Alltel vs AT&T in lower Indiana/Kentucky area

[GiGi1977]

Hello! I currently have AT&T but I'm thinking about switching to Alltel, what's the service like for any of you in the lower Indiana/Kentucky area? Is there any roaming charges? I've looked at their maps on their site and the coverage "looks" good but I'd like to get feedback from users in that area. We travel to and from that area to Florida so we need good coverage! I looking to either getting a family plan or one primary line and adding 1 or 2 lines to share the minutes. Also, looking for a phone that is qwerty but at a reasonable price! I'd appreciate your feedback!
Thanks!

[Eric47]

i will say that for the 2 areas your asking about ATT is probably one of the best things you can get from my experience.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I know when I went on a trip to that area last year I had great coverage with my AT&T phones, and AT&T also has great Florida coverage. You may already be on the best carrier for those areas. Are you having problems with your phones, or are you just shopping around for the best deal?

-Jay

[GiGi1977]

I've been with Cingular/at&t since 2002 or 2003 but whenever they switched to at&t something happened to my service (even their reps admitted that "something" happened), they have had level 2 techs look at it! I have 0 to 2 bars in my home where I used to have 4 or 5 so I've been ready to bail.....but I've been waiting on other family member's contracts to expire (there was 7 of us that were all with at&t and 2 have already ported out to Alltel), now the others have decided to hold off (rollover minutes racked up & they use them). I'm been an active member over on at&t's forums but haven't been there since April. I went to look at just adding a line to one of our current plans and found out that you have to convert to a family talk plan now! Alltel allows you to add a line and share your minutes like at&t used to have! So we're trying to shop around and find out what's the best route to go, stay with at&t and convert to a family talk plan (lose 1500+ rollover minutes) or just switch to Alltel!

Lots to consider! So that's why I'm curious to know about Alltel's service from Florida to IN/KY.

[Eric47]

i can asure you that nothing has changed with the service. this is a common misconception but the facts are that it was mainly a name and management change. the network had no changes. it sounds to me as though you have a device problem.

also im not sure what your asking about as far as the plans. you can add a line and have it be individual if thats what you want. if you wanto share your minutes then you will need to goto a family plan. there should not be a reduction in rollovers as long as the family plan you are switching to is more minutes than you have rollover, in which case you will get to keep that many (i.e. if you have 3000 rollover minutes and you convert to a 1400 family talk, you still get to keep 1400 rollover minutes)

if you have a Moto V557 which is several years old i can believe that your service has degraded. phones like most electronics degrade over time no matter how much care is taken with them, there is only so many charges and hrs of use that they can handle.

my recommendation to you is to try getting a couple new phones with att, you get 30 days to return them if your service doesnt improve, my guess is that it will though and that you will be happy and have a new phone

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by GiGi1977

I've been with Cingular/at&t since 2002 or 2003 but whenever they switched to at&t something happened to my service (even their reps admitted that "something" happened), they have had level 2 techs look at it! I have 0 to 2 bars in my home where I used to have 4 or 5 so I've been ready to bail.....but I've been waiting on other family member's contracts to expire (there was 7 of us that were all with at&t and 2 have already ported out to Alltel), now the others have decided to hold off (rollover minutes racked up & they use them). I'm been an active member over on at&t's forums but haven't been there since April. I went to look at just adding a line to one of our current plans and found out that you have to convert to a family talk plan now! Alltel allows you to add a line and share your minutes like at&t used to have! So we're trying to shop around and find out what's the best route to go, stay with at&t and convert to a family talk plan (lose 1500+ rollover minutes) or just switch to Alltel!

Lots to consider! So that's why I'm curious to know about Alltel's service from Florida to IN/KY.

You don't loose rollover when you convert to FT, as long as the monthly rate of the FT plan is the same, or higher than the individual plan you're currently on. When I added my mom to my plan I converted from an individual to a FT, and was able to keep my 2,000+ rollover minutes.

-Jay

[GiGi1977]

Eric,
Thanks for the response. We have had this debate over on the at&t forums and like I stated earlier something happened, it even baffled the level 2 tech. Other family members have different phones but it's like coming into a twilight zone in my home! I had to laugh yesterday when I saw the Verizon ad about the people moving into the house that's the dead zone...that's my house! lol They switched out phones and sim cards (2 or 3 times), sent me upgrades and nothing has helped it! I even had one rep. personally call me & she promised to let me get another phone and if it didn't work I would not be signed back into another 2 yr. contract. However when I called them back they stated that rep. didn't have the authority to offer me this and they wouldn't do it. I know it's not the phone because the phone works well in other areas just not in or around my home! : I was one of the first to tell people on the at&t forum that "it was just a name change and nothing else!" until it happened to me. The maps all show I "should" have great reception/coverage.

