AT&T unveils free calls for its A-listers

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

Verizon has "Friends and Family", T-Mobile has "myFaves" and now AT&T has the "A-List with Rollover" (not to be confused with the A-Team). 

AT&T customers with individual Nation plans of $59.99 or higher can phone up their very own VIP cast without tapping into their monthly allotment of minutes.  For individual plans, you'll be able to select up to five domestic phone numbers (mobile or landline) to call for free, while FamilyTalk customers with plans of $89.99 or more can select up to ten numbers.

According to David Christopher, Chief Marketing Officer for AT&T, “This is an incredible value for many of our customers that essentially lets them ‘double dip'.  Not only will they not use minutes from their monthly plan when they call their A-List numbers, but our unique Rollover feature means they can keep those minutes for use in future months." (Has anybody actually ever dipped into those rollover minutes?)

As with competing plans, AT&T users will be able to manage their A-List online through their MyWireless Account and change them anytime, allowing 24 hours for new numbers to register. 

A-List with Rollover premieres with AT&T on September 20, 2009.  The full  release on this new feature can be found over at AT&T's Newsroom (opens in new tab).

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson

Phil is the father of two beautiful girls and is the Dad behind Modern Dad. Before that he spent seven years at the helm of Android Central. Before that he spent a decade in a newsroom of a two-time Pulitzer Prize-finalist newspaper. Before that — well, we don't talk much about those days. Subscribe to the Modern Dad newsletter!

10 Comments
  • yawn
  • Cool, I can add my best friend... My Google Voice Number.
  • No yawn...this is awesome news! I'd been thinking about MAYBE switching to T-Mo when their 3G came to my area primarily because of this service. I was thinking about Google Voice (since I have an account), and was thinking "what's the point?" of using that with my cell phone, as even if google voice offers unlimited calling, it'll eat up my cell minutes, esp if someone else on AT&T calls my Google Voice number instead of my regular number. Now it is worthwhile completely! Thanks AT&T :) Plus those pesky friends on other networks now can be talked to without me being so stingy on how long the conversation lasts (or refusing to answer and just using txt msgs with my unlimited plan).
  • As with the rest of the them, it starts with the $59.99 plan. The only reason I have to use that plan is because I go over using the $39.99 plan. I have had the higher plan for 11 months and I have close to 2000 rollover minutes that I have used none of. If At&t wants to do something cool, they should offer the 5 friends on the $40 plans. That might actually save me money. When I was on Verizon, I was able to use the cheaper plan because my Wife, Mother, Brother, Sister, and Best Friend were on Verizon. They account for 90% of my calls. I guess I'll just keep the $60 plan to go with my mandatory data plan for having my tilt. jerks.
  • I'm with you on this. I'm also on the 39.99 plan. I think this is a direct target for customers like us, on the cheaper plans. This means more money for att if we all switched.
  • Good for ATT. They needed somethin like this. Rollover minutes alone wasnt doin it.
  • Why pay more for unlimited calls to a few people, when most of us have rollover minutes that's never been touched. If you are constantly dipping into your rollover minutes then you are in the wrong plan. I have about 2000 mins banked that's never been dipped into. People need to do the math before they jump into ATT's plot to make you pay more money for minutes you don't even need. Probably make you sign a new contract too once you switch.
  • yup, doing the math re: rollover is crucial for att
    I actually do use the rollovers, since I'm just on the line of going over, with around 2000 left.
    For example, when the summer was getting crazy, I was so glad I had rollover minutes, because I used a significant portion of it (although I made up for it with an unusually quiet august). But for people who always use well under their limits, they aren't doing themselves any favor :p as for the a-list, i was planning to up the plan when my rollover hits ~200 anyway, so this is a nice little bonus!
  • Cool thing by AT&T
  • AT&T could make me happy in 2 ways. 1. Add a calling plan with 700 minutes for $50, between the 450 minute and 900 minute plan. 2. They could allow you to keep all your rollover minutes when you change calling plans like they used to. That way I could ride on an expensive plan for a few months, drop to a cheaper one for a few and eat up my rollover minutes. The problem is, nobody really cares about spending a crap-load of money on their phone anymore. People think it's ok to have a family of 4 or 5 on one plan and pay almost $250 a month. Crazy. This industry is out of control!