(Updated)
Some carriers suffer from growing pains, but the "new" Alltel has that in reverse. As their own network coverage area shrinks, some customers are getting pushed aside. The first response has been to a group of Alltel customers in southern Illinois who are using Alltel Wireless as their Internet service provider, mostly with a wireless air card plugged into a computer. Alltel claims these customers are using their Internet access too much while roaming. This does not affect users with broadband phones like Blackberry.
Alltel has offered to credit most of the expenses for the equipment involved and allow these customers to escape without an Early Termination Fee. Alltel is even throwing in a few weeks more of service, just to be nice. Surprisingly, some of these people just don't trust Alltel to credit the fees, so they sit and suffer and complain to whoever will listen.
We think Alltel is being more than fair, but we wonder if this is happening in other parts of the country where customers continue to use their Alltel modems wherever they want. Alltel claims these people had ample notification, and we believe them. To find the termination clause in Alltel's terms & conditions, you need to download the .pdf version.
These customers claim there is no other source for high-speed Internet access, but if they are being kicked out for excessive roaming, they should check to see who they have been roaming with and look for service there. Fortunately, for the foreseeable future, all other Alltel roaming is still okie-dokie.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
No More Pay-Per-Call
We’ve been roaming again which is why the blog hasn’t been updated. Yes, it’s pretty simple to update these pages from the road, but it’s awfully hard when you’re having that much fun.
The somewhat sad news is that we were unable to find Pay per Call plans any longer in Mexico. I must admit it seemed too good to be true when it first appeared a few years ago. After paying about $1.30US per minute for calls from American phones with Mexican SIM’s installed, to the US from Mexico, it was unbelievable to be able to make a 30-minute call for that much. Then it was 20 minutes, then 15, now it's back to 1.
The calling rate from Mexico was only part of the potential. We thought if it works in Mexico, it could be expanded to prepaid accounts in other countries, like the US. Alas, it is not to be. This also takes away from the desirability of using a Mexico SIM in your unlocked US GSM phone while in Mexico.
We updated our Mexico Roaming Page accordingly and now feel even more strongly in our prepaid AT&T GoPhone at .25 per minute whether in California or Cancun. We just forward incoming calls from our regular number (our other wireless, Google Voice, and/or the home phone), and outgoing calls are no hassle. Oh, Caller ID still works and you end up with usable calling time when you get home. So for those callers who block their number when they call the house, sorry about that. Not gonna answer…not even for 2 bits.
The somewhat sad news is that we were unable to find Pay per Call plans any longer in Mexico. I must admit it seemed too good to be true when it first appeared a few years ago. After paying about $1.30US per minute for calls from American phones with Mexican SIM’s installed, to the US from Mexico, it was unbelievable to be able to make a 30-minute call for that much. Then it was 20 minutes, then 15, now it's back to 1.
The calling rate from Mexico was only part of the potential. We thought if it works in Mexico, it could be expanded to prepaid accounts in other countries, like the US. Alas, it is not to be. This also takes away from the desirability of using a Mexico SIM in your unlocked US GSM phone while in Mexico.
We updated our Mexico Roaming Page accordingly and now feel even more strongly in our prepaid AT&T GoPhone at .25 per minute whether in California or Cancun. We just forward incoming calls from our regular number (our other wireless, Google Voice, and/or the home phone), and outgoing calls are no hassle. Oh, Caller ID still works and you end up with usable calling time when you get home. So for those callers who block their number when they call the house, sorry about that. Not gonna answer…not even for 2 bits.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Alltel to AT&T Ups & Downs
By now the FCC approval for AT&T to acquire the remaining "old" Alltel properties is well-known among the wireless community...that is unless you've been standing in line at the Apple store for the last 2 days. I'm not going to re-hash the good & bad points about the deal, but I am going to point out a few details we discovered.
In the FCC approval documents, AT&T stated that they will continue to offer CDMA roaming, "...as long as AT&T provides CDMA retail or roaming services at that cell site." and "...nothing in this commitment shall be construed to restrict AT&T from terminating CDMA services at any cell site to all CDMA carriers at any time...under its roaming agreement with Verizon Wireless..." Since Verizon is selling the affected Alltel properties because they already have service in the area, and there's no mention of other carriers, it seems if Verizon says, "OK", AT&T can turn off CDMA and leave the other CDMA carriers with only one choice: to roam on Verizon.
