This Alltel new customer's blues

Life with my Virgin Mobile cell phone service was pretty good. The phone has been very reliable and easy to set up the way I liked it. It was the least expensive prepaid plan I could find but the service area was spotty and did not include a couple of places very important to me. So, since the phone's battery wasn't holding a charge as long as it used to and replacement batteries cost as much as a new phone (if you can find them), I decided to look around.

LG AX275

Comparing plans and service areas I settled on Alltel: not as cheap as Virgin Mobile, but the service area promised to be excellent. I picked up the new phone, a nifty LG AX275, at our Target store and after charging the battery, activated it. All went well during activation but I soon discovered that, while Virgin Mobile treats its prepay customers well and with respect, Alltel considers us second-class "citizens" in several important ways.

After thrashing around in Alltel's very unhelpful Web site I found that, while logged into my account last night, clicking on [Help] produced an empty page --no help-- and there was no information on how to contact them -- they didn't want to help or talk to no-account folks like me. Likewise there was no Search capability to look for an answer to my One Big Question: How can I get my Virgin Mobile phone number assigned to my new Alltel phone? {Telephone Number Portability}  After two calls, and several hand-offs between departments, it turns out Alltel won't do that for you if you don't have a Contract. Funny (not ha-ha): Virgin Mobile ported over my Verizon Wireless number --one prepaid account to another-- the way they should and for less cash than Alltel will be gaining from me. Is Alltel antiquated, stupid, or stingy? I don't study these things but I thought telephone number portability was federally mandated. In any event it looks like I may be out of luck there and will have to inform everyone of my new cell phone number. Next step: a formal complaint to the FCC.

I also found that the new phone has only one wallpaper and only one ringtone --music-- which I don't like. We prepay bums can't download ringtones from the Alltel Web site, only via cell phone Web access which multiplies the cost and reduces the choices dramatically. All I want is a beeping sound or a synthetic ring, not a freakin' concert!

On the "up" side, I now have very good service coverage in the area most important to me: the observatory! Now if I go there I only have to tell folks to call me at my cell phone number and don't have to provide a list of numbers, a schedule, and instructions.

Still, thanks to Alltel's policy and practice of screwing non-contract users, I'm not a happy new customer.