ATT Clueless
ATT Wireless posted staggering losses last quarter. They blame it partly on a mass exodus of customers -- an effect called "churn" in the parlance of business -- as they took advantage of the advent of number portability. They added record numbers of users last quarter, apparently, but lost an even *larger* record number of users. Promotions and other factors also bit into their revenue. Apparently people are also concerned about the company's pending acquisition by Cingular, and are taking a "wait and see" approach.
Now, I have a real hate-on for ATT Wireless. I think their service sucks and their coverage area is complete crap. I've been a customer of their for two years and I haven't seen it get a single bit better. The only reason I haven't switched is because I have to wait another month or so for number portability to hit the rest of the nation outside of the 100 or so areas it current is offered. But I plan to. Verizon's looking good; I can live with their use of CDMA if they offer a phone (or if I can find a phone that will work with their service) that offers the features I'm looking for -- namely support for data exchange with my Mac, so I can get rid of my PDA once and for all.
So just for shits and giggles, I hit ATT Wireless's Web site a few days ago and played around with the "upgrade your phone" option, just to see what I could get. I was stonewalled instantly -- the system kept giving me error messages telling me I could only use this service if my bill was up to date. My bill *was* up to date, in fact. So I sent them an e-mail.
Today I got a response. A long-winded automated response that never actually responds to my complaint, and at one point tells me that I can upgrade my phone online by logging into the very URL I used in the first place.
I'm still getting the same error message. They haven't fixed a damn thing.
Once again, ATT Wireless proves that they *deserve* to lose customers.
Comments
As ATT switches over to a GSM network, instead of building new service centers/telecom antenna things, they are taking the present digital/analog resources [out of service] and converting them to GSM. Thus, the D/A service gets worse in order to make the GSM better. Unfortunately the GSM service is terrible. It's all bad. A friend was doing research before switching companies and came across this in the forums somewhere--I don't know the source.
Out here in SF land, ATT has the best reception, with Vernon coming in at a close second. I've been a customer forever (only because Cellular One was bought by the bigBell), but I believe the end is near.
Posted by: vajrabelle | April 25, 2004 12:39 PM
i agree with u ATT Wireless sucks bad.They have very bad customer service.They dont give a D..They didnt have the GSM in my area now they do If i want better service i have to pay for a phone what a joke they offered it free 2 months ago but it wasnt in my area.now that it is the only way i can upgrade is to buy a phone.I was on the phone with them 2 hours got no where and was told to bad in so many words
Posted by: dennis huffman | October 28, 2004 11:44 PM