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Major wireless carriers all slapped with text-messaging class-action lawsuit
Text messaging rates have always been a little ridiculous, but a new class-action suit filed in Mississippi alleges that virtually every wireless carrier you can think of is basically cheating you by charging you for received texts and not allowing you to turn the service off. The suit names AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Alltel, US Cellular, Cellular South, and Virgin Mobile (surprisingly, T-Mobile didn't make the cut), and says that members of the class are entitled to relief for the unauthorized charges, wrongful collection, and unjust enrichment. Of course, this will all likely end in a useless settlement that nets subscribers like three extra text messages and a 20 percent discount on an "approved accessory," while the plaintiff's law firm banks millions, but we'll see how things go.
Alltel does the Touch in burgundy
The Touch has always seemed like a device that deserves a whole rainbow to itself, but for whatever reason, its many colors have been hard to find in one place. Alltel's breaking out of the mold, though, becoming just the first carrier in the US to offer multiple Touch shades in its lineup by adding burgundy to the original gray. It runs $129.99 after rebate on contract -- the same price as gray, thankfully, so go ahead and throw away those worries about paying a color premium.[Thanks, Matt S.]
Alltel commits to LTE, adds 1M customers in Q1
See, it's not all dour news in the wireless industry -- oft-overlooked carrier Alltel just announced that it added over 1M gross wireless customers in the first quarter, and that it's committed to LTE in the next three to five years. The LTE news isn't particularly surprising, since Alltel's got roaming agreements to maintain and both Verizon and AT&T are committed to LTE, but the company did specifically say that it was picking LTE over WiMAX. (Oh, and if you're keeping score, that pretty much puts the final, final nail in the coffin for Qualcomm's UMB -- good thing it's got those LTE-compatible chipsets in the works.) Alltel's actually growing pretty fast -- this is the second quarter in a row it's added over 1M gross customers, probably due to those sparkling call-quality survey results -- but we still have our doubts when the company claims it's "America's Largest Network." Should be interesting to see how this all shakes out as 4G gets built up, no?Read - Alltel Q1 results [Warning: PDF link]Read - Alltel commits to LTE
Rural Cellular sues Alltel for trying to steal customers from sold markets
Last year, Rural Cellular bought a handful of Minnesota markets from Alltel. No big deal, right? A little money changes hands, a few subscribers move from one carrier to another. As part of the sale, Alltel agreed to continue to service the customers until they could be fully migrated to Rural's systems -- problem is, they may have "serviced" them a little too hard, if you catch our drift. A lawsuit brought on by Rural claims that, among other things, Alltel hustled the affected customers really hard during the transition period to get them to switch back to Alltel and offered them "slipshod" service on Rural's transitional network to help make that decision a little easier. By the time all was said and done, subscriber churn in the markets was a sky-high 13 percent, certainly suggesting that there was some buffoonery going on. The suit seeks millions in damages on the $48 million deal -- and with Verizon's acquisition of Rural currently going through the regulatory process, it certainly seems like the outcome could have an effect.[Thanks, Droo]
How would you change RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8330?
Well, what do you know? This week's How Would You Change question hits home in the Mobile world, so we figured we'd give you all a fair shot at chiming in. For those who've coughed up the requisite coin to procure a BlackBerry Curve 8330 on one of our nation's CDMA carriers, how on Earth is it treating you? Found any annoyances you'd like to see changed? If so, head on over to Engadget Classic and drop your comments there.
Fair Credit Reporting Act cited in Verizon, Alltel suits
We've all had situations where our printed receipts have been just a little too wordy for comfort, disclosing details about our address or credit card (or worse, both) that a nefarious individual would kill to score. The 2003 Fair Credit Reporting Act was supposed to put a serious cork in that business by threatening offenders with a $1,000-per incident fine for willfully printing out secret stuff beyond December 2006; Verizon and Alltel are being accused of ignoring that little clause of the FCRA, though, with class action suits du jour recently filed in Pennsylvania and Georgia respectively. For its part, Alltel says it's in the clear because it hasn't been printing both the credit card number and the expiration date on its receipts, and furthermore, the plaintiffs haven't proven that they've had their identities stolen as a result of its practices. Verizon has responded with a shorter, snippier comment, simply saying that it "did not commit any wrongful act" against the accusers. Seriously though, what's so hard about just not printing that stuff?
