Dear AT&T Wireless: You Suck
I’m generally a pretty upbeat and positive guy. I try to look for the good in the world and usually don’t dwell on negative areas.
But this post is different.
It’s simply beyond me how a company with the size, resources and legacy such as AT&T Wireless can suck so bad.
Why do I think they suck? Because their coverage sucks. And their customer service isn’t much better.
I live in Edmonds, Washington – 12 miles North of Seattle, which is the 21st largest city in the US. Not exactly the middle of nowhere. Yet I routinely have calls dropped while traveling in and through Edmonds and even Seattle. AT&T’s problems in the Seattle area are so pervasive literally everyone I know who has to use AT&T Wireless jokes about it.
As I blogged a few months ago, I decided to switch to an iPhone in April when I had to return my old Blackberry Storm to my previous employer after I left the company. Because I had heard about the AT&T Wireless coverage problems and issues, I was reluctant to make the switch from Verizon Wireless because I was extremely happy with the service I received from Verizon. But I was convinced by friends to make the switch to the iPhone and from a pure technology and phone standpoint, I’ve been thrilled with the product.
But come on – how (and why) in the world can there be so many problems with calls being dropped and/or dead zones?
For crying out loud, AT&T Wireless was born here in the Seattle area (they purchased early pioneer McCaw Cellular and set up shop in Kirkland) – you would think we would get some sort of hometown advantage.
Mobile phone service isn’t cheap. Most users such as myself have to pay more than $100/month for an AT&T Wireless/iPhone package. If I’m paying that kind of money, you better be sure that I want the service to work – especially Downtown Seattle! If you think I’m joking, try using an AT&T Wireless phone while driving either north or southbound on I-5 through downtown Seattle. You can’t make it. You’ll get dropped before, during or after the convention center. I’ve been sitting at my desk in the Columbia Tower on a conference call and been disconnected (to a client who was on a landline). Or calls routinely have gone straight into voice mail. I’ve also been downtown Edmonds on our waterfront (no more than 150 yards from the ferry terminal) and have been unable to send/receive calls or text messages. You get the picture.
Oh another thing. AT&T Wireless has a hell of a welcome wagon for new customers. The first month my bill arrived it was followed by a phone call from a customer service representative. Apparently they didn’t trust me to pay my first month bill because it was so huge (with the activation fee they tack onto the overprice monthly service fee) so they called and asked me to authorize payment via the phone. They didn’t wait to see if would actually pay the bill online or via check – they wanted to make sure they had that initial cash in the bank as soon as possible. That left me with a warm, cuddly feeling inside.
And Apple – shame on you for not pushing AT&T Wireless to step up its technology and service to the same level as Apple’s.
And I’m not even one of the people who tried to buy the new iPhone 4 via AT&T’s website and had to deal with that debacle.
I really hope the persistent rumors about Apple striking a deal with Verizon Wireless in 2011 are true. I will be the first to jump ship – even if it means having to buy out the remainder of my AT&T contract early.
I had already decided this morning that the dismal service provided by AT&T Wireless would be my next blog topic when tonight I read through various news sources that a Yankee Group study claims that, “73% of iPhone users are “very satisfied” with AT&T.” Are you kidding me? Who are these users?? I know a number of iPhone users and NONE of them are satisfied at all with AT&T. I haven’t dug into the actual survey/study to say exactly how it might be flawed but I have no doubt those numbers are not accurate – or at the least, they are likely very misleading (depending on wording used). I’m much more inclined to believe another study that said that “if the iPhone is released on Verizon in addition to AT&T, AT&T could lose more than half of its iPhone customers.”
Regardless of what the surveys say, I’ve made up my mind and have a simple request for AT&T. Stop showing us the stupid ads claiming 97% coverage of the country and work on fixing the obvious holes and deficiencies in your service TODAY. While you may be laughing all the way to the bank with increased profits in the short term (thanks to Apple – not your service) these good times will soon come to an end once you face real competition again.
The choice is yours.
23 Comments
I’d be very interested to know if AT&T’s non-iPhone/non-smart phone users have as much problem. Good thing you don’t have the iPhone 4.
I have been completely satisfied with AT&T for two years and now with my iPhone 4. I live in central Seattle . . . puzzled about all the complaining.
