Comments on: Smartphones are getting cheaper… Are data plans soon to follow?

By: Miguelaz

Miguelaz — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:25:37 +0000

I got a UT Starcom 6700 on ebay, and Alltel tried to pull the samething on me and I argued and went through 2 customer service reps and tech support until I finally got transfered to customer care ( about 40 min.) and I explained the situation. The first thing she said was -”They have given you incorrect information.” She explained that if you buy a phone at a discount form them, then yes you have to by a smartphone plan. But if you pay full retail or you buy the phone online from a retailer other than alltel i.e. ebay, that yes they can activate the phone and they did so, except as soon as they did that my wifi quit working. I’ve been on with advanced tech support 2 and downloaded some software that they sent me, but to no avail. Bummer – I love the phone, but I can’t find any info to resovle my problem. It will no longer allow me to turn on my wifi, and Alltel claims it’s nothing on their end. I’ll just keep looking.

By: FIreman

FIreman — Sun, 27 May 2007 18:42:24 +0000

Here is my beef….. I currently use Alltel for cellular coverage. I recently purchased a UT Starcom 6700 with WiFi. I don’t need the data plan at all but when I called to activate the phone they insisted that since I have a smart phone I absolutely must have a data plan to use the phone on their network. That is just insane!!!!!! I am sure that there will be more manufacturers coming out with WiFi enabled phones , not needing the data network for synchronizing e-mail/data, web functions. I think they need to change their ways and allow owners of WiFi phones to use the phone without the expensive data plan…….

By: I Agree

I Agree — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:36:45 +0000

I’ve seen Alltel’s (CDMA) data plans for smartphones go from $59.99 to $25 a month for unlimited data. Alltel’s unlimited data plans for BlackBerry’s has not moved still $44.99 w/vioce plan and $49.99 for data only.