why does alltel " do this "

This isn't really allthat unusual if you think about it. I see Verizon and AT&T and T-Mobile commercials all day long, but, alas, they don't provide service where I live. I also see ads for Chuck E. Cheese, Chili's, Pep Boys, the Olive Garden, etc., etc., but guess what? Nothing within 200 miles.

It's called national advertising.....

 

You likely saw their commercial on a cable network. I see them all the time on channels like Comedy Central, FX, TNT, TBS and others.

I'm in the Los Angeles area the situation is the same here, though I wouldn't want Alltel's service even if it was available.

I'm guessing they're doing it to get more people to realize they exist, at the expense of many people in major metros they don't service.

If you see another commercial, press that "mute" button...

 

Wow, I didn't think they were bad commercials. I liked most of them.

Yes as everyone said, with Cable your are probably watching a station that Alltel has service, and until they get some license in this area, we can't choose them as a carrier.

 

You hate their service but have never had it......yeah.....that makes sense. It's national advertising, get over it. You can't get T-Mo, VZW, Sprint, and Cingular everywhere, don't you think those people get sick of hearing about "can you hear me now?" But there is no service where you are?

 

Come on, just get a grip. Cingular/At&t is all over my TV - "All around the World" - but they have yet to reach my part of the world. If they ever get here I would doubt I would even notice.

 

Well said strunke.

 

I lived in NJ for 16 years. then when i moved to SC in 2005, i was surprised to learn about Alltel, and i heard great things since i been here. Since i got it, theres signal almost everywhere with them. Also, my circle is great too, (T-mobile's "my faves" is a cheap imitation). Plus when i go somewhere with no Alltel signal, i'll just use Verizon or Sprint. So i recommend Alltel if you ever move into it's native coverage area.

Also, Alltel was one of the first wireless companies (1983).

There are many similar situations with fast food as you guys in Northeast are familiar with, like Sonic, Hardees, Krystal, Long John Silvers, etc.

Such a Big City, Such Little Choices, thats what sux here.

 

Yeah Verizon was shown in ads and info spots way before they even came to Arkansas. People would wonder why they were showing ads but wouldnt offer service. Then they blamed Cingy and Alltel saying they were blocking Verizon, when actually there wasnt any free spectrum out there... it wasnt blocking.. But yeah you will see all sorts of things in ads on cable and sat tv for places not even close to your area.. dont blow a gasket... its just ads... and saying you wouldnt use their service based just on that is silly... that would be like me saying I would never go to six flags because they play ads up here but there isnt one in my state...

 

Yes they are, i've got friends up in Jersey telling me about their commercials also.

It seems to have only been occurring since I got my Alltel phone in September 06.

Plus the "my circle" deal puts pressure on the other carriers, and they must come up with someting (such as my faves w t-mobile) to be more competitive. I'd like to see what Verizon, Sprint & Cingular do to compete against the circle.....Still waiting...

 

That would be a great thing for the other companies to offer. We have My Circle and we got rid of our landline all together. We have never had an overage and we call the people in My Circle for hours on end every month. They definately have got an idea that the others should really think about to offer a better service to their customers.

 

And that's why I'm a customer!

In an average month i'd use about 8000 my circle minutes and it only cost about a total of $67.00.

In Oct-Nov 2006, i used about 15,000 minutes and i still only paid about the same price!!

 

I know the 1st time I saw an Alltel commercial up here in Jersey was when the "My Circle" came out & thought they were funny with the other carriers mascot's.

As for Verizon or Cingular coming out with something similar, I don't think it's going to happen, I even have doubts that Sprint would come out with something similar, but there may be more of a chance of that happening over the 2 big carriers.
So I would stop waiting, I really don't think it's going to happen.

Actually the closest Cingular/AT&T just started was unlimited calling to AT&T Landline customers in the old BellSouth area, but you loose M2M on that plan & it's still not the same as My Circle or My Fave's due to the AT&T customer Limitation.

 

Hi! I am just up I-85 from you! My sons name is Kyle! You got me beat on minutes! I use about 5,000 minutes a month and pay 60 bucks after work discount. I love Alltel too and am a transplant from Boston. TMobile constantly advertises too and they are not available in all of NC & SC!!!!! Noone seems to b****h about that!

 

LoL, yup and there are no limits either. so I am happy no matter how i use the phone.

and I just happened to calculate approx how much it would've cost in overages, and heres what i came out with....

