The death of Alltel, now what?

[Gene Moore]

I'm another one that still has AT&T, unfortunately here in Del Rio, TX Verizon is not an option, unless I claim I live somewhere else. I believe of the big companies Verizon will be the best choice with Alltel. I've used Alltel through other chasers in my vehicle and it sure is great for Kansas and Verizon now has all those (Alltel) towers.

Since I was switched from Cingular to AT&T it has not been a good experience. My main complaint is the card software they've added to the original Cingular program. Now if it sees another signal I get a message that tells me there is another network I can connect to: what do you want to do....well, it does not matter what I choose, I get dropped and have to reinitialize the connection. This happens every time I go through a small town (anyone know how to turn that off?). Also, it won't automatically reconnect a lost signal so I am reconnecting every 5-10 minutes....not what anyone wants when they are driving. And some of course like Sprint...wonder how much longer they will last before being bought out?

Fortunately I still have the old Barron's system that saves me in these times of need. I was able to vector in on a beautiful rotating supercell coming out of Sterling City, TX Thursday evening. During the off season I just carry "Fisherman" for 29.95 a month and it's a decent backup when I can't get a cell tower.

gm

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Anyone else with the old alltel tethered plan who got sucked into Verizon having issues now? Ever since the "official" change date I've had problems. I had very very few problems with the data through alltel. Whenever I did, it would just be like a day issue.

For over a week now I've wanted to smash this stupid ass phone repeatedly. I'll connect just fine, it'll give me data for 10 seconds, then be unresponsive forever. If Gmail is open, over and over it will pop up that "can't reach gmail thing" then connect again, then pop up can't reach gmail again...over and over and over. Then it will be fine for a while. The biggest trend however is for it to not be fine and not work. Day after day now.

Pretty much paying $80/month to have this internet/phone option and I rarely use the cell phone for any calls. Damn tempted to pick up a cheap used xm wxworx and do the $30/month cheap plan and just use wifi for pre-initiation data. Have no cell other than a prepaid one I don't use but incase of emergency. It was nice when it worked for home net and road net, but is really pissing me off anymore. Don't think a call to them is going to make it go away. Time of day doesn't seem to matter. I almost wonder if it is something related to tethering that they do.

Doesn't seem to be any good data plans for chasing on the cheap that will also double at home. And screw paying for internet twice. I've chased no better since having mobile internet over wifi with xm anyway.

Perhaps it will just get better, but lol, can only think this so many days in a row now. Just seems odd the biggest, longest duration of constant problems getting data comes shortly after the official change to Verizon. Not sure what all can be different and maybe nothing is, since they shared towers, but something tells me there is.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Yup, same here. Actually, if you Google around a bit at EVDOforums and Howardforums and even Verizon's own forums, this seems to be a pretty universal thing. I get disconnects all the time. Even happens to the laptop card owners, though some of them are reporting actual throttling, i.e., network slowdown, after using too many gigabytes.

I'm going to ride it out a few more months under the hope that this is just the transitional glitches. However, the cynical side of me thinks that this is just to get the unprofitable Alltel data plan users the hell off of their network or to get them to call in so that they can be led into a Verizon 5GB capped plan.

Honestly, I'm pretty sure this is all by design. I get randomly booted off, but I can cause a boot-off 80% of the time within two minutes if I start downloading a large file or 100% of the time within about 5 seconds if I fire up µTorrent and attempt to download anything at all. Seems like network throttling via disconnects when certain packets or usage patterns are detected.

 

[Jared Farrer]

Umm Mike, not sure why your having issues I tether through my phone at 25$ through alltel. I havent recieved any info that verizon has taken my contract over. Technically they merged but I am still with alltel because of my area I guess? They do now share towers. I dont know much but I know my service has improved a little since the merger. I havent resigned anything yet. So my setup is the same thing I've had since late 07.
It may be your phone, but I think from what your saying is that verizon got your contract. And you were forced over to them is that correct? It also could be a local issue, with there tower? Things could be damaged. But my guess is it sounds as if its your phone.
So you use them exclusively for internet at home and everywhere else. I wouldnt go back to wxworx they suck for data. IMO!

 

[Jared Farrer]

Umm Mike, not sure why your having issues I tether through my phone at 25$ through alltel. I havent recieved any info that verizon has taken my over. Technically they merged but I am still with alltel because of my area I guess? They do now share towers. I dont know much but I know my service has improved a little since the merger. I havent resigned anything yet. So my setup is the same thing I've had since late 07.
It may be your phone, but I think from what your saying is that verizon got your contract. And you were forced over to them is that correct? It also could be a local issue, with there tower? Things could be damaged. But my guess is it sounds as if its your phone.
So you use them exclusively for internet at home and everywhere else. I wouldnt go back to wxworx they suck for data. IMO!

