Alltel - poor wireless performance and service experiences

# 34 for July 2, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on July 1, 2003:

From:

RE: Alltel - poor wireless performance and service experiences

Dear HDN

In this day and age, cellular service has become the norm, instead of a curiosity. We need it for almost every facet of our daily lives, from business to pleasure. Having dependable, quality service is of utmost importance. I have had cellular service from almost the beginning of it's offering to the public, getting my first phone in Wichita for $1200.00, in 1986. That was basic, analog service, and was very reliable and dependable. When I moved to Western Kansas, I first had Cellular One (now Unicel), and their signal coverage was poor and spotty. Believing that the competition, Alltel, was superior, I began service with them.

Boy, was I in for a shock. To start, Alltel is the absolute WORST cellular service I have ever had, bar none. The coverage area was greater than Unicel, I will give them that. But, what good is better coverage area when the calls are dropped many times every day, the towers are overloaded and signal quality is very poor? What good is their service if the quality of the service is bad?

Recently, after much discussion about poor signal quality, dropped calls, and such, with an Alltel corporate sales executive by the name of Tom Bryan, out of their Salina office, he actually told me that I, and I quote, "have an unrealistic expectation of what cellular service should be in rural America"! Is it REALLY unrealistic to expect quality, dependable, reliable service from a major cellular provider who claims to have the best coverage here in Western Kansas? Or, am I just being "unrealistic" to think that I should have the service that is advertised, especially when I am paying good money for it?

Is it more "realistic" to "expect" dropped calls, poor call quality and overloaded circuits? I had a couple of the Alltel technical support folks tell me (off the record, of course!), that the digital infrastructure here in Western Kansas is not what it should be, and that the towers out here are overloaded! I suppose I should "expect", then, that Alltel with continue to sell more phones on already overloaded towers, and that I should "expect" them to sell more digital phones on a system that is not up to par with the analog service in the same area.

And, too, I guess that I should "expect" consistantly poor quality of technical support and customer service, from both the everyday workers at the help desk, to corporate executives such as Mr Bryan. I do have some good news for those of us who are frustrated with the Alltel version of cellular communication: I have found a much better way to communicate, allowing me to put my Alltel phone to a more appropriate use, like a paperweight. You simply take two empty tin cans, and connect them with a long piece of kite string...can you hear me now? _____________________

David Carter

PO Box 26

Park, Kansas 67751

_____________________ Internet Email: Email User

Comment On This

I live in western Kansas as well. We have been with Alltel since 1999. There are not enough towers out here and cell phone carriers are limited. While the calls are not often dropped, there is an inability to hear the other person due to static and other interference.

My husband tried to call Alltel from his tractor and after four dropped calls, the Alltel customer service rep told him, "Please call back from a landline."

I was told that they have no intentions of putting up more towers in our area at this time.

Anonymous,

Syracuse, Kansas