The Verizon/Alltel merger: The consumer promises and issues

Verizon, one of the biggest national cell carriers, today announced plans to swallow one of the smallest, Alltel. For consumers, the possible merger raises promise. And, like many such deals, it also raises a number of issues and questions.

Despite their differing size, the companies share a number of attributes that bode well for consumers in a possible merger, beginning with high customer satisfaction. In our recent surveys of cellphone service, both carriers have been standouts for connectivity—that is, for minimizing problems with lack of service, full circuits, or dropped calls—and for customer service.

They also have networks that are technologically compatible—being heavily digital and using CDMA technology. That promises to increase the chance that customers of one company will get access to services now offered by the other, and that subscribers will more fully benefit from an expanded, joint network. It may also minimize the problems that ensued after two other recent cellphone mergers, involving companies with divergent technologies. The Sprint-Nextel merger, in 2005, brought together one company that used a CDMA network and another that used Iden technology. The 2004 merger of Cingular and AT&T married one company that used several technologies, including older analog networks, with another that had a heavily-digital GSM network.

A number of questions and uncertainties remain, however—beginning with whether federal regulators will allow the merger to proceed, and when. (The companies themselves are aiming for completion by year's end.) Consumer advocates will weigh in on the deal's benefits and pitfalls. Those groups include Consumers' Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, which is already flagging such issues as whether provisions may be required to help cell subscribers in some rural areas where Alltel is the leading carrier and Verizon may be a close competitor.

—Paul Reynolds

Comments

[Amy]

I am personally upset over this merger, as EVERYONE should be! I LOVE Alltel! The prices are the cheapest in town and the service could not be better! I've been with Alltel for a few years now and I have only had ONE dropped call, which they noted on my bill and did not charge me for it.

When VZN takes over, prices will go up and extra charges will randomly be added to your bill with no explanation. We could lose My Circle (I've heard it is staying, I've heard it is going..). If Verizon gets rid of that,they are insane. Family plans are MUCH more expensive as well. It is $99 just for the first line...

Unfortunately living in the Midwest, T-Mobile isn't an option, AT&T has bad coverage and lots of dropped calls here, so that leaves me with Sprint if it turns out that I don't like this merger. GREAT.

[La'Michael]

I Love Alltel I dnt know what i would do if they merger together I will have to many problems! with VERIZON the thing is alltel knows how to treat their coustemers almost all my friends have Verizon but I always wanted a contract with ALLTEL but insted I've been on a pre-paid plan for about five years. The only thing I ever said about Alltel was that they needed better phones like Verizon but do to this I will have to go back with Sprint are At&t I have never been with T-Mobile before but what a big dissapointment to me I would have never thought this would happen just when you think you all fine this shit happens.

I would have never known if one of my felo classmates wouldn't have told me I'm worried about the whole thing and I thought I would always have ALLTEL as my number 1 choice but at the snap of a finger they will be gone.

[K Heser]

I used to have Verizon. I got tired of the constant fluctuation of my bill. It would be anywhere from 75 to 200 dollars but never the same 2 months in a row. Verizon had no explanation for why my bill did this. That is the reason I switched to Alltel. Now because of this merger I will be forced to switch again. I live in Montana and the last choice I have is Cellular One. Verizon better keep away from them.

[jeremiah]

My parents are with verizon right now and they are thinking of adding me so, this is going to be great. I hard alltel has great siginal and i know verizon does. I was looking at a preypaid alltel phone but, i can't afford it.

[Thomas]

well were screwed... i love my alltel service never had a problem with it... i used to have verizon about a year ago and all things considered it was horrible... lost calls dead zones and all other stuff plus being overcharged is not fun. when this happens im goin back to att

[Donna]

Alltel is the 3rd wireless provider we have used. Out in the sticks, dropped calls happen sometimes with all of them, but we have be happy with the service and customer service Alltel has provided, and had planned to continue with them. Our plan is grandfathered and I am sure we will lose it when our contract expires. Many friends and family members have Verizon already and it will be more convenient to use them. Still, value for the price we pay is important and will govern whether we stay with Verizon or look elsewhere. AT&T will likely be our choice if we change carriers.