Thats interesting Ryan! I guess I may be getting lucky since I am technically still an alltel user and I get to share the verzion network, but from what you describe this is not the case. I am not sure. I guess I will have to do more research. Have you both tried it in other areas yet? The other thing could be traffic issues, in that they now share alltels old network and have swamped it up with all there users. Its worriesome for sure.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Yes I'm with Verizon now, check I just wrote for last bill was to Verizon. My sister lives across the street from me...and she never got sucked into Verizon. Evidently her...and you.....are in the crowd that will get dumped to someone other than Verizon.

Thanks for the info Ryan. Nice to hear I'm not just crazy here lol. It's night and day different now.

 

[Jared Farrer]

Have you guys tried it outside of NE yet. Because they might be still be switching things over. So things might improve after the fact? They did tell me things would be slow at first during the transition.

Ryan are you with alltel or verzion now?

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

I wouldnt go back to wxworx they suck for data. IMO!

Well yes they do, but really, with wifi for pre-initiation, one isn't missing out on a crazy amount of helpful info past that point anyway.

 

[Jared Farrer]

What do you mean dumped? You scare me sir? Ahhh Hallowen is over! ahhhh LOL.

No Alltel still exists but they are reduced. But they share the verzion network now. When my contracts up, thats when I go over to verizon. Or I stay with alltel. Its an area thing. I guess I have a choice, when its over. Not sure what the difference will be by then. But I am pretty sure that cell towers are being switched over to verzion and it takes a while. One thing though is I know that Verzion definitly sounds worse to deal with. Higher costs and caps and what not. Its not sounding good?

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Thats interesting Ryan! I guess I may be getting lucky since I am technically still an alltel user and I get to share the verzion network, but from what you describe this is not the case. I am not sure. I guess I will have to do more research. Have you both tried it in other areas yet? The other thing could be traffic issues, in that they now share alltels old network and have swamped it up with all there users. Its worriesome for sure.

Jared: Alltel as a company no longer exists. Stores are closed, the website is down *edit* (actually, the website is still up, but I get redirected to Verizon because of my ZIP code) -- they're gone. All Altel users were either transitioned to Verizon or, in the case of a number of "divested" areas, transferred to another, smaller caretaking provider until it is sold on to another market.

Here's a map of the areas to be divested (all non-verizon areas are divested) and what provider they're likely to be transitioned to:

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Have you guys tried it outside of NE yet. Because they might be still be switching things over. So things might improve after the fact? They did tell me things would be slow at first during the transition.

Ryan are you with alltel or verzion now?

Just a guess but I bet you connect to the same server, or server controlled by Verizon, regardless of where you are. Doubt it would be hugely different.

It's odd, I'm streaming music now, low fi 24k stuff, and it's fine. I did this the other night and it never dropped. Maybe if it has no requests for a bit it drops you. Just seems odd it is again streaming just fine like the other night. Yet I feel if I stop that stream and just browse, it'll be no data galore again. Hmm. Probably just a coincidence.

 

[Jared Farrer]

Well yes they do, but really, with wifi for pre-initiation, one isn't missing out on a crazy amount of helpful info past that point anyway.

Really havent used it for that long, but it does work! I know its good for some people. Me and wxworx never really got along. But its dependable. I tell you what if the networks start getting sketchy I am going to have to figure something out.

Have you guys ever tried the signal amplifiers? Those things are awesome. But chasing that Oregan, MO storm, that area had no data! Or it might have been before it crossed the border. Even with an amp that area is a black hole!

 

[Jared Farrer]

Just a guess but I bet you connect to the same server, or server controlled by Verizon, regardless of where you are. Doubt it would be hugely different.

It's odd, I'm streaming music now, low fi 24k stuff, and it's fine. I did this the other night and it never dropped. Maybe if it has no requests for a bit it drops you. Just seems odd it is again streaming just fine like the other night. Yet I feel if I stop that stream and just browse, it'll be no data galore again. Hmm. Probably just a coincidence.

You think it could be traffic issues? Certain times of day or night? Have you tried it in any other areas?

 

[Dan Robinson]

I have heard the rumors that stationary long-term connections end up having problems due to an intentional tactic to deter the full-time home users - something of course denied by the 'official' reps.

I had an Alltell aircard through my company until this week, when we all switched to AT&T service/phones. The aircard worked flawlessly up until the day we turned it off. I didn't use it as my primary home internet, but I did use it many times in one place for extended periods (like when my office moved and my ethernet line didn't get hooked up for 2 weeks). I never had problems.

I will say that when I had the aircard plugged straight into the laptop, it had frequent problems - dropped service, no service in areas I normally did, etc. When it was hooked into my Cradlepoint router it was almost never down. If it ever did have hiccups, the Cradlepoint must have reconnected fast enough for me to never notice.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

You think it could be traffic issues? Certain times of day or night? Have you tried it in any other areas?

I've personally tried Lincoln, Kearney, and Sidney, Nebraska. Had connection drop problems in all areas.

I have a program for my phone that turns it into a wifi hotspot and that auto-reconnects on a drop. I don't like using it that much (it's kinda a pain in the butt) but it's pretty much the only way I can get a remotely normal internet experience. I usually has to reconnect about 15 to 30 times per hour.

It's possible that this is all related to network upgrade and update issues. However, I tend to doubt it.