Just another WordPress weblog

There’s something to be said for the company that goes its own way. That, despite its status as the No. 5 operator in a market, decides that they’re going to do their own thing, no matter what their competitors decide. Unfortunately, such a maneuver could kill you in the wireless industry. And so Alltel has committed to LTE to drive their 4G platform. It’s not like it was a hard choice. AT&T and Verizon chose it, which means that all the top handsets are going to feature LTE technology. Why purposely separate yourself from such a potentially robust market?

Read the rest of Alltel goes with LTE for 4G services…

You know, I thought we’d stop seeing quarterly reports from Alltel once they went private. I guess I’m wrong, as they released their 2007 fourth quarter and full-year data. The nation’s fifth-largest carrier grossed a little over a million customers in the fourth quarter, though their net gain was about a third of that, at 342,684. Not bad, though not quite T-Mobile in nature. For the year, they grossed 3.6 million customers, netting just under a million. The best news: This is a 51 percent increase over 2006. So despite these numbers not looking all too impressive, Alltel is relatively doing very well.
Read the rest of Alltel gains record customers in fourth quarter…

Ever go to a show and catch a real killer opening band? I’m sure you have — I’ve seen plenty. But after that show is over, that band could fall into oblivion. Such is the way the music industry is working nowadays. Pandora, one of the greatest sites ever invented, in my opinion, is teaming with Alltel to help promote and distribute these bands’ music. They’re working to create local music stations which feature “distinct, regional music styles and the local artists who play them.” This sounds like an excellent idea for the next step in music evolution. With the power of the Internet and services like Pandora, we don’t need the record companies anymore.
Read the rest of Alltel and Pandora team up to promote local music…

A little late to the party, aren’t you, Alltel? It’s been a couple of weeks now, and the four wireless companies bigger than you in the U.S. have launched unlimited plans. Not only that, but No. 4 carrier T-Mobile added unlimited texting to the deal, and No. 3 carrier Sprint sweetened the pot with unlimited Web, email, texting, and a few other extras. So what did Alltel, the nation’s No. 5 carrier, do to have itself stand up against the rest of the competition? Nothing, really. Their plan mimics those of AT&T and Verizon, which is unlimited talk for $99, with all extras coming at a cost.
Read the rest of Alltel introduces its own unlimited plan…

Well, I guess there’s a market for everything. Alltel today announced the introduction of Voicemail MAX. When I see the term “MAX,” especially when in capital letters, I think “maximum.” As in, getting the maximum out of my voicemail in this case. My hopes upon reading the headline was that Alltel would be further expanding its voice-to-text service that it rolled out in December. However, I was very disappointed to find that it’s a service that lets you put “the voices of Hollywood stars, comedians, celebrity impersonators, and top-selling music artists” as your outgoing voicemail message. Pardon me while I let out a very sarcastic “woo hoo.”
Read the rest of Alltel launches celebrity voicemail service…

Every cell phone carrier has roaming agreements, whether you have a huge network like Verizon or a small, regional one like U.S. Cellular. This is so customers can travel around the country and not be denied service. Sometimes, these roaming rates are far higher than normal rates. What’s worse, many times features like your Mobile Web and GPS are disabled when outside of the network’s primary calling area. This is quite problematic for people who travel, since they oftentimes rely on GPS. Alltel has eased some of those concerns, as they now offer GPS in roaming settings.
Read the rest of Roaming GPS now available from Alltel…

If there ever was a time to switch to Alltel, now is it. See, they ran the 50th Daytona 500 recently, and Alltel’s No. 12 Dodge won. This is special not only because of the landmark 50th running, but because Alltel’s time in NASCAR is limited. They’ll be thrown out soon, along with AT&T, as Sprint Nextel flexes their muscles as NASCAR’s exclusive telecommunications sponsor (because they sponsor, you know, the entire sport activity). So Alltel wants to celebrate by giving 500 free minutes to new subscribers.
Read the rest of Get 500 minutes from Alltel…

I’m not sure if this is in fact their thinking, but it appears that cell carriers and handset manufacturers are trying to eliminate the MP3 player. Or at least make sure that the MP3 player and the phone are one and the same device. If you’ll look at many of the new phone released in 2007, a ton boast music features (the Samsung Juke and Motorola ROKR come to mind instantly, along with, of course, the iPhone). Alltel is now furthering that campaign, offering a service that wirelessly syncs music on your PC with your phone.
Read the rest of Alltel launches music-syncing software…

Alltel has gone far out of its way to hype up its My Circle calling plans, where you can select 10 numbers from any carrier to call for free. It’s really been their signature since they’ve been advertising on the national level. It even spawned a fake lawsuit. Alltel is expanding the offering now, much to the delight of their users. Previously, My Circle was only available on rate plans of $59.99 or higher. Now the lesser spenders will get a chance to call their best friends for free.
Read the rest of Alltel extends My Circle plans…

Honestly, there are few terms that irk me more than “iPhone killer.” Yet I continue to use it in a mocking way, because there simply is no device that can “kill” the iPhone. Apple did a superb job of marketing it, and no matter how many people rail against it, their market is already entrenched. In fact, people who speak of the flaws of the iPhone might actually be drawing people closer to the device. That’s how attached people are to this idea. And really, that’s what Apple did: they hyped the idea of the iPhone, and ingrained it in everyone’s heads. Anyway, this brings us to the HTC Touch, introduced by Sprint in 2007, and en route to Alltel.
Read the rest of Alltel picks up iPhone killer…