I had to have my company switch me back to Sprint and get out of the AT&T Wireless contract for my company blackberry because the service was so bad in Seattle. After 7 months of trying to stick it out knowing that every single call on 99 North or South through the city (otherwise known as a commute on the 2nd biggest thoroughfare in the 12th largest DMA) would be dropped, not to mention all the other places.
I may personally never be able to watch another Luke Wilson film again after wanting to throw something at the radio & TV all winter when his AT&T endorsement spots came on. Puke.
Yes! Fully agree – AT&T sucks lemons! As soon as my plan expires in a couple of months, I’m going back to Verizon
Don – Renee has AT&T Wireless through her job and she doesn’t use an iPhone and she has had the same issues/problems. We’ve been driving through Seattle on trips and she has been trying to talk to her parents and calls have been consistently dropped. It really is comical (if it wasn’t so frustrating).
Norm – you are one of the lucky ones I guess! I really am not exaggerating when I say every other Seattlite I know who has AT&T Wireless hates the service in our area.
Thanks to everyone for their comments!
I have AT&T pay as you go service on my cell phone.
I’ll be very interested to see how it works on my upcoming visit to Seattle. Here in Orlando, FL I’ve had no problems.
Marlene – you might be OK here as long as you don’t try to use it while driving on I-5 (or down near the Edmonds ferry terminal)
I have ATT iphone and live in Edmonds. I don’t get service anywhere within 75 yards of my home. I have to walk out to the main street to get even spotty service. My neighbors have the same problem however Verizon works fine. I just don’t get it. Edmonds has total ATT dead zones.
Thanks for the comments Joan! It’s unbelievable that there are so many dead zones in Edmonds. I just hit a couple again today on my run through town (on Sunset). I try to listen to music streamed through the iPhone and would love to have ONE run where I listen uninterrupted!
My wife and I switched over to ATT from Verizon last month – we regret it now. ATT’s coverage is no better than T-Mobile. Today is the last day we can get out of our 30-day trial period and we’re doing it. Bye-bye ATT, hello Verizon (sorry we left).
I hate AT&T! My calls get dropped all the time. I called AT&T to complain after being dropped during a call last week after years of frustration caused by dropped calls and dead zones. While talking to representative at AT&T my call got dropped! I live in So Cal but had same problems in Las Vegas. My husband has no problems with Verizon. A dead zone for me, but never for him. His calls are never dropped. I wish I could bring class action suit for breach of service. I will never ever use AT&T again. As soon as my contract expires I’m dumping AT&T.
OMG….exactly! I live in Olympia just south of Seattle and drive I 5 several times a week…I flipping hate AT&T and I worked for McCaw back in the day! Verizon please cut the apple deal our two iPhones can not wait to get the hell away from the crap service and coverage of At&t….thanks for the vent…I feel better…lol!
P.S. There are 6 iPhone users on our street and the five of us left (one already brought a Droid X and laughs at the rest of us daily) all of us are jumping we laugh we can’t call each other at home because none of us every have coverage….we are a mile from the freeway…!!!!
I live in NYC and have the same problems. AT&T sucks and they don’t care. VZW’s customer service is abysmal, but at least the network and coverage are good. If Apple makes an iPhone for VZW’s network, I think at least half of the iphone users will jump ship.
I’ve had an iPhone since the 3G came out in 2008. I’ve never had *any* problems with my service . . . until this past week. In the 4 days that I’ve been in Vegas, I’ve been hovering around 1 bar of service. That would be bad enough, except that those are the *good* coverage days. I literally have no problems with either signal strength or dropped calls at home in Salt Lake, but I can’t even check my email here in Vegas. The weirdest part is that my mother, brother and sister all have iPhones, and they get much better reception in the same locations.
Maybe if half jump ship to verizon, the bandwidth on att will improve. We shall see in a few months. Soooooo sick of att coverage issues.
I live in central Ohio and have encountered the same thing. Here in Columbus, there are several highway “arteries” that connect us to other major cities, like Interstate 70, Interstate 71. Was on Interstate 70 earlier this morning and had no bars. It simply said “searching.”
I have also had the extreme displeasure of having to call the same number several times because the first few times I get a recording that says it is not a working number. I KNOW it’s a working number because it’s my office!!!
The iPhone is nice, given, but what good is a bunch of apps when I can’t use half of them with no signal or I can’t even make a call? Might as well have an iPod touch.
Last thought, I want to scream everytime I see their commecial that they cover 95% of Americans. 95%. Somehow, living in a large city with close to a million people, I’m in the 5% not covered 95% of the time.
