TUAW Cares: Sharing with the troops

This topic has been discussed and debated ad nauseum, especially over on the AT&T Forums. oz_paulb hit the nail on the head...there may be some accounting for rollover minutes as a liability on the books, but they don't really cost AT&T anything since they expire after 12 months.

The 900-pound gorilla of a problem with all these lazy do-gooders who want to donate them to soldiers serving overseas is that those same soldiers couldn't use them inexpensively. Accumulated rollover minutes free international calling. Roaming internationally is VERY expensive, and anyone who's a shareholder of AT&T probably wouldn't want to see them doling out free international roaming minutes to anyone. Just because you have the minutes does not make the call free.

I feel for our troops serving overseas as much as anyone, but even I think it's a little ridiculous for people to expect AT&T to pick up the tab for people who volunteered for duty to call home from far-flung corners of the globe.

Hello. I talk with respect of course but...

Whats the relationship between "the american soldiers" and the Apple World?

I will repeat... I respect everybodys opinion but i think this is very "offtopic"

Hope this opinion do not sound "unfriendly" to anybody and i apologize if sounds like that

I think many (most?) people won't use their rollover minutes - which means those extra minutes don't cost AT&T anything (which is why they don't mind giving you those 'free' rollover minutes).

If you can donate them to someone who *will* use them, then it costs AT&T money.

I'm guessing AT&T prefers the former.

It'd be much easier to donate unused rollover minutes than having to donate an old cell phone. I have thousands of rollover minutes, but no old cell phones to give away. Shame on you AT&T.

"There are a number of online petitions aimed at getting AT&T to change its policy on donating rollover minutes..."

so, care to recommend one? : )

i'd love to donate my rollover minutes, and i'd love to help pressure AT&T to let us.

When I was in the Navy calling home was the most important thing. I was on a sub back in the '90's, not sure how it is today, but we had very little information from home. If there was room on the official messages, you may get a little bit of information from the news wires. Their value cannot be described, if there was say NASCAR news we would make a copy of the 2 or 3 lines and it would be read and re-read like there was some secret to the universe. In '93 when the World Trade Center was bombed, that was all the information we had World Trade Center Bombed. There was no means at the time to find out further information.

Any way giving soldiers a means to talk to home is a worthwhile cause.