Verizon ready to snatch up Alltel?
by Michael Caputo 
posted Feb 25th 2007 at 4:30PM
Ahh, the sweet, sweet comfort of the rumor mill. Remember not too long ago when we heard that a certain regional carrier was the talk of a possible buyout? As that rumor is taking shape, it appears that Verizon Wireless as its eyes squarely on ol' Number Five, Alltel. If everything turns out to be on the up-and-up and Big Brother gives the merger a thumbs-up, the happy union will make Big Red the largest national carrier, having enough customers to crush Cingular's base by about 10 million.[Thanks, HTC Kid]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
HarborT @ Jun 6th 2008 3:50AM
What about competition? What happened to having several licenses so companies compete and offer cutting edge products, superior service and of course competitive pricing? That is slowing going away as the nation's largest companies are buying the cell carriers up and merging them together.
Just a few years ago, a market such as my home town had the choice of 7 national providers we now will have only 4 with a small regional provider. Not good for the consumer.
I can see loosing one, but this trend is just going to continue. Your worries about ringtones, UI and rate plans are just a small part of the picture when years from now when you realize that big business is going to own everything you use and touch and you will have to comply or "Join IN". With 2-3 carriers (or less who knows) you will see fewer options because they don't need to compete or offer you what you want. What choice will you have?
Again... not good for the consumer at all.
n0cturne74 @ Jun 5th 2008 11:21AM
This news completely ruined my day. I left Verizon and went to Alltel because Verizon are thieving money grubbing scumbags with crappy cell UI and service. Now I guess I'm being forced back into the "Verizon Way" of things. YAY CORPORATE AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!
WH @ Jun 6th 2008 8:42PM
Some of these guys dont have a clue. Yes, Verizon is buying Alltel, to be completed by year end. I currently work for one of these companies, and have worked for the other in the past. Here's the deal: Jd Powers and Associates recently tested call quality for all the carriers, guess who got #1 in more parts of the U.S. than anyone? ALLTEL!!!, Yearly Verizon has been rated #1 or tied at # 1 for the best customer satisfaction in the country. Alltel covers more square miles of the US than any other carrier including a lot of rural markets that the mega companies dont have, 57 of these markets Verizon has zero!!! Alltel and Verizon have been partnered together with each other for many years as the original A side and B side carriers, with lots of roaming agreements over the years. Verizon has the largest EVDO (3G broadband) network in the US. So, its kind of a no brainer contrary to alot of the blogs I've read. If you take the largest voice coverage in the nation and the largest data coverage in the nation and add them together, what do you get? Great coverage!!!! And the largest mobile to mobile network in the country (previously bragging rights were advertised by At&t/Cingular) . Both of these companies already use a CDMA network which is already mostly compatible, the one GSM company purchased by Alltel will be converted to CDMA making for a much easier merger of systems. It is a win/win situation for customers.We all pay for cell phones and what we pay for, we expect to work everywhere, the merger will make that a huge reality. As for prices, all carriers start their plans at 39.99 on paper, however there are always cheaper plans that are hidden due to lack of profitability. But no one typically wants the 29.99 plans due to reduced minutes or coverage. If you need something that cheap then you dont need a phone at all or you need to get Alltels prepaid service, which truly is the best prepaid on the market with national coverage. Again, I am in the industry and have been for many years, Verizon is taking control because they NEED Alltel to give them ALL bragging rights, largest voice and data network,(ps for gsm carriers--a very low dropped call rate) , the largest mobile to mobile calling network (IN just got bigger), and the highest customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. As a consumer,what more could you ask for? ANY QUESTIONS??????????????????????????
R @ Jun 6th 2008 9:37PM
WH, so what do you think will happen in rural markets such as mine where Verizon and Alltel are the only two carriers? Surely the FCC will not let Verizon have a monopoly? Will the Alltel service here be sold off? And to who?
GIR @ Jun 8th 2008 4:07AM
Some of you people are completely retarded and have no idea what My Circle is all about. My Circle isn't for calling other Alltel customers. It is for the people you call the most that aren't on Alltel, such as Verizon customers or customers that only have a traditional land line. All in all, Verizon would be stupid not to keep some of Alltel's business practices such as My Circle and Anytime Plan Changes. If they do that, they might be able to keep most of the current Alltel customers(including me) that severely dislike Verizon.
Robert Coker @ Jun 12th 2008 1:42AM
I have Alltel right now and I absolutely love it.And the MyCircle is for calling people outside the Alltel network which is a great feature to their company. The coverage is great and the plans they offer are completely in-tune with the prices. I agree with WH in the fact that the merger will be a good thing. It will definitely open up a lot of people I can talk to for free. I just hope that the plans don't significantly change and prices get jacked up. I'm really interested in seeing what will happen when this merger takes effect.
