Verizon to stop allowing legacy Alltel devices to be activated on its network, starting today

It's been three years and two days since Verizon officially closed its acquisition of Alltel, and it looks like Big Red's finally putting the sledgehammer down on activating legacy devices from the purchased network. We just received official word from a Verizon spokesperson that effective today, the carrier will no longer allow you to bring over an Alltel device to a retail outlet and get it activated on their network. If you're currently using an Alltel-branded phone on Verizon, don't panic: this new policy change only applies to handsets that haven't already been activated. We can't imagine this will affect too many users at this point, but we imagine Chad's still feeling a little bummed out today regardless. Continue on below for Verizon's statement.

Here is Verizon's exact statement:

Effective today, legacy Alltel devices can no longer be activated on our network. So, if you had an Alltel device sitting in a drawer or glove compartment and wanted to activate it today, you would not be able to. Today's change does not affect legacy Alltel devices that are currently activated and on our network.

It has been three years since Verizon Wireless purchased Alltel and to give customers the best experience on our network, we are encouraging them to move to current devices. Customers who are told they cannot activate an older Alltel device are able to take advantage of any current promotions, including free devices as offered on our Web site.