is alltel disclosing ?

An Alltel rep told me today that they are sending letters to people with their bills, starting with the bills that came out on the 16th.

 

What is not a hardened fact about the customers knowing there is an "impending buyout"?

 

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There is nothing wrong with an informed customer, but I imagine that there may be legal consequences (DOJ) if a representative from either company actively informs the customers for whatever reason. Until the merger is approved (which it is not), I was under the impression that they still have to compete as two separate companies (which they still are). There is also a very good chance that some markets will be divested in order to get approval for the merger. Which means, not everyone would necessarily become a Verizon customer as a result of the merger.

 

I guess you didn't understand my post at all, so let me put it bluntly then.

Please stop repeating over and over again, statements like Alltel is being dishonest, intentionally holding out information etc.

If you read the posts on this thread you will see Alltel is not being dishonest, the information is being shared in varying degrees be it speculation, rumor or in a need to know basis. As much as is possible for a merger that has not been approved, and if and when approved which markets will need to be divested.

MotoHooligan posted that there will be something official going out with this month's bill. Ofcourse you are not going to be convinced by anyone's reply just as no one could convince you that at&t did not take over Cingular nor was there a merger last year, it was a name change only and nothing else changed.

I am sure you will find something to complain about when you receive that letter irrespective of what the content is and I for one, can't wait to see what that complaint will be.

PS: If you are interested in understanding how complicated mergers can be and what all happens before everything is finalized, you may want to read this the thread on Verizon/Unicell merger.

http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/wireless-news/70280-doj-requires-verizon-divest-unicel-merger.html

 

He's already been over there. He replied to the comment about VZW having to divest stuff in the Alltel merger.

 

That is true.
All I was saying is that between newspapers and internet forums people walk into the stores and ask the rep because they all want to know if it is true, etc. The guy beside them hears the talk and asks his rep and so on.
Questions about how this effects us and our contracts is at the front of everyones minds and just reading some of these forums you know that the employees are being asked... regardless of what is approved or final. I feel sorry for the CS people who are being asked questions that they are not equipped to answer as of yet. (And from what I heard that is what was being told to the curious customers)
I'm sorry if I made it sound as if anyone was making speculations or promises. I simply meant that the question was being confirmed when asked. (Which is was)

 

A side note: Folks, actually open and LOOK at you bill - THE ENTIRE THING. I got chewed out today forward, backwards and upside down from a customer in the divested Conneticut market that now is Verizon. He wanted to know why he was never informed of the divestiture as he does NOT want to be a Verizon customer. Guess what? They were sending out notices in form of bill inserts for MONTHS about this to all impacted customers. He openly admitted he never opened the bills, just threw them out unopened and paid his bill online. We do expect you to actually READ the bills we send out.

 

The main thing people are upset about is that their bills WILL go UP. The economy is not good, gas is expensive, groceries are going up, salries are not keeping up. This sale will make most Alltel customers bill go up. When everyones contract is up and we have to sign a new 2 year with Verizon, we will have to pay more. Since Alltel gave us My Circle 2 years ago, many of us have used our phones much more than we use to. I personally cancelled long distance on my home phone and my home phone began collecting dust. 67 million IN numbers is nice, but having the power to choose who you call is more nice. My Circle contains:
6 Verizon number
1 USCC number
2 At&t numbers
1 landline

Last month (a slow month) we used about 4639 m2m & my circle minutes. About half of those were my circle minutes. I also have 7:00 nights which I am not even adding into this scenario. I plan on staying with Verizon. I do not care about the UI. I do not care about the 5Mb data cap. I am from the northeast originally, alot of my family are on Verizon, so I can take care advantage of IN. Unfortunately, that is not the case for many Alltel users. The bottom line is, I will probably have to raise my plan to the 89.99 family plan which will cost me about 20 bucks a month more. Either that or not use my phone as much. So, the lesson? I think most Alltel users are mostly concerned about rising costs. Every penny counts in my house. It is tight. That is why many of us use Alltel. Lower prices, great coverage. I think alot of folks will go to At&t in the southeast and west for the Unity plan. Some may go to Sprint for $ savings. Few will go to T-Mobile due to lack of coverage, since we are use to extensive coverage, most will saty with Verizon and open their wallets wider.

As far as disclosure...nah, who cares? You sign a 2 year contract and keep your plan. I do not care that At&t bought Bellsouth. My home phonebill has not changed, just the name on the bill.

 

Good post djjim.