Otherwise, there are no real surpises in the final documents. The approval did force us to change Our Reviews for AT&T and Alltel for all 50 states as well as our General Observations for about half of those. Whew! AT&T is already snatching customers from the Alltel web site who enter a Zip Code for the newly-acquired areas.
If you live in one of the areas acquired by ATN, it's Alltel business as usual. However, the "new" Alltel is now down to its fighting weight and no longer has the power of a company with millions of customers. There may be a fewer things, like fewer phones, or fewer stores.
Some of the transition to AT&T GSM can happen rather quickly as most of Alltel's western sites already offer GSM coverage, but it should improve greatly under AT&T. We could also expect Verizon to start disconnecting any Alltel GSM equipment as soon as roaming agreements allow, and AT&T doesn't have coverage in much of those new areas. It could be interesting, if not traumatic, to watch coverage disappear in so many areas so fast. It looks like the customers of Sprint, T-Mobile and a bunch of other carriers, including AT&T, may be in for a few surprises. I would hope it'll be later rather than sooner, some roaming agreements continue for several years.
Does this mean higher roaming charges for these other carriers, and thus higher charges for you and me? AT&T and Verizon Wireless wouldn't let that happen...would they?
In the FCC approval documents, AT&T stated that they will continue to offer CDMA roaming, "...as long as AT&T provides CDMA retail or roaming services at that cell site." and "...nothing in this commitment shall be construed to restrict AT&T from terminating CDMA services at any cell site to all CDMA carriers at any time...under its roaming agreement with Verizon Wireless..." Since Verizon is selling the affected Alltel properties because they already have service in the area, and there's no mention of other carriers, it seems if Verizon says, "OK", AT&T can turn off CDMA and leave the other CDMA carriers with only one choice: to roam on Verizon.
Otherwise, there are no real surpises in the final documents. The approval did force us to change Our Reviews for AT&T and Alltel for all 50 states as well as our General Observations for about half of those. Whew! AT&T is already snatching customers from the Alltel web site who enter a Zip Code for the newly-acquired areas.
If you live in one of the areas acquired by ATN, it's Alltel business as usual. However, the "new" Alltel is now down to its fighting weight and no longer has the power of a company with millions of customers. There may be a fewer things, like fewer phones, or fewer stores.
Some of the transition to AT&T GSM can happen rather quickly as most of Alltel's western sites already offer GSM coverage, but it should improve greatly under AT&T. We could also expect Verizon to start disconnecting any Alltel GSM equipment as soon as roaming agreements allow, and AT&T doesn't have coverage in much of those new areas. It could be interesting, if not traumatic, to watch coverage disappear in so many areas so fast. It looks like the customers of Sprint, T-Mobile and a bunch of other carriers, including AT&T, may be in for a few surprises. I would hope it'll be later rather than sooner, some roaming agreements continue for several years.
Does this mean higher roaming charges for these other carriers, and thus higher charges for you and me? AT&T and Verizon Wireless wouldn't let that happen...would they?
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Talk for Less
We feel one of our biggest contributions to cellular users is the myriad tips and secrets we have shared about saving money and keeping you from being a victim of the slow creep-up of wireless costs. We have even started entire web sites dedicated to cutting your wireless costs by more than half like CellularByTheMinute.com. So we created another weapon in the war against overpriced wireless, Secrets to Cheaper Wireless.
Check out potentially huge savings ideas that are listed in their order of difficulty. At the top of the list is “Change Your Plan”. Boy that seems awfully simple, right? But we found dozens of colleagues and friends who know they are on the wrong wireless plan and just haven’t got around to changing it. There is also a wealth of other valuable options that could save your wealth.
We're helping you pay only for what you really want. The more selective customers are, the more the wireless carriers will cater to those of us who make it known what we want, instead of just trying to profit from our ignorance. Go ahead, get the advantages. No more excuses!
Check out potentially huge savings ideas that are listed in their order of difficulty. At the top of the list is “Change Your Plan”. Boy that seems awfully simple, right? But we found dozens of colleagues and friends who know they are on the wrong wireless plan and just haven’t got around to changing it. There is also a wealth of other valuable options that could save your wealth.
We're helping you pay only for what you really want. The more selective customers are, the more the wireless carriers will cater to those of us who make it known what we want, instead of just trying to profit from our ignorance. Go ahead, get the advantages. No more excuses!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Learn to Let Go
I have been following the story on Usenet of an unfortunate wireless user in San Francisco who could no longer use his beloved AT&T phone at home since they ended analog service there. He recently took, what he considered, the drastic step of buying an AT&T "micro cell" and placed it in a window of his house, only to find he had traded one set of woes for another.