Hi David,
I lived in Edmonds also and can’t use my AT&T phone in the house. My calls drop when I enter the driveway. I work downtown and drop calls at at least three different placess on hwy 99. I drop calls on I-5 near northgate. It baffles me how cell service could be so bad. I had t-mobile for years and had better coverage in the mountains and desert than I have in the Seattle suburbs.
I called AT&T and they never called me back. I’ve contemplated purchasing an AT&T microcell but I read that if you are in range of the microcell, your data plan gets dinged. Give me a break AT&T!
If you happen to gat *any coverage inside your house, perhaps next to a window, I recommend purchasing a bluetooth headset. That will get you an extra 30′ of walking distance throughout the house.
Hi Mark – I’m waiting for the iPhone 5 rollout later this year and then will switch back to Verizon. I still have a year left on my contract so I don’t want to eat the cost now but I can’t wait to do so. The only hope we may have as AT&T customers is their recently announced merger with T-Mobile… perhaps we’ll get access to that network at some point and be able to use the service we’re paying for in our own city! Thanks for the comment!
ah ah ah too good to pass, they do not only suck with their phone system but they even manage to suck through their wireless modem what ever they call it……! and I am stuck with them, because to be honest Comcast is not better. So people in this country settle for little and less than little, they are used to Walmart empire……!!!!!!
I live and work in midtown freaking manhattan and I often don’t have a signal. As soon as the iPhone supporting Verizon LTE comes out, I will kiss AT&T goodbye.
I am a current At&t customer..for home ,internet and cell. Recently after ONE YEAR of having home internet issues..I called out my 7th!! yes 7th , repairman to my home to give me another random excuse my DSL was not working. I came to find out that for 13 months my I was NOT connected outside to the wires and that is why I couldn’t receive my signal. I call them because I DID pay them for those 13 months (of course) I’m told at that point that I will receive a credit for 379.00 (all that I paid that year for service for internet). I patiently wait..Nothing is done. I call FOUR TIMES. Finally on July 11th I’m told “I apologize for the inconvenience and will immediately rectify this situation. Meanwhile.. they disconnect me for unpaid service!!!! I call back AGAIN..they apologize AGAIN, they tell me to pay 129.00. That is the part of the bill I am responsible for since this insanity..The next day I call to pay the bill, they tell me it’s 379.00 regardless of the notes and adjustments on the account. They wont honor them and said that’s not what the computer is telling them that I owe and regardless of the notes the only one that can help me, is the rep who put the adjustments in.. but “she’s out sick” I have NEVER in my 40+ years dealt with such insanity in my life. Needless to say they can piss off.. i’m DONE.
I’m able to write via my wifI, but as for my service I have zero signal,,second night in a row, just out of the blue ,,NO SIGNAL…and of course can’t find an email address to send complaint, can’t call cause I don’t have service, and of course even if I could call I’d have to endure that horrid voiced recording of that annoying ass actor they hired to record all the prompts. How can a phone company expect people to pay for service they are NOT receiving? It’s madness!!! I was happy with altell before at&t took them over,,,I highly, highly regret not going to Verizon when I had the chance.
Ditto x 10. My first experience with poor ATT wireless service was about 10 years ago; for two weeks while traveling in upstate NY, no signal at all. Called ATT tech 30 times; blah blah, no fix.
ATT then sold their wireless division, things got better when I traveled.
Then ATT bought their wireless division back; service got worse.
Do you see the connection / (or lack there of)?
Now at my home on the Gulf Coast of Florida, 500 feet of flat terrain between me and a major highway, less than half a mile from an ATT tower; no signal. And there are no obstructions, no forest, no buildings, nothing to block the signal.
Called ATT a dozen times; and got every excuse you can think of from mostly what sounded like 19 year old with their first job. Not a freakin clue.
Didn’t offer to send me a new phone, but I could buy one with a two year contract.
Traveled recently from west Florida up to Wash DC area and dropped 30 calls, terrible service along the entire route, in the middle of major cities including DC, Alexandria VA, Roanoke VA, Montgomery Al, Birmingham Al, Chatanooga TN, and on and on and on.
ATT really suks; they buy up wireless companies, squeeze out as much profit as they can while putting as little money they can into infrastructure, then sell off the cellular division. Then after that company fixes the problems they buy it back.
ATT used to be a great company, but now it is run by crooks, criminals, scammers, hedge fund managers, blah, blah, blah.