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HTC support site reveals Hero for Sprint, Snap for Alltel

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 4th 2009 at 5:10PM

We've been asked not to reveal the URLs, but we can assure you we've seen this official support screen pictured above with our own two eyes, which means that the HTC Hero is all but confirmed in a juicy CDMA blend for Sprint. How (or if) that'll affect the availability of the US 3G version unlocked or on any carrier is unclear, but given Hesse's huffy language regarding Pre exclusivity, we wouldn't be surprised if they've got this one locked down for a while as well. We've seen a similar support page for an Alltel-branded Snap, so if you're still tied up in one of the carrier's legacy divested markets and you've been pining after the Snap (and Ozone) on Sprint and Verizon, fear not -- your own version is on the way. We'll admit, if you had asked us a few months back what American carrier would get HTC's highest-end Android phone to date, Sprint wouldn't have been our first guess -- but hey, good for them. If you can't win the coverage battle against the Big Red juggernaut, may as well try to win the exclusive hardware battle, right?

[Thanks, Adam]

Alltel rolls out Palm Treo Pro

by Sean Cooper posted Mar 5th 2009 at 1:09PM

Alltel is set to play catch up with both Bell and Sprint with news today of its Palm's Treo Pro launch. Pricing is listed on the Alltel page at $519 less a $195 online discount and $125 mail-in rebate which settles this handset's price down to $199. Nice to see Alltel at least matching Sprint's offering, as our northern neighbor's price on Bell -- for the same term -- is about $300. If you've been waiting for something new on the Alltel Windows Mobile front, we'd hazard a guess this just may be it.

[Via The Official Palm Blog]

Verizon Wireless adopts Alltel's My Circle as 'Friends & Family'

by Darren Murph posted Feb 12th 2009 at 8:32AM

It was the number one concern of about-to-be-swallowed Alltel customers going into this merger deal, and now it's finally time for those individuals to breathe a huge sigh of relief. In a prime example of great decision making, the suits at Big Red have decided to not only allow ex-Alltel subscribers to keep their My Circle plans, but it's bringing the circle to "current and future customers [read: both VZW and Alltel] as a flexible way to control wireless spending." The news was shot out this morning in a message to employees (posted in full after the break), though there's no word on when Verizon Wireless customers can look forward to enjoying 5, 10 or 20 numbers of free calling each month. So, AT&T -- now that you're cornered between myFaves and My Circle, what's the reaction going to be?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Verizon Wireless adopts Alltel's My Circle as 'Friends & Family'

AT&T reportedly eyeing post-merger Verizon Wireless assets

by Donald Melanson posted Feb 4th 2009 at 1:32PM

As you may recall, one of the requirements that Verizon had to agree with in order to complete its little acquisition of Alltel was that it must offload some $3 billion in wireless assets to avoid becoming too monolithic, and it looks like there's already a number of bidders angling for a piece of the action. The biggest of those, by far, is AT&T, which is apparently looking to pick up as big a chunk of the assets as it is able to and, according to The Wall Street Journal, it's in a good position to do just that. Other interested parties reportedly include a joint bid from the Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts & Co, a separate bid from Providence Equity Partners LLC, and at least one unnamed cable provider. Any of those bids, however, would still be subject to approval by the Department of Justice, with AT&T sure to draw the most scrutiny of the lot.

[Via The Wall Street Journal]

Verizon completes Alltel acquisition, now covers 83.7 million customers as nation's largest wireless network

by Paul Miller posted Jan 9th 2009 at 10:49AM

As promised, Verizon and Alltel tied the knot today, in a $5.9 billion acquisition, plus $22.9 billion of Alltel debt. Combined they form the nation's largest wireless carrier, with 83.7 customers (12.9 of those from the Alltel fold). For the time being, Alltel customers can sit tight and continue to use their devices and service plans as usual, with re-branding operations to happen Q2 and Q3 of 2009.

