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Verizon Says Alltel Deal On Schedule
Despite recent economic upheaval
Verizon tells the Associated Press that their $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel is on track, despite recent economic concerns. The deal, which would make Verizon Wireless the largest wireless carrier in the United States, was announced last June and awaits FCC approval. Some analysts aren't so sure the deal will stay on schedule. "Considering the size of this deal, it would be surprising that Verizon would enter something with such significant risk that it really threatens to preclude this deal from closing," said Bill Densmore of New York-based Fitch Ratings.
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Anon1111
@rr.com

Anon1111

Anon

In other words...

Verizon still has dinner plans to nomnomnom on Alltel!

Doing so would EXPAND its bell...er...coverage!

Locutus65
Why bother?
Premium Member
join:2001-05-24
Houston, TX

Locutus65

Premium Member

No No No No!!

I dread the day when Verizon and their Non customer service, high rates and poor plans take over Alltel

Mactron
el Camino Real
Premium Member
join:2001-12-16
PRK

Mactron

Premium Member

Re: No No No No!!

Probably why VZ wants them. Kill the competition.

Varlik
Without Honor You Will Never Be Free
Premium Member
join:2002-01-06
Anderson, SC

Varlik

Premium Member

Re: No No No No!!

said by Mactron:

Probably why VZ wants them. Kill the competition.
Ding, Ding, Ding give that person a Cookie. If you can't beat them then buy them.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to Mactron

Member

to Mactron
Though in lots of areas VZ just roams on Alltel, though in some places their coverage does overlap.

This also means bad things for SPrint, who uses Alltel as their main roaming carrier, and anyone else who isn't Verizon. Once VZ gets the roaming monopoly (or close) for CDMA, they'll jack up rates as soon as roaming contracts expire, forcing companies to either choose local alternative companies with lesser data services or decreases in footprint\increases in costs passed to the customer. Not such a hot thing when it was only a year or two ago that you saw companies taking off roaming charges...
DarnellP
join:2004-10-12
Las Vegas, NV

DarnellP

Member

Re: No No No No!!

I believe one of the conditions for the merger is that VZW can't do jack up rates like that and that they have to honor existing existing Alltel roaming agreements. Back in 2006 Sprint and Alltel signed a 10 year reciprocal EVDO roaming agreement, so I'm guessing they at least should be ok for the forseeable future.

Alltel1
@rapidsys.com

Alltel1 to iansltx

Anon

to iansltx
Also forgetting Verizon will have a large GSM roaming business. Alltel has a large GSM roaming business when they bought Western Wireless, while they were a cdma provider they had licences and ran gsm and cdma off there towers. Take your ATT or Tmobile phone out in the middle of no where nevada and your phone will switch and say alltel it really fliped out my friend who was on ATT on his way to vegas ( road trip )
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4 to iansltx

Member

to iansltx
Sprint, Alltel, and Verizon are the only major CDMA carriers in the USA. They all have roaming agreements as far as voice. the only thing Alltel and Sprint have that does NOT include VZW is the EVDO roaming.

And the areas that Alltel and VZW over lap i'm sure VZW will be made to sell them off as far of the merger. MetroPCS, Cricket or Revol.com will end up expanding.

But like i said before, Metro, Cricket, and Revol should all merge and buy up Sprint. That would be a wireless company

Kiss Alltel, VZW, TM, and AT$T good bye cause nobody could stop them once they all merged or even just one of them and Sprint. Unlimited Deals going from $99 to $47 per month! no way in hell would anyone else touch that.
datwell1
join:2002-01-08
Falls Church, VA

datwell1

Member

Re: No No No No!!

One question is, "Can they really make any money with those rates?" Remember, telephony is quite capital-intensive and with the coverage people expect these days...
viperlmw
Premium Member
join:2005-01-25

viperlmw

Premium Member

Re: No No No No!!

Verizon must think it's worth the capital. They are expanding into my area for the first time by installing 1 site in each of 2 small cities (3500 and 1000 people) in Northern Idaho, and are expected to start selling service this month. Alltel has service here (previously Western Wireless), so I am interested in how this all shakes out.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4 to datwell1

Member

to datwell1
actually yes they do make money (Cricket, Revol, MetroPCS), Cricket is actually publicly traded under their parent company Leap Wireless who also owns JumpWireless.

The thing is though that once VZW sheds the spectrum that over laps someone is going to pick it up and it won't be Sprint so the only others left really are the unlimited providers. Someone is going to face some serious price wars and the big boys won't compete. Because if they could they would have already done it.

Revol actually trims costs by not mailing bills they actually charge you $2 for your bill to be mail. Why? It's the same every month. Also the bill is not detailed. It's just a couple pages at most.

People want unlimited flat rate calling and that's what it is going to come to. Too many people have the unlimited plans for $99 so why not unlimited local. long distance, nationwide coverage, texting for $47 add picture mail for an extra $5

check out Revol.com for pricing. Pricing is great and they'd have it made if they would just merge with someone else or started picking up small CDMA carriers or take over what Alltel/VZW gets rid of.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned) to Mactron

Member

to Mactron
said by Mactron:

Probably why VZ wants them. Kill the competition.
Alltel is hardly competiton for Verizon. At&t is, Sprint sort of is. Alltel not so much.
88615298

88615298 (banned) to Locutus65

Member

to Locutus65
said by Locutus65:

I dread the day when Verizon and their Non customer service, high rates and poor plans take over Alltel
Um explain this

Verizon Wireless Again Tops In Customer Satisfaction

»Verizon Wireless Again Tops In Customer Satisfaction [42] comments

Locutus65
Why bother?
Premium Member
join:2001-05-24
Houston, TX

Locutus65

Premium Member

Well, My wife has verizon. Has had for years with her ex husband's account. She now has her own. Previously she got all incoming calls free no matter from where. Her new account only allows free incoming from Verizon however this was never explained to her when she opened her own account. The first month she went over on her minutes a bit ($13.00 to be exact). She called Verizon to see if they would adjust this off since it was her first overage. They refused, the only thing they would offer was to take the $13 off IF she upgrade her plan which would have cost her $20 more per month. I used to work for Alltel and this would have been no problem.
Second, my mother in law also has Verizon and has had for years. Her purse along with her cell phone was recently stolen. We had an extra verizon phone we loaned her. We called to get her phone number put on the loaner phone (another thing we easily did at Alltel) and of course verizon would not do it. They said she would have to wait to get her new phone.