[Jay]

Well, so much for that $200 I paid to get the hell away from Verizon. Let the $150 a month role on in for 1 cellphone!!

[B Smith]

If I lose MyCircle with this merger, I'll switch to ATT or Sprint!!

[Chris]

I hope Verizon's imPulse prepay merges with Alltel's UPlan prepay; that way the prepaid customers have more overall coverage. Don't know how inPulse covers everywhere else but here in Mobile, Alabama the coverage is still the same as it was when PrimeCo was operating before the Verizon takeover.

[jeremy]

cant understand why any alltel customer would like this merger i really think alltel is commited to their love alltel policies never had any customer service issues they always went above and beyond to make me happy. They always charged me the lower amount when they could have charged me much more and it would have been completly legal but its obvious that verizon has the money to do whatever.think about it why is that,cause they are a bunch of thiefs while non blood suckers (alltel)dont have that much extra cash to spend

[Dannis]

I live in SW GA 45 mi from Albany, GA. When I moved here, I had a choice between Alltel and Verizon, and since I'm on a fixed income, I chose the slightly-lower cost Alltel. To make sure I got Internet, I signed up for a data kit and was warned "it's not a replacement for regular Internet" and "we're rural, so service is iffy". They weren't kidding! Getting reliable Internet here in any form is 'iffy' according to the complaints I hear, so to be fair to Alltel, at least I can check my email regularly. But, it's a couple hours of bliss one time and three minutes at a time at others. Most of the sites I go to have some video content, and I'm scared to click on it because what happens f I go over my limit? Alltel charges seperately for on-laptop usage and on-cellphone usage. I want both, and was told I can't get streaming video on the cellphone and keep my laptop Internet. So, I drool every time I see the Verizon unlimited Internet commercial! I pay $25/mo for dial-up Internet using my cellphone and another $5.95/mo for the privilege of using Internet when I'm waiting in the doctor's office or wheeling my wheelchair uptown [I use NOAA Weather at weather.gov for updates when I'm out or when thunderstorms make us have to unplug]. I was planning to jump to Verizon when my contract runs out in April anyway. I found out, though that the tower that serves us is in Albany and is Alltel's. Verizon uses the same tower in our area. I am hoping Verizon is better on maintenance.

Another area of big concern is, I got Alltel with My Circle [relieved that Verizon will keep this feature] and an extra line for my grown daughter. We got identical low-end phones. Hers died. The local person decided it was a battery so we paid for another battery [at cost]. It would've been free via the 800 number. Well, it wasn't the battery so 800 number folks replaced the phone with a refurbished. It died again, this time for good. Alltel doesn't discount replacement phones out of warranty. The second time the phone died, it was out of warranty, period. I am told Verizon would've given us a discount on a replacement. Now I am saving up for another phone! I am looking forward to the merger.

Most people here that I see love their Verizon service and hate their Alltel, Windstream, or Mediacom phone service! I personally have not had dropped calls, but people ask me to repeat what I said a lot because my reception wavers. People I know with Verizon don't have problems, and most of them, like me, have low-end phones. Mine is a Motorola W-315, which has been an easy and serviceable phone, despite my daughter's problem.

Since I am disabled and a shut-in, I mostly see low-income folks like me, or folks at my daughter's school, or in the doctor's office waiting room.

[Katie]

I have been a Verizon Wireless customer for over 7 years now. I am very happy with their service. If I have a problem they are always very helpful. I have even turned my family on to Verizon. I have co-workers who have Alltel and they absolutely do not like it. They constantly have weird charges pop up on their bill and have lots of dropped calls. Hopefully this merger will help them both. Maybe even allow Verizon phones to work internationally.

[Crystal S.]

I love Verizon! I have been a customer for 5 years! I take advantage of the "New Every Two" promotion every 2 years, which allows me to get a new phone every two years at the new customer/discounted price. I do not have a problem with getting a signal, wherever I am, and I do not have a problem with dropped calls.