Courtesy of my blog on MySpace - (myspace.com/KyleAndMelissa222) :

__________________________________________________

Saturday, December 02, 2006

My Circle / Amazing Cell Phone Usage
Category: Friends

If you think My Faves by T-Mobile is a good thing; theres something better, as i've said before:

My Circle lets me do what I want! (find out below)

Top 10 Alltel/My Circle Advantages:

1. You can call 10 numbers for free, not 5
2. You can update your numbers every day (vs. every month w/ My Faves)
3. My Circle will work on almost any phone (vs the "My Faves" enabled handset)
4. My Circle works while you roam
5. Alltel roams on Verizon, Sprint and others for free (largest roaming network).
6. Reasonably priced (about 2 dollars a day)
7. Can be managed online
8. Who came first? My Circle, of course (notice the "my" in My Faves logo is inside a circle).
9. Alltel is the fastest growing cell company in the USA - and is currently the 5th largest
10. Has nearly 10 million customers with My Circle (vs. about 2 million with My Faves).

Alltel/My Circle disadvantage:

1. Not available if you live in NJ, PA, DE, MD, NY, RI, MA, NH, VT, ME, IN, OR, WA, AK, HI - yet at least

So What?!


interesting stuff about my bill 10-16-2006 / 11-15-2006:

Heres my record of used minutes for Mid-October - Mid-November 2006:

Total Minute Usage:

15,233

Total cost:

$67.00

Which means about 227 minutes is only $1.00

227 minutes = 3 hours & 47 minutes

15,233 minutes = over 10½ days

Wow...

And you thought 1,000 anytime minutes was a lot???


Breakdown of it all:

1. 18 anytime

2. 1,110 Night & Weekend

3. 14,105 My Circle / Mobile-to-Mobile


so heres a great perspective (that would've been overage fees)...

14,105 + 18 =
14,123 potential peak minutes (which most were probably, LoL)

14,123 - 900(included anytime) =
13,223 minutes over!

ok, normally overages are charged an extra 40¢/min!

13,223 x 40¢ = $5,289.20

whoa...................................

$5,289.20(over) + $67.00(original bill) =

$5,356.20 = Final Bill

($5,356.20 is enough for 80 months of service @ $67/month)

80 months = 6 and 2/3 years

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Would you pay that every month for a cell phone????
-Not with My Circle, you won't!!!

 

interesting analysis.

 

That's easy for you to say, you don't live in one of these States, that people may want to have this advantage.

And if they were available in these States, then they could compete as a National Carrier vs a Regional carrier, which limit's their customer base & the ability to grow even larger to compete with the big 4.

 

It may take awhile (who knows how long?) but Alltel is next in line anyway, to move to the bigger cities. As long as Alltel can keep the company together (not brought out by another). But competition is the key; if they continue to offer the specials and expand service to a nationwide standard like they say, (commercial ads, too), More and more people would choose them.... or at least move to an area they cover.

Already, there are some big cities, Like Charlotte, Jacksonville, Cleveland, Phoenix, Raleigh and others with Alltel customers. So they're not 100% rural at least. But even some rural areas still have little or no coverage from Alltel (like most of Tennessee, Indiana, and others)

......................
So, whatever the strategy of Alltel, it must be complex. Why would they serve some big cities and not other rural places?

 

I think Alltel is holding out for the 700mhz auction. This is much better spectrum than 1900mhz and above. 700mhz has characteristics of 850mhz. I think Alltel is wise to hold out for the 700mhz. It will be cheaper to build out and will make for a real strong network...maybe stronger than any other carrier. They may have an eye on US Cellular too. People around here have rumored that for years.

 

You forgot to include CA. Alltel's El Centro and Lake Tahoe areas do not count for the state as a whole. Both those markets are considered Arizona & Nevada respectively. Covering 200,000 potential customers in a state with 40 million people doesn't cut it.

 

Parts of Inyo, Mono & Imperial Counties in California do have Coverage by Alltel....

The states I listed have no service in any part of that state whatsoever...

 

here is a map of Alltel's native coverage area as of 2-2007:

 

Let's see: No native coverage in Seattle/Tacoma, Spokane, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Memphis, Orlando, Miami, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, New York City, Baltimore, Washington DC, Boston, Hartford, and many more.

So a major part of the population core of the US can't get Alltel's service? Makes "My Circle" irrelevant to most of us.