Now back to the issue had hand! What is the lowest plan you can get to add a line with at&t? Last I knew it was the $39.99 plan?! Either way if he lowers his plan or converts to a family plan he's gonna lose the majority of his rollovers. Also, to add a text plan to the new line...in the end the family plan and a family unlimited text plan would be better.

Sorry but I'm trying to see which route would be better in the long run!

[GiGi1977]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

You don't loose rollover when you convert to FT, as long as the monthly rate of the FT plan is the same, or higher than the individual plan you're currently on. When I added my mom to my plan I converted from an individual to a FT, and was able to keep my 2,000+ rollover minutes.

-Jay

WHAT! When did you do this? When I called 611 yesterday the rep said that if we went from a 900 individual plan to a 1400 family talk plan (2 lines) we'd lose all but 1400 minutes (whatever equals the plan you purchase) He went into a corp. store and the guy told him the same thing!

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by GiGi1977

Eric,
Thanks for the response. We have had this debate over on the at&t forums and like I stated earlier something happened, it even baffled the level 2 tech. Other family members have different phones but it's like coming into a twilight zone in my home! I had to laugh yesterday when I saw the Verizon ad about the people moving into the house that's the dead zone...that's my house! lol They switched out phones and sim cards (2 or 3 times), sent me upgrades and nothing has helped it! I even had one rep. personally call me & she promised to let me get another phone and if it didn't work I would not be signed back into another 2 yr. contract. However when I called them back they stated that rep. didn't have the authority to offer me this and they wouldn't do it. I know it's not the phone because the phone works well in other areas just not in or around my home! : I was one of the first to tell people on the at&t forum that "it was just a name change and nothing else!" until it happened to me. The maps all show I "should" have great reception/coverage.

Now back to the issue had hand! What is the lowest plan you can get to add a line with at&t? Last I knew it was the $39.99 plan?! Either way if he lowers his plan or converts to a family plan he's gonna lose the majority of his rollovers. Also, to add a text plan to the new line...in the end the family plan and a family unlimited text plan would be better.

Sorry but I'm trying to see which route would be better in the long run!

I wonder if it isn't something as simple as a bad storm blew the panels on your nearby tower out of alignment, and if they sent someone to the tower it might be fixed in an hour or so.

-Jay

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by GiGi1977

WHAT! When did you do this? When I called 611 yesterday the rep said that if we went from a 900 individual plan to a 1400 family talk plan (2 lines) we'd lose all but 1400 minutes (whatever equals the plan you purchase) He went into a corp. store and the guy told him the same thing!

I have been told that how many rollover minutes you get to keep depends on how generous the rep/salesman is feeling when they do it. This was about 19 months ago when I added mom, because she just got a 17 month upgrade not that long ago. When mom upgraded her phone recently we also changed the plan so we could add a line for my dad as well, and I still kept all of my rollover. Technically you can only keep the minutes equal to the anytime minutes of your new plan, but in many cases if the minutes of the new plan are more than the minutes available in the old plan the rep will let you keep all of them. Instead of going into corporate outlets, have you tried your local authorized dealer? My local dealer always seems able to do more for me than corporate ever offers.

-Jay

[GiGi1977]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

I have been told that how many rollover minutes you get to keep depends on how generous the rep/salesman is feeling when they do it. This was about 19 months ago when I added mom, because she just got a 17 month upgrade not that long ago. When mom upgraded her phone recently we also changed the plan so we could add a line for my dad as well, and I still kept all of my rollover. Technically you can only keep the minutes equal to the anytime minutes of your new plan, but in many cases if the minutes of the new plan are more than the minutes available in the old plan the rep will let you keep all of them. Instead of going into corporate outlets, have you tried your local authorized dealer? My local dealer always seems able to do more for me than corporate ever offers.

-Jay

No because I've always heard from at&t forum members (some of them are reps) and corp. store reps tell you that a corp. store is better! Guess I need to shop around in both of them locally and see who comes up with the better deal!

I liked it better when you could add a line for $9.99 and share your minutes!

I forgot earlier to thank you all for posting!

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by GiGi1977

No because I've always heard from at&t forum members (some of them are reps) and corp. store reps tell you that a corp. store is better! Guess I need to shop around in both of them locally and see who comes up with the better deal!

I liked it better when you could add a line for $9.99 and share your minutes!

I forgot earlier to thank you all for posting!

