The death of Alltel, now what?

[D. Hayes]

Well come October Alltel will be no more. A few people will still be grandfathered under the Alltel contract but unless you can renew now for 2 years you'll be sucked into Verizon.

It seems there's nobody else but our small community that actually needs true unlimited data packages. I checked Verizon, Sprint, Cingular, and T-Mobile and it's pathetic all the way around. So is there any hope out there for us? I just can't seem to find it.

 

[Jay Cazel]

I did see something about Sprint having a new unlimted plan for the new 4G network, but it was $79.99.
http://nextelonline.nextel.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/DisplayPlans

Well you can get it for $69.99 at this time but still kills on the roaming.

But the 4G download speed sure looks good.

 

[Joshua Nall]

Well come October Alltel will be no more. A few people will still be grandfathered under the Alltel contract but unless you can renew now for 2 years you'll be sucked into Verizon.

I just started receiving a bill from Verizon instead of Alltel. For the last two years I've had a monthly payment of around 75 dollars with Alltel, for my phone and for using my phone as modem for unlimited data on my home pc and my laptop while chasing. I've been completely happy with it.

I don't have anything to worry about do I? The way I understood it is I was grandfathered in and everything will be the same. Will everything be the same indefinitely?

Josh

 

[Robert Edmonds]

Anyone try slingshot wireless?... I saw it at a truck stop, it offered a prepaid wireless card. I was wondering if it might be a way out of these 2 year long contracts that may seem unevitable now that alltel is going away.

 

[Andrew Revering]

I don't get how 5GB a month is not enough? Are you using it for home use too? The 'local' networks are in a lot of places.... when I'm chasing at home in MN I'm almost never roaming with Sprint and use Comcast cable at home. I don't think I come close to 5GB a month.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

If someone is chasing for an entire month, I can see them passing the 5 GB limit, especially if they make a habit of uploading video through their aircard, otherwise it would be quite difficult.

As Jay stated above, Sprint's 4G network has an unlimited plan, and most of their network should be 4G in the next 3 years or so. Verizon plans to have their entire 3G network switched over to 4G by 2013 and Sprint plans to stay well ahead of Verizon with their 4G rollout. It seems like Sprint is making a last ditch effort to gain customers back before they get run into the ground. If Sprint isn't successful at gaining customers back with their 4G rollout, they may no longer be around in 5 years.

 

[Andrew Revering]

If someone is chasing for an entire month, I can see them passing the 5 GB limit, especially if they make a habit of uploading video through their aircard, otherwise it would be quite difficult.

Good point. I forgot about video uploading. I gave up on that a long time ago. I didn't even take video this year, I switched to stills.

If Sprint isn't successful at gaining customers back with their 4G rollout, they may no longer be around in 5 years.

I bet they will still be there... they will just be called Verizon. ;-) This is getting off topic, but actually I doubt that would happen either. Sprint has a big government contract base, and I think Verizon is getting too big to gobble up much more...government probably wouldn't allow much more. So I feel like Sprint is going to struggle until more investors or a new entity come about or their 4G and new phones give them new life.

My vote is to invest in Sprint.

 

[Jason Foster]

......My vote is to invest in Sprint.

I suspect you meant for an aircard...and not a stock pick.

 

[Andrew Revering]

No, I meant stocks.

 

[J Kinkaid]

Well come October Alltel will be no more. A few people will still be grandfathered under the Alltel contract but unless you can renew now for 2 years you'll be sucked into Verizon.

I fail to understand your post . Everybody will be grandfathered in and even if you are not under contract you will still receive the same exact plan that you had when you were with Alltel. No need at all to renew a contract for 2 years. The good news is that you will see more REV A

 

[Jayson Prentice]

This really just means that if you were thinking of joining Alltel for next season then you better figure it out quickly and join in the next month or so to guarentee yourself their current offers on tethering and internet access.

 

[Jason Bolt]

What I am getting (from being a very annoying, bothersome, multi-question asking customer) from Alltel and Verizon is that as long as I make no changes to my current plan it will stay the same indefinitely. Not sure that I believe that, but for unlimited data in my area I will take it as long as they let me.

 

[Ric Burney]

I signed up for the month to month 5G w/ Verizon this spring. I've used it for chase, home and work and have yet to get close to the limit. I do not use it for up or downloading large files or videos so that may skew results some.
The only problem I encountered was trying to use an aftermarket adapter from the card to the ext. antenna. After losing data out in no mans land several times I found the adapter specifically for the card. Since then I've had no more dropped signals.
So far I have to say that Verizon has come through fairly well for what I've demanded from them.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I don't get what the big deal is with contracts. You can purchase an aircard off eBay and activate it month to month with Verizon, no contracts. You pay a $35 activation fee, and can turn it off at any time.

 

[Tony Perkins]

When I bought a phone last March, the Verizon Store rep told me you can't have a data card plan without a contract, period. It's easy to see why there is so much confusion here.