I can't understand how I can be charged as much as I'm charged for a service that is so underwhelming in every respect? I was a Verizon customer for years, but when the iPhone came out, I jumped ship. While I do like most aspects of the iPhone, the actual telephone itself is a piece of crap. I'd like to give AT&T an out in terms of blaming part of the service issues on the iPhone itself, but I just can't seem to find a big enough argument for that. AT&T was known to always have connection issues in the Bay Area. But this is getting absurd.
As is customary, I call AT&T about once a month after I've had it with their service. I drop an average of 2 to 3 calls PER DAY! It may not seem like much, but imagine conducting a business phone call and losing connectivity - often more than once per session. Or how about coming to rely on the internet or their maps only to find out you can't get 3G (or even EDGE) access?
So I was on the phone with AT&T yesterday, hoping that they'd add my comments to their never-ending list of complaints which would finally jolt them into action. They gave me the same story they always give. "We have updated carrier settings - this should clear up your issues". So I complained that this would do nothing, since it never does. Well, upon restarting my phone after applying the settings, the very first call I made dropped. I'm not even kidding. And then, while in San Francisco, my phone refused to pick up 3G or even EDGE for a full 15 minutes. Are they really going to tell me that San Francisco has parts, large parts (because I was driving), that don't have any internet coverage for their phones? Probably not - it's just that their towers or technology or something else, is an absolute joke.
I got a letter from AT&T last week that they had just added another tower near my home. A lot of good that did. My phone now drops even more calls at home - which I'm assuming is because my phone keeps switching between the towers near me (my bars change constantly while sitting in one location in my house), even though they claim the phone is supposed to "lock" onto a tower.
There are times I cannot even activate the cellular network.
So what do I want done about this? I want them to upgrade their damn network. This is San Francisco. Home of the iPhone. Home of technology. And they can't service the damn area. I would like AT&T to actually do two tangible things:
1) Take responsibility for their shitty service once and for all and admit to their problems. Well, I guess they have. AT&T Ceo admits their service sucks! (here)
2) Stop signing up iPhone/smartphone customers in problem areas until this issue can be resolved.
I seriously can't believe they continue to advertise when they can't service their existing clients. Stop spending those millions on advertising and build us some new towers or technology.
Screw you AT&T. I can't wait until the NexusOne or the iPhone get on Verizon. I'll happily switch back. Yes, Verizon has problems. Like their closed garden. But I've found out that the quality of the network is of utmost importance!
I can't believe there's even an app to tell AT&T they suck in NYC (here)
22 comments:
You're absolutely right! This video pretty well sums it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQE4aUl-llo
Check out this video, hilarious.
Touts the new Iphone's amazing apps, can even cook a grilled cheese sandwich, but with AT&T you are still luck to make a call on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdNg1nDiIZs
It's the same in Chicago. I commute along a major interstate and I have two dead spots that will drop calls every day. I religously use their "Mark the Spot" application, but I'm beginning to think it's a pacifier for ATT customers. My non-Iphone friends give me grief all the time because of the dropped calls - literally hundreds of dropped calls a month! Either ATT's service is atrocious, or the IPhone is a piece of crap. Great apps, terrible cell phone.
AT&T also sucks in Pinehurst, NC. Their claim of 97% coverage is a scam! If 1 sq. in. of a city has coverage, they claim the rest also has. Misleading, dishhoest - downright sneaky.
They show coverage for Pinehurst/ Southern Pines, NC, but there is none - not just 3G, none of any kind! There is no service where I work, none where I play golf, and it' very spotty where I live. Their Mark The Spot App is also a joke. I've sent in 00's of GPS locations - no fix or any sign of one in sight!
They have a lot of irate customers - and 000's of potential customers that they're ignoring.
I hate AT&T - can't wait for an alternative! I'll gladly pay the penalty to switch to a company that has coverage (like Verizon and most of the other competition.)
By refusing to improve their service, and providing false advertizing, they're cutting off their nose to spite their face.
