I signed up with Alltel around 1991. They weren’t even Alltel then. It was before they were 360 communications or whatever came before that. It was forever ago.
We started with one cell phone that was attached to my husband’s truck. We added another for me, then another for my son. And we added again and again. That’s right. We have 5 phones with Alltel. None are still under contract and yet I remain with them.
I love the plan I have. I have free mobile to mobile (anyone in the alltel network). I have all the important numbers listed for MyCircle. I have 3000 anytime minutes and free nights and weekends. I don’t think they offer this plan now but when you’re with a company as long as I’ve been with Alltel, you’ll eventually hit a great deal and you can stick with it until the next better deal comes along.
Oh, and did I mention that our Alltel service works flawlessly in Kauai, Hawaii? My son’s (not Sprint) Nextel gets no reception there. My daughter-in-law’s Cingular sucked there. Our friend’s Verizon wireless was hit and miss. My Alltel never hit a dead spot. That’s a major plus.
And Alltel put a new tower near here because there’s two colleges out the road and now, Alltel is the only service with reliable service at the colleges. (My nephew at one college is using one of my Alltel phones for that reason.)
So what is my complaint? Local Alltel store personnel. They suck. They’re rude. Once, I made it to the store 12 minutes before closing. I know that’s cutting it close but I was there to buy a new phone. That’s good for Alltel, right? The woman inside stood there, in full view, talking on her phone and refusing to open the door. Thing is, there’s a clock right outside that store and it showed I had at least 12 minutes before closing. If you’re going to close early, at least hide in the back so I can’t see that you’re ignoring me!
And then there’s the fact that the phone I’m using sucks. Why? Because when I let it be known that I was paying full price for my phone and NOT renewing a contract, the saleswoman rushed me through the process and wouldnt’ even show me other phones. She was trying to get rid of me so she could move on to the other customers waiting in line.
Which brings me to my final gripe. Alltel stores are always crowed. I’ve never gotten out of there in less than an hour, no matter how simple my need. They are understaffed, their computers run super slow and their procedure is in dire need of streamlining.
If any wireless service offered a comparable package with the same quality service as Alltel, I’d switch. But for now, I’m sticking with the quality and package.
(ETA: my 18 year old son has Nextel, not sprint.)