Verizon and Alltel to join in holy matrimony January 9th

by Chris Ziegler posted Jan 4th 2009 at 10:49PM

Following a good half year of courtship while the regulatory miscellany ran its course, Verizon's finally ready to take the plunge and call this $5.9 billion deal done. The combined juggernaut will amass a staggering 78 million subscribers, putting it roughly 3 million ahead of its closest rival, AT&T, though it'll do so at the cost of assuming some $22.9 billion in Alltel debt. Ultimately, the merger means some positions at Alltel headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas will get axed -- but hey, AT&T Mobility HQ's just a stone's throw away in Atlanta, so Verizon's headcount loss could ultimately be AT&T's gain.

[Via Phone Scoop]

FTC clears Verizon acquisition of Alltel, last hurdle crossed

by Donald Melanson posted Dec 10th 2008 at 2:36PM

It's already made it past the Department of Justice and the FCC after making a few concessions, and Verizon has now cleared the last major hurdle blocking its acquisition of Alltel, with the Federal Trade Commission today giving the deal its all-important stamp of approval. Unlike the other regulatory agencies, the FTC apparently didn't require that Verizon make any further concessions, and instead simply approved an early termination of their antitrust review and indicated that they had "no objections." For those keeping track, the deal easily pushes Verizon past AT&T to become the largest wireless carrier in the United States and, as we have heard, it'll also likely have the side effect of some job cuts from the Alltel benches.

[Via RCR Wireless]

FCC approves Verizon's Alltel buy, deal all but done

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 4th 2008 at 4:57PM

Following the DOJ's approval last week, the FCC has voted unanimously today to approve Verizon's acquisition of Alltel, promising to create a CDMA network of insane proportions that'll eclipse AT&T to become the US' largest wireless carrier. Like their fellow feds over at the DOJ, the FCC guys attached some conditions to the approval, including a requirement that Verizon continue to honor Alltel's existing roaming agreements for four years -- presumably in an effort to protect and appease rural carriers who've been solidly against the merger all along. This'll almost certainly lead to some job losses in the Alltel camp, but look on the bright side, guys: you just might have a crack at that wild LG VX9600 now.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Department of Justice approves Verizon's Alltel acquisition, requires more concessions

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 30th 2008 at 7:02PM

The suits at the Department of Justice just green-lighted Verizon's planned acquisition of regional rival Alltel, moving the two CDMA giants closer to a marriage that would easily eclipse AT&T to become the largest wireless carrier in North America. There's a catch, though, and a rather hefty one at that -- Verizon has to agree to divest itself of some 100 local markets in 22 states to keep the competitive landscape in action; given that they've already indicated a willingness to shed some markets to seal the deal, it probably won't be an issue. The next hurdle for Vertel (or Allzon, depending on how you roll) will come on November 4, when the FCC votes on whether it'll bless the deal. As for the rumors that Verizon is now eligible to get Alltel at a 50 percent discount with a $1 billion mail-in rebate if it agrees to a two-year contract, we're not hearing any comment from either side.

FCC working to approve Sprint / Clearwire and Verizon / Alltel mergers by the end of the year

by Nilay Patel posted Sep 29th 2008 at 2:02PM

The FCC doesn't exactly have a track record of swiftness when it comes to reviewing mergers, but it looks like that little election thing might have lit a couple grey suits on fire -- FCC chairman Kevin Martin says that the agency is aiming to finish looking over the Sprint / Clearwire and Verizon / Alltel deals by the end of the year. That's right before a new administration takes over and potentially gums up the process, so we're guessing it'll be approvals all around, since rejecting the bids would result in some fun lawsuits for everyone, but we'll see how things shake out.

Verizon tops T-Mobile in J.D. Power customer care survey

by Donald Melanson posted Aug 14th 2008 at 4:44PM

T-Mobile may have once been able to bank on J.D. Power's customer care survey to bolster its bag of bragging rights, but it looks like that's no longer the case, as Verizon has now finally edged it out, following a similar shift in J.D. Power's retail sales satisfaction survey last year. Not only that, T-Mobile actually fell to third place, behind Verizon's merger-mate Alltel. There isn't much of a spread between the top-ranked companies, however, with Verizon snagging a score of 103, Alltel scoring 102, and T-Mobile garnering a respectable 100. Only Sprint Nextel, which got a lowly 79, scored below the industry average. Among the other tidbits to be found in the survey, which included more than 11,000 respondents, is the fact that customers spent an average of 4.4 minutes on hold with customer service, a jump of 34% from the previous survey, while 49% of all wireless customers said they called in for help at least once, a minor uptick from the 47% reported last time around. That, J.D. Power says, is at least partly due to the "increasingly complex" wireless phones and services available nowadays.

