Alltel launches ready-to-use wireless Internet service
Four customized options are available in the markets of Little Rock; Charlotte, NC; Albuquerque, NM; Cleveland and Akron, OH; El Paso, TX; Tampa and Fort Myers, FL; and Phoenix and Tucson, AZ. The 10 markets include 46 cities. The company plans to make the service available in all of its digital markets by the end of the year.
Customers now can select one of the four screen formats as a starting point on the wireless Web. Retail representatives will set up a customer's selection. Web-Unwired can be added to select digital rate plans for $5.95 per month and is free for the first two months. Customers can then use their calling plan minutes for voice or data.
"Web-Unwired gives customers greater ability to customize features without having to navigate through specific sites," said Kevin Beebe, Alltel's group president of communications. "We let the customer choose where he wants to go without any restrictions."
Customers can send and receive e-mail and view certain Web sites on the Internet. Access to a daily planner, calendar and bookmarks to favorite sites are also at customers' fingertips. The four customized designs available in retail stores emphasize different tools of the wireless Web by putting them conveniently at the top of the screen. Whether a customer's priority is access to e-mail and local entertainment listings or bookmarks to favorite sites, Web-Unwired simplifies the route to that information.
Customers also can set up a "My Alltel" page with specific information on a variety of topics by visiting the web-unwired.net site via their wireless phones or home computers. Customers can unify their e-mail and set up just one e-mailbox that is accessible by both their wireless phones and home computers.
Edited by Ellen Jensen
Managing Editor, Wireless Networks Online