Vodafone Friends & Family Savings

[3GScottishUser]

Vodafone UK Press Release 31/10/2006:

From 1 November, for as little as GBP 5 a month, Vodafone UK customers will be able to make unlimited calls to each other with the new Vodafone Family tariff. Offering great value, Vodafone Family will enable groups of either four or six people, to get free calls between one another at anytime – providing they are all Vodafone customers.

For GBP 5 a month, a customer will get free calls at anytime to three chosen people, whether they are a contract or pay as you talk customer. By nominating friends and family who use the Vodafone network to be part of the calling group means that all conversations between the members are free, for up to an hour per call. For families, this new initiative should give parents greater peace of mind, as they will be always be able to call their children, even if they have run out of credit.

Those that want to be part of a bigger free calling circle can create a group to include themselves and five other people for just GBP 7, meaning that six members of the group will then get free calls to one another.

Tim Yates, Director of Vodafone's Consumer Business Unit, says: "Vodafone's dedication to adapting to customers' specific needs, while providing the best value, is more evident than ever with this new initiative. We all have very pressured lives, juggling family, friends and work, and this tariff will ensure we can always stay in touch."

Customers who join Vodafone Family can belong to three groups of family and friends at any one time, meaning free calls with up to fifteen people. Vodafone Family can simply be added on to any existing price plan from just GBP 5 a month, ensuring that customers won't have to change their tariff and can start making free calls straight away.

Vodafone Family follows other recent value initiatives for Vodafone customers including free weekends where prepay customers who spend GBP 5.00 during the week get free calls to any UK network and texts all weekend.

More information can be found by visiting

www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafonefamily.

[Ben]

Hmm, I'm not convinced to be honest, but it's another innovation to add to the arsenal.

[3GScottishUser]

I think I can see the benefits.

Most folks call only a few numbers regularly so if you can cap your calls to your 5 favouite numbers for £5 a month that could be a big saving. Add in Stop the Clock and bills could be a lot less than they used to be!!

[3g-g]

I think I can see the benefits.

Most folks call only a few numbers regularly so if you can cap your calls to your 5 favouite numbers for £5 a month that could be a big saving. Add in Stop the Clock and bills could be a lot less than they used to be!!

You just wonder though, if you're all on Vodafone anyway it comes out of your included minutes, or if you STC then what would be the charge, 3 mins then the rest of the hour free anyway? Whereas doing it this way, Vodafone guarantee the £5 / £7 from the punter when they might not of spent that much in the first instance!

[Hands0n]

Wait! ........... Have I got this right?

If I take on the £5 a month that means that I can add my kid's Vodafone PAYG to the family group. Then, even if he is out of credit, he can call me free of charge (well, not accounting for the fact that I've already lashed out a fiver for the benefit). Is that right?

The FAQ seems to allude to that (here http://www.vodafonebusiness.co.uk/family/faq.html ) and if that is the case it is a masterpiece of work. I mean, having a pair of Vodafone PAYG handsets that I use only occasionally I could simply add these to the group and then hand them out to anyone who I wanted to be able to be in contact with .... and all for a £5 a month?

That, in my book, is a flippin bargain! If I got that right :)

Where's Maxspank when you need him :D :D


Oooh, here's a tasty bit out of the T&Cs


For contract customers signing up or re-committing on or after 1st November 2006, Vodafone Family is only available with a new 18-month minimum term contract.


Edit: It gets even better .... we can call within the nominated group for that £5


In order to benefit Group Owners must register for Vodafone Family. You can register in any Vodafone store or participating retailer, visiting www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafonefamily, or by calling 31111. Once registered your group will be able to call amongst themselves at no extra cost, once the group is activated, subject to these terms and conditions. Activation takes 2 hours. We will notify you and your Group Members once your group is active.

So, the lad who is out of credit on his PAYT can still call within the group for that same £5 fee paid by the group owner (me as usual!).

The PAYT = Owner seems to be well thought out too ...