Capgama @ Oct 12th 2008 8:35PM
BBB Reliability Report for on Verizon and Alltel
Verizon = BBB processed a total of 13230 complaints
http://newjersey.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=89&bbb=0221&firm=1001468
Altell = BBB processed a total of 955 complaints
http://arkansas.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=59&bbb=0935&firm=3403
i think Verizon my not have good support or something like
Deanna @ Nov 20th 2008 9:55AM
I may be a bit behind.. i just heard about this yesterday as my husband and I stopped by the Verizon booth to find out about their prepaid plan. At Alltel we pay $53 for prepaid service.. 500 any time minutes, free nights and weekends, free mobile to mobile, and unlimited text messaging. To get all of this through Verizon it would have been $110!!!!!! Insane!! When I told the sales rep that information she instantly got an attitude with us and told us that it didnt matter because Verizon just bought Alltel anyway and it will all be Verizon soon! I am very upset about this.. i refuse to go through Verizon and pay DOUBLE that amount! It will cost the same for ONE phone that it would for both my phone and my husband's phone!
Kronk @ Feb 25th 2007 6:13PM
Source please...
Travis @ Feb 25th 2007 9:53PM
Noooooooooo!
I am very happy with Alltel, and do not want to see them get baught out by Verizon. Competition is healthy, and I do not see this being approved by the government.
Zack @ Feb 25th 2007 6:43PM
This could be interesting, but what would Verizon gain from this merger? More spectrum in markets where they most likely already have it? Alltel's customers? If this happens, you can count on Alltel's GSM roaming network they got from Western Wireless to disappear very quickly, which would harm T-Mobile and Cingular coverage a great deal in the mountains. In my area, the two cellular carriers are Verizon and Alltel; hopefully the FCC would force Verizon to give up the old Alltel cellular spectrum, just like they forced Cingular to give up spectrum in markets where AT&T and Cingular were the 2 cellular carriers.
snow7791 @ Feb 25th 2007 8:34PM
yes source please. This has been hearsay now for a awhile. If that does happen what will happen with the 10 year contract that sprint signed with alltel. if it does happen i hope that ill be able to keep my 39.99 month plan cuz lets face it you could only dream of getting a plan that cheap with verizon.. Time to keep all of my old alltel phones cuz come heck or high water i dont want to be stuck with verzion's crappy ui and disabled phones.
Wade @ Feb 25th 2007 9:00PM
This doesn't say Verizon specfically, but it speculates that Alltel maybe for sale.
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN2020232920070221
elgee02 @ Feb 25th 2007 9:06PM
snow7791 you have no clue what you are talking about. What on earth do you mean you can only "dream" of getting a $39.99 plan with VZW? Are you that ignorant? Of course VZW offeres a plan for that price, I been on it for years. Damn man if you're gonna bash big red know what the hell you are talking about.
Rich @ Feb 25th 2007 9:44PM
elgee02, snow7791 was pretty accurate on the bad Verizon user-interface as well as disabled phones part of the post
snow7791 @ Feb 25th 2007 9:34PM
my bad i forgot to add info on that last post. Yes verizion offers a 39.99 plan but you only get 450 minutes. Right now i get 1000 minutes so i meant to say that for the minutes that i get now, if i had that on a verzion plan if would be a hella more expensive then the 39.99 that i pay right now.
Jesse S @ Feb 25th 2007 10:02PM
If this goes through, I doubt they'll keep my circle.
Erik Baca @ Feb 26th 2007 8:35AM
My Circle will probably be gone for sure.
If they merge then the Cingular data plans would be way worth it over dealing with verizon and that damn UI.
ME @ Jun 5th 2008 12:35AM
Why is it all about the UI's and the free ringtones? What about the customer service and the quality of the service. If you want some fancy ringtone grow some balls and buy it. Really its only $1.99. Stop your bitching and enjoy your service everywhere because I can say SPRINT cannot match Verizon's service. ATT cannot match VERIZON's coverage. And the whole thing about my circle. If you have Alltel you are paying way to much to have 5-10 or even 20 people in yoru circle. Verizon has free minutes to each other on any plan you purchase. You do not have to pay more for 5-10 or 20 people to be on your plan. Do your research before you start trashing the providers.
elgee02 @ Feb 26th 2007 5:48PM
More UI whining, lol typical of anyone outside VZW cause of all the hundreds upon hundreds of customers I've dealt with I hardly EVER hear any bitch about the UI. I've had old Samsungs and Motorola's pre-VZW UI, and I seriously don't see what the big deal is. Easy as heck to navigate.
Plus VZW is getting a lot more lenient on "crippling" their phones. My enV supports BT A2DP, headset, handsfree, dial-up networking, object push, file transfer, audio/video remote control, basic printing, and human interface device. 2 megapixel cam with auto-focus (very good camera), txt, pix, and flix messaging, expandable memory for mp3 and wma music formats. WTF is crippled?
drewbie @ Jun 5th 2008 4:36AM
elgee02 what are you a Verizon salesperson or skulk? I just want to be able to upload decent pics to the 'net without a crippled phone. Whats so hard to understand about that? And Verizon wants to box me in cuz they don't want me to access free ring tones? Gawd.....
Rob Stewart @ Feb 26th 2007 7:02PM
elgee, you're listing all the profiles you DO have, but what about the countless ones Verizon disables? And you list txt, pix, and flix messaging, yet you lack the capability to send ringtones to another phone...
