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Help Anyone still on an Alltel plan and/or in Southwest Florida ?

mmanna

Newbie
Oct 22, 2011
11
1
I'm lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a former Alltel voice and data plan, and I absolutely LOVE the stratosphere, except for the fact that it won't maintain a 3g data connection. I've been round and round with Verizon tech support, with no results, and I've got about 4 days left on my "worry free guarantee" to send these phones back. I really don't want to, but I also don't want to be stuck with intermittent data connections for the next 2 years (or until 4g comes to my town)

I've been told repeatedly by a half dozen VZW reps that the Alltel plan is not a problem, but SOMETHING is wrong! My TWO new stratosphere phones will NOT hold on to a 3g signal. If I restart the phone (or put it in airplane mode and then back to normal mode) it will connect to 3G and stay connected for anywhere from 5 minutes to about an hour at most. Once 3g disappears, it will NOT come back until I restart the phone again.

Tech support has checked everything (repeatedly) on their end, "refreshed" my information in the switch several times, even had network engineers check out our local area for problems, to no avail. Our phones work great when we're in a 4G coverage area, but unfortunately, I live and work in a 3G only area. Phones also work great on WiFi.

Tech supp. has suggested sending out replacement phones, but I'm very skeptical that we got TWO bad phones that are having the same problem.

Tech supp. checked their internal "problem tracking" log for this phone model and found no similar complaints. They also checked the log of any problems acknowledged by the manufacturer (Samsung) and found none. I also have searched high and low for other stratosphere users with similar complaints to mine and can't find any. I think if it were an issue with the phone's firmware, a lot of people would be complaining. This leads me to believe it's personal ... just me. The only thing I can think of that makes me special is the fact that I'm still on a grandfathered Alltel plan. I don't really mind giving it up and paying a few dollars a month more for a comparable VZW plan, but they tell me I would definitely lose my unlimited data, and that would be a shame :(

Of course, they insist they cannot temporarily switch me to a Verizon plan (as a troubleshooting step) and then put me back on my Alltel plan if it doesn't help things. Once you go red, you never go back.

Tech supp also had me disable WiFi and set the phone to CDMA-only mode (no LTE) but this made no difference, the symptoms still occurred as described above.

So, I'm wondering if anyone else has problems with 3G cutting in and out on their stratosphere, and if so, do you have an Alltel plan? I'd be particularly interested in hearing back from anyone in southwest Florida (Tampa to Naples) to tell me about your 3G experiences either with an Alltel plan or a regular Verizon plan. I've traveled this entire coast in the past week and had problems any time I was in a 3G area. (Like I said, 4g worked great!)

My PRL is 14007 if that's of any help or meaning to anyone.
 
Im having the same problems with Alltel in Ga. I believe they are having major networking issues.




I'm lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a former Alltel voice and data plan, and I absolutely LOVE the stratosphere, except for the fact that it won't maintain a 3g data connection. I've been round and round with Verizon tech support, with no results, and I've got about 4 days left on my "worry free guarantee" to send these phones back. I really don't want to, but I also don't want to be stuck with intermittent data connections for the next 2 years (or until 4g comes to my town)

I've been told repeatedly by a half dozen VZW reps that the Alltel plan is not a problem, but SOMETHING is wrong! My TWO new stratosphere phones will NOT hold on to a 3g signal. If I restart the phone (or put it in airplane mode and then back to normal mode) it will connect to 3G and stay connected for anywhere from 5 minutes to about an hour at most. Once 3g disappears, it will NOT come back until I restart the phone again.

Tech support has checked everything (repeatedly) on their end, "refreshed" my information in the switch several times, even had network engineers check out our local area for problems, to no avail. Our phones work great when we're in a 4G coverage area, but unfortunately, I live and work in a 3G only area. Phones also work great on WiFi.

Tech supp. has suggested sending out replacement phones, but I'm very skeptical that we got TWO bad phones that are having the same problem.

Tech supp. checked their internal "problem tracking" log for this phone model and found no similar complaints. They also checked the log of any problems acknowledged by the manufacturer (Samsung) and found none. I also have searched high and low for other stratosphere users with similar complaints to mine and can't find any. I think if it were an issue with the phone's firmware, a lot of people would be complaining. This leads me to believe it's personal ... just me. The only thing I can think of that makes me special is the fact that I'm still on a grandfathered Alltel plan. I don't really mind giving it up and paying a few dollars a month more for a comparable VZW plan, but they tell me I would definitely lose my unlimited data, and that would be a shame :(

Of course, they insist they cannot temporarily switch me to a Verizon plan (as a troubleshooting step) and then put me back on my Alltel plan if it doesn't help things. Once you go red, you never go back.

Tech supp also had me disable WiFi and set the phone to CDMA-only mode (no LTE) but this made no difference, the symptoms still occurred as described above.

So, I'm wondering if anyone else has problems with 3G cutting in and out on their stratosphere, and if so, do you have an Alltel plan? I'd be particularly interested in hearing back from anyone in southwest Florida (Tampa to Naples) to tell me about your 3G experiences either with an Alltel plan or a regular Verizon plan. I've traveled this entire coast in the past week and had problems any time I was in a 3G area. (Like I said, 4g worked great!)

My PRL is 14007 if that's of any help or meaning to anyone.
 
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Same problem with both of ours, as well. We were not convinced we got 2 bad phones, either. I asked point blank before getting these phones if it would change our plan, and the rep told us no. When we started having problems, we were irritated when they told us it was the plan. We would not have gotten the phones had we known this. However, we were assured switching to a vzw plan would solve the problem. We switched because by then, we'd had the phones for a day or 2 and really liked them. IT DID NOT solve the problem, so DON'T give up your unlimited data. We were also assured we would be grandfathered in with unlimited data. Guess what? WE WEREN'T. It was just a way for them to get more money from us. Our "data ticket" is currently with local techs checking the area. We were supposed to hear something from them Thursday and haven't heard anything yet. The phones have been holding signal longer, but it still cuts in and out (and having to give up our sweet Alltel plan to pay more for less features...our phones better not even hiccup!). We only have 6 days before our 14 days is up, so we will be returning to the store soon.

Oh, and did I mention they won't connect to wifi, either? So our phones have no consistent internet. As far as I'm concerned right now, VZW and the phones are pretty worthless.
 
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