Customers complain after cell phone switchover

The switchover from Midwest Wireless to Alltel began at the end of July. It affected almost a half million customers in southern Minnesota, as well as parts of Iowa and Wisconsin. Alltel's Jason Bates calls the switchover a great success, with only a few minor hiccups.

"There were some issues with some dropped calls. I don't know that it was more than anticipated," says Bates. "I haven't heard any issues as of lately from consumers about it."

Some customers disagree with that assessment. Exactly how many people have complained to the company is unknown, because Alltel refuses to release that information. The complaints cover everything from poor signal strength to inaccurate bills.

"There were some issues with dropped calls. I don't know that it was more than anticipated."

John Shepard lives in Slayton in southwest Minnesota. He's one of the former Midwest Wireless, now Alltel, customers who's had problems.

Call him on his cell phone, and right after "hello" he says he's going to step outside to get a stronger signal. He's unsuccessful.

"It seems that there's been real problems with the switchover," says Shepard. "And when we asked the local retail shop about that, they've been very frustrated that there seems to be a lot of issues ...which phone...which tower gets..."

When asked how the signal is coming through at his end, Shepard replies "You're coming through pretty good."

Then the line goes quiet. There are a few seconds of silence before he's back on.

Dropped calls are part of life with wireless service. Shepard says it's frustrating that service interruptions became more frequent when Alltel took over.

"I was aware...," says Shepard. The line goes dead again. A few seconds later there's that fatal click, then a busy signal.

Shepard's not the only one with problems.

Scott Bennett lives in the southern Minnesota town of Arlington. For many consumers, poor cell phone service is an annoyance. Bennett says for him, it can also be a matter of public safety.

Bennett is a police officer in Arlington. His main communication device in his patrol car is a cell phone. He remembers the nerve-wracking night last summer when Alltel took over.

"For the whole night I could not get calls on the phone," says Bennett. "That took almost a month for that to start working correctly."

Bennett also had problems with his family cell phones, three in all. They were purchased from Midwest Wireless. Bennett says the old phones were incompatible with the new company.

"None of them were working correctly, so we went to Alltel phones. Just to get phones that worked it cost us 300 bucks," says Bennett.

Alltel's Jason Bates says there were a few problems with older phones not working on the Alltel system. He says in most cases, the company assumed responsibility.

"Basically, they could go into a retail store and get with a rep," says Bates. "And if it was one of those that was having issues, we were just swapping those out at no charge."

Customers have also complained about billing problems. Several told MPR that when Alltel took over, they simply stopped receiving bills in the mail. Then they were threatened with late payment fees. Others say their bills contained unexplained charges.

Many object to Alltel's penalty for ending a contract early, saying it's too harsh.

Alltel isn't the only cell phone company drawing customer anger. Consumers criticize the wireless industry in general. The Better Business Bureau says it's been the nation's most complained about industry the past three years.

In southern Minnesota, Alltel's Jason Bates says service has improved steadily since the summer switch over. He says Alltel has made available a wide variety of new services and intends to offer more.

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