Alltel Prepaid Plans
Alltel prepaid can be a pretty good deal, once you've figured out their plans. Alltel offers both standard cell phone contracts as well as prepaid wireless service. They call their prepaid service AlltelU to avoid any confusion.
Is it for you?
Note: Alltel has been merged into Verizon Wireless. When you go to Alltel's home page they now try to direct you to Verizon's page, but if you're already an prepaid customer you can click through via a link to the prepaid page for Alltel customers.Note: Earlier, Alltel had bought out Simple Freedom, another prepaid cell phone plan. You can find out more here. You used to be able tell the difference between Tracfone, for example, and Alltel by looking at the pictures on their websites. While on Tracfone's website, there was an grown-up with her phone to her ear talking, on the Alltel prepaid home page on the Alltel site there was a smiling teenager looking at the cell phone in her hand.The girl was either sending a text message or using it for entertainment. Whom you identified with was a good indicator of which service you'll prefer. How things change. Later, the AlltelU web site featured a grown man wearing a sweater and collared T-shirt talking on his phone while the Tracfone web site sometimes shows links to video of teenagers walking through their high school. Don't know how that all worked out, but eventually Alltel has been bought by Verizon. However, you can still use Alltel prepaid phones and add minutes to your account via airtime cards bought from stores or via an online account. So let's go over if Alltel still might be right for U, uh, I mean, you. CoverageIf you peruse the Consumer Reports Guide to Carriers, you see that Alltel prepaid gets good ratings even though Alltel used be one of the smaller full-fledged (i.e. they own their own network) carriers. Consumer Reports mentions that currently Alltel serves only 26% of Americans while Verizon serves about 87%. So, Alltel may still be a good alternative when you can't get service from Verizon.Coverage MapYou can no longer separately check the Alltel Prepaid coverage map for yourself. You have the check the Verizon mapAlltel Prepaid RoamingThe Alltel Prepaid roaming fee is 59 cents per minute in addition to the rate plans described below, so it is a good idea to check the coverage carefully as that can really add to your costs if you end up making a lot of calls from roaming areas.PhonesYou could get Alltel prepaid phones at Walmart such as the Alltel U Prepaid R500 HUE by Samsung and 3 removable faceplates for $99.99 but you were better off choosing from a large selection of Alltel prepaid phones online. There was a small rebate for new prepaid customers which does offset some of the activation fee they charge. Retail stores might still have some leftover phones, but you would need to go to your nearest Verizon Wireless/Alltel store to see if you can still get Alltel phones.Rate Plans for Alltel Prepaid WirelessAlltel's rates are easy to understand in terms of usage but a little harder to understand when comparing them and when trying to figure out whether it will fit in your budget. They charge a $35 activation fee which adds to your cost.There are three plans:
Pay-per-minuteThe Alltel Pay-Per-Minute plan charges by the minute but also includes a monthly usage fee.Calls cost 15 cents per minute and 59 cents/minute when roaming. Text messages cost 5 cents. Their website has a handy cost calculator (not including taxes). There is a $35 activation fee. The minimum initial balance required when you sign up is $20. And finally there is a $4 per month usage charge. Minimum yearly costLet's compare the cost to Tracfone, where a 600 minute (400 minutes plus 200 bonus minutes) year card currently costs $100:One year of Alltel's pay-per-minutes service, using 400 minutes will cost at least $173.00. This includes the activation fee($35), the monthly usage fee ($48 = $4 per month x 12 months) and calling charges (400 minutes x $0.15 per minute). You'll have pay more if some of those calls are roaming calls.
