Last time we spoke about the Alltel coverage area for 3G/mobile broadband, we mentioned how Alltel had a roaming agreement with Sprint to give it pretty excellent coverage throughout the country.
An interesting tidbit is that their roaming partnership was to last 10 years. However, since Alltel is merging with Verizon, its unsaid as to what will become of that partnership.
In the worst case scenario of that roaming agreement vanishing, the Alltel coverage area for 3G will become an extension of Verizon’s mobile broadband network for pretty good coverage. While Sprint may be the coverage kings at the moment, a Verizon Alltel merger may mean some serious competition in that arena.
In addition to Alltel’s EVDO network, they also have WiFi available with certain plans for high speed access at over 17,000 locations (almost half are Starbucks venues).
While they have pretty good coverage, their map is pretty bad when you compare it to the interactive nature of Verizon, Sprint, AT&T or T-Mobile. Nevertheless, here it is in all its splendor:
Now that you’ve got an idea of the kind of coverage you’d get with Alltel, the plans you can pick and the kind of 3G speed to expect, let’s take a look at some Alltel aircards & broadband cards.
In addition to the regular fine print, there is also one word of caution. While Alltel has the best mobile broadband plans right now, they’ve been purchased by Verizon. On their site, they have a ‘Verizon Wireless Integration FAQs‘ page that explains the transition. While it’s not happening immediately, in coming months, the Alltel name will be no more.
Here’s what that may mean for you. If you decide to get Alltel now, and Verizon does not ‘grandfather in’ your old unlimited plans, you will most likely be able to cancel without any sort of early termination fee as they’ve effectively broken the contract that you had with Alltel. In my experience, I had my Sprint unlimited mobile broadband plan grandfathered in and I happily download without fear of overage charges. With Alltel things may be different. Consider this your heads up.
