Although this news doesn’t surprise me, it’s still worth a mention for the Alltell loyalists out there. Why am I not surprised? Because this would have happened sooner or later in my opinion, as Verizon Wireless is purchasing Altell pending the obligatory FCC review of course. VZW has fully deployed their Rev. A upgrades, so this fits in nicely with their network, assuming the deal goes through.
So 18 Alltel markets get the faster speeds: Charlotte, New Orleans,Phoenix and Tampa are among the mentioned areas. Although downloads clock in faster (I routinely see 1.5 Mbps with my service), the real burst is in the uploads. Prior to Rev. A, I was uploading around 150 Kbps. With Rev A. now, it’s not uncommon for me to see 700 Kbps or more on the upside. Of course, most of what folks do is pull down content for consumption, but you’ll appreciate the faster uploads when you need to send a large photo, or (if you must), the latest 20 MB PowerPoint sleepshow slideshow to the boss.
I noticed that Alltel’s unlimited data for EV-DO is the same $59.95 that I pay monthly to Verizon Wireless, but they offer another option that I don’t have. For an extra $9.95 a month, you can add WiFi service good at around 25,000 hotspots. I wonder if that will go away when Alltel does?
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