By: SANNETTE JOHNSON on Saturday, September 27, 2008 From: TIFTON, GA (United States) Experience: 1 Years
Pros: Nice selection of phonesCons: Data charges with picture messages, voicemail charges, lack of coveragearea.Summary: I live about 2.5 hours south of Atlanta GA. I’m always back and forth on i-75 to Atlanta. Once I pass Cordele GA I can not receive any phone calls. Even when I’m in Atlanta i cannot make calls until I pass back through Cordele going home. I can receive calls but not make them. I have to text people to tell them to call me and sometimes the texting does not work. That’s a bad thing if you ever get lost in Atlanta. I thought it was because i was on the pay per day so I changed to a pre paid plan and still the same thing. They say picture messages are $.25 but they forget to tell you that they will add an extra $.10 because of data transfer. Do that equals up to $.35 to receive and send a picture. I do not understand there coverage area. I would not recommend Alltel to travelers. Also if you have a pay per day or pay per minute, if you don’t answer your phone and it goes to your voicemail that will be $.10 even if they didn’t leave a voice mail. So their plan is to get all you money regardless !!!
By: Diane D on Saturday, August 09, 2008 From: Pittsburg, TX (United States) Experience: 2 Years
Pros: Better value, flexible, good coverageCons: A few problems with receiving calls, their stores are ALWAYS horribly busy with long lines for help.Summary: I switched to AlltelU from another prepaid service to get a newer phone and a cheaper rate. I had no problems with the phone or the customer service. I like being able to refill the phone online and get a few extra free minutes. I can receive and make a call even when I don't have any bars, and in places where my friends with other major carriers can't connect. My only problem has been that sometimes people calling me get a message that I'm not available, even when I'm in an area that has great reception and even though I have voice mail. It's intermittent, so I just chalk it up to a glitch in their network and don't bother calling customer service. I've been very happy with Alltel, and hate that they've been bought by Verizon. I'll have to switch because Verizon is anti-gun. I'm afraid that any other major carrier I try will be horrible.
By: Zacharey Copprell on Saturday, April 26, 2008 From: Lynchburg, VA (United States) Experience: 1 Weeks
Pros: Good coverageCons: Horrible customer serviceSummary: They wouldn't help me they were rude and they did not help me what so ever. i will not deal with them again.
By: Don Staats on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 From: Onalaska, WI (United States) Experience: 6 Months
Pros: Good CoverageCons: Company store NOT the place to purchase or service phoneSummary: In a previous review I stated that phone was largely useless. I got very little help from the ALLTEL company store in finding out the problems. I finally went to a wireless store that sold ALLTEL and other phones. They suggested the phone I had was defective. On previous trips to ALLTEL I had suggested that the phone was defective with no results. Following the advice of the non ALLTEL phone store,I finally went in demanding a replacement phone. They reluctantly issued me one. Now, the phone works fine!!!!
By: CAROLYN HARRIS on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 From: CHESTERFIELD, VA (United States) Experience: 10 Days
Pros: NO PROBLEMS AT ALL WITH SERVICE.Summary: I like ALLTEL okay. No problem with the service and customer service is good in the store, I have never had problems with my service and no problem with phone going out in areas with lots of trees, etc. I recommend Alltel.
By: J B on Thursday, August 23, 2007 From: piedmont, NC (United States) Experience: 3 Months
Pros: Good coverageCons: Minutes expire now Customer service is poor Charged for checking voicemail from another phone Charge you .75/day even the days you don't use your phoneSummary: Buyer Beware! Alltel changed the plan to include expiration dates! Now when you purchase minutes you are given a time when they would expire. Apparently, this is not across the board. My parents have the same plan and plan does not expire. When I called customer service three times, finally I was told the reason was because I signed up two days after the policy went in place! My rep did not know this at the time, but my minutes still expire! I went to refill my minutes at a store so that I could put a smaller amount on my phone than what you are allowed to online. That rep handed me a customer survey, which I answered when I got home. Today I receive a voicemail on my prepaid phone telling me to call them back. I did not even give them my prepaid or home phone number. Now I have to pay for all those minutes. I sent an email to the company and got a canned response back that had nothing to do with the email. Also, every time you call customer service and give your prepaid phone number, you are passed off to another call center located overseas (I think). So do your research before committing!
The only good thing is that they have decent phones to choose from if you go to an Alltel owned store. There are stores out there that are allowed to sell alltel, but are owned by another company and provide shoddy service and try to tell you that you can't choose any phone provided. With prepaid you are allowed to choose any phone that postpaid customers have, so don't let any rep tell you otherwise.
Another positive is that you can add .1 to your plan. I haven't tried this yet, but I will probably try this in two months when I have to add more minutes if I am still with them. However, be warned that you are charged tax on the "minutes" that you buy.
By: Matt Brown on Thursday, August 23, 2007 From: Durham, NC (United States) Experience: 7 Months
Pros: cheap, customer service is perkyCons: incoming calls fail to reach me, customer service is unhelpful and gives incorrect informationSummary: Got this plan because a postpaid plan was just way more than I needed. I only make a few minutes of calls per week--Most of the time it's me calling my wife to check in, or she's calling me to pick up something on my way home. This seemed like the ideal package. And at first it was.
Then my wife discovered that she can't call me: She calls my number and all she hears are clicks. My phone never rings or makes any indication of an incoming or missed call. Callers get a message saying I can't be reached (I don't have voicemail). We can do this experiment when I have the phone in my hand and it shows I have good reception.
Then the "joystick" on my phone went dead. I was within the 1 year warranty. I took it to the store, waited in an interminable line to have someone tell me that my prepaid phone wasn't warranted. As politely as I could, I pointed out paperwork that said it was warranted. Then they told me, "Oops. Our bad. Yes it is warranted. We have to send it off for two weeks." Grumble.