Future monthly payments for prepay customers, will be taken each month from your credit balance. We will start trying to take payment for your subscription 3 days before the fee is due, to ensure payment goes through in time. We will send you a reminder message about this the day before we start trying to take payment. If you have insufficient credit to pay for your monthly subscription by the due date, we will suspend your group and calls between your Group Members will revert back to standard price plan rates. In the event that your group gets suspended, we will inform all your Group Members by text. We will then attempt to take payment over the next 30 days. If we are unsuccessful in taking payment for your subscription during this time, we will cancel your Vodafone Family subscription.


Some group overlapping is allowed;


Customers can belong to a maximum of 3 groups, including 1 as the Group Owner

[3GScottishUser]

I think this is very clever..... £5 a month lets you keep in touch with other nominated Vodafone customers on an unlimited basis. If you already have a Vodafone would you let your spouse or kids have anythng else??

Vodafone have never been a company who like to reduce prices in a straightforward manner but sometimes some of the complex concepts they come up with can be worth a lot more than a simple 10% or 25% call cost cut. This family deal, Stop the Clock and Passport are examples of big money savers for those prepared to commit to Vodafone, use their partner networks and encourage others to do likewise.

[Hands0n]

I couldn't resist - I activated a 4-member group and added in a brand new Vodafone PAYT SIM with the free £1 credit on it (actually 80p as I made a boo boo dialling a number, 10p gets lopped off on connection as a minimum charge per call). Just to test it out I called from the 80p phone to my contract phone and left the call open for 20 minutes, sufficient to drain the PAYT's 80p. Then I checked it out with a call to 2345 where the 80p was still in place :) Mistrustful? Moi? Surely not LOL

Setting up the group took the stated two hours for the texts to come through confirming it was ready for use. An agonising wait if you're in a rush. I could not get the set up to work via the Vodafone website - something is broken there at the moment. I have two handsets on contract and it would not let me change to my handset, insisting that I use the daughter's. So I called 31111 and went through the menus there, which wasn't so hard to do really.

Once the service is available to use the group "member" phones get


has added you to their goup. Calls to them are free (up to 60 mins). T&C's at vodafone.co.uk. To decline text back STOP. 31 Oct. 2006 04:00 PM From : 34444


The group "manager" phone gets


From Vodafone Family: Your group is now active. Calls between each other are now free within the UK for up to 60 mins per call.


Noone knows who else is included in the group - you have to let the others know who they can dial for free.

This is going to cause me to seriously reconsider my Contract minutes and texts. I think that with Family, STC and Free Weekends I am way overpaying in contract terms - the roll-overs each month are getting huge! I might even be better off switching off the Contract and going PAYT at this rate!

[getti]

I would think the EXACT same thing if it was not for their £7.50 per MB data charge :(

[getti]

UPDATE!.

Got a message from someone i talk to working in vodafone. There are MMS and Data packs due before the end of the year for PAYG and contract customers on Vodafone.

Finally we will see the most expencive data charge in history drop to something more suitible!.

Well that has made my mind up for me. Vodafone PAYG here i come!.

Especially with my mum, dad, brother and nan being on Vodafone and are the main numbers i phone. Add that to STC, passport, free weekends and great value bundles and it beats quite a few contract plans but you can be flexible as you like.

I was all set to join Orange PAYG 3G with the £1 a day unlimited data but on working out the differences it might allow data use, but lets down on texts and calls.

A topup of £50 a month gets £60 credit. For that i can get:

200 mins any network
500 texts any network
Stop The Clock
Passport
Free Weekends *
Free calls to my main numbers

* Really my 200 mins and 500 texts only have to last me Monday til Friday so they do last longer than just the number value

[3GScottishUser]

This offer takes a while to get your head round but as Hands on points out its much better than it looks at first glance.

The two-way free calling between calling circle members makes it a very attractive deal that should help Vodafone expand once customers know that they can reduce their calling costs with this add on. As pointed out above when included with Stop the Clock, Free Weekends, bonus top-ups and Passport, PAYG customers have never had such an attractive offer. This deal has the potential to slash calling costs for many who have lots of on-net contacts and just imagine how delighted those contacts will be when they get a text telling them calls to your number no longer cost them anything!!