Alltel Touch gets firmware update, EV-DO Rev. A included
Make us proud, Alltel! The number five carrier's really been going all-out as of late, doing an impressive job of keeping its offerings in line with the big boys -- and in some cases, outdoing 'em with hot exclusives like the Glimmer. Once again, they've gotten the jump on their larger, heavier competition by becoming the first carrier to release a firmware upgrade for the Vogue (the Alltel Touch, in this case) that ups the radio to EV-DO Rev. A speeds. Speedy uploads aside, the upgrade includes some Bluetooth fixes and adds the ability to receive video messages. Sprint, Verizon -- your move.[Via phoneArena]
Alltel scores the BlackBerry Curve 8330, too
Not to be outdone by Verizon and Sprint (and pretty much everyone else with a CDMA network), Alltel's gone ahead and tacked the Curve 8330 onto its roadmap as well. Can you get it now? No, not quite, but it'll hit on May 1 in "titanium" for $229.99 after the full host of discounts and rebates has been applied on contract. Yeah, it sucks that you have to wait a few more days to pick it up, but you can feel free to place your pre-order now if you like over on Alltel's site.
House bill proposes ban on in-flight cellphone use
This could -- at least temporarily -- put an end the nightmarish scenario involving you, lack of sleep, and some freakish chatty Cathy plopped next to you by the airline. Lead co-sponsor Rep. Peter DeFazio, hopes the "Hang Up" -- madly clever name here -- bill will stop Airlines from finding yet another avenue to gouge you and maintaining peace and harmony by banning any in-flight calling. Of course, the door will remain wide open for SMS, mail, IM, and other types of electronic conversation, but we're hoping Skype and friends are on the muzzle list, too.
Alltel snags lots of gold in recent call quality survey
While Verizon and T-Mobile shared honors in a customer service survey just two months back, it was regional carrier Alltel snagging most of the gold in a recent J.D. Power and Associates survey of wireless call quality. Reportedly, said carrier was able to take the "sole or partial top spot in three of the report's six regions," while Verizon stood on top in two regions, US Cellular in one and T-Mobile (along with Alltel) in another. The data was gathered from 24,570 respondents that were questioned about dropped calls, static / interference, failed connection on the first try, voice distortion, echoes, no immediate voicemail notification, and no immediate text message notification. Interestingly, the study also found that "customers using 3G handsets experienced fewer call quality issues," and while call quality problems reported by folks using CDMA happened around 14 times out of every 100 calls, nearly a quarter of calls from those on the iDEN network were primarily about problems with call quality. Check out the full spill in the read below, we won't tell anyone you're a number lover.
Motorola's shockingly lime Q9c in the flesh
The great unasked question, "what would a buttoned-up, business smartphone look like in the same color as this pie I'm eating?" has finally been answered, thanks to the good folks at Motorola. This here Q9c is destined for Alltel and US Cellular, and we have to admit, it's actually pretty attractive. Could we actually see ourselves sliding one in our pocket? Eh, that might be going a bit far, but we think they'll manage to push a few of these suckers off shelves.%Gallery-19594%
Lime green Motorola Q9c headed to Alltel, US Cellular
Don't you dare say green wasn't already in style, as in all actuality, it's US Cellular and Alltel following the crowd yet again. As the run-up to CTIA 2008 continues, the aforesaid outfits have both announced that a lime green variant of the Motorola Q9c will soon be on their shelves. Aside from that, prospective customers can also snap up the WinMo 6-powered Q9c in licorice, and of course, they'll find a 1.3-megapixel camera, 2.4-inch display and 128MB of onboard memory. As for pricing, you can call Alltel's version your own for $99.99 on contract, and while US Cellular is being mum on the subject, both providers will have 'em available "this summer."[Via CNET]Read - Alltel's announcementRead - US Cellular's announcement
Alltel's Samsung Muse now available
As the name implies, Samsung's Muse flip is all about the music thanks to 64MB of onboard memory (enough for a meager album of low-grade MP3s, we suppose), a microSD slot, external music controls, and stereo Bluetooth -- and after a January reveal, it's now available to Alltel customers across the land. Besides the comprehensive tuneage support, the Muse features EV-DO, GPS and a 2 megapixel cam, all for a somewhat reasonable $89.99 charge after $50 rebate.
Alltel chimes in on the Glimmer: March 13 for $250
Just a day after LG's admission, Alltel's getting real with its mighty Glimmer touchscreen slider, a phone that combines the Shine series' glamor with the Viewty's touchscreen sensibility. As expected, the phone features a 2 megapixel camera, comprehensive media and gaming capability thanks to 128MB of integrated memory, microSD expansion, 3D graphics acceleration, and an MP3 player. GPS is in the mix too, so all told, we'd say the $249.99 on-contract price after rebates is roughly within the realm of reason. Expect Alltel to accept cash or credit in exchange for goods -- the Glimmer, specifically -- starting tomorrow.