I really envied Alltel's "circle". I hypothetically chose my 5 friends just in case Verizon ever thought of something similar, but this will be better than I thought.

[Sid]

I have Verizon for work and Alltel for my personal phone. My Verizon work phone costs more than my personal phone + additional line by $20/month. I have unlimited data, unlimited text, 2200 anytime minutes, 10 my circle with Alltel and unl data and pay as you go with Verizon at $.07 per minute.

To boot, my service with Alltel across the large state I live in has always been superior Verizon. Recently Verizon has finally turned on EV service.

How can the merger be a benefit to Alltel customers. Sure I MIGHT be able to keep my current rate plan until my contract expires, but we do not have any other provider to choose from. This is a bad decision and only benefits stock holders, who just like big oil stock holders, will be the only ones who benefit from this.

[Quinn]

I have Verizon Wireless. They are great. They do give you good service. I think this merger will be great for both companies. Alltel will be able to get many verizon services, such as Get it Now. Vz Navigator.

Alltel will now be considered as Verizon Wireless. As i said bfore both companies will gain good profit over this. Alltel will still get My circle. With verizon you can also change your plan as many times as you want for free, so dont worry. You can call any Verizon phone for free.

If you have Verizon and or are will be in Extended Network you may or may not be. Since most of Verizons roaming features come from Verizons towers. You will not be in Extended Network. You will also/maybe be able to have My circle.

I have had Verizon for a long Wjile never a dropped call. Great phones very reliable. Connect fast. Can connect to internet very fast.

[Dee]

I have been an Alltel customer for 4 years now. I am not happy about this merge as I know it will impact the level of service and cost of everything we currently get. As an Alltel customer I love the fact that I can change my plan at any time free of charge. I also love the MyCircle feature. Out of all the people in Verizons network, I only know two people that I call on a regular basis that actually has Verizon service. So, it will definitely impact me if we dont have the MyCircle feature. I spoke with a coworker who has Verizon and she pays $10 less than I do a month for one line and what would be considered basic service on Alltel's newtork. I pay $10 more than she does and have two lines and a lot of other perks.

[Micah]

I have had Alltel for about 4 years now and the only issues I have with them started last year when I switched to a new contract on the smart phone plan. The problems I'm running in to is they charge me roaming when I'm in my home area and they will not stand down from it. Verizon I know has a roaming agreement with the local company that Alltel doesnt. I just hope we may keep our good prices from Alltel as far as unlimited data usage!

[Donna]

I have been an Alltel customer for over 17 years. I have had good and bad experiences with customer services. I would expect no less. I would however say that more of my dealings with Alltel have been positive rather than negative. I love the plan selection and the family plans are great. As a mother of two teenagers, believe me, I know. I also like the fact that I can change my plan anytime. When I find that the kids may have gone over on text messaging or minutes, I am able to change my plan to accomodate the mistake. I also like that they offer the unlimited features. They save me money in the long run.

My kids say that verizon has better phones. I know that Alltel's selection is limited.

As long as I can continue to keep my current plan at the same rate, and the my circle plan with it, I am fine with the merger. I hope that this merger will only mean that the networks get better. I have never had serious coverge problems with Alltel. I think I have one place around Kerr Lake that I lose signal. My husband has Nextel, and has lots of coverage problems.

[Dan R.]

I've been with Verizon for over four years now. Traveling on I-90 across the state, I've probably only had 2 dropped calls; that was when I first got the service. Now, 4 years later, I rarely get below 2 bars (out of four with my phone).
Verizon is rated far above AT&T and Sprint with customer service. Sometimes, it's just the luck of the draw; you can't get superior customer service with every person you talk to. In my experience, however, I've never had a problem with customer service.

As for all the Alltel customers that are worried about their service, I'm not sure where you're coming from. The two companies use CDMA technology and the transition will be smooth. Verizon will be keeping your towers and you'll be able to use Verizon's towers (all of them, not just roaming on a few). The coverage will get better, not worse.