All of AT&T sucks (both the Wireless and Phone/Internet divisions). They haven't been able to keep consistent wireless service up at my house (eg, no bars 1/2 the time)in urban San Diego for the past 5 years, plus I just switch my phone/internet from Cox to AT&T last month and now I have had to file complaints about the AT&T lies and bad service with both the FCC and the CPUC (Calif's FCC). Good grief ... how do we nuke this company? Bill in San Diego.
Dude, you're a whino and a crybaby. AT&T works fine everywhere Ive used it, and I NEVER have dropped calls. I WORK for AT&T, and yes there are problem calls that I deal with on a daily basis, but only 3% of the customer base EVER calls about anything!!!! So, you are an idiot if you think the whole daggone company is sucks just because "you" can't get it together with your service. By the way...what you think about you bring about. Your thought process creates problems for you, and nothing else.
AT&T SUCKS in Massachusetts as well.
I have spent an inordinate amount of time with AT&T trying to get them to improve the service in my neighborhood. I constantly get 0-1 bars and several drops daily. I only get apologies and excuses. Their latest brilliant ploy is that they can install a micro tower within my house that uses my broad band Internet for $19.99/month.
Can you believe this? I would have to spend money on a monthly basis to correct AT&T's sucking service that I am already paying for. What AT&T is actually doing here is that they propose to use my Internet service to free band traffic so they can service new customers while the already customers, the suckers under contract, are paying again for AT&Ts' inadequacies. There has got to be some legal recourse against AT&Ts' unethical and fraudulent practices. Screw you AT&T.
AT&T pretty much sucks everywhere. They employ deceptive advertising and lie thru their teeth when caught.
I had Cingular years ago before they were purchased by AT&T. I've been with AT&T ever since, a loyal customer for many years. I've had my iphone now the last several years and absolutely the phone but I',m starting to really hate AT&T. Their service in my area only seems to be getting worse. I live in NE NC and have dead spots everywhere. I'm never on the 3G network unless I drive up to VA. If I can convince my wife to leave her iphone, I'll switch to Verizon in a second. I see a Droid X in my future.
AT&T sucks for us RF Engineers also! Lowest pay & crummiest benefits in the industry. Management is more concerned about protecting their "Turf Vendor" contracts so they can keep pocketing their kickbacks then building a robust network. As soon as Verizon has an opening I'm outta here!
AT&T is garbage. The backhaul/backbone is complete shit. I build wireless networks for a living, 4G and LTE for example and our service is outstanding because we did it correct right from the beginning.
The thing that pissed me off about AT&T AND Apple is that AT&T knows it has a horseshit network, which is why they tried so hard to get the IPhone. They knew they would be able to nickel and dime customers TO DEATH for the service because otherwise they'd have practically no subscriber base. Apple is at fault here as well. The company knew that AT&T was garbage yet they still subjected all their users to that shit network and I just can't believe it. The Iphone is a pretty amazing piece of technology (I'm a DROID fan myself though) but the fact it was put on such a shitty network is incredulous. You can have the most awesome smartphone on planet Earth, but if its on a poorly built network, its nothing more than a brick with buttons.
Period.
Wow folks here's another reason AT&T sucks. This is from a comment a few above mine from an actual AT&T employee:
"Dude, you're a whino and a crybaby. AT&T works fine everywhere Ive used it, and I NEVER have dropped calls. I WORK for AT&T, and yes there are problem calls that I deal with on a daily basis, but only 3% of the customer base EVER calls about anything!!!! So, you are an idiot if you think the whole daggone company is sucks just because "you" can't get it together with your service. By the way...what you think about you bring about. Your thought process creates problems for you, and nothing else."
What a dipshit. If they're hiring people like this to answer your calls and attempt to "help" you, no wonder people are pissed. I highly doubt he is even aware of the technical specs of his network, yet he's attempting to help people fix THEIR issues? OK sport. All the more reason that people will leave your shit network and go to a functional one, and well hopefully, cost you your job. Customer service isn't what it use to be and this mongoloid is proof of that. Just because you may work for the company in question, hardly makes you an authority on anything. It's obvious you haven't the slightest idea of the tech involved to make a reliable network. You're fucking customer service and only answer calls with people bitching. Do your homework before you start assuming that everyone gets great service around the country just because you do. If you live in Podunk, Mississippi somewhere, yeah, there's probably not a lot of smartphone users down there. Try going to NY or San Francisco or a more heavily populated area and see how well you do.
