COLUMBUS -- Verizon Wireless’ acquisition of Alltel Corp. in January and the subsequent announcement by AT&T of its intent to acquire assets from Verizon has some people questioning which carrier will hold their contracts when agreements are finalized.
Earlier this month AT&T announced an agreement to acquire wireless properties, including licenses, network assets and 1.5 million current subscribers in 79 service areas for $2.35 billion in cash, pending regulatory approval, which is expected to occur during the fourth quarter of this year. Verizon’s divestiture of the properties is required as part of the regulatory approvals granted for its purchase of Alltel.
Included in the divested service areas are Verizon customers in Boone, Butler, Colfax, Dodge, Merrick, Nance, Platte, Polk, Saunders and Washington counties. The number of Verizon customers in the region was unavailable.
Robin Nicol, spokeswoman for Verizon, shed some light on which carrier would provide service for current Alltel and Verizon customers as well as individuals who would sign up for service before the AT&T agreement is inked.
“What is going to happen in your area of Nebraska is Verizon is going to take all the Alltel properties, and they are going to be converted to Verizon,” Nicol said. “If you are going to buy cell phone service in those 10 counties and decide to go with Alltel, today you would become a Verizon customer when Verizon converts all those properties.”
As for any impact on service, there will be “no change for the Alltel customers that are going to become Verizon” customers, she said.
But what will happen to current Verizon customer contracts or people who may become Verizon customers before an agreement goes into effect?
“In those 10 counties the AT&T announcement applies to existing Verizon customers,” Nicol said, meaning the Verizon contracts would be sold to AT&T.
According to an AT&T spokesman, customers will remain on existing plans until the transition, which is likely to occur in 2010, and they would have to get new AT&T-compatible phones, but it’s too early to determine whether AT&T will provide those phones free or at some discount.
Verizon, AT&T to swap assets
By Adrian Sanchez asanchez@columbustelegram.com
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 - 10:03:30 am CDT
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Not Again
May 26, 2009 10:53 AM
So here we go - another big monopoly taking something over and we 'might' not have to get new phones. I will NOT be getting a new phone just to satisfy the new carrirer. I know there are different types of carrier signals out there but I'll be d**d if I'm going to pay them for it. It's time to take a stand Columbus & Eastern Nebraska. Tell Verizon to take a hike...wondering
May 26, 2009 11:13 AM
So, if I sign up with Verizon now, I will probably have to make sure that the phone I buy will be AT&T compatible, or I will have to buy new phones next year anyway. Is that a correct assumption? Is the service going to get better or worse? Maybe I'll just sign up with Viero, I have to change soon, but this makes the decision tougher. Is Viero a good choice or not? Will AT&T be a good thing?Good luck
May 26, 2009 12:17 PM
Good luck, I have said it before and will say it again; watch your back and everything else when dealing with Verizon. Get a generic plug in adaptor for the battery, Verizon does very well in selling theirs instead and they only work in their phones but they will tell you they will work on any phone.
confused
May 26, 2009 12:23 PM
this article dosent make sense at all. glad that i went with us cellular.read
May 26, 2009 1:18 PM
if you are Alltel customer now or sign up with Alltell in this area you will become Verizon. if you are an EXISTING Verizon customer in this area you will become AT&T
if you sign up with Verizon now you will stay Verizon.
ok
May 26, 2009 1:26 PM
i guess i thought i made a good choice getting out of cell one. maybe not. i will have to make another good choice and go back. as far as i'm concerned as long as the companies are pulling this bs. if it remains free to the customers when the change occurs and we don;t pay anything then fine. when i have to start buying a new phone and theirs nothing wrong with the one i have then i believe they are the ones breaking the contract and i will not hold myself responsible.Viaero Customer
May 26, 2009 1:51 PM
To Wondering: We have had Viaero in Western Nebraska now for two years and have no complaints. Now US Cellular put up a tower in our little town and after checking out plans and rates with Alltel and US Cellular, we are going to stay with Viaero. I save over $35 a month with Viaero compared to the same plans with Alltel and Us Cellular and we have 25 free numbers in our circle. Also, if you do a natiowide plan like we do, Viaero runs off of AT&T and T-mobile towers. I have never had a spot with no service (except in North Bend but they are getting ready to activate the Viaero tower there). Check out the plans and compare. Viaero is a lot cheaper than the other two. We are very happy with Viaero and the service they give us.Been there done that
May 26, 2009 5:01 PM
To Viaero customer - I had their service and it sucks. Compare the coverage maps and see. AT&T, soon to be the old Verizon, and Viaero use GSM for their transmission technology which requires more cell towers and in rural ares and that's not going to happen. Switch to Viaero and see, then try to get out of your contract.Danielle Loseke
May 26, 2009 5:52 PM
Viaero is beginning to expand their coverage in this area. Theyn are making leaps and bounds to provide service just as well as Alltel and USCellular do. They allow you to take a demo phone out to test the coverage area, who else does that in the industry? They are also buying out contracts, I switched because of it and I've been very happy with my serive and have always had great customer serivce experiences.Hopefull
May 26, 2009 9:50 PM
I am a Verizon customer, living in Platte County. I heard about this switch about a month ago, from a Verizon rep. I agree this will not be a fun switch, but also remember that Verizon doesn't want to do this either. They are being forced by the FCC in order so Verizon can purchase Alltel.I am happy with Verizon (after previously having Cellone and Alltel). Even though it will be a pain, I plan to continue with Verizon, probably by signing up with Alltel in the near future. I expect Verizon to do well in this area, once it all settles down.