You will also be able to keep your "My Circle" and your plans. With 80,000,000 customers, I highly doubt you'll be needing them as much anyways.

[C. W. Dew]

Since the merger I get this looking for service at my house the reason I got Alltel is that I always have a signal. I hope this is, they are trying to merge towers ect.. Had Alltel 5 years only a few small problems hope the merger does not make life worse. Charles (in the Mebane N.C. area)

[arlene]

We have tried T-Mobile, Altel, and Verizon. Our rural area's lack of reception for T-Mobile and Altel caused us to try Verizon. To get out of the contract with Altel was a nightmare. We literally spent hours on the phone, wrangling for even a number or address to cancel and then... the resultant "late penalties."

T-Mobile not only had reception problems at home, but on the road.
We travel around the west and midwest a lot and had many dropped calls or no reception in spite of our "plan."

Our new phone died shortly after purchase from Verizon, and because we had no zip code (we're really rural), Verizon
would not send us our replacement. We bought the plan at Walmart , and they would not accept delivery of the phone for us. Finally the other local Verizon dealer manager said she would accept it for us. (We hadn't bought from her originally because the waiting lines were too long.) When the replacement phone arrived, it was very used, with a badly scratched screen.

[oh nooooooo]

Work for Verizon.....have alltel cell........now they get married............. has the world realy come this close to hell?

[ruthie]

In response to PECo412. I have been with Alltel for 10 years and have never had a problem with dropped calls or dead zones, until this last month. All of a sudden my phone displayed 'service required'. I contacted Alltel and they suggested the *228 with option 2. That worked, temporarily. I just keep repeating the process until it works again. Is this a Verizon problem?

[PECo412]

Regarding dead zones with Verizon, I've found that if I update my phone's programming every month or so, by dialing *228 and choosing option 2, I rarely ever experience any dead zones or dropped calls.

[Chris]

My Fiance is with Altell & I'm with Verizon. We go to the mountains alot & I usually have broader svc coverage with Verizon than he does. SO i'm excited for the change.

[M Bathrick]

I've had Verizon for years - I live in Western Massachusetts and spend a serious amount of time in Rensselaer and Otsego Counties, New York and Centre, Mifflin and Union Counties in Pennsylvania and I can attest that there are a LOT of dead zones in Verizon's coverage area. I get lots of dropped calls, incompleted calls and zero bar areas.

Mike

[Kris]

Hmm, I can say all of my verizon wireless experiences were total hell..

[David G]

I sure hope the customer service with this new company is good. I am currently with Altell and the customer service is terrible!
My contract is almost done and this deal may have saved the contract.

[n arnold]

I've been a verizon customer for about 15 years. I've experienced great customer service and almost no dead zones in the mountains of NE Tennessee. As for the comment about verizon having no free phones you need to do your research, I've not had to pay for a phone in over 6 years. Verizon has a new evvery two plan where you can upgrade your phone every two years. Also if you new to verizon and order your phone on line you can get many phones for free. I am excited about the merge because I have 3 family members who have alltel, this merge will allow me to talk to them at no charge.

[Robert Smith,III]

Iand two(2) other members of my family have Verizon and all have experienced numerous dropped calls and "dead zone" issues inside our home. However, my daughter with Alltel has never never had either of these issues.I hope the merger will solve this issue. I think the new Verizon "Dead Zone" are borderline false, deceptive and and misleading. I can only trust that the merger will help.

[Jason]

I spoke to an Alltel rep and they said that the merger will not effect any current customers of either network and that their services, plans, and payments will stay the same, including my circle! The only difference is that more phones and services will be available to both subscribers until contracts are up. But that they will continue to provide the same services offered to both networks. I LOVE Alltel's service and I LOVE Verizon's phones. Alltel has so little phones because they test their phones first instead of letting the consumer find all the bugs. Granted, I've had some crappy Alltel phones ( I've bought 14 different phones in 2 years full retail from them) and have ended up with the PPC-6800, but I've had it replaced 2 times already. Anytime you combine a phone with a computer you're going to have some quirks. This will benefit everyone involved. The transaction was 28 Billion dollars! That's the largest transaction in Arkansas history! And we even have WalMart!

