Verizon Smart Phone on Alltel Service

I use to be an Alltel customer and was switched to Verizon by the buyout but I am still on an Alltel service plan. When I first was changed I was told that I needed to stick with an Alltel phone since Verizon cell phones did not work well on the Alltel network. Now my contract is almost up and I am considering getting a new smartphone but of course there are no new Alltel phones so if I want a new phone (not an EBay resale) then I would have to buy a Verizon phone. I am okay witha Verizon Smartphone but I to stay on the Alltel plan since it is a much more economical.

Is there still a problem with using a Verizon Smartphone on an Alltel plan?

Thanks for your advice.

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If you were to change your phone at all on your current plan (particularly switching to a Verizon device) you'd be forced to switch your plan to a Verizon Wireless plan.

I do not believe that is accurate. After my service was converted to Verizon I bought an Alltel cell phone on EBay and have been using it with no problems. Also, when I talked to the local office of Verizon they told me that I can switch phones without moving to a Verizon plan. I get different answers on if the phone must be an Alltel phone.

I can tell you for a fact their current policy states the following:

Customers who wish to switch handsets or devices can do so at any time. Customers who switch devices may be required to switch plans to accommodate the new device.

I did notice the "may be". The fact about Verizon devices not working well on Alltel is completely incorrect and is not a fact. Alltel and Verizon Wireless have used the same technologies for years. As a matter of fact, the majority of the time you were using your Alltel phone, you were actually using the Verizon network.

I also know that with you wanting a smartphone will make the waters even more deep. They're going to force a data plan and therefore will force you to switch to a Verizon Wireless plan. You may also be required to extend your agreement.

I would expect to extend my contract if I buy a phone and also would be willing to pay the additional $30 per month for the data plan but not willing to pay the add for the Verizon plan for more money with less minutes.

Since Verizon Wireless is unable to duplicate previous Alltel plans, they are unable to allow a customer to add a data plan for an Alltel plan (since the data plan is actually through Verizon).

Contacted them myself and they told me you'd extend your agreement and anyone who extends their agreement is required to switch to a Verizon Wireless device AND plan. I had this verified by a basic representative and a supervisor.

Originally Posted by neil154

I would expect to extend my contract if I buy a phone and also would be willing to pay the additional $30 per month for the data plan but not willing to pay the add for the Verizon plan for more money with less minutes.

if you find a used alltel smart phone to put on your plan, and you are still under alltel contract, you can demand they add the $20 unlimted data package that alltel offered, but only until your contract runs out. then its game over, you either pick another provider or you are signing a contract with verizon. at least thats what the verizon rep told me. verizons plans are ridiculous compared to alltel's.

eta: and if you want to use a verizon phone you MUST switch to verizon and sign a new contract. hey atleast you will get a cheap phone but you'll more than pay for it with the insane price difference between verizon and alltel plans. ugh.

Thelatest that Verizon has told me is that I can upgrade to a smartphone and add the $29.99 for each data plan and I would be extending my contract. They also say that since I am under a Alltel plan I can then downgrade any time I want and eliminate the data plan and the $29.99 charge if I go back to a non smart phone, but the 2 year extention will be still be in force.

Even if you have an Alltel data plan, Verizon will FORCE you to buy another $29.99 data plan on top of yor Alltel data plan, it's ridiculus.

I would up upgrading my Alltel phones to 2 Blackberry phones. I pay the 29.99 for each phones data plan I also did n some switching around between smartphones and non smart phone and had no problem eliminating the data plan each time that I switched back to a non smart phone. I was told and it turned out to be accurate the the reason I could do that is that I stayed on an Alltel plan and not a Verizon plan.