Might change to Alltel need help understanding Plans Please

There's no threads on this site, but there have been threads popping up on other forums such as this one:
HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - Customer support doesn't work.

Apparently the Alltel call-in center was out of commission today for a while. I really don't think that's a normal experience as a company with over 12 million customers generally doesn't just decide to take a collective long luch break and refuse to let new subscribers sign up! :biggrin: lol I would chalk the experience up as abnormal myself.

I thought I read somewhere that only a very small percentage of Alltel Corporate Stores no longer used dummy phones. I know it's not impossible because there's one alltel location in the mall near me that still uses dummy phones, but I just thought that was because of the higher chance of passer-by shoplifting there. But might you have gone into a third party retailer store??

 

Yeah that is strange. I think I know why the person he talked to was rude. They were probably getting completely bogged down with calls and tired of explaining the issue because of the problem mentioned in the other forum, people having the same problems. I've heard of regional problems sometimes but that's pretty rare the whole thing was messed up. Anyway, the dummy phone thing. I'm not sure why some store choose to do that and others don't. I guess so people can't steal them, but most are attached some how aren't they?

Anyway I wouldn't let that be representative of Alltel. I've talked to customer service a lot, I would rank them almost right up there with T-Mobile (their customer service always wins the awards). Never had them be rude to me, of course I've not a fellow employee or anything so maybe they treat their own employees or dealers differently, lol. I don't think so though....

Most would rate the carriers customer service like this (of course it can always vary).....
1. T-Mobile
2. Alltel/Verizon
3. At&t/US Cellular
4. Sprint

 

Well the buyout did happen and is waiting to be finalized, but what it means has been speculated in online forums for a while.

There are a couple leading theories, those Verizon and At&t supporters claim that alltel will eventually be sold out market by market.

However, to me that's a plan that doesn't make a lot of sense. First of all, alltel wasn't a financially troubled company when it was sold. It was actually financially very stable with a very low debt load within 1-2 billion, which is only a small percentage of their yearly revenue and tiny compared to a provider like Sprint that's over 21 billion in debt and rumored to also be a takeover target.

But to me, it seems like the sellout was so that alltel would have a larger company bankrolling several projects they wanted to take on including the 700 MHz spectrum auction held by the FCC next year. Alltel does lack a number of licenses in larger markets, like New York, where alltel customers simply roam for free on Sprint at this time. But having a privately held investor in control of finances may allow them to sacrifice short-term, quarterly gains for long-term growth. Another project is outlined in this article: I, Cringely . The Pulpit . When Elephants Dance | PBS
The company that is purchasing alltel also has its hands in some other high-tech projects such as VoIP and WiFi which would create a very beneficial relationship with an already built-out wireless network and customer base.

So of course, nobody really knows their plans, but I feel completely comfortable sticking with alltel and I really believe the company that may be taking over in the future can really help alltel make the leap from a top-tier regional provider to a top-tier national provider that can really give the traditional telecom monopolies of Verizon and At&t a run for their money in terms of technology offered as well as licenses for new markets that alltel has previously been unable to obtain.

Again, there are other threads that go on for pages speculating what the buyout means. But as alltel was bought in a very untraditional manner, it's my opinion that the private company really plans to utilize the alltel network and customer base to grow the company as a long-term asset.

 

Well said! I fell the same way.

 

Plans can change and my circle can be removed at anytime. Is it going to happen? At this time, no one is really going to be able to answer that question.

 

Wirelessly posted (MOT-24.0_/00.62 UP.Browser/6.2.3.4.c.1.123 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

Yes but that is true with any carrier. They could all stop offering free nights, but they won't because if they did they would have a legal nightmare, it would cost them a lot of money even if they have the contractual right to do so. I wouldn't be too concerned about it, it is about as likely as at&t ending rollover minutes.

 

Alltel runs 19 call centers throughout the US,and every single one of them was down yesterday due to an IT problem at corporate. That's right ALL call systems were down, and came up around 5pm. Even then, transfers were down until about 7pm. We were still dealing with the fallout from that TODAY, with loads of people calling and and yelling about "why weren't you answering yesterday..." over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

 

Weird,,I never had a screwed up bill in 5 years with Alltel. Also, At&t constanly ranks near the bottom for customer service. Maybe Tx is different...I dunno :headscrat:headscrat:headscrat:headscrat The guy complaining about roaming probably is getting a flashing triangle which is not roaming. People just don't understand that triangle.

 

haha, just to elaborate, Alltel does a flashing triangle for free roam on their National Freedom. The only problem is that they only designate your local SID (System ID number) as "home" on the phone. So in your home area, the triangle (or R) doesn't blink. But in some cases, if you go to the next county over which sometimes has a different SID, the triangle will blink, even if you're still on Alltel. Some people, understandably, just don't get the concept of the roaming indicator blinking and still being on alltel.

I do admit, alltel has its quirks like that, and by all means if you feel more comfortable and secure staying with At&t, do it. After all, you will be the one paying the bill.

