Sprint and AT&T add free calling to a list of numbers

Free calling to a select group of numbers will now be offered in contract plans from two more major cell-phone carriers, after Sprint and AT&T this week announced plans with the feature, which is already offered by Verizon and Alltel.

Sprint yesterday added the "Any Mobile, Anytime" feature to its $70 and $90 individual and $130 and $170 family Everything Data plans. The addition allows unlimited free mobile-to-mobile calling on any cell network. The plans [PDF] also come with 450 to 3,000 anytime minutes, which should more than cover calls to landline phone numbers.

Sprint's move followed by a day an AT&T announcement that on September 20, it will add an "A-List" feature to its wireless plans that will allow unlimited free anytime, any-network calling to up to five designated domestic cell or landline phone numbers on individual national plans costing $60 or more per month and up to 10 designated domestic numbers on Family Talk plans costing $90 or more per month.

The Sprint and AT&T plans are essentially copy-cats of Verizon's "Friends & Family" feature, which Verizon in turn copied from Alltel's "My Circle" feature after it acquired that carrier in January.

Free calls to designated numbers is a valuable feature. "We find that the average caller uses 65 percent of his minutes with calls to and from the same five people," says Samir Kothari, co-founder and vice president of products at www.Billshrink.com, which collects cellular minute usage information from consumers and compares plans from the big four contract carriers.

If you do sign on for a designated-number list with AT&T and Verizon, we suggest populating it with frequently-called land-line and cell numbers that are not in your own cellular service's network. The reason: Both carriers offer free and unlimited in-network mobile-to-mobile calls on their national plans.

This week's moves suggest that the contract carriers may begin fighting harder in the ongoing cellular price war, driven mostly by low-priced prepaid plans that offer unlimited calling.

At $45 or $50, the unlimited voice-calling plans from upstart prepaid carriers Boost, StraightTalk, and Virgin remain cheaper than the unlimited plans of the major carriers, even after this week's announcements.

But prepaid service isn't for everyone, in part because of some pricing pitfalls and other gotchas. —Jeff Blyskal