coming over to Verizon Wireless can breath a sigh of relief as it appears Big Red will be adding a new My Circle-like feature to its calling plans. The new Friends & Family feature will be available starting February 15th and allows you to add 5 or 10 numbers to a Friends & Family calling group. Calls to and from this Friends & Family calling group will not count against your plan minutes. To be eligible for this feature, you must have either a Nationwide Single Line plan with 900 or more Anytime Minutes (minimum $59.99/month) or a Nationwide Family Share Plan with 1,400 or more Anytime Minutes (minimum $89.99 for 2 lines/month). An individual line is able to add five contacts to its Friends & Family calling group while a Family Share line is able to add 10 contacts that are shared among plan members.

It is somewhat disappointing that these features are added to the higher minutes and higher priced calling plans and not the basement 450 minutes Nationwide Single plan or the 700 minutes Family Share plan. Also disappointing is the fact that the 10 numbers in the Friends & Family calling group are shared among plan members and not allocated as 5 to 10 numbers per line. Regardless, this is a nice addition for current customers who already subscribe to the eligible plans and should also help those Alltel customers who were disappointed to lose the benefits of their My Circle plans. Best of all, this additional feature is free!

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Read

Sure, you probably want to put Chad and his wizard friend through a wall just like us, but it’s hard to deny that Alltel has a pretty solid wireless offering. Its My Circle calling feature in fact is likely one of the most attractive plan enhancements on the market here in the US. Now Alltel has upped the ante with the addition of My Circle messaging packs that can be added to any My Circle plan. My Circle messaging is indeed exactly what you would imagine is; unlimited SMS and MMS messaging to anyone in your circle. There are two flavors of My Circle messaging packs available. The first is $7.99 and includes an additional 400 SMS / MMS per month for people outside of your Circle and the second is $12.99 while includes 1,000 SMS / MMS. Beyond these new additions, Alltel still offers unlimited messaging and mobile web for $20 per month. Chief Marketing Officer Frank O’Mara’s snippet:

Alltel’s ‘My Circle’ provides customers the ultimate in choice and value by giving them the ability to call or text any five, 10 or 20 numbers. Whether talking or texting, our new “My Circle” message packs provide customers the most cost-effective plans for staying in touch with friends, families and business associates.

Read