If ever a scheme had the potential to propogate and generate new users - this one has. Full marks to the Vodafone tariff team who came up with this one - everybody wins!!

[Ben]

I'm certainly seeing the value perspective better now. However, I still think this is way too confusing to catch on big-time, which is what it needs to do.

With Vodafone not only is the user saddled with a contract with various bonuses and usually an extras pack of some form or another, that is now more complicated still through its exclusion of MMS, but they also have to concern themselves with countless add-ons and offers like Passport, Stop the Clock, Free Weekends, bonus topups (PAYG) and Friends and Family. I can only think that getting good value out of Vodafone is this complicated because they don't actually want the user to get it!

It should be clear by now that I believe Vodafone's network to be vastly superior to the others in the UK. Their tariffs do, however, still leave a lot to be desired on the simplicity front.

[maxspank]

Where's Maxspank when you need him :D :D



Here I come to save the day! Oh wait everything has been explained :D I meant to post about this a few weeks ago, but I forgot.
Ithink VF Family is great. Especially for family's to keep in contact with each other, the kids on PAYT can always call their parents even with no credit, the kids can call each other for free, mum can call dad, dad can call mum all from dad paying £5 a month. Surely every family would love this?

[Yssybyl]

Hmmm. I think I'm the only one who read the press release slightly differently there...


For GBP 5 a month, a customer will get free calls at anytime to three chosen people, whether they are a contract or pay as you talk customer. By nominating friends and family who use the Vodafone network to be part of the calling group means that all conversations between the members are free, for up to an hour per call. For families, this new initiative should give parents greater peace of mind, as they will be always be able to call their children, even if they have run out of credit.


To me, with my picky English, this implies:
1) The person who pays the GBP 5 gets to make the free calls to 3 people
2) Conversations between the payee and one of the nominees are free but it is not explicit that this is true in reverse (between the calling group is ambiguous) so I have to assume it is a one-way free call - to do otherwise would be risking call charges...
3) The "they" in the last clause of the sentence refers to the parents and not the children (as you can always call someone who has no credit left), again implying that it is the parent who needs to sign up

Am I being overly cautious here? I'm very protective of my stupidly tiny monthly rental and wouldn't want to add to it unnecessarily. But I am personally wary that this offer is as good as it appears to be...

[Hands0n]

@Yssybyl - I think that you are being a tad "overly cautious" but with good reason, it is an astonishing offer - and we are all brought up to question something that looks too good to be true. I was like you with Flext. It took me some time to get my grey cells around T-Mobile's Flext ......

I read through Vodafone's Family T&C's - they are reasonably clearly worded, and that was good enough for me to check it out. After all, its only a £5 experiment for me, if its no good I can jettison it with a phone call to Voda's CS.

I have put two PAYTs on Family with the Contract handset being the "manager". All are able to call eachother without any charges- the two PAYT "members" were able to call eachother without any debitting of the Top-Up amounts in credit. It really is "free" between all the members as well as to/from the manager.

Sign up can be with any handset - so the Kid's PAYT could be the "manager" of the group by dialling 31111 and registering. The £5 a month is automatically debitted from the PAYT Top-Up residue. You do not need to have any Contract phone in the equation.

[whatleydude]

So in an ideal world we could all pay £5 per month and have free (hour long calls) forever?

[Hands0n]

Well, yes, in an ideal world :) That would be one in which you had no more than four or six of you that you needed to be in contact with. There are probably many small families that could make excellent use of this facility, if they but knew about it!

I think that it is very telling how much it actually costs to handle voice via mobile network, the fact that so much of it is literally being given away these days - and the mobile companies are still making very significant profits in their business. But for the best part of two decades have been saying how much of a premium it is to be able to "walk and talk" that the charges have to be high by sheer necessity. That particular lie is completely exposed now.

