AT&T Update

The other day I was fed up -- with the runaround from the AT&T service center and the storefronts and decided to have one more visit to the AT&T storefront to get some answers and some service. Luck was with me as there were no other customers in the store when I arrived, so I was greeted promptly and courteously, seated, and then asked what I needed help with. I pointed out that my previous phone was replaced because, come to find out, nothing wrong with the phone, but a lack of cell service in my city. He agreed that there have been problems, but then asked if I might be interested in a small micro-cell that I would install myself, and then assured me that I'd have at least 3 bars of service in my home (I actually get 5 bars). This flipped another one of my switches because I've been round and round with the phone center and had far too many visits to the storefronts and NO ONE ever mentioned this work-around before.

The CSR told me about the micro-cell, then volunteered to update my new phone and certify that it was working properly before I left the store. I told him I couldn't receive calls and/or texts and had no idea why. He did his magic and voila! He sent me a text and I received it. One small step for me, but several more to go. He explained the micro cell installation and showed me how to do it myself, which I did when I arrived back home. He explained why I had to adjust my service plan (because I had no data plan, just calling and texting) and then figured it's going to increase by about $20/month, which is reasonable. And, finally, he suggested a new phone number to start off fresh with the new phone, the new contract, and the new micro-cell.

I am now a happy AT&T user: everything is working just like it should. Well, there is one operational difficulty: I can't remember the new phone number, so I sent out the wrong number to all my important contacts and then had to email them back to tell them the correct number. No, I'm not good enough to text that info to more than one person at a time; hence, the email message process.

I long for the day that I can whip out my phone, zip out a text, go onto the internet and look up something, and play a song on my new cordless wi-fi speaker that my CSR gave me just because he felt bad for all I've been through. He really was nice ... and gave me answers instead of attitude .

ATT: Phone Home

I just got a new phone as my old phone seemed to “die,” dropping calls, recharging far too often, and not receiving calls/texts. Went to AT&T to get the new phone all set up, and voila! I have a new phone. Oddly enough, the service is spotty. People call me and the call won’t go through; people send me texts I don’t receive; and it is dropping calls. So much for a new phone, I thought.

Imagine my surprise when Y goes online and finds a whole slew of messages about the spotty at best cell service in my small town. All of the problems we’ve been encountering are shared with a whole lot of local users who are just as upset as we are about the poor service. Some of the complainants talked about cell tower problems, so we decided to go to one of the local AT&T store-fronts and ask them why our service is so poor.

Seems that there have been issues with the cell tower that is about a mile from our home. Vandals have targeted the tower, which is an issue—but I’m not sure how that affects service. Evidently, this problem has existed since last November, but the AT&T folks are making it a local issue, rather than doing something about it themselves. According to the rep I spoke with, AT&T plans to relocate the tower, but is dragging its process for whatever reasons. Since this issue has existed for 8 months already, I guess someone has decided that there is no urgency to serve the customers in my small community.

Meanwhile, I’ve got a new phone to replace a phone that probably did not need to be replaced. I’m lucky when I get one bar of service on the phone while I'm at home, which means I’m not able to use it as my go-to phone while I’m at home or out in my local community. I doubt that changing my service provider will solve the problem because I believe that several providers share the local cell tower, a guess based on the number of pieces of equipment on that tower.

In my world, AT&T owes me at least 8 months of free service to make up for the 8 months of poor service that led me to purchase a new phone to fix the problems I was having. In addition, I can send them a copy of the bill of purchase for a new phone and they can pay that for me, too.