ALLTEL continuous roaming

[AZO]

Hello. I purchased the Total Freedom 350 plan from ALLTEL last September and I just took a quick trip to the Fredericksburg, VA area, and as soon as I left my home area of Portage, MI both my wife's phone and my phone were on continuous roaming (some places digital and some places analog), even in areas where Alltel was supposed to have service, i.e., right in front of an ALLTEL sales store near Chancellorsville, VA and along parts of the PA turnpike where they sponsor the call boxes. Is continuous roaming common? I only saw a roaming indicator one time with my old Verizon service so I'm not sure. We both have the 503 PRL loaded.

Thanks,
Lynn (AZO)

[jayc]

I had a customer use a Motorola talkabout from Alltel when he activated VZW service... His roam light was always on with Alltel. When I reprogrammed it with VZW it was the same thing. Do you by any chance have a talkabout?

I would like some ideas to resolve this issue myself.

[AZO]

JayC, I have a Kyocera 5135 and my wife has a Motorola V60i. Both were purchased from the Alltel store when we signed up for the service. Thanks for the quick reply.

Lynn

[Daniel885]

Ignore your roam indicator if you have Total Freedom

[AZO]

Daniel885, I do have the Total Freedom 350 plan. We chose this plan because we travel quite a bit. As I said earlier, I travel to the same places as I did with my Verizon service using a StarTAC 7868W and only noticed the roam indicator one time with it. I can't even remember where it was at now.

Thanks for the confirmation on no charges in the 50 states. I had to use the phone considerably while traveling and was hoping I wouldn't be hit with additional charges.

Lynn (AZO)

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Just remember on the Total Freedom Plan your Night and Weekend Minutes only apply in your home area.

[DemoMan]

Alltel updated their PRL AGAIN today....603....I wonder what has changed....I noticed that the voice they used for the system is a female rather than a male now. I'm not sure what is different from 503 though.

Brad

[Daniel885]

your off peak minutes will work in your local off peak area
Local Freedom Coverage Map

[AZO]

Dan, thanks for the coverage map. I looked at it and our son lives in Spotsylvania county which shows complete ALLTEL coverage and yet my wife's V60i and my Kyo 5135 were on continuous roaming. It just doesn't make sense to me. We both also had max bars for signal strength so I wouldn't think tower location was much of a factor.

Lynn

[roamer1]

IIRC, Spotsylvania County is split between ALLTEL and VZW with quite a bit of overlap.

-SC

[Bsilvertab]

I also have Alltel in the Northern Michigan area. They way they program the phones up here is for the new digital area that is not here yet (grrrrrrrr!!!), therefor my phone always says analog roaming. In order to fix this programming glitch of theirs I just went into the programming and changed my amps home sid. Maybe you can do something along those lines.

[Daniel885]

If you have Total Freedom, ignore your roam indicator. Your coverage is all 50 states. Your local off peak coverage goes by that map more or less.

[terrys]

Alltel has tens if not hundreds of SIDs throughout the US. It has not generally been their procedure to consolidate SIDS per my observation. Therefore the only time your phone will not show you are roaming is when you are in your home area. In NC and SC that typically is about 8-12 counties.

I explain TOTAL FREEDOM to my customer like this. If your phone can pick up a signal it can make a call without any extra charges providing you have not exceeded your plan minutes.

How someone explained your Night and Weekend minutes (and Mobile 2 Mobile) minutes was the way it used to be in our area when they were Unlimited. A couple of years ago in our area the Total Freedom plans changed to 1000 N/WE and M2M minutes and could be used from ANYWHERE.

I would check with a Local Alltel dealer or store in your area and seek clarification. It could be different in different parts of the country. Or if could be that that user has kept his old plan so that it would stay at UNLIMITED instead of 1000.

You may find that you are served equally well by switching to a National Freedom plan. You can add 100 (200 if you have 2 or more lines) TOTAL FREEDOM minutes for $10 per 100 minutes for as little as 1 month at a time. You generally get a lot more National Freedom minutes for the same $. I am a dealer and that is what I do. If you get to an area where you are going to be and it is not a preferred area you can call *611 and add them with customer service on the fly. You make also get to take advantage of MY CIRCLE which is best thing since sliced bread! I

[WirelessBeachBum]

The original post is about five years old... Total Freedom plans aren't really pushed that much anymore anyway... They will most likely go away...