So, after looking over that recent offer from MCI (Neighborhood), I have come to the conclusion that it is a great deal. According to the pricing $49.95 per month for unlimited long distance and local, including call waiting, caller ID and three way calling. BUT...is there something I am missing? The only complaint I've heard about leaving my local carrier (Verizon in NY) is that customer service is a nightmare and once you make the change, It is hard to change back. Now, I am not sure that this is the case, but doesn't MCI lease capacity from the incumbent carrier and re-sell it cheaper? Heck, my local and L/D bills equal better that $100.00 per month including taxes. Can someone shed some light on this subject? Basically I am looking for a reason to not make the switch. Does Verizon offer a competing plan..I have not seen it yet. Thanks!!

[This message has been edited by jms8090 (edited 05-07-2002).]

I won't be able to answer your question directly but wanted to add ... my friends in NYC who wanted to sign up for this service were told it was a couple months waiting period to get connected. They said forget it. And the question you may want to check further is, is unlimited long distance to ALL parties you call or just parties that are also on MCI. The AT&T Unlimited plan applies only when you call other AT&T customers, therefore IMO making it not that good a deal - especially since I am not going to ask people who their long distance carrier is, keep track who is and who isn't etc. Just a couple things to consider. Also I would love to hear people's experiences with this service. MCI does not offer it where I live and other things I have heard are not great. But when you read it, it sounds great! So please let us know how you make out.

My parents in law will be switching from ATT Broadband to MCI Neighborhood in a couple of days. The rep said that unilimited long distance is to ANYONE not MCI long distance customers like ATT to ATT customers only. I called and verified that and then spoke to the supervisor - got the names too so I hope nobody lied http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Sounds like a good deal but this is still MCI so I don't know ..

This FT thread has additional input:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum99/HTML/000156.html

Howdy,

As I said in another post under this heading - I just signed up for it. The agent told me it was unlimited free LD and Local and Local service - everything - no matter what was a total fixed cost of 49.99

We'll see how it works.

Keep the faith,

Pakse

Only domestic LD calls are included, any international calls are extra...

Has anyone done the switch in the New York area?

One thing that I noticed is that a few features are extra that are included with Verizon. Call Waiting Caller ID is a ridiculous $7.12 per month and call forwarding is $3.94. An International plan is $2.00 per month (It has decent rates, but nothing like IDT). That brings the total up to $63.06 per month before taxes and fees, which still compares quite favorably with my Verizon+IDT of $55.90 per month before taxes, fees, and long distance charges.

I'm concerned about the switch going smoothly, though.

I just switched. Moved back to NY in December. First Verizon bill was $200. We make a lot of regional toll calls and a lot of instate LD. Yes, it's cheaper to call california than other areas of NY. I switched in February to Talk America, as they had a great deal at the time. $50 for unlimited local and regional toll and decent long distance rates. Got my bills down to $120. Then I got the MCI offer. I thaught it was too good to be true. But, after talking to them for a good two hours about the plan, there are no catches. Call anyone in the US any time of day or night any day of the week for one price (50 in NY, varies by state. My uncle got a quote of $60 in MD). Includes call waiting, caller id voicemail and call forwarding. I added the callwaitingID for $7 extra. There's a decent international plan you can tack on if you do a lot of int'l calling. They even let you check your voicemail over the internet. MCI is a strong company and not a flybynight operation. Plus, you get frequent flyer miles with this plan. I'll stick with this one until a better offer comes in. It's all about prices

It certainly seems as if this offer is too good to be true. I signed on (in NY) on April 17. The first glitch:There was some error and I was given unlimited local with NO long distance for 19.95 with plenty of extra fees for caller ID, etc..Apologies from MCI customer service and by June 3 I was totally enrolled in the neighborhood. Only time and a few bills will tell if this program works. I hope so. It is so much cheaper than my Verizon plan.Did receive a letter fom Verizon that they would take me back any time......

I just wanted to weigh in on MCI local service.

YUK.

They marketed HARD in the Atlanta area, so I decided to give them a try, walking away from BellSouth, for really, no reason at all.

Instantly, I noticed a degradation in signal quality . . . callers telling me how it was tough to hear me . . . sometimes static on the line . . . I had my own mother hang up on me because she couldn't hear me!

At one point, I got really tired of the telemarketers, so I asked MCI to change my number. The representative was not the smoothest practitioner of customer service I'd ever had, and when I expressed my possibility of calling around to check the competition regarding a certain issue, she merely said, "Do what you gotta do."

THAT irritated me to the point I called back to speak to some management, who "cheerfully" took my incident report. Interestingly, it wasn't till this 2d call to a manager that I was informed it could take up to two weeks to get me a new phone number.

Wow, I don't remember a phone number change ever being such a challenging issue.

Suffice it to say, it's been a MONTH now, and I'm still receiving phone calls at my original number. Interestingly, however, the anonymous telemarketers and hangups have markedly decreased. I'm a bit suspicious now . . . wonder if they sold some info on me.

Anyway, AT&T is beginning to offer local service in my area, so I'm going to check them out. I can't handle MCI anymore.

[This message has been edited by useratl (edited 06-09-2002).]

I find this an odd post. Are you saying you got more telemarketing call by switching to MCI??
Why did you need to change phone numbers for what is a change in long distance service?
Strange.

