To any who can help me, I am thinking about switching from Cingular to Alltel service but will be moving to Miami in a month and realize that Alltel has no native towers there. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with Alltel's coverage in the Miami area and if I would be able to have Alltel as my permanent carrier despite it being a roaming area. Thanks!
No, at least 50% of your usage must come from within the Alltel home coverage area (Alltel's native towers.) You wouldn't be able to reside in Miami and have Alltel as your carrier. Probably in Miami, you'd want to go with Verizon, since that is who you'd be roaming on with Alltel, anyway. Other choices in Miami, FL include T-Mobile, Sprint/NEXTEL, Cingular and Metro PCS.
Alltel doesn't have native service in Miami? I am surprised about that. If you want an advanced data network (3G), I would suggest looking at either Sprint or Verizon. I haven't tried them in Miami, but my friend lives in Sunrise, Florida, and he uses Sprint along the east coast (mainly Ft. Lauderdale and Miami), and has no problems. I have traveled from the west coast of Florida along Alligator Alley with Verizon about a month or so back, and went to Ft. Lauderdale and the service was excellent for the entire trip to the east coast and back to the west coast of Florida (except I had a couple problems making calls inside Sawgrass Mills (in Ft. Lauderdale)). Remember to use carriers trial periods to determine the areas where it works best, and the areas you travel to and from the most.
Verizon is an excellent choice overall in the Miami area for sure. Sprint may also be worth looking into- both have EVDO service up if you're interested in that.
Alltel is still mostly a rural carrier, although they have service in such metropolitan areas as Albuquerque, Phoenix and Omaha. I was not at all surprised to learn they do not have native service in Miami.
I think that Cingular holds both Cellular Band licences in the Miami area, and ALLTEL has no PCS licenses there either to work with so they don't offer service there, or can't.