Alltel rolls out Boingo-powered nationwide WiFi service

by Nilay Patel posted Jun 26th 2008 at 1:17PM

Although Alltel is busy courting Verizon's amorous advances, it looks like the carrier is still serious about rolling with the big boys -- it's just announced a nationwide WiFi service powered by Boingo. Subscribers can opt for $20/mo or $4/day plans, and score access at over 25,000 hotspots in airports, hotels, bookstores, coffee shops and restaurants. Alltel wireless customers can also opt for the $70/mo Internet Anywhere bundle, which gives you unlimited EVDO and WiFi access. Of course, all these plans could change when the Verizon deal finally goes down, but we'll see how that plays out in the future -- at least you're not being locked into a contract.

Alltel tried to buy Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T as a public company

by Darren Murph posted Jun 24th 2008 at 10:36AM

Unless you've been camped out under a Rhode Island-sized boulder for the past few weeks, you know that Verizon has announced its intentions to acquire Alltel. During a recent interview with CEO Scott Ford, Talk Business host Roby Brock was able to get a few talking points out of the exec that didn't involve the most recent transaction. More specifically, Mr. Ford noted that prior to Alltel becoming a private company, it had "tried to buy Sprint three times, tried to buy AT&T Wireless [and] tried to buy T-Mobile." He continued by saying that "some of those times it went with partners, [while] some of those times it didn't." Essentially, Alltel was "doing everything it could to get to a national platform." Believe it or not, those quotes really are just the tip of the iceberg, but the full spill is entirely too detailed for this space. If you're curious to know what might have been, break out the reading glasses and hit the link below.

[Via mocoNews]

Alltel kicks off EV-DO Rev. A deployment

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 23rd 2008 at 4:37PM

With LTE a few years out yet, Alltel needs something to get it over the 3.5G hump -- and seeing how it's presently a CDMA carrier, you can pretty much guess where this is going. Sure enough, Verizon's newest partner in crime has announced that the rollout of its EV-DO Rev. A upgrade is now underway, promising a bump in downlink speeds from 400-700kbps on the existing Rev. 0 network to somewhere between 600kbps and 1.4Mbps. Uplink speeds are where Rev. A really shines, though, blazing as much as ten times faster than it did before -- 800kbps on a good day with bursts of up to 1.8Mbps. Two data cards are being offered to take advantage of the service -- one from Huawei and one from UTStarcom -- while compatible handsets currently include the HTC PPC6800 and Touch. The rollout is targeted for "select markets" right now -- Charlotte, New Orleans, Phoenix and Tampa among a total of 18 -- with overall EV-DO coverage continuing to expand as well; Alltel's targeting 82 percent of its footprint to be upgraded by year's end.

Verizon Alltel merger would form largest carrier in the US (by far)

by Ryan Block posted Jun 5th 2008 at 11:58AM

Just a quick bit of math and you can see that today's news doesn't bode well for AT&T, which has been enjoying its position at the top of the heap in major US cellphone carriers for quite some time now. While AT&T has a solid 71m subscribers under their belt, number two Verizon has 67m and number five Alltel has 13m -- which means this merger could potentially put 80m customers under the same roof. Clearly being able to claim the "most reliable" AND most widely used network in the US makes it a tantalizing deal for VZW, but the ~$2,100 they'll be paying per subscriber isn't lightyears away from the notoriously overinflated amount Sprint paid in their heyday for Nextel. That merger cost $36 billion, which turned out to be ~$2,350 per sub at around 15 million Nextel customers -- and we all know how well that deal turned out for Sprint. But we're sure they're thinking this will go more along the lines of AT&T's merger with Cingular, which worked out pretty damned well so far. So what's this thing named, anyway? Verizon Alltel? Veritel? Allizon? We think just Verizon, thanks.