Alltel U - Text Now Costs More

Alltel's U Prepaid is a great provider. I mean, you can get anything from a Nokia 2865 to a KRZR on their service for a halfway decent price, and when you're on Alltel or Verizon's networks (a huge area) you get one of the cheapest cellular rates on prepaid, 15 cents per minute.

But, along with practically everyone else in the wireless market, they're quietly upping texting fees. Effecting the 20th, texts will be 10 cents each either way, unless you have the unlimited texting option, up from a comfortable five cents per message...

I really ahte to see this, but it was inevitable; everyone else is doing it with (at least) their contract plans, and sometimes with their prepaid plans. Sprint, T-Mobile and Cingular now have, or will soon have, 15 cent texting, and Verizon is either 10 or 15 cents each (don't remember which) without a texting bundle. Verizon prepaids (most notably PagePlus and Amp'd) run in the 8 to 10 cent range. T-Mobile To Go is 10 cents to send, 5 cents to receive. Pretty much the only prepaids with cheap texting now are Cingular GoPhone and Virgin (5 cents either way, Virgin also having texting bundles available for cheaper), the up-and-coming Total Call Mobile (again, five cents either way), STi (same) and Boost Mobile (10 cents to send, rfree to receive but who likes Boost text? Not me...)

Anyhow, Alltel U's text rates are going up, like text rates pretty much across the industry :(...except for Tracfone...if you have 10 cent minutes, you have 3 cent texts...viva la Trac ;)