I was shocked to see Alltel Prepay boxes here in Orlando, FL.

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- 05 Sep 2003 20:14 GMT

I was in a Wal-Mart store in the Orlando, FL area and saw a Alltel Prepay
box when I was in the electronics area. If one activated that and used it in
Orlando one would be always roaming since Alltel is not in Orlando...that is
presuming Alltel would activate the phone.

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Mike - 06 Sep 2003 07:40 GMT

>I was in a Wal-Mart store in the Orlando, FL area and saw a Alltel Prepay
>box when I was in the electronics area. If one activated that and used it in
>Orlando one would be always roaming since Alltel is not in Orlando...that is
>presuming Alltel would activate the phone.

Alltel's "Simple Freedom" prepay plan (different from other Alltel
prepay plans) is a joint venture between Alltel and Wal-Mart, and as
such, is only sold at Wal-Mart.

The coverage map is very similar to their "National Freedom" plan
(postpay) and similar to Verizon Wireless' "America's Choice"...and
since Wal-Mart sells "Simple Freedom" nationwide, presumably customers
outside Alltel's home service area would actually be signed up, for
example, using Verizon's network. I'm not sure how this is
handled...maybe VZW does the initial activation and phone number, then
kicks billing/debit back to Alltel. This is all just a guess, and I
don't know how it's actually done...but Wal-Mart definitely DOES sell
the kits in stores outside Alltel's service area. I've seen it myself
in Roanoke, VA (a VZW market about 30 miles west of Alltel's
Central/SW VA systems).

VZW's prepay customers roam on Alltel systems when needed, but pay
99c/min. doing so, but you can't activate "VZW Prepay (nee' FreeUp)"
outside their service area.

Alltel has other "in-house" prepaid plans, which seem to vary by
market.

Mike

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- 06 Sep 2003 11:57 GMT

On 9/6/03 2:40 AM, in article e00jlvotd97vou9nkvvbv1lmqbv2mb2sqs@4ax.com,

>> I was in a Wal-Mart store in the Orlando, FL area and saw a Alltel Prepay
>> box when I was in the electronics area. If one activated that and used it in
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>
> Mike

Thanks for the explanation...

The 2 phones available in the kits were the old Nokia 5185 and a newer Nokia
3585..(not sure if it was 3585 but the number was close to that number),
I understand Nokia CDMA phones are not that great in performance....too bad
that¹s what is offered it could be a nice backup system for a Post Pay plan.

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Mike - 06 Sep 2003 16:51 GMT

>The 2 phones available in the kits were the old Nokia 5185 and a newer Nokia
>3585..(not sure if it was 3585 but the number was close to that number),
>I understand Nokia CDMA phones are not that great in performance....too bad
>that¹s what is offered it could be a nice backup system for a Post Pay plan.

I've only seen the 5185i...haven't seen the "Simple Freedom" package
with the 3xxx series phones.

Don't worry too much about this. I've had a 5185i on Verizon
Wireless' Prepay (nee' FreeUp) plan for a long time now, and it's a
decent phone as far as I can tell. If you follow the Nokia/CDMA
threads here, you'll find out that the 5185i is about the first decent
CDMA phone they've put out, though I don't know how it directly
compares to the Samsung/Kyocera/Motorola/etc. phones that are much
more popular in the CDMA world.

Mike

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Baylor reinhart - 07 Sep 2003 17:24 GMT

Here in VA the Nokia phones work just fine on Alltel. I just upgraded
my wife's old Nokia 5180 to a 5185i ironically because she got lousy
service when she was in Orlando where our daughter has just moved. I
hope the addition of the 1900 PCS band and a PRL update will help. She
had a terrible time making and receiving calls on the 800 band when she
was there several weeks agp.

<zeno1234@mindspring.com> wrote in article
<BB7F35CA.1DDFA%zeno1234@mindspring.com>:

> On 9/6/03 2:40 AM, in article e00jlvotd97vou9nkvvbv1lmqbv2mb2sqs@4ax.com,
>
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
> I understand Nokia CDMA phones are not that great in performance....too bad
> that?s what is offered it could be a nice backup system for a Post Pay plan.

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- 07 Sep 2003 19:18 GMT

On 9/7/03 12:24 PM, in article vlmmuldgs8qud1@corp.supernews.com, "Baylor
reinhart" <baylorr@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Here in VA the Nokia phones work just fine on Alltel. I just upgraded
> my wife's old Nokia 5180 to a 5185i ironically because she got lousy
> service when she was in Orlando where our daughter has just moved. I
> hope the addition of the 1900 PCS band and a PRL update will help. She
> had a terrible time making and receiving calls on the 800 band when she
> was there several weeks agp.

She would have been roaming on 800 Mhz analog then...there is no 800 Mhz
CDMA service in Orlando of any kind. The Alltel 800 Mhz service starts
outside of the Orlando area between Orlando and Tampa. The Nokia 5180 had
bad RF performance in analog by the way.

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. - 11 Sep 2003 18:43 GMT

Actually,

ALLTEL has antennas all over florida - even in Marco Island near Naples..

So, I wouldnt be so shocked about that...

Moreover..they have made arrangements with other carriers to use their
antennas.. or something like that..

Http://www.Lanpaq.com

> I was in a Wal-Mart store in the Orlando, FL area and saw a Alltel Prepay
> box when I was in the electronics area. If one activated that and used it in
> Orlando one would be always roaming since Alltel is not in Orlando...that is
> presuming Alltel would activate the phone.

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- 12 Sep 2003 14:15 GMT

On 9/11/03 1:43 PM, in article Js28b.10479$D82.10387@bignews6.bellsouth.net,

> Actually,
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> is
>> presuming Alltel would activate the phone.

Correction, Allltel is all over the western half of Florida..the only place
Alltell is in the eastern half is is in Jacksonville.

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