Alltel User ReviewHere's a Mom describing an Alltel LG AX155 she bought for her son.If you use many more minutes in a year though, then Alltel prepaid wireless may be a better deal for you than Tracfone, if you use one of their other plans. Pay-per-dayThere is no monthly usage fee with the Alltel Pay-Per-Day plan, but the 75 cent daily fee more than makes up.Phone calls cost 10 cents per minute, but this plan does offer nights and weekends free and free text messages. So, how does it add it? Minimum yearly costStill, the minimum cost for one year is $308.75 plus the actual cost of the number of daytime minutes.This includes the activation fee($35), the daily usage fee ($273.50 = $0.75 per day x 365 days), plus whatever number of daytime minutes * 10c per minute. Depending on how many daytime minutes you use, this can come out a little cheaper than a standard cell phone contract while still retaining the unlimited nights and weekends feature common in the standard contracts. You should consider this if you knew you will be making a lot of night and weekend long distance calls. Pay-per-monthThe pay-per-month is like a standard cell phone plan without the long-term contract.29.99 per month planWith this plan you get 200 daytime minutes and 1000 night and weekend minutes per month. If you go over this fairly generous allotment, you have to pay a whopping 35 cents for each additional minute.The minimum yearly cost is $360 plus taxes. 39.99 and 69.99 per month plansThere are also pay-per-month plans that cost $39.99 per month and $69.99 per month. You get more minutes and you aren't tied down to a long term contract.This is really a compromise between a standard cell phone contract and a prepaid cellular service. It may be useful if you just want to avoid a credit check -- not necessarily a bad idea if it's true that even with good credit, each credit check reduces your credit score. Alltel Credit CheckIf you are curious about whether you will pass a credit check, you go to the official annual credit report site set up jointly by the three main credit report companies. You don't need to buy any additional services. You can get one report from one of the three companies every four months to keep track throughout the year.Add Minutes to your Alltel Prepaid PhoneYou can add minutes to your airtime balance in a number of ways: buy prepaid airtime cards at a retail location, add to your balance online or directly via the phone, or you can go to an Alltel retail dealer.hBuy Airtime Cards at a Retail LocationMost big box stores like Walmart, Target etc., and even convenience stores and pharmacies carry airtime cards for Alltel Prepaid minutes.OnlineAlltel My PrepaidYou used to be able to go here to register with My Prepaid to be able to register your credit or debit card, check your balance and add airtime.Nowadays you can still add airtime online. See the answer to this question to see how. Via your phoneYou can add minutes to your prepaid phone directly once you set up the feature by registering your credit card or debit card with "MyPrepaid".Alltel Prepaid Bonus MinutesGet Alltel Prepaid bonus minutes everytime you add to your airtime balance using a credit card via MyPrepaid.Alltel Retail LocationAlltel Retail location have been converted to Verizon Wireless stores, but you can still go there add minutes. The only drawback, other than having to go there physically is that wasting your time checking out all the other phones and options, which is fun but you might come out of there with a lighter wallet.Alltel Activation and Activation FeesThe Alltel Activation fee is $35. You can activate your phone either online, at an Alltel retail location, or via (another) phone.Alltel Activation OnlineYou can also activate your Alltel prepaid phone online for which you get some bonus minutes which helps offset the activation fee. (Link may be out of date. See above.)Activation FeeThere is a $35 activation fee as mentioned earlier. You can get some of this back in two ways.Instant CreditWhen you order your phone online, you get an Alltel Instant Credit rebate.Bonus MinutesIn addition, when you also activate your Alltel Prepaid phone online, you get additional bonus minutes which also help make up for the activation fee.Service Period and other Usage FeesYour service does not expire as long as you maintain your account balance, but there are usage fees.Monthly usage feeThere is a $4 per month usage charge for the pay-per-minute plan. So every month $4 is deducted from your airtime balance.Daily usage feeThere is 75 cent per day charge for the pay-per-day plan. So, every day your balance decreases by 75 cents.Text MessagingYou can send text messages either by phone or email.Sending an SMS phone to phoneWhen sending an to a phone you naturally enter the telephone number you wish to send it to.Sending an SMS to a phone via emailAs this forum post says, to send a text message to an Alltel prepaid phone via email, you send the email to:phone#@message.alltel.comwhere you enter the full nine digit phone number without any hyphens, spaces or brackets. VoicemailBasic voicemail is a standard feature on Alltel prepaid plans. You are charged minutes while accessing your voicemail.Note: You have to set up your voicemail greeting within 60 days of activation, or your voice mailbox will be deleted. Alltel Prepaid Voicemail InstructionsThere are two ways to get instructions for setting up your voicemail.Via phoneYou can dial #VML on your phone to hear instructions on how to set up your voicemail. Alternately, you can . .On the webGo to this Alltel setup page and on the lower left choose "Basic Voicemail", enter the first six digits of your Alltel Cell phone number, and click "Go" to receive the instructions.Thanks for reading this Alltel Prepaid review. If you've already tried this service, share it with the rest of us.
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