Alltel Questions

To all of you who have Alltel as your service provider:

When I go off to college this fall, I am going to have to get a new provider, b/c otherwise I will be roaming the entire time on my AT&T TDMA, and @.85c/min that is just not going to fly.

I had been possibly considering upgrading to a Cingular plan, but I they do not have native coverage where I am going, (can't get a local number) as far as I know they roam on T-Mobile's network out there.

The problem that I have with that is I expect to be traveling back-and-forth to home fairly regularly and for a good strech of highway neither Cingular or T-Mobile have any coverage at all (I've checked their maps and have brought phones along for the trip to test service) both T-mo & Cing drop to zip, and mine drops into analog it many places. Not that there is anything wrong with that, as long as I can make a call if I have an emergency out there, I don't care.

My question is, since I am going to be getting a second phone, (I am still going to keep the one I have b/c I want to keep that number, it is prepaid so it is no big deal) to those of you who have Alltel, or have had experience with them what do you think of them. How is there coverage, customer service, phones, etc.

If you do not like them, whom would you recommend for me

BTW I will probably be getting a prepaid plan, if it makes any difference.

I live in the Texas hill country in case you are wondering.

I had Alltel once and it got great service here, only about 3 or 4 places i went and didn't have service with it but i imagine the service is totally different in Texas. The company that i've found to be the best here is Cellular South.. i love it!

Alltel CDMA will have the same AMPS backup as your TDMA phone. The coverage should be similar. Look for a phone with this feature. Cingular and Tmobile are both GSM and arn't able to pick up AMPS. Look into Alltel U. They have one of the best deals going in prepaid. They do have an avtivation fee, but once you get past that it is a great deal.

I was aware of the differences between the companies w/GSM vs. CDMA, but thanks for your input!

I have been talking to some people and it sounds like you are are right, so I will probably go with Alltel's U. Thx.

I am still open to input about Alltel' service from anyone, the more I know going into this, the better off I am. So if you have any insight about any type of quirks or useful info about Alltel, I'd appreciate it.

Tracfones work good where most others do not as a prepaid phone next to cingular go phone is probably got the most exetnsive coverage and the tracfones are tdma I think.

Last edited by FlyerTDL on Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total

Yes, some Tracfones are TDMA, some are GSM, and some are CDMA, just depends on the market.

Except that Cingular has forced all of its affiliates to stop activating new TDMA, service (of which Tracfone is one) pending TDMA deactivation in two years.

<sigh>

Ohwell, c'est la vie. Thanks for your input though.

I have one question, I am thinking of alltel's U service, and does anyone know how good the coverage will be in Brooten, MN or Belgrade, MN? Their ZIP codes are 56316 and 56312, respectively. Thanks!

I just found this site, but to all of you considering Alltel I have had the service for a while and absolutely loved it. The prices are very competitive and there are very few places that I don't get service. They also have free or reduced rate roaming agreements with Verizon, Sprint, and Cingular. They have the largest network (largest geographical area covered) so basically anywhere in the country where you can get cell phone service, you will get service with Alltel. Of course, it's not all great, there are many areas, especially larger cities, where Alltel is not yet licensed to do business. I tried those two Minnesota zip codes that you gave me on the Alltel web site and neither one would allow me to buy a phone saying that service is not available in that area. This does not mean that you won't get Alltel service in that area, it might just mean that they do not yet sell service in that area. Alltel customers might even roam for free off a Verizon or other tower. The MyCircle plan is also a good deal with 10 numbers (including home, office, and other cell provider numbers) that don't take away from your plan minutes for incoming or outgoing plans. The national map for Alltel can be found at this address: http://www.alltel.com/personal/wireless/plans/index.html Just click on the Maps for a more detailed picture. Like I said I have no complaints about their service and customer service is so much better than it was with Verizon in my experiences when I was with them. If you all have any other questions, I'm not sure if I'll be able to find this site again but I frequently visit the Alltel forum on wirelessadvisor.com. which seems to have a lot more info on Alltel and an Alltel Tech visits from time to time. I hope this helps.

If you're really interested in getting AllTel as a provider and their website says "your zip code is not available..." you could do what I did. I Google'd the zip codes for cities close to me and got their zip codes. Next, call AllTel's toll free customer service / sales number and speak to a rep. They will say that your zip code's not covered, but if you're willing to have a number with a different area code you could have them sign you up in a covered zip code, but have your phone and bill come to your regular address.

I live in St. Louis, MO but the closest store is in Springfield, MO (250+ miles away). I used the Springfield zip code on the website to get all the info I needed then called 1-866-255-8357 (sales / service) and got setup with my account over the phone using the Springfield zip code, but had my phone and bill sent to my St. Louis address.

Another loophole... If you like the phones that AllTel has, but don't want them "gimped" you might be able to get around that too. With my AllTel service, I got the cheap $1 phone. (I knew I wouldn't have it long, anyway.) Then, I bought the Kyocera Remix from Virgin Mobile (prepaid service) for about $150 and called Kyocera for the Kyocera unlock code. (The code unlocked the phone so that I can use it on any carrier that uses the same technology: CDMA, TDMA, etc.) After putting my new number into the Remix as a new line and deleting the original line... Presto! A non-gimped Remix on the AllTel network. I gave my gf the $1 phone and now we're both using the same phone number on two different phones.

You have to be careful though. You need to get the same phone that the carrier you want already uses. That's why I went with the Remix. AllTel carries it and Virgin Mobile carries it as a prepaid version. If you can find something similar (prepaid -> monthly) you should be able to get around the gimped phone issue.

Another note: if you can't get the "unlock code" from teh phone company / manufacturer, there are several websites that for a nominal fee ($20 - $ 50 depending on the brand / model) can send you the unlock code to your email.

Just thought you might be able to use the info...

BTW, in case anyone would like to know I ended up getting the Nokia 6235i w/ Alltel U. The coverage here has been great.

Yes, prepaid pays more upfront for this phone, but it was worth it. I was wondering if anyone has any longterm experience with this model from Alltel and if so what did you think about it?

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