Alltel's LG Glimmer is real -- LG says so
The rumored LG Glimmer for Alltel has now been confirmed by way of LG itself, and while there's still no sight of the phone on the regional's own site, the AX830 moniker that the beautiful piece bears -- and the fact that Alltel's name is specifically mentioned in LG's press release -- pretty much says it all. The company calls out the Glimmer as basically a Shine with a touchscreen, which seems like a pretty accurate representation and a good 30,000 foot overview of everything LG's been trying to do in the marketplace for the past 18 months or so.Despite LG's own lack of insight into the phone's launch, we've independently heard through the grapevine that Alltel will be launching the Glimmer in just two days, the 13th. It'll go for $250 on a two-year contract after rebates, and sorry, Alltel employees -- there's going to be a two-week delay before you can buy your own to ensure that there are plenty to go around for customers. What a rip! Follow the break for Alltel's information.[Via Unwired View, thanks Milo]Update: It's up on Alltel's site, though not available for purchase. Thanks, trigatch4!
Alltel goes unlimited, could've fooled us
So yes, as we reported, Alltel ended up announcing its foray into the wide world of unlimited calling on Friday with its so-called National Freedom Unlimited plan. As we also reported, Alltel is really trying to downplay the package; it's nowhere to be found on the carrier's home page, and a quick gander at its latest press releases reveals nothing about it. Why the hush-hush? Alltel's insistent that its My Circle packages continue to offer a better value -- in other words, they're offering a totally unlimited plan simply to keep up with the Joneses. You might say that Chad (Alltel's lovable frontman) wants you to have 1, 5, 10, or 20 friends, and not a single buddy more, but if you insist on putting a permanent end to your minute-counting ways, expect to shell out $99.99 monthly for the privilege.
Alltel joining the unlimited parade tomorrow?
Rumor has it Alltel will be jumping on the bandwagon along with... oh, pretty much everyone else now -- including fellow mega-regional US Cellular -- to offer an all-you-can-eat voice plan starting tomorrow. Interestingly, the internal announcement emphatically reminds salesfolks that My Circle is still the best option for pretty much everyone; they basically stop just short of saying that they're rolling out the plan only to be able to say they have it, just like everyone else. Indeed, with 20 peeps in Alltel's My Circle 20 package, it's hard to justify the need to shell out $100 a month unless you're calling a wide variety of people and calling them all the friggin' time, but hey, Alltel's gotta keep up with the Joneses, right? We'll find out tomorrow if this is legit, but given the way the market has been going, we've no reason to believe it's not. Follow the break for the full announcement.[Thanks, Miles]
LG Glimmer in the mix for Alltel?
What do you get when you cross LG's Shine slider and Viewty full touchscreen candybar? If you guessed the "Vine" or the "Shewty," well... no, you'd be wrong. If this ad posted over on Howard Forums turns out to be legit, you'd actually end up with the "Glimmer," a phone that appears destined for Alltel (of all carriers) that combines a 2.8 inch capacitive touch display, numeric slider, 2 megapixel cam with flash, microSD slot, Bluetooth, and EV-DO. It's unknown when the rather attractive metal-clad piece might launch, but the existence of prepared advertising leads us to believe it could be sooner rather than later, putting Alltel in the rare and enviable position of one-upping its larger counterparts with unique hardware. The Venus proves that the touch / slide hybrid concept can work, so don't be shy, Alltel, bring it on.[Thanks, Bradley]
Analog cellular networks, R.I.P.: 1983 - 2008
Marking the end of a remarkable era in cellular technology, the FCC is officially letting American carriers decommission their legacy analog networks as of today, February 18, 2008. Few of us still own a phone based on AMPS -- Advanced Mobile Phone System, ironically, despite the fact that there's been nothing "advanced" about it for many years -- but we owe the very existence of the world's modern wireless infrastructure to the introduction and overwhelming success of the Bell Labs-developed technology. So successful was AMPS, in fact, that it eventually covered virtually 100 percent of the continental United States, a statistic CDMA and GSM have only recently begun to approach.
Get your text on: Alltel's LG Scoop now available
Sprint doesn't get all the buggy, texty fun anymore. Following a preorder announcement last month, the LG Rumor has gone and morphed into the LG Scoop for Alltel in three QWERTY-licious colors: Slate, Turquoise, and Citrus. Unlike the Rumor, the Scoop features Alltel's Celltop app for rocking out with various widgets of information on the phone's home screen; otherwise, you get a 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD expansion, music player, Bluetooth, and that fancy slide-out keyboard for SMSing yourself right into oblivion. Grab it now for a shade under $60 on contract after rebates.