[Marguerite Andres]

My husband and I have two prepaid plans with Alltel. We do not use a cell phone very often so the prepaid plans were prefect for us. We are both retired and therfore on fixed incomes. I hope the merger does not mean we will have to give up our cell phones! We have been VERY happy with the service at Alltel, especially the coverage area for the prepaid plans.

[Paul Siddle]

I must say, I have been a Verizon Wireless customer for several years and travel extensively (domestically) and have had nothing but the best experience with this company...only complaint I have is it seems to be the last on the block to obtain the newest/greatest phones.

Customer service is beyond reproach.

I do not work for Verizon!

[Skippy]

I am extremely upset with this new merge. I currently have Alltel and enjoy a very reasonable monthly rate which I share with two other phones on my plan. Customer service for my phone right now is great and I fear by switching to a bigger company that customer service is going suck. I have multiple college buddies who have Verizon and laughed at them when I saw just how much they are getting shafted by all the little payments Verizon adds onto their bills. It looks like now I too will be bending over..
I will probably end up getting out of this provider and switching to a company that uses GSM instead of CDMA. That way I can get my phone on ebay instead of signing a 2 year contract just so I can afford the stupid thing. Yay Sim cards!!

As for now I can just hope and pray that this merge will not go through.

[Craig Washington]

Just when i start loving one company they merge. I love Alltel it has saved me lots of money. I'm an Assistant Pastor so the my circle plan keeps my bill down. I feel uneasy about verizon trying to buy alltel. It brings back nightmares when i was with sprint and had all kind of issues; like being charged roaming charges in my own area, double billed for no reason at all, horror-able customer service, then i switched to nextel and was so happy then 2 years later sprint buys them out and then the problems started all over again so i went to alltel. I hope this turns out well, but what can you do?

[alimor]

I am an Alltel prepay customer, I'm not to thrilled with this merger. I had Verizon before and after having issues with cost and no signal all the time I switched to alltel. Other then alltel being a souther company only I have been really happy with them. I have service when others don't. The prepay is great unlike Verizon who charges twice as much for the service i have on prepay. Is that going to happen once the merger is complete and the service switches over? I would like to know were you can find answers to these questions. I only found out about the merger sunday, I thought maybe it was a hoax... now to my dismay I find it's not. Verizon should have a site were you can ask questions about all of this.

[plallen]

The only problem I have with it all is the fact that EVERYTHING Verizon does cost money. They charge for their phones, no "free" phones there, they charge for "data transmission" on their wireless internet, not unlimited, like Alltel and they are known for poor customer service and add on cost beyond. I was with them for awhile and was sorely disappointed, I dropped them and went to Alltel, 6 years ago, what a shame that I am going to be forced back with Verizon and mosta likely lose and/or be charged for the many benefits I currently love with Alltel.

Gotta love big business, to hell with the customer!

[Cheryl]

Oh sure - it's always great to allow a communication giant to get even bigger. But since all our communications are now owned by only 5 companies (where it used to be more than 50) and controlled by big business, I'm sure it will be much tidier for the companies.

And by the way, how much are you enjoying those service center reps over in India? Expect way more of the same.

[vinnie mirchandani]

Between Verizon and ATT they will now have 150 million subscribers. In the recent FF spectrum auction they walked away with over 75% of the new licenses which will define 4G service starting in 3-4 years.

In other industries with that much concentration, such a transaction like this would not even be considered, but we seem to be in a hurry to get back to the single telephone company model...

[D Hill]

Once upon a time I had Verizon Wireless, and I was not in the least impressed with their service! Since I switched to Cricket Wireless, I am much happier with my service. I get 95% fewer dropped calls and unlimited local calling, which is much more affordable for me.
I have never dealt with Alltel nor do I know anyone who has it.