Considering Alltel, some questions

liljester · EVDO Newbie Joined: 24 Jan 2008 Posts: 5

Hello,

I currently live in an area only serviced by dialup (or sattelite). I was thinking of trying out the wireless broadband from alltel, but im pretty sure the high speed isnt available here. Coverage maps that ive seen show only X1 signal in my area, and not EVDO. Ive spoken to the people at the local alltel store, but they dont seem very knowledgeable.

What kind of speed can i expect if i did sign up with them?

Outside of buying a card and signing up with alltel, is there another way to determine if i could even connect from my home?

Also Ive read on this forum that I should consider buying the evdo card from ebay and i wouldnt be under the service agreement with alltel, but i spoke to one of the sales girl and she didnt think i could do that. (she didnt sound too sure of herself though) Can i buy my own hardware and just get them to activate it?

Thanks!

Bigdave · EVDO Addict Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 1069

You certainly CAN activate your own card purchased elsewhere as long as it's an Alltel card. You don't even need to go to the store. Just call. If you already have Alltel service then just dial 611 from your cell phone or dial 1-800-ALLTEL1 from a land-line. Tell them you want to activate a data card. I wouldn't go into any "I bought it on Ebay" stuff either. It normally just confuses the issue. Many people, employees as well as consumers, think the only way is to sign up with a contract . . . not so.

Remember to verify with the seller that the card you're considering buying has a clear ESN. Typically you're safe when buying from someone with lots of good feedback just like anything else on there. If they won't confirm by giving you the ESN upfront so you can call Alltel and confirm it's clear then move on. Lots of them available on there.

If you're not located in an area with EVDO then you'll be on 1x which maxes out at 144kbps up and down. Slow, but MUCH faster than dialup.

One benefit of buying the card at the store is the 14 day trial period where you can get your money back if it doesn't work for you. But they still charge you for the time you were using the card. You just get back the money you paid for the card. My suggestion would be to buy the card on Ebay, activate it, and see how it works. If you're not satisfied then call and cancel your service (no contract to mess with and you'll still be paying for the time you used it just like you would if you bought it at the store) and then resell the card on Ebay.

Good luck and let us know how it goes! Of course, if 3GStorer starts selling and supporting Alltel then by all means buy from them!!

colebert · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 107

I would recommend you *NOT* buy a card from Alltel directly. A PC5750 card can be had for less than $50 on ebay. Alltel's policy, unlike Sprint or Verizon, is to not place you under contract if you provide your own equipment.

Also, you don't need service to test if there is EVDO in your area. Even an unactivated card will still detect a signal and show the strength in your area.

Finally, I would recommend going with Alltel if you know for a fact neither Sprint or Verizon have EVDO coverage in your area. This is because you can get 1xRTT (the slower service Dave alluded to) signal until Alltel upgrades you to EVDO or Sprint or Verizon roll it out first. Since you won't be under contract with Alltel, you can easily switch.

crystalterrie · EVDO User Joined: 12 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

I am in an Alltel 1X only area and I have not regretted the decision to ditch the dial up at all. My speed tests are pretty consistantly 135-143 down and 78-80 up. (I haven't figured out how to post the pretty pictures here yet). Yeah, I'm jealous of the people here sweating over whether their speeds of a bazillion down and half a bazillion up are good enough, BUT after years and years of dial up speeds of less than 45, this is heaven.

The BEST part is that with the Cradlepoint router that I bought from this site, my daughter and I can both be online without affecting the speed much at all.

You have an advantage, as you found this forum BEFORE attempting to try any of this youself Smile

I'm sure that alone would have saved me 2 weeks of grief trying to get things the way I wanted. Alltel was very good about refunding the data connectivity kits(sold to me for the phone tethering option) when those didn't work out, but they just weren't as knowledgeable as the people here. When I tried out the UM150 in place of the phone tethering, it was more of a "well, try this out, maybe you will get lucky" kind of thing from Alltel, rather than "This is your best bet in your area, call me if you have any problems" thing one would hope for.

A tip, I WISH Alltel had told me: It really DOES matter where in your house everything is set up. The "sweet spot" in my house is quite far away from where my computer is located. I only get 1-2 bars signal on the UM150 when it's connected to my computer in the living room. In the bedroom, with the booster antenna by the window and the cradlepoint router and modem on a table nearby, I get 4 bars consistantly, and much better speeds.

As far as buying it off Ebay and not getting into a contract..I didn't even know I had that choice, until I found out from these forums. I guess I'm just too happy about being off dial up to regret that..yet Smile

liljester · EVDO Newbie Joined: 24 Jan 2008 Posts: 5

Thanks very much for the responses!

Bigdave, I dont have any alltel service at the moment, can I still activate the card with a call to the 800 number?

If so, Im more than happy to buy my own card Smile

Thanks again!

Bigdave · EVDO Addict Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 1069

crystalterrie · EVDO User Joined: 12 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

BigDave, thanks! My post on the whether 3G store should offer Alltel is on the first page of the thread..I edited it recently to include more detail about the frustration I had to endure to get to this point. I'm sure someday I'll be more fervently wishing I could go faster and play EVDO with the big boys, right now, I'm just too darn happy to care Wink

colebert · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 107

You can activate cards through the 800#. I've activated two Alltel cards in the past year and never seen the inside of an Alltel store

Bigdave · EVDO Addict Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 1069

I have too but can you if you're not already an Alltel customer? That's the part we were wondering about. Were you already an Alltel customer when you activated the first one colebert? Sure would make things easier for everyone IMO.

colebert · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 107

The first time the client I activated for was.

The second time (last week) the client was not.

je46290 · EVDO User Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 40 Location: West MI

Alltel appears to me to me to have really good service. I was having speed problems a couple of weeks ago, called them and the next day my speeds are better than they ever have been. Now we just need RevA

http://www.speedtest.net/result/227285604.png

ImaNoob · EVDO User Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 39

My Alltel service so far has been great. Actually tried one USB card and didn't like the performance of it. Went into the store and even exchanged for the UM150. Ever since getting this UM150 card, and spending some time tweaking the computer -- the speeds while connected with Rev A coverage has been great.

Here a snapshot while in Rev A:

Azmyth · EVDO Junkie Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 208

were u getting rev a or rev 0 before you switched cards?

ImaNoob · EVDO User Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 39

liljester · EVDO Newbie Joined: 24 Jan 2008 Posts: 5

Thank you all for the Info!

I have a Kyocera KPC680 on the way, and I cant wait to try it out!