Alltel can offer all the bells and whistles of "My Circle" because they are a regional carrier. It would be a different story if they were truly national. All the comparisons between "My Circle" and "My Faves" are silly. Carrier-wise, we're talking about apples and oranges.

 

There are also many people that won't consider Alltel simply because of the 'Regional' label. Or think Verizon or AT&T must have better coverage just because they're huge corporations. Sadly it's the way so many people think now days that bigger is always better when in reality they often focus more on maximizing profits (higher prices) with minimum investment (no more towers than necessary to get people to buy). Hopefully by way of a merger or buyout of Metro or USCC or the 700 MHz auction, they can continue to grow and force even more competition on the big four.

It really just depends on what carriers are available to you. It's a very good comparison if Alltel and T-Mobile are both an option to a customer such as in the market I live. Without roaming options, most carriers would be in a lot of trouble, T-Mobile would look much more like a glorified Metro. Even Verizon and Cingular would be horribly exposed to many.

Actually, we can wreak havoc on your anytime minutes without so much as giving it a thought!!

 

All the Carriers are a comparison "apples to oranges" depending on where you live. In the areas I live and visit have virtually no signal for Sprint, T-Mobile or Cingular. So even if they did offer an equivalant to My Circle they would not be an option when you can't get a signal. When visiting the big cities I can still use my phone while on the Alltel plan. When visiting my family in the country my dad can't use his Sprint phone. So I guess a little regional company that sees a car driving through a deserted rural area in the middle of the night and can give them coverage is all that matters to me. While the NO SIGNAL I see on Dad's Sprint phone is the "apples to oranges" that I am seeing.

 

T-mobile does cover some bigger cities...But if they don't serve any of the Carolinas (excluding some towers on the immediate side of SC near Augusta, GA and towers on Hilton Head Island (Savannah Area)). Then T-mobile couldn't be a "national carrier" either..

I mean Come On......

Charlotte, NC is the 2nd largest financial district in the country, next to NYC (Wachovia/Bank Of America HQ with other big corps nearby). Plus theres the Research Triangle, as well as the Popular tourist locales of Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and the Outter Banks. And its kind of inexpensive to operate a business in the southeast (e.g. the only BMW plant in North America - Greer/Greenville, SC). What's wrong with T-mobile???

If Alltel could do it, why not T-Mobile?

 

First of all, Alltel has spectrum in the Carolina's, T-Mobile does not. T-Mobile did come in a bit late in the game. I agree with you that for the size and presence that the both Carlolinas have, they should have something there.

The way it works is that T-Mobile not having native service in the Carolina's does not affect their standing as a national carrier. They have a strong presence in a majority of the major markets in the US. This is something Alltel does not have at the present time. If you were to take the market customer base that T-Mobile can pull from, it is considerably larger than Alltel's.

This is nothing against Alltel. Their service is natively NOT available to a large majority of US residents. Roaming agreements between the carrier's, in a way, gives them national access without the need for nationwide native service.

We could argue for days about what really makes a national carrier. The same viewpoints you state for T-Mobile not having service in the Carolina's are the same viewpoints I can state for Alltel not having service in the Los Angeles area (or NYC, Hawaii, etc).

 

Same here. But i'm just saying for other reasons, such as tourism to the Carolinas, t-mobile should notice the potential and demand for it's own customers. (try to picture kind of like any empty Las Vegas - It's not a small world).

Again, these are two states that have been deprived of t-mobile anything. Even some with the knowledge of their existance (other than through commerical ads) (this is the opposite of Alltel in Major US markets "knowledge")

in other words, some people that live in NC & SC don't know about T-mobile...


________

so, When my friend (who has t-mo) comes to visit me here in SC, her phone would only say Cingular or SunCom. which also, both have their great ups, and far downs in this area.

I've also met alot of nice people since i moved here in 2005. And the vast majority love to go only to one area outside the Carolinas; Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg TN (near Knoxville). And again, a popular tourism destination for the whole country to enjoy, but no t-moblie (or Alltel) here.

 

Weird, everyone here goes to Myrtle Beach and Charleston

 

The funny thing is when I worked for Alltel we would complain because there weren't any commercials. Now they finally have advertising that reaches all across the country. And while I find the commercials quite annoying it seems they have served their purpose, because you all are talking about them. I think the thing that's even funnier is the replies from people who don't have Alltel service. You don't have their service, you think the service is terrible, you hate the commercials, yet you come into the Alltel forum to discuss how much you hate them. Hmm, seems to me like this marketing campaign has really done it's job.