CENTRAL U.S. -- Having Alltel Prepaid post-dial delays since December 2009

[Alltelprepaiduser]

I have an Alltel prepaid R430 phone that worked great until early December when it started having post-dial delays both incoming and outgoing. It can take 20 seconds to at least a minute before calls are "acknowledged."

Alltel cannot explain it and first told me 20 seconds was "normal". It is not. If it were an emergency, 20 minutes could mean the difference between life and death...the purpose of having a cell phone. They are going to look into it now, but I find it hard to believe we're the only people who are having this problem.

This all started early December. Prior to that, calls took 5-10 seconds MAX! to connect. Other Alltel users not on prepaid are not having this issue.

This is INCOMING and OUTGOING....so a caller calls my cell and the line sounds DEAD for 20-60+ seconds too!

I am using up my prepaid minutes with every call, besides it's annoying and not useful. Is anyone else experiencing this--if so please report it! If you know a fix, please let me know. (Or the reason it is happening.) Thanks.