Cell Phone Plans - A Review of Alltel Offerings

Alltel is one of several major US wirelesstexting for $139.99.
companies providing cell phone plans withTheir Prepaid cell phone plans run either
nationwide coverage. Although well established,pay-per-day, pay-per-month, or pay-per-minute.
names like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, andThe pay-per-day plans feature anytime minutes
T-Mobile are better known, if for no other reasonat 10 cents per minute, text messaging at 10
than their active television and internet marketingcents per minute, picture messaging at 25 cents
campaigns.per minute, and nationwide roaming at 59 cents
Consumers considering Alltel cell phone plans willper minute. Users get 2 features at 75 cents per
have a good selection of phones from which today, 3 features for $1.00 a day, or 4 features for
choose, including a variety of Blackberry, Motorola$1.25 per day.
RAZR, Moto Q, Palm Treo, and poplar LG models.The pay-per-month prepaid plans are a bit more
Alltel offers the full range of Individual, Family andstraightforward. They offer 2oo anytime minutes
Prepaid cell phone plans.and 1000 night and weekend minutes for $29.99
Alltel's individual cell phone plans start as low asper month, 400 anytime minutes and 2000 night
$39.99 with a basic National Freedom plan, whichand weekend minutes for $39.99 per month, or
allows 500 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and700 anytime minutes, unlimited night and
weekends, unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling, theweekend, mobile to mobile calling, and text
My Circle feature, and free nationwide longmessaging all for $69.99 per month.
distance in available areas. Alltel's My Circle featureFor pure simplicity, the pay per minute plan
gives users free calling for 10 numbers which cancharges 15 cents per minute on all calls. All prepaid
be on any network, anywhere in the US, at anycell phone plans at Alltel can be paid by credit card
time. Such calls do not subtract from the availablevia the phone or online or through a replenishment
anytime minutes in the plan.card which can be purchased at a variety of
Although the coverage area is broad, coveragelocations including Wal-Mart.
appears to be best in the southeast and veryAs anyone with a cell phone plan knows, tracking
sparse in Alaska, Maine and in small areasusage can be important to avoid the expense of
throughout the western US. In addition, nationwideusing out of plan minutes. Tracking the usage of
roaming charges of 59 cents per minute areminutes and text messaging is simple via phone,
incurred in certain pockets of the country, sotext message, or online. The Alltel site provides
verifying coverage before committing to a plan iseasy-to-understand instructions on everything
wise.from how to block unwanted calls to how to
Alltel's cell phone plans also include choices withactivate the No Answer Transfer feature to roll
greater long distance options however. Forunanswered call to another number. Certainly,
instance, their North American Freedom plansAlltel offers the full range of features for wireless
offer no roaming for calls in Canada, Mexico,customers. Text messaging, TV, Radio, video, and
Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, and calls toother services are all available.
those countries are toll-free.A final consideration for many consumers is
Alltel's family cell phone plans allow users to pickcustomer service. offers customer satisfaction
up additional lines for as low as $9.99 per month.survey results from recent surveys for public
Again, the family cell phone plans start as low asviewing on their website. In looking at their
$39.99 with a single line and move upwards topublished results it appears that Alltel generally falls
$199.99. Plans such as the My Circle Familyin the "about average" category for prepaid and
Premier Plan offer a free second line, in addition tomore traditional cell phone plans although they
2200 anytime minutes and unlimited nights andtook top honors in the southeast for call quality,
weekends, mobile-to-mobile calling, and unlimitedbilling, and service options.