Dipshit.
Sad to say, but you should have researched AT&T and the iPhone before you got involved with them.
AT&T is an incompetent criminal organization making millions off fraud and deception (and that's not hard to find out).
AT&T once tried to bill me $0.14 for nothing more than listing them as my long distance carrier!
A good basic common sense rule is never buy the first of anything! Neither software or hardware - there's always bugs in them. Wait and let others find the bugs and let them be fixed before you put money into it.
If you are one of those people who just HAS to have every fad that comes down the pipes just as soon as it hits the marked, you are destined for constant disappointment.
Even if the iPhone was perfect, the fact that it used ONLY AT&T would be enough for me to never buy one.
You pretty much brought all your woes on yourself. Sorry.
One thing you all need to keep in mind, the AT&T of today is really SBC (Southwestern Bell) and believe me what they do to their customers is nothing compared to the destruction they do to their employees. I have several friends that work (or because of massive "lay-offs" which in this case means firings to the tune of hundreds each quarter) that were part of the old BellSouth Company. The stories they tell of how far backwards they have gone since the 'merger' back in 07. Things they left behind 15 and 20 years ago are being brought back because SBC never improved. Nothing anyone does is good enough, no matter how much better is was done in not just the old Bellsouth but any one of the other companies that were taken over by SBC in their attempt to rejoin the AT&T of old. It is only AT&T in name but the only concerns they have are not in the customers but in the shareholders and bottom line. Always remember that the folks you have to talk to to get something done are under extreme pressure to give you nothing and stonewall you until you just give up. All of their actions are under close examination by their boss who in turn is being watched even closer by his boss. All the way up the chain and ANYONE who was with one of the original companies that had balls enough to stand up was very quickly shown the door. The shame is that my friends are really good people and want to do what they know is right but are under standing orders to do as they are told and as a result, they actually hate going to work. In this economy though, they are stuck. I truly feel bad for them.
I guess what I am trying to say is, please remember that it often not the person you call that is making your life miserable but the company policies they are forced to work under that is the source of your frustration.
It sucks in Florida to. I am so aggrivated by the dropped calls. I went to ATT from Verizon and am just miserable. I can not use my phone in my house. My husband even bought the Micro cell. That sucks to. It does help to some point but I cant walk around thew house. Without it NOTHING!!!!! I can not make a call until I am out of my community. I loose so many calls I hardly talk to anyone anymore. They are as frustrated as I am.
The only thing that is worse than ATT is “tin cans on a string”, and only if the string is loose. Otherwise the cans win out.
I am shocked that there is not a class-action with ATT in SF based on the following:
1. The coverage map that they show you before you sign on is absolutely a fabrication, and they know it. I once call escalated to the VP’s office and told them they are showing a level 5 call level in many areas where you cannot even make a call. He promised they would look into it and change the map. He did not.
2. They continually promise some improvement in some time frame to string you along. In actuality the service has continually gone down since I have had the first Iphone. They once bragged to me they were putting 5 million(!) into the towers in the Bay area. That is the financial equivalent of fixing your Honda Accord with 10 cents.
3. The tech support will do anything, ANYTHING to not admit they have a problem in the Bay area. They told me I had to buy a new iphone (3g), then they told me it was the sim card’s fault (3 of those), then it was the iphone itself (they sent me a different phone), etc etc. It is all circular and goes nowhere, and I am convinced it is designed to. They will not admit they do not have an infrastructure to provide anywhere near the service they promise when you sign up.
4. They do not have the right to sign anyone else up if the service is already “unusable”, the additional load is criminal and insulting to anyone that already cannot make a call.