But online and in every unbiased survey such as Consumer Reports, there is a frequent trend that always ends up in alltel Customer Service getting the better ratings and network quality. Just by scanning the forums, you'll also see far fewer complaints with alltel than At&t. And a plan that offers similar minutes/texts from At&t would cost a lot more, mainly because of My Circle. But all I can really offer from first hand knowledge is to say that I've been pleased with alltel's customer service in correcting my one billing issue. Maybe in Texas, the calls get routed to a different call center and they don't know what they're doing there ... and maybe the At&t employee is thinking about a couple customers that did have a legitimate gripe and exaggerated a little ... and maybe those people didn't even bother trying to get the issue corrected. But I personally wouldn't take the At&t employee's word for it, especially after he was under the impression you were with At&t but thinking about going to alltel.

 

Haha, one thing about every carrier out there, never, NEVER trust their word when it comes to evaluating other carriers, especially the sales reps, they are worse then sleezy car salesman almost. He was likely just not worried about you switching to Verizon because of the price and decided to bash Alltel because it is the company taking customers away....

The second thing was most likely the roaming indicator and the customer not knowing that blinking roaming is really not roaming at all in the traditional sense. Just an indicator that you are outside your home area, even other areas Alltel networks show up as "flashing triangle".

If you decide to stay with At&t that's fine, I just hate seeing people over paying for service with a good marketing campaign instead of substance. I've had pretty much every carrier of the top 5, and currently have the ones listed in my profile. Alltel's coverage, customer service, price, and customer oriented policies make them the best out their in my opinion. Now I may sound a little too enthusiastic, which I probably am, but I have nothing to gain in alltel doing well really, I'm just a customer. Alltel has won over many people, as you can probably tell, and you'll find very few "haters" compared to at&t, sprint, and verizon....and for good reason....If you are really worried about switching, just keep in mind you do have a 15 day return policy, and if you are concerned about the customer service or billing issues there really is nothing to worry about. I've never had an issue, no one I personally know with Alltel has had an issue. And in the years that I have been involved with this and howardforums i can count the people with actual problem in billing on one hand. I can't think of anytime where Alltel didn't refund fees even when they had no reason to do so and the bigger companies would have said screw you......I understand your concern because overall they are unknown to you compared to At&t or Verizon because of the lack of major marketing, it was the same for me when I was with T-Mobile as my primary before this. I always research things thoroughly before I buy them and get into anything and consider myself somewhat of a consumer advocate of sorts, but I would never switch to anyone else at this point, it would take a lot.......

 

Alltel was having problems with it's phone system on 8-27-07) I know as I was trying to call 611 all day!

 

Sorry, but let's not exagerate:

The entire call system, including the IVR, was down from about 1:30 pm but was back up and running (except for transferring) by 5pm, and even the transfer system was back up by 6:30 pm.

That's 3.5 hours the whole system down, and another 1.5 when you could call in but not be transferred...a far cry from "all day."

 

What center you reach has nothing to do with your geographic location. Calls are routed based on voumes at the various centers, and are sent where they will be answered fastest - nothing to do with what is "closest."

 

Alltel's future is somewhat of a concern for me as well. But any major changes will come after the deal is finalized and probably not until another half-year after that so at least a year and a half from now. Keep in mind the equity that bought them out said they will keep all of the alltel decision makers and higher ups in place. Right now they do have 1 year contract upgrades....in fact I thought everyone did that, strange att does not.

 

Very interesting. I would have thought that calls would be routed based on location so that 'regional promotions' or regional service outages would be reported at the regional call-in center. But I guess not in an effort to make sure every customer gets the shortest wait time.

 

Nope, calls aren't routed based on region but, as you mentioned, are routed to where the wait time should be the shortest. A few centers were being bombarded with calls recently due to the final switch of old Midwest Wireless customers to the Alltel billing system. It seems those customers are VVEERRYY unhappy with the switch and love to take it out on Call Center Reps.

 

One thing that blew me away as an AT&T customer? Even after my contract expired, they wouldn't let me upgrade phones for a reduced price!

With Alltel, I can upgrade 3 months before my contract expiration, no questions asked. I guess AT&T didn't think I was a valuable enough customer to try and lure me into another contract with a new phone, although I was using a lot of data/messaging features.

Well, needless to say, they lost me to Alltel. (And I'd be saying that even if I wasn't employed by them.

 

I didn't read the entire page but wanted to help with the Affinity discount question. The National Freedom 1000 $75.00 plan is eligible for the 15% discount but the $79.99 plan wit hthe 7pm and 1000 text option is not eligible for discount. The discount will be removed if applied to this rate plan.

 

Why? Do they want people to go to Verizon instead? What a stupid policy. I have the old 75 dollar plan with 7 nights, 1000 minutes and 2 lines. If they got rid of my discount. I'd port immediately to another carrier that I can get a discount with

 

The reason you don't get the discount, is because you get 12.99 worth of text for free and they figure that is enough of a discount.