By
Martin Smith
Unlike many other cell phone companies that have
several calling plans, Alltel Wireless offers only three plans. The
Total Freedom Plan is ideal for those who travel extensively on
business and need to keep in touch with clients and the home office,
as well as family. It provides coast to coast coverage within the
United States with no long distance or roaming charges.
You
can get between 200 and 3000 anytime minutes, 1000 night and weekend
minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile home minutes. The cost for this
Alltel plan ranges between $39.99 and $299.99 a month depending on
the amount of anytime minutes you choose. The cost per minute for
calls over your plan minutes is between $.40 and $.20, again
depending on the level of anytime minutes chosen.
Alltel
relies on its National Freedom Plan to provide subscribers in most
medium to large cities with coverage. However subscribers in smaller
cities and rural areas or making calls to these places may incur
unexpected charges. The benefit, however, is more anytime minutes in
the same price range as in the Total Freedom Plan. For instance the
National Freedom Plan gives 450 minutes for $39.95, while “Total
Freedom” gives only 200 for the same amount.
The “Greater
Freedom” plan is Alltel's offering to the casual user who doesn't do
a lot of traveling or who is considering replacing their standard
home phone with an Alltel cell phone. For under $30.00 a month you
can get 300 anytime minutes. At $39.99 a month you get 700 anytime
minutes, 1000 night and weekend minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile
home minutes. Alltel's mobile to mobile home minutes refers to calls
placed from one Alltel cell phone to another Alltel user.
Alltel cell phone plans all offer the same basic features
such as voice mail, caller ID, 3-way calling, call waiting, call
forwarding and 411 information. Be cautious about these features,
some of them are not covered by all levels of the plans and these
charges can add up quickly. Recent research by Consumer Reports show
that these seemingly minor add ons can add significant charges to
your monthly bill. You need to make sure you know what your coverage
area is, what is considered roaming and what the charges for these
services are.
If you go prepared, know what type of service
you need, make sure you understand all of the features you want and
the associated charges, you will be sure to get an Alltel plan that
is right for you. Alltel's corporate philosophy is that simplicity
or ease of understanding, means sales. This has allowed them to
become and remain a viable contender in the confusing world of cell
phone carriers.
With approximately 12 million customers and
an estimated 8 billion dollars in annual revenues, Alltel has fine
tuned their calling plans to insure that they are easy to
understand. This simplicity has been a strong catalyst for the sales
and longevity of this company.
Phones offered by Alltel are
among the best on the market. Alltel cell phones are made by Nokia,
Kyocera, and Audiovox. They have one of the largest selections of
cell phones available today. You can get all the new “bells and
whistles.” Do you want web access while on the road? Alltel can
provide you with a phone that has that capability. Interested in
voice dialing? They can give you that. You can also get speaker
phones, color displays, stock reports, picture phones, cell phones
that can be used as walkie talkies, advanced graphics and a
collection of Alltel ring tones including hip hop, country,
classical, movie theme songs, and fight songs. Before signing any
cell phone contract you should investigate the available plans
thoroughly to make sure that the Alltel cell phone plan you choose
will suit your needs.
Martin Smith is a successful freelance
writer providing advice on purchasing a variety of Cell phone plans
and more! His numerous articles are a resource of interesting and
relevant information.
