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.)

That is one thing I like bout T-mobile and Cingular their lines tend to be small and they are all adequetly staffed.

May I be nosey and ask what do you pay a month for the plan you have?

I remember when I was with Verizon Wireless back when it was NYNEX and then Bell Atlantic before I switched to Cingular and then to t-mobile, I had a 3,000 anytme minute plan with unlimited nights and weekends for 14.95 a month.

With all the taxes and fees I pay about $270/mth. Remember, that’s nationwide, no roaming anywhere, all on five phones. I never go over my minutes. About $30/mth is various fees and taxes. Also, my nephew has an added text messaging package (+$15) and one son has some other package (that I removed once and just saw again today because I just looked at the account - he’s grounded!) for $10. So, if I subtract the extras and fees and taxes (that’s government screwing us) it comes to around $215/mth for the 5 phones.

Breakdown, my main phone is 154.99; each additional is $14.99. We share minutes.

You know, when I signed up with the shared minutes, I was supposed to get each additional phone for $9.99. I wonder when they upped it to $14.99?

I think part of the problem with being with one company so long is that you lose track of time and packages and stuff. Especially when you’re my age.

Nevertheless, I do want to reiterate the fact that Alltel has a very reliable network, at least in the places where I live and travel. I’ve never had the kinds of problems that others with different services have had. Inevitably, I’ll pass my phone to someone who can’t get reception; I’ve never had to borrow a phone because mine wasn’t picking up.

I’ll pay extra to be loyal to a company who treats me right, as though they value my business. I’ll pay extra for quality service and that’s what I’m doing now. But if I didn’t travel, I’d probably switch companies just because customer service at Alltel stores sucks. I don’t like being treated like I don’t matter.

Maybe Alltel ought to hire me to manage one of their stores. I’ll whip the snippy snits into shape! (Just kidding )

That is not bad for 5 phones, I have a friend with 4 phones with Cingular paying double that for less minutes.

That makes me feel better. I haven’t really priced other providers because of the quality of the network issue. But I’ve been tempted, each time I leave an Alltel store.

T-mobile has my-faves 5000 w/ unlimited nights and weekends. for 139.99 and then 10 dollars for each phone
139.99 + 40 = 179.99 + unlimited text 15 dollas per phone (I think it’s per phone)

For 2500 Minutes it’s 109.99 with my-faves

I thnk tey are the only ones who can actually compete with Alltel and the plan you have.

But quetion is it 3000 per phone or shared, and I don’t know how well the t-mobile service is where you live.

The quality of service is the question, for sure. Like I said, Alltel put a new tower near our two local colleges. We have a lot of hills around here so service is an issue. There are two dead spots that affect me, but they affect everyone. I don’t know anyone who covers this area as well as Alltel. Same thing for Kauai, where we do travel to on a somewhat regular basis.

I’ll have to check around to see if anyone I know has T-Mobile. It’d be worth looking into.

Marisa - 17 April 2007 10:14 PM

The quality of service is the question, for sure. Like I said, Alltel put a new tower near our two local colleges. We have a lot of hills around here so service is an issue. There are two dead spots that affect me, but they affect everyone. I don’t know anyone who covers this area as well as Alltel. Same thing for Kauai, where we do travel to on a somewhat regular basis.

I’ll have to check around to see if anyone I know has T-Mobile. It’d be worth looking into.

You can always move Just kidding.

I remember when I visited Los Angeles, all the roads are like hills so you constantly go up and down, everytime you go down you lose signal. It’s funny.