I was told by the rep that existing Verizon customers would be able to opt out of their contracts, free of charge, if they didn't want to move to the new company (AT&T). But that is just what I was told, and it was awhile back. I encourage individuals to call Verizon directly, as they will be able to tell you the exact details.
I am curious to know what other verizon customers aroud here have been told.
Tired
May 27, 2009 12:53 AM
I'm sure glad I'm only worth 5.7 million dollars and don't need a cell phone. My land line is still workin' perfectly. Someday I'll be important enough to "need" a cell phone.confused
May 27, 2009 7:32 AM
i wish they would make up there mind i hate that most people are getting used to being vrizion and now they are selling us againCommunications Engineer
May 27, 2009 8:45 AM
Unfortunately Viaero will now take advantage of the confusion to try to gain new customers as evident by posts from Viaero Customer and Danielle Loseke. As Mr. T says "I pity the Fool".Viaero Customer
May 27, 2009 1:35 PM
To Been There, Done That: I do live in rural Nebraska. We live in a little town of only 400 people in Western Nebraska. We switched from Verizon to Viaero when we moved out here because nobody else had service out here. I have traveled to Colorado ands Kansas and I am in Eastern Nebraska regularly and have always had service except in North Bend and like I have said they are getting ready to activate the tower there soon. All I can comment about is the service that I have with Viaero. They are A LOT cheaper than Alltel and Verizon and US Cellular. When we first signed on with them a little over two years ago there were quite a few dead spots. But this company is constantly putting up new towers and in the last two years we have not found any dead spots except for in North Bend. Go talk to anybody in "true rural Nebraska" and they will tell you that Viaero is the only company that will put up towers here. I do not consider Columbus to be "rural Nebraska". In Western Nebraska, we are truly "rural Nebraska". I have the chance now to switch to US Cellular but Viaero is a lot cheaper.Jamie
May 27, 2009 2:25 PM
I'm planning on switching to Viaero, but not because of the merger...because of the horrible customer service in the Alltel store! They are so crabby with customers in that store and don't seem to care if they have my business, so I'll take my money to someone who does care!Kory
May 27, 2009 11:41 PM
I live by Humphrey and i have Verizon. This article makes no sense to me because Verizon is CDMA and AT&T is GSM. So do i have to give up my CDMA phone for a GSM phone. I work in Wisc, Minn, SD and ND and GSM is terrible in all these areas except around cities. Viero can talk all they want but i pretty much refuse to make the switch. AT&T isn't good in the midwest and i am upset that the goverment is making me switch my phone. Where is my freedom of choice.U.S.Cellular Rep
May 28, 2009 1:11 PM
I PERSONALLY HAVE U.S.CELLULAR SERVICE AND HAVE TRAVELED WITH 3 ALLTEL PEOPLE RECENTLY AND LET ME TELL YA I WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT HAD COVERAGE THE ENTIRE TIME WHICH OF COUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS PRETTY FUNNY....ANYWAYS WHAT IM TRYIN TO SAY IS VIAERO IS NOT GONNA BE TRULY RURAL CAUSE THEY GO BY GSM TOWERS WHICH ARE MAINLY ON BIGGER CITIES...SO IF YOU WANT SOMETHING THAT WILL COVER YOU IN PLATTE CENTER, MONROE, GENOA, LEIGH, ST EDWARD THEN I SAY YOU STOP ON IN AND CHECK OUT OUR PRICES. I HAVE ALSO BEEN TOLD THAT VIAERO HAS BEEN KNOWN TO MIS LEAD CUSTOMERS WITH PRICINGS!!!!! IDK YOU BE THE JUDGE.to jaime
May 28, 2009 4:48 PM
i agree. i had cellone a few years back and had been a customer of theirs for years. i went into the cell one store and wow the customer service sucked. so i decided i would switch to alltel if they didn't appreciate me. after a few months of alltel i went into their store and some of the same people are now working at alltel. my my the surprise and with the same snotty attitude they did before. what happen to true customer service??
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