Over the last few years we have recommended a few third party repeaters and micro cells from the likes of Solid Signal and Tiger Direct, which not only give you a usable signal where you need it, they do it at a reasonable price and not tied to a single carrier. But that's not the story here.
The problem is how long can you hold on to a wireless carrier that just doesn't suit your needs...or your coverage? Why is it so hard for a cellular user in a large urban area to just switch carriers? Most likely, several carriers serve any one given dead spot for another carrier. Is it because of the iPhone? Think of some of our loyal readers who live in places like Montana who can't get the iPhone (yet). Are they trying aluminum foil hats or comfy window seats...in their garage? No, they're choosing the best carrier in their area and the best phone they offer, and getting on with their lives.
Spending hundreds on a microcell, and then a monthly fee, just doesn't make sense when there are much cheaper options, including just switching carriers. Yes, even perfectly rational adults are subscribing to, say, Cricket, and not looking back to their "old" carrier, who never covered then with anything other than a nice warm monthly statement.
Let it go...just let it go.
Over the last few years we have recommended a few third party repeaters and micro cells from the likes of Solid Signal and Tiger Direct, which not only give you a usable signal where you need it, they do it at a reasonable price and not tied to a single carrier. But that's not the story here.
The problem is how long can you hold on to a wireless carrier that just doesn't suit your needs...or your coverage? Why is it so hard for a cellular user in a large urban area to just switch carriers? Most likely, several carriers serve any one given dead spot for another carrier. Is it because of the iPhone? Think of some of our loyal readers who live in places like Montana who can't get the iPhone (yet). Are they trying aluminum foil hats or comfy window seats...in their garage? No, they're choosing the best carrier in their area and the best phone they offer, and getting on with their lives.
Spending hundreds on a microcell, and then a monthly fee, just doesn't make sense when there are much cheaper options, including just switching carriers. Yes, even perfectly rational adults are subscribing to, say, Cricket, and not looking back to their "old" carrier, who never covered then with anything other than a nice warm monthly statement.
Let it go...just let it go.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
It's Easier to Get Unlocked
AT&T has been recently forced to unlock their GSM phones at the customer's request 90 days after the phone purchase. Exceptions are the iPhone and for phones under an "exclusivity" agreement which would last no longer than 10 months. Prepaid phones can be unlocked after you provide a receipt for the phone's purchase. We're not trying to use our AT&T phones on other US networks, we're trying to use them internationally by inserting a local SIM. Some phones are easy to unlock, but yours seems to always be the one that isn't.
We compared AT&T's "new" unlocking policy with other GSM carriers. T-Mobile will unlock your phone for you after 40 days with postpaid accounts and 6 months for prepaid. The next largest GSM carrier, Cincinnati Bell Wireless, won't unlock phones under any circumstances. Our favorite GSM carrier, Viaero Wireless, doesn't have a lock on their phones, except for certain Blackberries.
The only reason the courts forced AT&T to provide the unlock codes is that they were accused of being 'misleading' in providing locking information to their customers. We found that AT&T would provide the unlock code after a 2-year contract was completed, or if you could convince them you would be roaming outside the country and would need to insert a local SIM.
It's unfortunate that it takes a court order to make the wireless companies be more consumer-friendly. AT&T needs to learn that some of their customers are lawyers and they should be treated nice or they'll do what lawyers do. For once, that's a good thing.
We compared AT&T's "new" unlocking policy with other GSM carriers. T-Mobile will unlock your phone for you after 40 days with postpaid accounts and 6 months for prepaid. The next largest GSM carrier, Cincinnati Bell Wireless, won't unlock phones under any circumstances. Our favorite GSM carrier, Viaero Wireless, doesn't have a lock on their phones, except for certain Blackberries.
The only reason the courts forced AT&T to provide the unlock codes is that they were accused of being 'misleading' in providing locking information to their customers. We found that AT&T would provide the unlock code after a 2-year contract was completed, or if you could convince them you would be roaming outside the country and would need to insert a local SIM.
It's unfortunate that it takes a court order to make the wireless companies be more consumer-friendly. AT&T needs to learn that some of their customers are lawyers and they should be treated nice or they'll do what lawyers do. For once, that's a good thing.