Mike

The issue isn't with MCI itself, and it will be the same with AT&T Local, or any other reseller. All of these companies resell local from Bellsouth, which in turn, since Bellsouth doesn't have you as a personal customer anymore, they take their sweet old time requisitioning your orders, including those for new phone numbers. Good luck!

Edited from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
JULY 2, 2002


Even as its parent company, WorldCom, struggles to survive, MCI has successfully launched a radical experiment in phone service that is cutting prices in many parts of the country.

Since April, more than 777,000 customers have signed up for MCI's Neighborhood plan, the first in the industry that lets customers make as many local and long-distance calls as they like for a single price. By wrapping long distance into the cost of basic service, the MCI plan represents the broadest assault in years on the regional Bell companies, which dominate the local phone business.

The service, which now operates in 34 states, works just like a cellphone plan. Customers pay a flat fee of between $49.99 and $59.99 a month (depending on the state) for unlimited local and long-distance calls. Also included in the package are six add-on features, from Call Waiting to Voicemail to Caller ID, that typically cost about $5 a month each on other plans.

The MCI service goes well beyond what competitors are offering in combined local and long-distance service. The closest plan Verizon offers is one that provides unlimited local and regional calling, plus four add-on features. In New York City, for example, that plan costs $49.95, the same as MCI's base rate. But it charges eight cents a minute for any long-distance calls. To get a similar plan with AT&T, you'd have to cobble together two different plans: a $28.95 local service plan and $19.95 for AT&T Unlimited, a long-distance option. On top of that, you would have to pay another $12.50 a month for three add-on features. The total: $61.40 a month, and that includes only long-distance calls to other AT&T customers. Calls to anyone else cost seven-cents-a-minute.

"For anybody calling more than $20 to $25 of domestic long-distance, this thing [the MCI plan] really makes sense," says Imran Khan, a senior analyst with the technology consulting firm Yankee Group.

But with WorldCom reeling, consumer advocates worry that the MCI plan, and the competitive spirit it has engendered, could be in jeopardy. They urge current customers -- and those considering the plan -- not to be scared off. If WorldCom winds up in bankruptcy or sells off some of its assets, the carrier would most likely continue operations.

Even people who don't subscribe to the new MCI plan are beginning to reap some benefits. The Baby Bells are just now starting to fight back in some states, and the result has been lower prices. SBC Ameritech, for example, last month began offering unlimited local calls to its customers in Michigan, and cut the flat rate by a third.

MCI and other long-distance carriers are having to think more creatively these days because of "wireless substitution." With more people able to make unlimited out-of-state calls on nights and weekends on their cellphones, they are using their regular phones less. Long-distance carriers as a group are losing about 12% of their revenues a year to cellphone operators.

The Neighborhood plan is also an effort to counter the regional Bells, which have snapped up a healthy share of the long-distance market in many states by offering a single bill for local and long-distance. In New York, half of all consumers get both services through one company, suggesting that combined plans could be the future.

MCI's aggressive push -- AT&T operates in only six states -- has been made possible by recent regulatory changes. Long-distance companies must effectively rent space on the local phone lines from the Baby Bells. Only recently have states required the Bells to make those lines available at a low price.

In Ohio, for example, regulators in October slashed from $111 to 74 cents the "switching fee" SBC Ameritech could charge competitors per customer. The long-distance carriers have made the most of this opening. MCI has won tens of thousands of new customers in Ohio, and AT&T has grabbed some new business as well.

In New York, because of the government-mandated fee cuts, consumers are paying 15% to 20% less for local and long-distance services than they did several years ago, says Gene Kimmelman, a director of Consumers Union.

MCI says it plans to have more than two million subscribers for its Neighborhood plan by the end of the year. But first it must overcome doubts about its survival. Some prospective customers worry that switching to MCI for local service might endanger their dial tone because of its parent company's financial problems. A more-immediate concern is whether MCI can continue to provide quality service after laying off thousands of employees. An MCI spokesman says the cuts won't affect customer service.

Mr. Khan's opinion: "It won't hurt to hang on." Because MCI doesn't prebill for service, there's no danger of customers being out money. And customers can keep their same phone numbers if they are forced to switch carriers.

I signed up for the Neighborhood plan several weeks ago.

The initial switch over wasn't particularly smooth (the Caller ID didn't work, though the Call Waiting Caller ID did work). I wasted so much time with the support people on this, and they even sent someone to my place to make sure it wasn't my phone (btw, it was a Verizon person who showed up). Still unresolved, I called MCI again and said it isn't working peoperly. They basically said they checked all the settings on their end, nothing was wrong, and that it was my phone, as if I don't know how to use a phone. I finally got a supervisor who actually knew what was wrong, I forget the details, but something really obscure. He put in the work order, and the next day it worked fine. Someone actually called to confirm (again a Verizon person), and it's been fine ever since.

Last week, the moment of truth...the bill.

Sure enough, the bill reads as advertised, $50 flat fee plus a boat load of taxes and fees courtesy any government body which needs some income.

Many years ago I wished Bernie Ebbers certain pain for the screwups in billing which they constantly committed. All I can say is that so far it has been a great service, voice quality and all just fine.

Still waiting for the UA bonus and miles to hit my account, though.

Nitin

Also see:

http://bye-byemci.com/