Review by Brigrat 
UPDATED: 1.9 years ago
member for 6.1 years, 710 visits, last login: 121 days ago
 Lovington,Lea,NM
 $70 per month (24 month contract)
 about 7 days
 "Quick Activation...compared to Sptine"
 "Major problems getting the card to work right and get PRL updates as needed in my area"
 "Alltel's service is better than most..."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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When I first received my data card I was thrilled...after a year with wild blue the EVDO connection seemed super fast. After three days of great connection, the card now will only connect to the 1xRTT network, and looses its connection altogether routinely. There is a tower very near my house, and my signal strength is always 100$ or -78dbm to -90dbm.
When EVDO was working it was great...unfortunately there is no clear way to force the card to connect to the EVDO network as there is with my Sprint data card from the office. I keep thinking that the EVDO network will come back on again, but after 3 days on 1xRTT I am losing hope.
The computer is still located in the exact same place as when I had the EVDO Connection (VERY STRONG SIGNAL) before, but now the connection sucks...
Oh well, living in the country is not always great, and frankly no connection at all is better than WildBlue. I guess I will have to rely on internet access at the office only!
Update #1:
Last night I called Customer Care 3 times...the first two times I was connected immediately, then transfered to advanced customer care where I was subsequently disconnected. The third time I was told that they were having problems with their phone system and to try back in the morning. All three calls resulted in the same action...they tried to update my PRL...none of the pushed updates have hit my card yet...
I called back this morning as instructed and got to advanced customer care very quickly. They seemed knowledgeable; however, they were unable to help me...so naturally they decided to push the PRL update again...Naturally, I still haven't received the update!
The did give me a direct number back to the lady that was helping me with instructions to call back in two hours if I was still having problems, or the PRL update hasn't taken effect yet...
So I wait...I upgraded the Tech support score to 5 out of 5 simply because all of there techs are so much more polite, and knowledgeable than those I have dealt with at Sprint and WildBlue. Even with the problems, it is still a pleasant experience so far... Just giving me a direct line to call back on is head and shoulders above the competition in my experience...
Update #2:
OK, so I called back after two hours because the PRL still wasn't updated...I talked to the Advanced Tech lady, and she was very polite. She took my number and said she was going to trouble shoot a few more things and call me back...64 minutes later...new PRL, and EVDO service again. She has not called back yet, but everything is working again, and I am very please with the level of service I received.
Update #3:
I was contacted by the techy that was supposed to call me back...apparently the problem was related to the prolfile that was set up for my account. The PRL update that I needed was being sent by their system as a text message as opposed to through the data connection as it should. Problem fixed...all is well...
Update #4
OK, so this morning (Sunday) exactly one week from when I started having problems, they are back...at 0730 MST I had a solid EVDO Connection (-62 dBm) by 0731, the connection had died and came back to life as a 1xRTT connection at around -120dBm. I called tech support and was ran around in circles being told that the problem had to be on my end...When I mentioned that my Daughters TracFone was connected to the Same SID, and experiencing the same weak signal, the lady actually told me that both my phone, and data card must both be failing...I asked to speak to Data Tech Support, or Advanced Tech Support and was hung up on because "the problem was on my end."
Natually I called back and demanded to speak to ATS, and was connected to a very friendly British guy...After explaining how my week has gone, he confirmed my theory that the problem must be tower related. I still have a poor signal, and I am still pretty ticked off, but they did open a ticket to investigate the issue, and allegedly will call me back. If this issue isn't resolved by Thursday I will be returning the card...If they can manage to fix the problem and give me a solid connection from more than a day or two, then I will likely purchase phones for the entire family...only time will tell!
by the way, I did learn how to force the card to go to the tower with the strongest signal as opposed to the tower that is "Preferred." In my area Alltel is the only CDMA provider, and supports verizon and Sprint, so this is a little better method than going straight to the preferred tower...
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