5. They are absolutely criminal.
AT&T did it to me once again. Seems like I will never learn. I signed up for AT&T U-Verse. Had it less than a month. Hated it & cancelled. Got my second bill today. The first one was for $184.86 & the one today is for $137.59. I called & was told immediately I owe it & if I don't like it, then tough. My faster than light DSL sucks too. God, I despise AT&T.
AT&T wired phone service - sucks.
AT&T Fast DSL service - sucks.
I dropped Cingular when it became AT&T - cause it sucks.
They have no technician services for their wired services. In fact, they petitioned the FCC several years ago to be allowed to stop all maintenance of wired services. The switching station near me for DSL is a hodgepodge of cross wired crap. When it rains, it fails.
I canceled the 6mbps DSL cause they couldn't keep it working. They had opportunity to provide service to two lines - and couldn't keep even one up.
Now, I've canceled the telephone also since the line is kaput.
This is in NC.
Pity AT & T can't be entirely off-shored to the PRC or Tibet. Banned from the US.
AT&T is terrible in NYC as well. When at the Port Authority Bus Terminal the data network becomes crippled due to the large concentration of people and I often lose my signal completely...probably because I'm inside a big building. If I didn't know any better I would think this was simply unavoidable given these circumstances. However, I do know better. When I had Verizon I never lost my signal, even on the lower level of the PABT and the data network was never overwhelmed by the concentration of people.
I actually can't ever remember not having a signal anywhere when I had Verizon 2 years ago. With AT&T I've been unable to make calls on a regular day (no catastrophes or natural disasters) in midtown Manhattan, Union Square, Financial District...anywhere there are a lot of people. It's not hard to figure out that the network is not robust enough to accommodate the number of people on it.
My problems are not isolated to New York. On my bus ride home to NJ there is a deadspot on the Turnpike and also about a half mile stretch two towns over from mine where I always, without fail, lose my signal. I don't live in some remote rural area. I'm in a suburb of NYC and I lose my signal? Really?
Last month I took a trip to Orlando. I did not have any signal whatsoever about 60% of the time I was there. From inside my hotel room I hardly ever had any signal at all. Walking around it was spotty. I didn't think AT&T could be any worse than it is in NYC but it was actually far worse in the Orlando area. It's not just kind of spotty there, it's intolerably bad.
And then after Hurricane Irene large portions of my town lost power. AT&T was completely crippled. I guess they have only one tower in my town and when it lost power I was down for the count. My friends on Verizon had no such problems. It was at that point I decided I've had enough of AT&T. I'd already had enough of them but this was the last straw. I've been out of contract for almost a year and now I'm just waiting for the new iPhone to be released before I switch back to Verizon.
AT&T has some real problems and they haven't gotten any better over the past few years. In fact, as others have already mentioned, I think their network is getting worse. If it were 1997 AT&T's problems would be ok but we're at a point where mobile phones are far from a luxury but a necessity. They have to work. All of the time.
ATT is the most unethical company on the planet. They continually find ways to sneak in fees, charges, and additions. They recently automatically added a data plan to my iPhone that I purchased on eBay (not from ATT) and they told me that they require a data plan for all smart phones! That makes no sense at all. I bought the phone on my own, without a contract, for receiving calls and using it with WiFi. I think that the FCC should file legal charges against ATT for illegally charging customers for services they have not right to charge for.
Edge network sucks. So many people switched to something else in my area, I actually get some service. It used to only work if you got lucky and not for very long. It's still slow and I see no expansion plans for when our area will get expanded 3G coverage. AT&T should have spent some of that 4 billion they are going to lose on the Tmobile failure to expand customer service and actual 3G coverage.
It's just a matter of time and I will be looking for a device that does not use AT&T.
i work for at&t and i really feel for the customers.. but me and my co-workers are being pounded by management.. they even required us to make a sale even though we are in tech support!! even though i couldn't stand it, i have a family to support.. sometimes, i don't follow internal processes just to make sure that customer's issue is resolved but i get coached as a "reward".. as soon as i can see other jobs, i'll pass my resignation letter myself..
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