Q: I have Qwest home and cellphones. When the cell broke, Qwest said Verizon would handle the customers, and its plan is more expensive. Are they breaking my contract?
— Vicki Pezzi, Denver
A: Nope, they’re not. Qwest provides home telephone and Internet service, but mobile-phone service is a contract pass-through.
That means Qwest resells cellphone minutes it buys from another mobile-phone provider, in this case Verizon. That was a deal Qwest entered into last May, a five-year commitment that will affect about 825,000 users. The agreement goes into effect this month for those who had been under the old plan.
Previously, Qwest had been in a similar contract with Sprint Wireless. The idea is to offer bundled services to consumers in part as a way of consolidating billing and offering discounts.
Verizon is to replace the old Sprint phones with new handsets, the folks at Qwest tell me, but the plans themselves shouldn’t be that disparate. Back when the deal closed, the companies said customers wouldn’t notice a difference.
An important note: If customers don’t like the phones being offered and prefer their old one, they can still keep it. Merely contact the phone provider, in this case it was likely Sprint, and request an unlock code for the phone. That allows a customer to use the phone with any SIM card.
Most cell providers allow a single unlock a year, so be sure you pick a phone you intend to use for a while.
David Migoya
wants to get the answers to your consumer questions. E-mail consumertips@ denverpost.com or write to Consumer Shopping Bag, The Denver Post, 101 W. Colfax Ave. Suite 600, Denver, CO 80202