For people going to AT&T over Verizon, I don't see any savings there unless you need the M2M.

I hope VZW's business offering of unlimited calling to 5 numbers makes the jump to the consumer side. Alltel customers may end up paying an extra $5, but at least they'll be able to make their calls and know what their bill will be.

If there had never been a MyCircle or MyFaves, most of these people would all be on $100 unlimited plans, and they wouldn't have much to complain about.

 

Maybe to some degree that is true. I would not have 3 unlimited lines at 300$! No way! I think people would have just developed their calling habits differently. Me personally, would have signed up for Verizon so I could be IN with my and my wife family up north if My Circle had not been introduced. In addition, I would use the cell phone less than I do and the land line more. The way I use my phone, and my wife uses her phone today are habits developed BECAUSE of My Circle over the past 2 years.

 

True, most people would have reduced their habits, but there were a lot people paying $100 for 1400-2000 minutes. I think its mostly the $40-60 plan people that increased their calling due to MyCircle.

 

Why would you have to change your plan once your existing service agreement expires? Alltel carries TONS of plans left over from takeovers of Western and Midwest Wireless. They are now out of their service agreements and STILL on the same plan. They can stay on it as long as they like, they just can't move FROM it and then go back. It is anticipated this may be the case with this merger, but that is speculation. However, every merger/takeover I've seen this has held true.

 

This all makes alot of sense, lets hope thats the case.....

 

Trust me, Verizon WILL make us switch to a Verizon plan when our 2 years are up and we need a new phone and have to resign a new 2 year. I would be VERY suprised if it happens any ohther way.

 

Well if this is how they want to do it then I guess that is how people will have to abide. If not there are other options to leave and try.

 

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Cingular/AT&T Mobility has allowed me to keep my old AT&T Wireless plan for the last few years and I haven''t had any major problems. It should be interesting to see how VZW will actually handle it.

 

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Blue, I just wanted to clarify that you are talking about true acqusition of ATTWS by Cingular in 2004, whereas army1 is talking about the name change from Cingular to at&t mobility in 2007.

 

Aha. so Cingular did do something right for you .

Look at it this way, with all the divesture that Verizon is going to have to make to acquire Allet, your market maybe divested and you could end up with AT&T Mobility again. You never know. :lmao:

 

Based on my research, here's a brief history:

• 2001 : SBC(60%) & BellSouth(40%) merge their wireless assets to form Cingular Wireless.
• 2001 : AT&T Corp spins off AT&T Wireless as a seperate, publicly-traded company.
• 2004 : Cingular (SBC & BellSouth) purchases AT&T Wireless for $41 billion in cash after a bidding war with VodaFone.
• 2005 : SBC acquires AT&T Corp for $16 billion. Once the merger was approved, SBC changes their name to AT&T.
• 2006 : SBC (now the new AT&T) acquires BellSouth along with their 40% stake in Cingular. Cingular is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBC (the new at&t) and has been renamed to AT&T Mobility.

The new at&t is SBC (regardless of which name they decide to use). SBC (the new at&t) is still headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

Is it even a remote possibility that some of the roaming agreements in your area terminated around that time? Is it possible that there was a tower upgrade that could have messed up your coverage around that time? Did Cingular/AT&T Mobilty actually own the tower that you were having issues with? Coverage issues don't just happen because SBC chose to rename themselves, BellSouth, and Cingular to AT&T. Former AT&T Wireless customers are not eligible for discounted upgrades unless they migrate to an AT&T Mobility/Cingular plan. AT&T Mobility/Cingular are eligible for upgrades since it is still the same company..

 

Vodafone could've been happy with their GSM in the US back then,
now almost everyone (especially CDMA carriers) have to go to LTE because of the Verizon & Vodafone incompatibility,
at least thats how I see it.

 

everyones going to goto LTE because it makes the most sense.

 

the sales office in torrington CT which I assume was a corporate Alltell office? is closed (has ben for awhile) with signs saying to go to Verizon - LOL

poor bastards LOL

 

That is because the CT market was sold to Verizon back in November. That actually doesn't have anything to do with the current buy out. But it would be pretty funny had it been in another area. They are still very actively selling Alltel service.

 

Once again, not necessarily. I sell older Western Wirless and Midwest Wireless upgrades all the time. They do not have to change their plan just to get a new phone under contract. Now if they want to add a new line and have them all share, that's totally a different subject.

It does not good to speculate though. NOBODY yet knows how this will all shake out.