[Yssybyl]

one thing I did notice in the small print on the bottom of the advert for this on TV last night was that the calls had to be up to 60 mins and "60 mins apart".

other than that it all looks very good :)

Shame all my friends and family are on other networks ;)

[3GScottishUser]

"Shame all my friends and family are on other networks"

Er..... I think that is the whole point. Vodafone are trying to tempt you to make some changes that will benefit you and them at the same time.

[Ben]

60 minutes apart? O_o

See what I mean about needlessly complicated?

[Hands0n]

one thing I did notice in the small print on the bottom of the advert for this on TV last night was that the calls had to be up to 60 mins and "60 mins apart".

other than that it all looks very good :)

Shame all my friends and family are on other networks ;)

I've read through the T&C's and didn't come across that. I'll have another look through them when less bleary-eyed and if it is in there I'll make note on here!

[maxspank]

I looked too, it's not there and it's not something we were told about.

[Hands0n]

I have been through the entire T&C's with a fine toothcomb and there is no mention of a 60 minute "throttle" between calls. There is only one single clause that has mention of 60 minutes and it reads as follows;



9. Vodafone Family calls are free, anytime, for the first 60 minutes only. From the 60th minute onwards, the caller’s normal price plan charges will apply. Customers with Vodafone Stop The Clock or Free Weekend Calls promotions cannot benefit from these services after the 60-minute Vodafone Family call has expired.


It seems reasonable to me that you shouldn't expect STC or Free Weekends to kick in after the Family 60 mins has expired. In all of those there is a 60 minute maximum free call - the only caveat being that with STC there is a charge for the first three minutes. Maxspank can probably verify but it seems to me that the priority stacking of these three facilities would be

1. Family
2. Free Weekends (if the call is being made in that period and you previously qualified)
3. Stop The Clock (if the call si being made in that period)
i.e. Family would apply first if the person called is a group member, then Free Weekends if the call was made in that period and you had previously qualified and finally STC if none of the previous applied. Always assuming, of course, that you'd subscribed to all of those.

The complete Vodafone Family T&C's are located here (http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Page_BOS_MainContent&pageID=AV_0660)

The Vodafone Family FAQ (http://www.vodafonehelp.co.uk/GettingStarted.php?ModelID=85&class=146&h=0:&e=0) also says


Can we really all call each other as often as we like?


Yes.
Each one of you can call the others whenever you like, as often as you like.
And if your call is longer than 60 minutes, don't worry - your normal rates will then apply.

Vodafone Family only applies to calls within the UK.

[maxspank]

I have been through the entire T&C's with a fine toothcomb and there is no mention of a 60 minute "throttle" between calls. There is only one single clause that has mention of 60 minutes and it reads as follows;



It seems reasonable to me that you shouldn't expect STC or Free Weekends to kick in after the Family 60 mins has expired. In all of those there is a 60 minute maximum free call - the only caveat being that with STC there is a charge for the first three minutes. Maxspank can probably verify but it seems to me that the priority stacking of these three facilities would be

1. Family
2. Free Weekends (if the call is being made in that period and you previously qualified)
3. Stop The Clock (if the call si being made in that period)
i.e. Family would apply first if the person called is a group member, then Free Weekends if the call was made in that period and you had previously qualified and finally STC if none of the previous applied. Always assuming, of course, that you'd subscribed to all of those.

The complete Vodafone Family T&C's are located here (http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Page_BOS_MainContent&pageID=AV_0660)

The Vodafone Family FAQ (http://www.vodafonehelp.co.uk/GettingStarted.php?ModelID=85&class=146&h=0:&e=0) also says

Yeah, obviously STC and FWC won't work with your chosen group numbers, there's no need for them really. There will be a fair usage policy but tht's to be expected, but there is nothing to stop anyone just hanging up before the hour is over and calling back.

[solo12002]

Now I wonder why anyone would want to have a contract on vodafone> Free calls, I could think of a few sites were it be cheaper to pay £5 and make calls to 3 other mobiles than rent radios lol