You also talk about all the people who don't bitch about the verizon UI, but that's only because the people who would bitch about it took their business elsewhere. The majority of people that don't bitch about it don't know how to use the phone (note... majority). Plus, the Verizon UI is just gay, your ringtones are listed under "Get it Now", which shows how desperate Verizon is to get your money.
elgee02 @ Feb 26th 2007 7:21PM
So VZW phones can't send ringtones, those BASTARDS!! I'll admit it would be nice to be able to use your own ringtones, but that's pretty superficial on the grand scheme of things. If that's the only thing that my phone "crippled" from doing then cry me a river.
elgee02 @ Feb 26th 2007 7:25PM
Oh and VZW does have the lowest postpaid churn in the industry, so obviously their "gay" UI isn't really driving away that many customers now is it?
t-kwon @ Mar 3rd 2007 4:00PM
sorry we won't let you do something illegal on our phones. We would love to be sued for you. Napster=Verizon? Why didn't you list what we disabled so I can let you know what phones you do have.
HTC Kid @ Feb 26th 2007 8:57PM
Alright guys...I'm the source. I've got nothing solid aside from now I'm hearing about it at work. To touch on a couple of other things. I've told Mike about the UI deal. We are looking to in the future, allow a different UI. One that is more suited to the age of the customer. If you are a little older, or younger, we're thinking about making a specific UI for just those markets. Alright. Remember, its a rumor, I have no hard proof just what I hear, and well yeah. :-)
csmarker1970 @ Feb 27th 2007 3:18PM
Hooray!.. Hopefully we will all get my circles too!
Jake @ Feb 27th 2007 7:03PM
Verizon is allowing differet UI's already. I have the LG VX 8600 and it has 3 different UI's available under the options. And if Verizon did buy Alltel, who would need my circle? There are going to be over 70 million people under in calling. The new phones coming out also allow bitpim to be used to put ringtones on phones for free, as well as mobile17.com. I think that Verizon buying Alltel is a great idea, maybe they'll be able to lower plan prices in the future since they will not need to build many more towers.
Michael2487 @ Feb 27th 2007 7:55PM
I too think it is a great idea for Verizon to buy Alltel. With over 76 million people to talk to there would be little or no need for the "My Circle", although it would be nice. The Verizon UI is much easier to use than the lame Motorola's UI. It is so easy to navigate through the menus, unlike Cingular's UI(s). I have a Verizon Wireless phone. There is barely any blocking on the phones that Verizon has. Know your information on Cell Phones before you drag your ignorance into these comments.
bob the builder @ Feb 27th 2007 8:59PM
Elgee, I can't disagree with that. You've got a pretty good point there...
Jake, what you're talking about when you refer to the different UI's is really the skin.
And Michael, My Circle isn't just for people within your own network, so actually there would still be a "need" for it; Verizon might not think so though.
By the way, Cingular does not have a universal UI on all their phones (which is ignorance #1)
The other ignorance happens to be you saying that "there's barely any blocking". That's nonsense, every carrier blocks a crapload of features on the phones they sell, Verizon included.
Please don't diss others when they can diss you back for the same thing :)
Cactus @ Mar 2nd 2007 4:39AM
OMGLOLZROFL!! Further proof MyCircle is a goner: Alltel's "Chad" has gone from ribbing his color-coded carrier friends to ogling waitresses!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKr_bvd8h2I
(I jest, of course. But yes, that's the actor behind "Chad")
jason @ May 17th 2007 7:36PM
What are you crazy? The verizon wireless UI SUCKS. If you bought a car lets say a Motorola-Mercedes Benz, would you want the guy that supplies your gas for the car to tell you how to adjust your seat, have him program all the radio stations on your radio, turn around and say hey this car comes with heated leather seats, and through a stupid cow print fluffy cover over you corinthian leather, then disable the heat, oh and also remove the GPS,CD player, and the air conditioning? Thats basically what verizonsucks does. Motorola makes very nice phones, and verizon will not buy Motos unless they are tuned down, and disabled. Bottom line Verizon whats to controls your UI, your MP3's, your PIX, Your Bluetooth. The only way around is to have th ephone bought DIRECTLY from motorola(even then you might wanna tell'em you gonna use it on alltel), or to get a pc+software+cable and do some serious seem edits. The Best phone in the past few years was and still is the MOto E815. The samsung a990 is nice with the 3.2MP camera but lacks the hackability.
Creator @ Oct 8th 2007 4:42PM
I've heard a lot of people say they want to add their own ringtones to vzw phones. as long as you can receive pix msgs. then you can send free ringtones and wallpapers to your phone, just go to myxertones.com set up free account and you can upload from your pc. then send to your phone via pix msgs.
badge424 @ Nov 15th 2007 9:20PM
I really like being able to send my own ringtones to the phone. However....be advised....Verizon has blocked myxertones.com from sending messages to non smart-phones. Verizon denies putting the kabash on it, but i can tell you for sure that they want you to spend the 2-5 bucks on their shit and not download your own! The first 4 songs I sent from myxertones.com went right through...everything after that has failed. Verizon puts a stop to it. Myxertones has posted a message on their blog about it.