Merger talk

Has anyone here seen this?

click on Merger Information at www.alltel.com

You may have recently heard that Alltel and Verizon have agreed to join
together to become a single wireless company. As a valued Alltel customer,
it is important that we communicate with you about this announcement.

Be assured nothing related to your service will change for the duration of
your contract. You will receive the same great service you have come to
expect from Alltel. Additionally, you will see Alltel bring innovation and
value to the market as we continue to serve your wireless needs.

Continue to count on benefits that will provide you with the real choices
and flexibility required to meet your calling needs:

My Circle - you choose who you call for free, any number on any network

Anytime Plan Changes - change your rate plan whenever you want

America's Largest Network - giving you coverage across the nation

There is no action required on your part at this time. We invite you to
browse alltel.com any time to learn more about new products and services
available to you. Remember you can get the most out of your wireless service
at www.alltel.com/MyAccount - monitor your usage, add features, view and pay
your bill, and much more!

As always, we appreciate your business and look forward to serving your
wireless needs.

So, will Verizon let Alltel keep the name? Cingular bought AT&T wireless and
forced the Cingular name on that company. We all know what happened next.
;-)

On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:00:05 -0400, "drewdawg" <spamage@failed.net>
wrote:

>Has anyone here seen this?

Yes, there's already been a couple of threads here and in the Alltel
group about it.

>
>click on Merger Information at www.alltel.com
>

[snip]

>
>So, will Verizon let Alltel keep the name? Cingular bought AT&T wireless and
>forced the Cingular name on that company. We all know what happened next.

I've heard from a friend who is a VZW rep that they intend to keep the
Alltel name, at least for a while, but nothing is set in stone yet.
Should know more by September.

"The Ghost of General Lee" <ghost@general.lee> wrote in message
news:nsv764lovmcuhv29m1q2i8dpnlne73gk0q@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:00:05 -0400, "drewdawg" <spamage@failed.net>
> wrote:
>
> >Has anyone here seen this?
>
> Yes, there's already been a couple of threads here and in the Alltel
> group about it.
>
> >
> >click on Merger Information at www.alltel.com
> >
>
> [snip]
>
> >
> >So, will Verizon let Alltel keep the name? Cingular bought AT&T wireless
and
> >forced the Cingular name on that company. We all know what happened next.
>
> I've heard from a friend who is a VZW rep that they intend to keep the
> Alltel name, at least for a while, but nothing is set in stone yet.
> Should know more by September.
>
Cool. I would think with all the money Alltel spends on Comedy Central ads
Verizon wouldn't throw away the growing brand recognition. Today I took a
pop-up survey gauging my knowlege of all things Alltel. Watching the ads I
think I did well. ;-) P.S.: I'm in Delaware.

With Verizon giving themselves a bad rep (droping all the alt.* groups on
their newsserver) and Verizon Wireless pretty much seperate from Verizon
proper maybe switching all of Verizon Wireless to Alltel would be a good
move. Just IMHO, YMMV.

Andy

On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:03:38 -0400, "drewdawg" <spamage@failed.net>
wrote:

>
>"The Ghost of General Lee" <ghost@general.lee> wrote in message
>news:nsv764lovmcuhv29m1q2i8dpnlne73gk0q@4ax.com.. .
>> On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:00:05 -0400, "drewdawg" <spamage@failed.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Has anyone here seen this?
>>
>> Yes, there's already been a couple of threads here and in the Alltel
>> group about it.
>>
>> >
>> >click on Merger Information at www.alltel.com
>> >
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>> >
>> >So, will Verizon let Alltel keep the name? Cingular bought AT&T wireless
>and
>> >forced the Cingular name on that company. We all know what happened next.
>>
>> I've heard from a friend who is a VZW rep that they intend to keep the
>> Alltel name, at least for a while, but nothing is set in stone yet.
>> Should know more by September.
>>
>Cool. I would think with all the money Alltel spends on Comedy Central ads
>Verizon wouldn't throw away the growing brand recognition. Today I took a
>pop-up survey gauging my knowlege of all things Alltel. Watching the ads I
>think I did well. ;-) P.S.: I'm in Delaware.
>
>With Verizon giving themselves a bad rep (droping all the alt.* groups on
>their newsserver) and Verizon Wireless pretty much seperate from Verizon
>proper maybe switching all of Verizon Wireless to Alltel would be a good
>move. Just IMHO, YMMV.

I don't think brand recognition has anything to do with it. IMO, VZW
is a more recognized brand than Alltel, considering some of the posts
I've seen in the VZW group over the years from people who had no idea
Alltel existed. I think the main issue is they have to honor all
outstanding Alltel contracts, which equates to at least 2 years from
the official changeover date. For example, since Alltel offers My
Circle and VZW doesn't, it makes sense they would keep the Alltel
infrastructure in place to support this feature.

