In January 2009, the Federal Government approved the sale of Alltel to Verizon, creating the country’s largest mobile phone company. In an attempt to reduce the anti-competitive effects of this merger, the Government required Verizon to sell off Alltel customers and towers in areas already served by Verizon. In our region, Verizon was required to sell these Alltel properties in nearly all of Montana, the entire states of North and South Dakota, and portions of Wyoming.

AT&T, the nation’s second largest mobile operator, purchased these Alltel assets in Montana, North Dakota and surrounding states in June 2010. To view a map of the Alltel markets purchased by AT&T, visit www.att.com/mergers/alltel/images/zodiacMarkets.jpg.

Consumers should be aware that cellular providers use one of two technologies – either “CDMA” or “GSM.” Mobile phones are designed for one of these particular technologies, and cannot switch between the two. Verizon and Alltel, like Mid-Rivers Wireless, operate CDMA networks. This allows Verizon and Alltel customers with CDMA phones to “roam” on Mid-Rivers towers, and allows Mid-Rivers Wireless customers to roam on Verizon and Alltel towers (assuming the necessary roaming agreements are in place between carriers). Since Mid-Rivers Wireless provides the only cellular coverage available across much of our rural Eastern Montana service area, Verizon and Alltel customers often roam on Mid-Rivers cell sites today.

AT&T, however, uses GSM technology, which is less common than CDMA in rural areas of the U.S. AT&T is currently in the process of converting all existing Alltel cell sites purchased in this area to GSM sites. According to AT&T’s website, they expect to complete this transition in early 2011. AT&T may choose to maintain the CDMA signal on their cell sites for roaming purposes, or they may choose to turn off that CDMA signal at some point after the transition to GSM is completed.

AT&T has notified Alltel customers in these areas that they will need a new phone in order to use the new network. These customers should have received a letter from AT&T detailing the procedures for changing out their handsets. The purpose of the phone change-out is to move customers from a CDMA phone to a GSM phone, which will no longer work on CDMA cell sites.

AT&T customers may not notice a difference when using their new GSM handsets near AT&T cell sites, including Alltel sites that have been switched over to GSM technology. Customers may, however, notice a difference when attempting to use their GSM phones in the more rural areas where there are currently fewer Alltel towers. AT&T’s GSM customers may not have any cellular signal while roaming in certain areas such as Alzada, Cohagen, Ekalaka, Lambert, Richey, Rock Springs, Savage, Volberg, Winnett, and other rural areas where only the Mid-Rivers CDMA signal may be available. A GSM phone will never “see” a CDMA site, so a GSM customer will have no service for sending or receiving calls or messages, including emergency calls, until they are in range of another GSM cell site.

AT&T customers will have 30 days to discontinue service with no early termination fees once their service is moved from Alltel to AT&T (http://www.att.com/mergers/alltel/frequently-asked-questions.jsp). It will be important to thoroughly test coverage during that time to make sure it works in all areas where the customer needs cellular service.

If you have additional questions about this transition or are interested in learning about cellular service from Mid-Rivers Wireless, visit one of our seven local offices across Eastern and Central Montana, orcall 1-800-452-2288. Mid-Rivers Wireless provides better cellular coverage in Eastern Montana than any national provider as well as great nationwide coverage – to view a map of our cellular coverage, visit http://www.midrivers.com/wireless-coverage-map/. Mid-Rivers also provides local service and support, competitive cellular plans with unlimited minutes on home towers, texting, picture messaging, data plans, a selection of great phones including the latest Android smartphones, and monthly discounts on ALL services for customers that subscribe to Mid-Rivers cellular and local phone.

Talk to Mid-Rivers Wireless today and let us answer all your cellular questions!

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