That is what I'm talking about. Verizon has crappy rules and customer service.
degauss1
join:2001-07-02
Hillsboro, OR

1 edit

degauss1

Member

Re: No No No No!!

said by Locutus65:

...rom where. Her new account only allows free incoming from Verizon however this was never explained to her when she opened her own account...
I've had VZ for over 10 years straight and NEVER known them to have a plan with free incoming calls fromm off network.

VZ has been top notch customer svc in my book and they are TOP RATED with JD Powers.

Rates might not be the greatest but the phone always works and CS has done some pretty good things whith overages for me and mine.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: No No No No!!

Anyone can be bought. Especially JD Power.
wombough
join:2001-08-30
Albany, GA

wombough to Locutus65

Member

to Locutus65
I hate to sound like a jerk. But one does anyone ever read what they sign up for anyway. And two its her own fault she went over not theirs so why would they adjust?

Got pulled over once 45 in a 35. I said I was going 45 the speed limit which has been that way for 5 years and he said it changed last week and I actually just passed the sign. I said fair enough my fault for lack of attention.

point we all need to pay attention everything changes in time!!

Locutus65
Why bother?
Premium Member
join:2001-05-24
Houston, TX

Locutus65

Premium Member

Re: No No No No!!

said by wombough:

I hate to sound like a jerk. But one does anyone ever read what they sign up for anyway. And two its her own fault she went over not theirs so why would they adjust?

Got pulled over once 45 in a 35. I said I was going 45 the speed limit which has been that way for 5 years and he said it changed last week and I actually just passed the sign. I said fair enough my fault for lack of attention.

point we all need to pay attention everything changes in time!!
But in the world of customer service giving someone a one time break is good.
As for your ticket, yes you were speeding and admitted it, but wouldn't you have felt better if the cop would have just given you a warning since the sign recently changed?
wombough
join:2001-08-30
Albany, GA

wombough

Member

Re: No No No No!!

Its not good business for them to give everyone a one time break. Does your cable company give you a one time break for ordering a movie? Does your electric company give you a one time break if you use more then you normally do? Does your supermarket give you food if you spend you food budget? I mena come on why does everyone think cell phone providers are suppose to give stuff away. They are just like any other.

And he could have gave me a warning but it made me be more aware. As I bet the overage your wife had to pay made her more away of her plan.

Locutus65
Why bother?
Premium Member
join:2001-05-24
Houston, TX

Locutus65

Premium Member

Acutally during Ike my wifes phone lost signal for several hours and my Alltel phone never did.
jmkelly51360
join:2008-10-06
Spirit Lake, IA

jmkelly51360

Member

Hooray!

Alltel customer service stinks! They bought a large chunk of CDMA coverage in the midwest (Midwest Wireless) and totally botched up the whole mess. Billing problems, 2 hour hold times just to be cut off. Killed older phones until you called customer service and waited for two hours (if you could ever get through) just to be told that it is the phone and you need to go to the store and get a new phone...with a NEW contract of course. I left Alltel. I will be back when the transition to Verizon is a done deal.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Hooray!

with a nice price hike as well. And of course when a company takes over they want you to get their phone. They don't want you to go around showing off the old name. That doesn't make any sense from a marketing stand point.

Also i've had alltel never had a problem with them. Also if you have a local store near by why call customer service and wait on hold why not just go there? That just doesn't make any sense. But also why buy a new phone? buy one off eBay that's used and have Alltel change the ESN. But make sure that phone was used within the last 30days other wise Alltel won't put it on their system. Yah a stupid rule of their's which sucks.

But customer service for the post part is great and so is pricing. VZW's pricing is sky high and customer no-service is a pain in the ass.
jmkelly51360
join:2008-10-06
Spirit Lake, IA

jmkelly51360

Member

Re: Hooray!

The store route is just as bad. Only two employees who were overwhelmed and undertrained. The store usually had a line out the door from 11-5 (the only hours they were open, closed on weekends) the next nearest store was in Mankato, MN 110 miles from me. I think Alltel grew too much to fast. How is it that most of my friends have Verizon even though we don't line in a Verizon market...yet? Many of them have had it for years.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Hooray!

chances are that "store" is not owned by Alltel then. Alltel stores are opened on the weekends and usually fully staffed.

VZW will sell in some markets but the phone roams on someone else. They call it an extended network coverage area. Part of Southestern MI is that way. They actually roam on Alltel and Sprint.

But even if VZW does take over Alltel in your area they most likely won't change anything. And customer service is going to be just as bad. Too many customers and not enough customer service reps. and out sourced billing. Yes VZW does out source their billing. They have one of their largest call centers for VZW in Dublin Ohio (this call center used to be for Airtouch) and my partner worked for them. Also VZ also has a large call center here in Marion, Ohio (former GTE center) and when they both close down at night they re-open for customers on the West Coast. Some employees will tell you this. Especially if you call and talk to them and they've been with the company well before VZ.