Friday, May 21, 2010
The New Alltel: Serving 22 States!
We have yet to see the other shoe drop. The "New Alltel", the part purchased by ATN, has the potential of soon offering local service in 22 states. They can do this by selling service in their Commnet markets. I put together a Map of Alltel and Commnet Combined Properties.
They have so little coverage in some of those states it wouldn't make economic sense. However, in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah there are lots of Commnet cell sites, and they will most likely add those to their new Alltel holdings in 6 other states. Throw in the Florida Keys and the odd city in Wyoming and you've got a basketful of potential local service areas. Commnet has enough coverage to have offered local service in the Four Corners area of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, even before acquiring Alltel. Additionally, they are building a 4G broadband wireless network in northeast Arizona.
The holdup is that they are using the Alltel name, and the "Old" Alltel is still operating in most of those Commnet markets. They will eventually be sold to AT&T to satisfy Fed competitive concerns, and then the "New" Alltel can take over. It may be tricky to appeal to customers by saying, "If you liked their Alltel, you'll like our Alltel." But that's why the Marketing people make the big bucks. "Chad is still here, he just moved across the street."
They have so little coverage in some of those states it wouldn't make economic sense. However, in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah there are lots of Commnet cell sites, and they will most likely add those to their new Alltel holdings in 6 other states. Throw in the Florida Keys and the odd city in Wyoming and you've got a basketful of potential local service areas. Commnet has enough coverage to have offered local service in the Four Corners area of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, even before acquiring Alltel. Additionally, they are building a 4G broadband wireless network in northeast Arizona.
The holdup is that they are using the Alltel name, and the "Old" Alltel is still operating in most of those Commnet markets. They will eventually be sold to AT&T to satisfy Fed competitive concerns, and then the "New" Alltel can take over. It may be tricky to appeal to customers by saying, "If you liked their Alltel, you'll like our Alltel." But that's why the Marketing people make the big bucks. "Chad is still here, he just moved across the street."
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sprint - The New Prepaid King?
With the purchase of Virgin Mobile, Sprint became a bit top heavy on prepaid services. They have now added yet a 4th prepaid service that will be available mostly at Wal-Mart stores named Common Cents Mobile. The "hook", or the gimmick, is that they will Round Down your minute usage. Use 1 minute and 45 seconds and it will round down to 1 minute.
With this newest prepaid product, Sprint has clarified the personality of each of their prepaids. Virgin will be a data-oriented brand for younger users and Boost will focus on voice services, which is a good use of the slower Nextel iDEN network. Oh, the 3rd brand? I'm sure you've heard of Assurance Wireless aiming at low-income customers. So low, they qualify for government supported Lifeline service. Don't expect Assurance to be much of a force until they expand beyond the half-dozen states they currently serve. That leaves Common Cents as a phone for...uh...Wal-Mart shoppers?
If you're considering a switch to prepaid, welcome to one of the fastest-growing groups of wireless users. The easiest switch is to use your current phone with your current provider. Oddly, Sprint is one of the few carriers that won't let you switch to their own prepaid. For users who travel outside the city, there may be better choices. Like Virgin, Common Cents Mobile doesn't support off the Sprint network roaming.
View the top Prepaid options at CellularByTheMinute.com. We said this a few years ago, and it's even more true today. Fear no Prepaid, it's not just for kids any more.
With this newest prepaid product, Sprint has clarified the personality of each of their prepaids. Virgin will be a data-oriented brand for younger users and Boost will focus on voice services, which is a good use of the slower Nextel iDEN network. Oh, the 3rd brand? I'm sure you've heard of Assurance Wireless aiming at low-income customers. So low, they qualify for government supported Lifeline service. Don't expect Assurance to be much of a force until they expand beyond the half-dozen states they currently serve. That leaves Common Cents as a phone for...uh...Wal-Mart shoppers?
If you're considering a switch to prepaid, welcome to one of the fastest-growing groups of wireless users. The easiest switch is to use your current phone with your current provider. Oddly, Sprint is one of the few carriers that won't let you switch to their own prepaid. For users who travel outside the city, there may be better choices. Like Virgin, Common Cents Mobile doesn't support off the Sprint network roaming.
View the top Prepaid options at CellularByTheMinute.com. We said this a few years ago, and it's even more true today. Fear no Prepaid, it's not just for kids any more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)