On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:24:41 -0400, The Ghost of General Lee
<ghost@general.lee> wrote:

>I think the main issue is they have to honor all
>outstanding Alltel contracts, which equates to at least 2 years from
>the official changeover date. For example, since Alltel offers My
>Circle and VZW doesn't, it makes sense they would keep the Alltel
>infrastructure in place to support this feature.

I believe that MyCircle is not in the contract; everything I've seen
says that is may be discontinued without notice.

Now there would be some VERY unhappy people if that happened.

George

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:55:21 -0400, GeorgeB <nospam@att.net> wrote:

| On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:24:41 -0400, The Ghost of General Lee
| <ghost@general.lee> wrote:
|
| >I think the main issue is they have to honor all
| >outstanding Alltel contracts, which equates to at least 2 years from
| >the official changeover date. For example, since Alltel offers My
| >Circle and VZW doesn't, it makes sense they would keep the Alltel
| >infrastructure in place to support this feature.
|
| I believe that MyCircle is not in the contract; everything I've seen
| says that is may be discontinued without notice.
|
| Now there would be some VERY unhappy people if that happened.

But it may happen. Verizon isn't at the forefront of value for your dollar the
way Alltel is. I checked out every plan for every wireless provider in my area
before I decided on Alltel. There's still not one of them that can even equal
the plan I have now.

Look to lose benefits when Alltel is fully absorbed into Verizon. I'm afraid
we'll look back on these as "the good old days" once that happens.

Larc

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:55:21 -0400, GeorgeB <nospam@att.net> wrote:

>On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:24:41 -0400, The Ghost of General Lee
><ghost@general.lee> wrote:
>
>>I think the main issue is they have to honor all
>>outstanding Alltel contracts, which equates to at least 2 years from
>>the official changeover date. For example, since Alltel offers My
>>Circle and VZW doesn't, it makes sense they would keep the Alltel
>>infrastructure in place to support this feature.
>
>I believe that MyCircle is not in the contract; everything I've seen
>says that is may be discontinued without notice.
>
>Now there would be some VERY unhappy people if that happened.

I know it's not in my contract, as I signed up well before they
implemented it. I hope to be stopping by my local Alltel store today.
I'll see what they know about the upcoming events.

Larc wrote:

> Look to lose benefits when Alltel is fully absorbed into Verizon. I'm afraid
> we'll look back on these as "the good old days" once that happens.

Verizon allows its own customers to continue on older plans essentially
forever, even though they aren't required to do so once the contract
expires. I'm still paying under $30 per month, and get much wider
coverage than the currently available Verizon plans because I can still
do off-network roaming (at a price) on networks not included on the
current Verizon plans.

Personally I think that Verizon will be very careful to not alienate the
Alltel customers, as there's very little upside in doing so. Look what
happened when Cingular bought the old AT&T Wireless--massive increase in
churn.

SMS wrote:
> Larc wrote:
>
>> Look to lose benefits when Alltel is fully absorbed into Verizon.
>> I'm afraid we'll look back on these as "the good old days" once
>> that
>> happens.
>
> Verizon allows its own customers to continue on older plans
> essentially forever, even though they aren't required to do so once
> the contract expires.

There were a few of those old contracts that, in essence, don't ever
expire unless you, the customer, makes a change. I still have 1 of
the few Single Rate plans that covers the US & Canada and has the
clause "2000 free weekend minutes for life" in it. I do get pressure
from time to time to make changes. :-)

Tom J

Tom J

On 2008-06-29, Tom J <tomnews@earthlink.net> wrote:
> SMS wrote:
>> Larc wrote:
>>
>>> Look to lose benefits when Alltel is fully absorbed into Verizon.
>>> I'm afraid we'll look back on these as "the good old days" once
>>> that
>>> happens.
>>
>> Verizon allows its own customers to continue on older plans
>> essentially forever, even though they aren't required to do so once
>> the contract expires.
>
> There were a few of those old contracts that, in essence, don't ever
> expire unless you, the customer, makes a change. I still have 1 of
> the few Single Rate plans that covers the US & Canada and has the
> clause "2000 free weekend minutes for life" in it. I do get pressure
> from time to time to make changes. :-)

While it isn't nearly as old, I have a North America's Choice plan from
Verizon (inclusive Canada and Mexico calls and roaming) which isn't
offered any more but which Verizon has shown no sign of trying to
discourage me from continuing. In fact when I've asked they have
offered to allow me add a new line to the (family) plan or change
the number of plan minutes.

Note that, judged by the limited comparisons available, this plan
also seems to be a reasonably good price if this is what you need.
Only Alltel offers a similar plan now (North America Freedom) and,
for a roughly comparable numbers of minutes, Alltel charges almost 50%
more for an individual plan than I pay for a family plan with two lines.

Dennis Ferguson