Okay, This may sound bad, but should or could it be done?

Sign up for MCI, cancel and sign up for Sprint after the first sign up bonus miles post. Then cancel sprint and go back to MCI for the initial sign up bonus again and repeat.

The reason I ask this is that MCI give a large sign up bonus but only 1k a month after that. (Which I know from experience doesn't always post) So by utilizing the above strategy you could effectively get 3k miles from MCI per month.

Thoughts?

I switch my numerous phone lines so often, I need to keep a spreadsheet to keep track of which line is with which long distance company and to confirm bonuses have been received. I switch them back and forth all the time.

One thing to keep in mind: You can't switch back to the orginal long distance company and expect to get a sign up bonus for the same frequent flyer account.

An example: sign up for Sprint-Northwest Airlines. Get Sprint bonus and switch to MCI with United Airlines. After MCI bonus posts, switch back to Sprint-Northwest but use another family member's account :::OR::: switch back to Sprint-Alaska and get a bonus.

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Addicted to airline miles? Check out: The Airline Mileage Workshop

[This message has been edited by MileageAddict (edited 04-29-2001).]

You're deffinitely in the right to switch as often as your heart desires because 1) they created the switching game and 2) they try their hardest to bleed their customers as much as humanly possible. A well documented example of point #2 is MCI's extremely deceptive practice of forgetting to sign you up for the correct calling/mileage plan and then later telling you that your plan never existed.

Switchaway. I have been switching for last 5 years

You may not be able to get a sign up bonus ...

What you can do is this: I have my US Airways account, that's my *primary* FF account and the one I'd prefer to always get miles in. So I signed up with MCI when I got my new phone line. After I finish getting my signup bonus of 1,000 miles/month, I'll switch to Sprint for the best deal at the time and collect Alaska or Northwest miles for a while. Within a few months, MCI will phone me and offer me 10K miles or something like that to come back, so I will ... it's not the standard sign-up bonus, but something to get me to come back. Just wait for the call, it will come ...

MileageAddict, moondog, drbala, Beckles:

I have 3 phone lines & 3 Frequent Flyers in my house, from your experience can I have then have a total of 9 sign up bonuses per phone company?

[This message has been edited by Dudemon (edited 04-30-2001).]

I am a "frequent switcher", but I have never had the feeling that it was me abusing the phone companies. Most the time, before I even get to switch, the previous company calls me with a new offer to "come back". This has been going on for some years now. I like the idea with the spread sheet, that would help me, too. The best party is, that I do not do any long distance calls at all from the line I am switching

We used to flip LD companies on a monthly basis when I was in college in the early 90's. Those were the good old days when MCI, Sprint, and AT&T would send you a check in the mail. Go to the bank, deposit check, and your service was automatically switched. We used to earn most of our beer money in a given year from these bonuses.

Only problem was that we didn't *really* make a lot of long-distance calls. I think we eventually found our way onto the blacklist of "cheap-o college students who flip too much", so the checks stopped coming. By then, Sprint had hooked up with TWA, so I started earning Avaitors miles.

I haven't paid for a long-distance phone call in a couple of years (I have Sprint PCS), but I still switch once in a while if someone is dropping 5000 miles in my lap. Sprint PCS now offers Northwest miles if you pay the full nondiscounted rates (usually not worth it, if you can get a discount one way or another).

I do not think that any of this is an abuse of the phone companies. They created this monster, and phone companies don't exactly have a stellar history of playing fair with consumers to begin with. If you are gathering tons of miles for very little revenue, that's great: you are getting a little bit back after decades of mistreatment.

[This message has been edited by rmccamy (edited 04-30-2001).]

I am a "Long Distance Ho". I'll switch carriers for any reasonable offer. Just got $80 cash for switching to AT&T, and I'll switch again tomorrow if someone offers me something good. If no one offers me anything after a few months, I'll go on the Internet and look for some reasonable offer, and if I'll find one I'll switch again.

I don't think there is anything the slightest bit unethical about any of this, but my approach is a bit sloppy. Has anyone come up with any kind of reasonably-based standard approach along the lines of, "I'll switch when the offer is worth the equivalent of $____" or "I switch every ____ months?" Or is it as haphazard as my approach would suggest? I must say that I've probably netted about $100 to $200 a year in cash or cash equivalent over the past seven or eight years.

When I signed up for AA MCI, I only got 1,000 miles/month...no initial 3,000 mile sign up bonus?

Also, keep in mind that these rates are "high" vs. market rates: 7 cents/minute is ok, but you have to pay a $3.95 monthly fee, and you are socked with full minute rounding vs. six second billing (a minimum 15% difference).

Now, on the other hand, you do get 1,000 bonus miles/month during the promo period, which is worth about $20/month.

So, if you talk for 1000 LD minutes/month, you are paying $3.95 plus $10.50 in rounding surcharges, you're ahead...the breakeven is a little north of 1500 minutes.

By comparison, IDT offers 5 cents/minute with 6 second billing and a $3.95 monthly fee; and lowermybills.com offers a 4.5 cent/minute rate with no monthly fee, plus a 100 minute sign-on bonus, but full minute billing.

There are numerous 6.9-7.0 cent/minute plans with no monthly fee and 6 second billing.

So, the moral of the story is to be sure to switch when the bonus miles end.

[This message has been edited by nologic (edited 04-30-2001).]

In telecom lingo, people who frequently switch LD carriers are spinners. It's public info that AT&T & MCI put in place processes to minimize giving incentives to spinners (e.g. many of those here in FT). Some of you have discovered how to work around these rules.

If you swtich to MCI or AT&T for miles, you can change plans after your switch is confirmed. (To confirm your current LD carrier, call 700-555-4141. On this free call, you'll hear a recording naming your current carrier.) After your switch is in, call the company's customer service to switch to a no-fee or lower-fee plan. With MCI, it's easy to go on the web site to do this. You'll also receive a $1 monthly credit if you set up online billing directly to your (presumably miles earning) credit card.



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He who dies with the most miles ... is dead.

I recently switched to MCI via the United website. I received a packet in the mail with "United" printed on the calling cards. I just received my first bill (after less than a month), and was wondering whether there should be a mileage statement on the bill (there wasn't). Am I expected to keep track of the miles myself to make sure they are eventually credited, or is something wrong here? (And I just signed up to get the bonus miles because MCI is considerably more expensive than AT&T.)

Also, after I switch back to AT&T, does anyone know if I can get the ClickRewards bonus for signing up for MCI again, or is it limited to first time customers. (Click Rewards bonus is supposedly 2000 miles per month for the first 4 months.)

Thanks!

We normally maintain two lines at home. Being a ff miles addict, we switch ld companies the moment signup bonuses are posted. ( 3-6 months ). They have almost accounted for around 60-75000 of all miles we have in our accounts since Jan 99.

On the other hand, I signed up with MCI in 1985, got AA miles, and never switched at all (despite moving a number of times, including changing states). Still getting those AA miles...

Signing up for the miles and actually receiving the miles are often two completely different functions. Go to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/001535.html and see how to search out nice cheap telephone rates. I never pay more than 5 cents/min, have no monthly fixed charges and have great telephone service too.

As for "miles for phone service"...........FAHGETTABOUTIT!

MisterNice