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Can I get a Moto Droid w/o changing my alltel plan to a VZW plan?

I have two phones including one blackberry. I am eligible to upgrade and I want to get a new moto droid but I want to keep my alltel plan. Can I do this? The VZW plan for the same thing is 30 bucks more a month. Could someone please provide a good answer as why or why not I can or cannot keep my plan?

Comments

bkfist

No, once you change to a Verizon phone, you will need to switch to a Verizon plan. Think of it as a matter that Alltel no longer exists, and since it no longer exits, no new contracts can be signed with the company.

You now have access to a much larger 3G data network than you did before, exponentially expanded coverage area for voice, better/newer phones. For that availability, whether or not you choose to use them, you will have to pay the Verizon prices, or look elsewhere.

Trust me, unless you like extremely spotty coverage, or live along an interstate, don't bother looking at Sprint. Remove most of the interstate routes, and be happy with coverage only in the largest of cities, and you have T-Mobile's coverage. AT&T pricing is the same as Verizon, only dropping prices after Verizon's recent price-drop pressured them to do so, and remove any decent phones, except the iphone, and you have AT&T, except only about 1/4 the coverage for voice, and 1/5 for 3G data only with un-reliable network, spotty coverage, lots of roaming, dead-spots and little 3G coverage once you leave metro areas, and over-loaded networks in the metro areas leading to lots of dropped calls. (GSM requires a lot more cell towers to cover a given area, compared to CDMA.)

You might look at the feasibility of dropping your number of minutes required on your plan, since you can now do free mobile-to-mobile with a lot more Verizon customers to make up for the increased cost of service with Verizon over Alltel. I suggest looking at the number of minutes you actually use and see if you can trim down your bill with reduced minutes. If you have a large text plan currently, maybe you can drop the number of text messages on your plan and use gtalk or Google Voice for the majority of your text messages. You may find that you can gain back most or all of that $30 increase by re-evaluating your phone and text usage.

Also, remember that if you currently are paying for GPS or navigation on Alltel for your blackberry (If you haven't you've been missing a lot.) that you will not be paying for GPS or navigation on the Droid, which might drop your bill another $10/month.

Remember, that you do not "need" anything beyond the "basic" package and the $30/month data plan for an Android device... Some people mistakenly think you have to have the "data and email" plans, that is not true at all, an infact would gain you nothing in the way of services. I don't think Verizon would even let you pick one of those plans for use with an Android device, unless maybe, you had 2 or more other "feature phones" that would benefit from a family plan in that category.

smithkjnc

bkfist wrote: you will
No, once you change to a Verizon phone,need to switch to a Verizon plan. Think of it as a matter that Alltel no longer exists, and since it no longer exits, no new contracts can be signed with the company.

You now have access to a much larger 3G data network than you did before, exponentially expanded coverage area for voice, better/newer phones. For that availability, whether or not you choose to use them, you will have to pay the Verizon prices, or look elsewhere.

Trust me, unless you like extremely spotty coverage, or live along an interstate, don't bother looking at Sprint. Remove most of the interstate routes, and be happy with coverage only in the largest of cities, and you have T-Mobile's coverage. AT&T pricing is the same as Verizon, only dropping prices after Verizon's recent price-drop pressured them to do so, and remove any decent phones, except the iphone, and you have AT&T, except only about 1/4 the coverage for voice, and 1/5 for 3G data only with un-reliable network, spotty coverage, lots of roaming, dead-spots and little 3G coverage once you leave metro areas, and over-loaded networks in the metro areas leading to lots of dropped calls. (GSM requires a lot more cell towers to cover a given area, compared to CDMA.)

You might look at the feasibility of dropping your number of minutes required on your plan, since you can now do free mobile-to-mobile with a lot more Verizon customers to make up for the increased cost of service with Verizon over Alltel. I suggest looking at the number of minutes you actually use and see if you can trim down your bill with reduced minutes. If you have a large text plan currently, maybe you can drop the number of text messages on your plan and use gtalk or Google Voice for the majority of your text messages. You may find that you can gain back most or all of that $30 increase by re-evaluating your phone and text usage.

Also, remember that if you currently are paying for GPS or navigation on Alltel for your blackberry (If you haven't you've been missing a lot.) that you will not be paying for GPS or navigation on the Droid, which might drop your bill another $10/month.

Remember, that you do not "need" anything beyond the "basic" package and the $30/month data plan for an Android device... Some people mistakenly think you have to have the "data and email" plans, that is not true at all, an infact would gain you nothing in the way of services. I don't think Verizon would even let you pick one of those plans for use with an Android device, unless maybe, you had 2 or more other "feature phones" that would benefit from a family plan in that category.

This is not correct.

Yes, you can use a Motorola Droid on an Alltel plan or any other Verizon phone on an Alltel Plan. They just will not let you use an Alltel phone on a Verizon plan.

Also, since the merge, Alltel AND Verizon are considered one and them same, there are no charges for one to call the other. (Verizon calling Alltel or Alltel calling Verizon) I have an Alltel plan with 2 Alltel phones and two Verizon phones (one of them being an Eris Droid). I have NOTswitched to a Verizon plan and do not have/or plan to.

I can also upgrade to a higher Alltel plan over the one I have...although in the future this might not be available as they phase the Alltel plans out.

bkfist

That's interesting... that was not how I was reading the FAQ on alltell's site. Glad you corrected me for his sake :smileyhappy:

seabright

I'd go to the source. Call VZW and ask.

cstrait001

You definitely can activate a Droid or any other VZW smartphone on an Alltel plan if that Alltel plan is a Smartpack plan or has a data plan equivalent feature to add. If the store rep or care rep is pushing back saying it can't be done, ask the rep politely to check his resources (online support) for information pertaining to converted Alltel customers and equipment upgrades. If the reps still says no, then escalate to a manager/supervisor.

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