carebear2

How would you rate it on a scale of 1-5? 5 being the high end of the scale.

What would you say you like the best about their service and what do you dislike about their service?

 

MHJ

For me, personally, the best service is the one that provides the best perks at the lowest price so brand would not matter as much for me

graydog

1 to 5 rating? How about .001

We have had Alltel cell phone service for over 2 years. For the last year we had perfect service with no dropped calls. About 6 weeks ago, Alltel started dropping all our calls. I dial a number and it cuts off after about 10 to 15 seconds. We live 2 miles from the tower, so you would think service would be good but something is causing it to drop calls. They suggested we get in the car and drive until we get a better signal. Another employee suggested we throw away our phones (Nokia 6255i's). After around 30 calls by landline, some inbred halfwit said we were in a poor signal area and nothing was going to be done. They said the mountains probably caused a weak signal. It is so flat here, I can see the tower two miles away.

REVISED 10/12/07
They fixed my problem. It was a misaligned antenna problem causing the problem, although alltel never admitted it. I found out from another source. Everything is perfect now. No calls being dropped.

I would advise Alltel as a provider. That "Circle of Friends" (free calls to ANY 10 numbers) is the best feature out there.

My contract seems to be $10 to $20 less than Sprint, ATT or T-Mobile

ta206

I would rate them a 5 - have been a customer of theirs for years - since they were 360 Communications.

Love being able to change things on my contract without extending the contract. Love getting fast response to my calls with any questions or changes I need. Being in rural Ohio I have outstanding coverage. Went camping recently and only 2 phones worked (mine and a friend who had Verizon - the other 7 from the other providers had no signal at all) The My Circle is awesome - I never even come close to using all my minutes a month - changing them online whenever I need to is such a great feature.

In the past I've had to deal with Sprint and Nextel for work related phones - the customer service was so bad I vowed to never deal with them for any personal issues. Not to mention they had no presence in alot of the areas I needed. I've dealt outside of Alltel but I won't be using anyone else for my personal phone.

Cpudan80

1 - 5 rating?

0

Can't get service where I am -- even though I am in my "fully covered" area. Also, their notion of "your home area" makes absolutely no sense. The phone plan I *had* (just switched to VZW) covered all of Virginia -- yet they "would not guarantee service away from my home area..."

The only good thing about alltel is the cirlce of friends thing -- but just get verizon -- most people have that -- and you can get unlimited mobile-mobile calling anyway.

Dan

Brodielicious

I would have to say... TEN!!!!

Seriously. I get service with them EVERYWHERE. And you CAN'T always blame the service provider. If you were getting great service before 6 weeks ago, then it's most likely your PHONE that's changed. NOTHING has changed with the towers. Really.

And just to let ya know, Alltel and Verizon run off the SAME TOWERS. So don't be saying they're better.

And let's not be stupid. EVERY company has unlimited Mobile to Mobile calling.
NOT just Verizon. Let's do some research first k?

So check your phone and see if it's the problem.

Because I get a full 6 bars at my house. That's why Alltel is the BEST!!!!

And Verizon is WAYYYYY more expensive. and so are their phones.

And if you're wondering why T-nasty-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint are all CHEAPER, it's because the SERVICE is WORSE.

graydog

10/12/07
They fixed my problem. It was a misaligned antenna problem causing the problem, although alltel never admitted it. I found out from another source. Everything is perfect now. No calls being dropped.

edoc

On a scale of 0-10 perhaps a 7. I know of no-one who is fully satisfied with their cell provider.

The 7 is because of four weaknesses:

1. Voice messages often sometimes take hours and as much as a full day to show up. This has been
true in this area (near Tampa) for years. Alltel denies it but that doesn't change the facts.

2. Data modem speed via my cellphone is slow (a dedicated pcmcia card is too limiting and costly).

3. The mandatory extra monthly charge for a PDA-type phone is absurdly high.

4. Phone selection is very limited.

IMHO, YMMV ... :-) doc

tinadubose

100 Proof

Tampa area alltel long time customer here. I have been with them since they were GTE mobilenet, GTE wireless, and now alltel. The actual service I get on the cell phone is incredible however the customer service sux and so does their phone selection

I switched to a $49.99 unlimited plan quite a few years back, then out of the blue I got a letter stating that the plan was a mistake and that they were losing money so they were raising the rate to $59.99. I was still under my two year contract. Don't get me wrong that is still a bargain but they punish you for their mistakes. I have an ancient nokia that has been bullet proof but it is outdated and I tried to get a new phone. I want the LG shine and of course it is not available yet. They then try to sell me a razr 2, blackberry, etc. Of course they trained their csr to try to do everything possible to screw you out of the plan that you are on. I am committing to another two year contract and they tried to charge me full retail price for the new phone. They said for me to get it for the sale price I would have to get off my service plan, get on a 500 minute plan with data for 90 a month. That is 30 more dollars and only 500 minutes of use that I will get. Just to save a couple hundred bucks on a phone that some rice farmer built for 1 cent in the first place.

Also any other customer service related assistance is like pulling teeth from a saber tooth tiger. They only want you to come in the store, buy a phone for 40 times what it is worth and then sign a 2 year contract. They are not interested in making the customer happy and being fair. I was told outright on the phone that they could care less if I canceled my account as they were not making any money anyways. So inspite of them I will stay on that plan for as long as I can. One other occassion I noticed I was not getting any of my voicemail notifications. I pay $5.00 extra for this as well. All of a sudden they disabled this feature on my phone again because of the unlimited plan. I called numerous times. I even spoke with stupidvisors. Still got the run around. I was so upset I emailed alltel directly stating how I was turned down and discouraged. I even stated how I wanted this feature back and how they explained that being that I had unlimited that I could just call in periodically to check my voice mail. I argued with them that it was a feature that I wanted and had become accustomed to. I complained until I finally got someone to return my email and after me offering to pay for that feature they charged me an extra $2.00 for this. I can understand if it was a feature that they did not offer. However it was not like that at all. It was the fact it was there and someone decided to take it away. All because they were greedy and did not want to make the customer happy. They wanted to make $ first and foremost.

Anyone know where I can outright buy an LG Shine that will work on the alltel network? I am not giving up my unlimited plan. I don't have a home phone as this plan does everything I need.

MasterC

I would rate them a 5. They have suited me very well.

__________________
Have you thanked god today?

raneman

I'd say a 4.5

I've been with Alltel for about 3 years, and haven't had any problems whatsoever, and the customer service has been great every time I've talked to them.

The My Circle feature is awesome.

sprintman

It seems like you either love or hate Alltel. All the people I know love Alltel, it must depend where you live.

instantwill

I'll give them a 4 out of 5.

I've been with Alltel for about 3 years and all in all its good.
Good
1) I get to use a smartphone without having to buy an expensive plan.
2) I have decent to great coverage everywhere I go, even out in the middle of nowhere.
3) My Circle - this seems to be misunderstood by most Verizon folks. It's really not the same as free m2m.
4) I've used phone from many different carriers on Alltel with no flack.

BAD
1) Customer service. Not really the best trained bunch of folks when I've called. RTFM people.
2) No MMS on smart devices. Yeah I know the Curve has it, I hacked it into my Treo 700wx too, but that's besides the point. You pay that much for a phone, it should do EVERYTHING.