Needs advice on what carrier in Manhattan, KS

I would probably side with Alltel being that it is an 850 MHz carrier. Sprint is PCS and most likely doesn't cover rural areas like Alltel would. I would go in and see if you can try Alltel for a test period and give them a shot. I believe there is a small regional carrier in that area too, can't remember the name though??

 

I am with Dogma. I have had Alltel for a lot of years and have found that they cover areas that others don't want to mess with. So there is my 2 cents.

 

Sprint nor Alltel would roam off of a Cingular tower. Cingular uses a technology called GSM and Sprint and Alltel uses CDMA. Basically a signal from GSM won't be picked up on a CDMA phone and vice-versa. Even with free roaming, your phone just wouldn't be capable of picking it up.

It sounds like you've done your homework and know that Alltel would work at K-State. At http://www.cellreception.com/towers/towers.php it shows 3 towers around the K-State campus so that must be a reason why. That site generally doesn't even show most towers. All of Kansas is included in the nationwide plan so there wouldn't be any roaming charges. Here is the link to their plans page where you can see the national map.

Where is your home? There's a good chance, even if you don't know about it that there would be a CDMA signal in that town where roaming would be free with Sprint or Alltel. Sprint has the nights @ 7 on most plans. Alltel on the other hand has MyCircle, nights @ 7 for $7 on most plans, more anytime minutes for the price, and with their 850 MHz signal would probably be a lot better for coverage in Kansas, especially with all their towers around Manhattan.

 

What is your hometown? Maybe a carrier that ALLTEL roams on has a site nearby providing coverage in your hometown...would be strange if only one carrier covers it.

 

Looks like Verizon covers your hometown and I believe ALLTEL's coverage starts in the county north and West of you and ALLTEL has almost all of Kansas covered flawlessly. Sprint covers Kansas too, but mostly the interstates I think and roams on Verizon and ALLTEL outside their coverage area. ALLTEL would work in your hometwon and will work in Erie, PA as well without roaming, same with Sprint. I would pick whichever carrier looks best to you. As other members have said, though, ALLTEL would give you the best coverage in Manhattan.

 

Personally I would go with a Motorola. They are usually pretty dependable and get the best reception out of the phones you mentioned.

 

There's really no way to tell by looking at the phone. Motorola generally does do very well and people seem very happy with them while most people that try the U420 have been disappointed with reception. I've also heard good things about the LG AX355 but I would try to stay away from other LGs.

Samsung also has a new phone, the U520 I think is the number that's set to release soon that's also a mp3 player but apparently there was a software issue and I've not seen a release date for it but I would expect the price to be very high on it because of the mp3 player.

The Alltel website is apparently having a holiday sale now on the Razrs, the V3c is 34.99 while you can get 2 V3Ms for 49.99 (silver or 69.99 for red). The E815 and AX355 are also good phones that pick up a good reception. All of your options are great phones but I would stay away from the U420 if you're worried about getting the best reception.

 

I think you made a good decision. Welcome to the Alltel club!

 

Welcome to the Alltel family and I think you will love the v3c. I have had v3c for over a year and still love it.

 

You shouldn't have any problems with Alltel in and around Manhattan. Pretty much, they have the best coverage here. K-State uses Alltel for their phones so there should be few, if any, dead spots on campus. Aggieville is pretty much covered by everyone, as you can well imagine.

If you travel to the Tuttle Dam and the camping areas around there, you'll find that Alltel is the only carrier to have signal in most of those places.

Welcome to Manhattan, welcome to Alltel.
:welcome:

 

If you entered credit card information then you were probably using the American Roaming Network and were, in fact, charged for roaming. That's weird that it wouldn't be active right away, did you port your number over from your old carrier?

 

Nope I don't believe they are part of Alltel.

This guy says it is 2.99 plus 1.99 a minute.......
http://www.cabezal.com/~dpyle/archives/001020.html

I think you are pretty much SOL with a 60 minute call.

You could call Alltel and tell them that you received it unactivated and were under the understanding that it was Alltel. They might be willing to give you some credit because I believe that it is supposed to come preactivated. Or letstalk or whoever you got it from. I wouldn't expect anything though.

 

Good luck with it....

 

Agreed. I would wait a couple days until it shows up on your credit card just to be sure. But I would tell Alltel basically what strunke suggested and that you didn't even know it was roaming until you saw it on your phone/credit card and you attempted to activate your phone before the call but it apparently wouldn't activate, etc. and so forth. Being a new customer and still within the 15 day trial period, they might credit your account for at least some of it but I will also not try to get your hopes up. Good luck with it.

 

If you call Alltel CS and just mention Let's Talk they should be understanding. I hate 3rd party dealers. They're all about the money and not so much about the customer service.