Two weeks later, I still have no phone. I call the local number to check up and get the offshore call center. They can't help me. I go back to the store (get there before they open this time) and am now told that it takes 4 to 6 weeks for a repair.
Beware. You get no more than what you pay for, and sometimes you don't even get that.
By: Christopher D. on Wednesday, August 08, 2007 From: Augusta, GA (United States) Experience: 28 Days
Pros: Great coverage,decent phones,good plansCons: noneSummary: I have Alltel u prepaid 400 monthly plan since i signed up on July 12 2007,I have had service with Alltel for 28 days now.Gerat coverage,decent plans,cool phones.good customer service.I live in the rurual area,and have great coverage,I never drop a call.
By: Eric Whitton on Sunday, July 08, 2007 From: Norman , OK (United States) Experience: 1 Years
Pros: Great coverage, good phone selection, and phones have good features. Even works in with 3 bars on my phone while in the basement.Cons: None that I have seen so far.Summary: Alltel all around is very good in my area, and I still have yet to see any problems with Alltel U prepaid so far.
By: Don Staats on Thursday, April 26, 2007 From: Onalaska, WI (United States) Experience: 4 Months
Pros: Works well in my home in Onalaska, Wisconsin and in Venice Florida.Cons: Have not been able to connect or complete a call, when call placed from anywhere else in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia or Florida.Summary: The Alltel office in Onalaska, Wisconsin has told me that if I have problems placing a call to go to a land line and call the service number. They could give me no other help. Not reasonable when on the highway and need help. Service people called from motel were also useless.
What’s Good: Universal landscape mode and universal landscape QWERTY; optically-enhanced action button functions as a scroller or track pad; appropriate use of haptic feedback and accelerometers; excellent 5 MP camera with LED flash, auto-focus and face detection; secondary cam for video calls; embedded GPS; FM radio and overall A/V-friendliness; large, welcoming and sensitive screen; it's a generally comfortable phone that makes you feel cool...
Part 2 of Noah's 2-part review of the BlackBerry 8220. The first-ever BlackBerry flip phone hides the buttons away for a sleek look, but does it have the juice to keep Crackberry addicts happy?
Part 1 of Noah's 2-part review of the BlackBerry 8220. The first-ever BlackBerry flip phone hides the buttons away for a sleek look, but does it have the juice to keep Crackberry addicts happy?
The first ever flip BlackBerry is a winner, so long as you play to its strengths. While the 8220 is very large for a modern day flip phone, it's lightweight and slick looking enough to trick you into thinking it's a little smaller than it really is. I've had the 8220 for just under a week now, and I very quickly grew used to carrying it around in my pocket. No, it's not as thin as a RAZR or as small as a low-end sliderphone,...
If only my BlackBerry would flip shut! Hey, it does! Noah unboxes the new BB Pearl Flip 8220 for T-Mobile and gives us a (long) quick tour around the phone.
Lane Jensen in Oregon here and I have a great trick that works for all Verizon phones to get better signal. First, you need to be within about a 5-10 mile radius of where you are going to use your phone the most. Secondly, instead of dialing the normal *228 for activation, dial *22899 and it will take you instantly to the programming music and update your phone. No more having to go through the prompt and listening to the same old voice saying,...
Fierce! It's the unique new LG Lotus for Sprint - a square-shaped clamshell with a full QWERTY board inside. GPS, Sprint TV & Music, 2MP Camera, HTML Browser, Mobile IM and Email ... Noah checks out this fashion-forward feature phone.
Hey, look what just came! Thanks, Vanessa ;-) Here are some photos of the black LG Lotus for Sprint. The QWERTY board feels GREAT so far, as those bubbled chiclet-style keys make up for the relatively small size of the layout. Sprint's new One Click UI is sort of cool and helpful and sort of overdone; I'll have to play with it more, but I hope it winds up being handier more often than it gets in the way. And I'm...
It's the ruggedized Samsung a837 "Rugby" for AT&T. It's the Crane of Death in downtown Berkeley, CA. Push to talk technology meets a giant crane. But will Noah have the guts to scale the crane to drop the phone? Find out here!
Heads-up, phone phans! Nokia's planned an announcemnet for next Monday, October 13th - and has a viral campaign to hype things up in the meantime - and Motorola's announcing something new and "Clear" (as per their PR campaign) on Tuesday, October 14th. My bets? I have no idea what Nokia's gonna drop, but I bet MOTO unveils the Kraze smartphone for Verizon Wireless.
Stay tuned for all of the juicy bits as we get them. And...
Out of the box! It's the newest AT&T 3G phone, the pearly white Samsung a637. Low-end means high-tech these days, and this candybar packs 3G, support for XM Radio Mobile & AT&T Music/Video, and a 1.3 MP camera with video capture.
Might this be a peek into our near-term future? I hope so. You're looking at the HTC T8290, a shiny, sleek, badass looking piece of kit from HTC destined for Russia's Yota network.
What's neat about this device, besides its obvious good looks, is that it packs both GSM and WiMax connectivity so you can get your voice and high-speed data on in style. There's a 3.8", 800 x 480 hi-res display for all of that content you'll be...
First off, how cool is it that HTC dropped some significant cell phone news on the blogosphere via Twitter the other day? I'm not saying Twitter itself is/isn't cool, but rather that it's neat to see a tech company innovate when it comes to communicating with the media. Particularly so a tech company that uses the word "Innovation" in their marketing materials.
Second, my post about the possibility of the HTC Touch HD coming to...
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October 6, 2008 - Cogratulations to Omar Flores of TX. He is our week 17 winner of a brand new Motorola Q9m. "It feels good to know i won, I really did not expect for me to win, it came of great shock to me, thank you phonedog.com for the awesome phone!"