For adopted Alltel customers who were assimilated into Verizon’s customer base over the last year, news that they would be able to keep their old Alltel plans was awesome news. That nice gesture by Verizon, however, is turning out to be not so nice with the carriers new iPhone 4. Reports are starting to crop up that subscribers who are still on old Alltel plans grandfathered in by Verizon are experiencing FaceTime issues. While voice, text, and other data-releated services function as normal, FaceTime displays “Waiting for Activation” whenever a FaceTime video call is attempted. Furthermore, the “Verizon” tag on the status bar that is supposed to display next to the signal bars doesn’t actually display — nothing does. Thus far, neither Verizon nor Apple have a solution.
We’ve reached out to Verizon and Apple for comment and will report back once we have more information. In the meantime, New VZW iPhone 4 owners who are subscribed to old Alltel plans are encouraged to drop a line inside and let us know how it’s going (or isn’t).
- November 11, 2010 1:18 pm
CDMA and GSM are like ying and yang…except they hate each other. Even if you wanted the two technologies to play nice, it’s inherently impossible. So news of AT&T (a GSM carrier) giving recently acquired Alltel customers (CDMA) a deal on GSM phones seems like a slap in the face. That would be true only if AT&T weren’t moving over their newly claimed spectrum and markets to GSM. And seeing as how they are, those discounted/free GSM phones are a little more interesting now, hmm?
Truth be told, the deals AT&T is giving their incoming Alltel users aren’t all that great really. A new AT&T user unaffiliated with Alltel could get pretty damn near the same discounts. With that said, the least the AT&T newcomes can do is humor AT&T while also scoring a cheap/free phone in the process. Don’t like their service? Fine — Cancel without having to pay an ETF during the first 30 days. Though I’m sure several ex-Alltel customers are still dreading the move, free phone or not.
Ex-Alltel customers — Care to share?
- November 19, 2009 3:21 pm
Today is probably not the best day to find out you owe $2,500 in back taxes, receive a letter notifying you of your late rent payment, or even going out to spend money on a beer if you find yourself a new ex-Alltel/Verizon acquired employee. Though crying in your beer may be the only thing that makes you feel better. I must stress however that crying in good beer is a travesty — meaning a lesser beer is a more desirable tear collector. What constitutes a good beer? Anything that has “light” or “low-cal” absent is at least a good start. Now that I’ve somehow managed to start talk about beer, let’s say we get back on track. Shall we?
Job losses after acquisitions are hardly anything new or surprising. When company A acquires company B, it’s always assumed and known that at least some employees from the company being acquired are going to lose their jobs. You just don’t need a bajillion finance managers etc. etc. Also common knowledge, the dominant company isn’t going to cut their own staff to make room for new “foreigners”. With that said, the loss that many ex-Alltel employees are feeling today is certainly unfortunate. The bulk of the losses are coming from Alltel’s Little Rock building — which by the way, the local government wasn’t too pleased as many high paying positions are now removed from the local economy. Then again, few people on the “lower end” of a take over are ever pleased with how it goes.
But it could be worse…*insert insanely witty comment contrasting a good, bad, and ugly situation here while showcasing your ability to toy with the English language*
BGR > Wireless Week
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If Boy Genius’s little birdie is singing a truthful song, March 5th will be the date of release for the Treo Pro on Alltel’s network. The launch of the “all-new” Treo Pro so close to the Pre is sure to mean that many people will be holding out for the Pre launch at which point they will either pick one up or switch to Sprint (that’s a change) in order to get a piece of iconic Palm history in the making. The price for the already outdated Pro will lighten your wallet to the tune of $199 (after $125 rebate) and require two years of your life be signed over to Alltel. Is the Treo Pro really worth all that money…I don’t think so again seeing as how the leaps and bounds better Pre is getting ever closer. But I’m their are a few out there who would rather have the tried and true (and outdated) Windows Mobile 6.1. Or they simply don’t know about the Pre to begin with. So, if you’re an Alltell customer are you excited?
Source: Boy Genius
- February 12, 2009 9:00 am
Whenever a smaller company gets aquired by a larger company, the smaller one always has to worry about their privileges being stripped away. Many Alltel customers thought that once Big Red took over the reigns of the *former* Alltel subscribers cellular goodies such as “My Circle” were going to be taken away. (For those of you who aren’t down with Alltel goodies, My Circle is much like T-Mobiles “MyFaves”. However instead of just MyFaves’ 5 friends, MyCircle allows you to call 5, 10, or 15 numbers with unlimited minutes. Today Verizon announced that current Alltel customers can keep their MyCircle plans and numbers. They also revealed that they will be adopting MyCircle for ALL Verizon Wireless users! Except MyCircle will be getting a name change to “Friends & Family” plans. Wow! Chalk one up for the little guy. This is definitely good news for Verizon and ex-Alltel customers. Good job Verizon!
Source: Engadget
- January 11, 2009 11:29 am
Verizon has finally completed their merger with Alltel making them the largest (by subscriber base) carrier in the U.S. with 83.7 million customers. The total dent in Verizon’s wallet comes in the form of $5.9 billion for Alltel’s equity, and $22 billion net of cash. Over the next couple of months as the networks are integrated, Verizon is telling Alltel customers that nothing needs to be done on their end. Alltel’s GSM will continue being served, and Alltel customers can call Verizon customers without it being deducted from their plan minutes.
Source: Mobile Burn
Yes, the time is finally coming folks. All the i’s have been dotted, t’s crossed, and red tape cut. Verizon and Alltel are coming to the end of their long acquisition ordeal. The marriage will cost Verizon mere pocket change totaling $5.9 billion in up front cash as well as taking on Alltel’s equally minuscule debt of $22.9 billion. This sacred marriage will give Verizon the crown as biggest wireless carrier in the U.S. with a customer base of some 78 million people, quite a number! Verizon sees it as a win win situation. They get more money from the added customer base and Alltel customers will get greater coverage. In other news, old Alltel customers distraught as the cell phone bills rise and features are stripped away.
Source: Phone Scoop