My local independent dealer always gives me a better deal. They have the power to shave a bit off of their profit to close the deal. I've gone in before and picked up phones that were supposed to be $50 after rebates, and walked out with the phone free after rebates. A corporate store will never do this for you. I've tried to get corporate to knock $5 off a phone to match Verizon's price on an equivalent model, and they wouldn't do it. The independent store beat the Verizon price by $20. Plus, being a small business owner I like to support other local small businesses. I only go into corporate stores if I have to.

-Jay

[Eric47]

yeah it is very possible that it could be a tower nearby to you in sore shape but if this has been on going i dont think that would be it, i still think that it would be your phone.

give it a try with a new phone and let us know how it goes.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Eric47

give it a try with a new phone and let us know how it goes.

Gigi mentions that other family members with at&t have the same bad experiences in her home, so I highly doubt that everyone's phones are faulty.

Gigi, You will be fine, coverage wise, traveling from Florida to KY/IN. Your ALLTEL phone will use ALLTEL native service wherever available, or roam for free on carriers like Sprint, Verizon and others when outside the native footprint along the trip. Everything will work while you are roaming, including free Mobile to Mobile, MyCircle, etc.

In Kentucky, ALLTEL has some native coverage, and outside that they will free roam on carriers such as Verizon Wireless, Bluegrass Cellular, Sprint PCS.

In Indiana, your phone will use Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless, United States Cellular, as your main roaming partners, basically blanketing the state with coverage.

If you could name some more specific places in these areas we can give you a better idea of how coverage will be, but your ALLTEL phone will work just fine. Also, ALLTEL's Florida network is very well built out.

[GiGi1977]

Originally Posted by Andy

Gigi mentions that other family members with at&t have the same bad experiences in her home, so I highly doubt that everyone's phones are faulty.

Gigi, You will be fine, coverage wise, traveling from Florida to KY/IN. Your ALLTEL phone will use ALLTEL native service wherever available, or roam for free on carriers like Sprint, Verizon and others when outside the native footprint along the trip. Everything will work while you are roaming, including free Mobile to Mobile, MyCircle, etc.

In Kentucky, ALLTEL has some native coverage, and outside that they will free roam on carriers such as Verizon Wireless, Bluegrass Cellular, Sprint PCS.

In Indiana, your phone will use Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless, United States Cellular, as your main roaming partners, basically blanketing the state with coverage.

If you could name some more specific places in these areas we can give you a better idea of how coverage will be, but your ALLTEL phone will work just fine. Also, ALLTEL's Florida network is very well built out.

Yes, that exactly right! It's been like a switch that was cut off. I even had one rep. state that "well if other people in your area were having problems with getting a signal then they had to tweak the tower to accommodate them!"

The area is right above Louisville. So when you say free roaming, it is FREE?
Thanks!

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by GiGi1977

Yes, that exactly right! It's been like a switch that was cut off. I even had one rep. state that "well if other people in your area were having problems with getting a signal then they had to tweak the tower to accommodate them!"

The area is right above Louisville. So when you say free roaming, it is FREE?
Thanks!

The Louisville area is where I went and visited last year with my AT&T phones. At the time I was using my HP iPAQ 6515 because I was using it for GPS. THe iPAQ does not get that good of a signal as compared to other phones, but it worked well around there so I would imagine that just about anyting would work well there on AT&T.

-Jay

[Andy]

Originally Posted by GiGi1977

Yes, that exactly right! It's been like a switch that was cut off. I even had one rep. state that "well if other people in your area were having problems with getting a signal then they had to tweak the tower to accommodate them!"

The area is right above Louisville. So when you say free roaming, it is FREE?
Thanks!

Hi there,

With free roaming, I did mean completely free roaming to you. You won't even notice you are roaming since all your features count as they would on the native ALLTEL network and everything, including data works just fine.

In the greater Louisville area, you will FREE Roam on Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless and Bluegrass Cellular. Combined, those three carriers will give you the largest geographic coverage footprint in that area.

If your at&t phone does not work at your house and others with at&t phones are having the same issues, there is nothing wrong with your phone. If at&t admits the issue but can't fix it, ALLTEL is a great coverage alternative.

[GiGi1977]

Originally Posted by Andy

Hi there,

With free roaming, I did mean completely free roaming to you. You won't even notice you are roaming since all your features count as they would on the native ALLTEL network and everything, including data works just fine.

In the greater Louisville area, you will FREE Roam on Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless and Bluegrass Cellular. Combined, those three carriers will give you the largest geographic coverage footprint in that area.

If your at&t phone does not work at your house and others with at&t phones are having the same issues, there is nothing wrong with your phone. If at&t admits the issue but can't fix it, ALLTEL is a great coverage alternative.

Someone on the att forum said that Verizon just bought Alltell out so I'm looking at Verizon's plans too now! lol
Thanks again!