Your AT&T Experience

[DustinD]

I was on Verizon up until 1 and a half years ago, when I got a 3gs. Just recently I switched it in for a captivate, and I couldn't be happier. I couldn't help but notice though how many people seem to hate ATT. Right now my bill is the same price as my previous Verizon bill: But get this. I didn't have data on my Verizon bill and I had 1500 less minutes. I get full bars everywhere I visit frequently and have traveled across the country a few times, and I always had voice, losing 3g once somewhere in mid Nebraska.

Hopefully ATT works on improving their network more, because if they have any more phones like the captivate I'm definitely staying.


What's you experience with ATT?

 

[ageros]

Experiences will always vary depending on your location. I've had ATT for my cell phones for over 4 years now and haven't had too many major issues.

My biggest problem was about 2 months before they launched 3g in my area. I suppose it was a result of the upgrade, but the service just became unbearable. I do still get a dropped call on occasion, but not enough to be a huge deal.

Support wise, ATT has been fine. Thing is, though, I'm getting a discount through work, so my account shows as a "business" account and that also means my 611 sends me to business customer support. My experience with most companies has been you usually get better support with the business support. Can't say anything about the regular support though as I've never had to use it.

 

[Tasmin]

I've never really had a problem with the physical service I pay for from AT&T but the customer service sucks. I go over every bill with a fine toothed comb because I regularly find errors (always in the company's favor oddly enough). It then takes hours arguing on the phone to resolve the problem, and there's only a 50:50 shot it will get resolved. Been making an effort to switch completely to another carrier but for some things I can't afford to lose my cheap legacy plan since my family has been with them so long.

 

[reinbeau]

I have been with AT&T for years, mainly because I just won't do business with Verizon for anything. I can't complain about them, other than the coverage around here can be spotty - like in my own home. It's a battle over cell towers. I have heard of others complaining, however, about the Verizon coverage, for the same reason. It's strange, we're just 26 miles south of Boston, in very populated area, you'd think they'd push harder for those towers.

ETA after reading Terry S's post I realized that I'd also been with them since Cingular (not Ameritech, however, Terry, you've got me beat!). I too get the mention that I've been a loyal customer so they will make an exception - loyalty sometimes has its perks. Then again, I'm not above using the threat of the competition to beat them over the head once in awhile if they need it!

 

[Terry S]

I have been with AT&T for 16 years. Well in truth I was with Ameritech, then Cingular, then AT&T. But I never switched companies, they did. I started out with Ameritech because my company gave me a discount, than all my family and friends signed up with them and so bascially most people I know have AT&T currently so most of my calls are mobile to mobile and therefore free. This is the main reason I have stayed with AT&T for so many years.

But you asked about my experience and that has been really good as well. Being a long time customer helps as whenever I have a need to call customer service they always mention the fact that since I have been with them for so many years they will "make an exception". The service in the areas I go has always been good enough, occasional dropped calls, but nothing I would complain about.

So in summary, I am pretty happy with AT&T. And since I love my Captivate, I am now even happier.

 

[rfound]

As an iPhone user, I absolutely hated at&t. Because of the shitty reception.

Since switching to captivate, I honestly have no complaints. I know their customer serrvice sucks, but I don't ever talk to them, as I'm on a corporate account.

I'm now of the opinion that a great deal of the ATT hatred is fueled by iPhone user's experiences, at least prior to ip4. (Antenna design aside, it seems to get great reception)

 

[nyydynasty]

many people hate on AT&T but they are great in my area. Yes, I agree that experiences will vary depending on the area you live in but where I am, its great. The network was a little slow 6-12 months ago but now its great. No call quality issues so I know that AT&T has been working on their network.

people have to stop hating on AT&T lol

 

[artvandalay22222]

I have had great customer service. when I cal I'm always in contact with a person quickly. the few times ive gone over on our minutes, they have erased the extra charges out of courtesy. Once my daughter was streaming music on my wifes phone, which we didn't have internet plan on, charged up a few hundred worth, they erased the charges. Once I was late on my bill and I made payment arrangements. When the time came to pay, I was out of town and my company mailed my paycheck home so I had no money. They shut me off for non payment. I called explained the situation and they turned me back on til I could pay.they could have said sorry, pay first.

Over all I have had great experience with their service. My only complaint is they don't have many android phones. And the like to restrict things other carriers do not.

 

[Dennis_Bham]

My experience with at&t/cingular has been quite good. Most of the time I was using a blackberry. I've witnessed numerous iPhone users in the same locations as me and my blackberry that had a lot of trouble with their connections. It appears that a lot of at&t network problems may actually be iPhone problems.

 

[2manyPHONES]

I have been through all the major companies like sprint, verizon and tmobile. AT&T has by far been the best I have dealt with and have had them for maybe 6 years. No problems with coverage whether Im in NY, MD, MI, OH, NJ, KY, TX or pretty much any state you drive through to get from Buffalo, NY to Laredo, TX. Plus the plan pricing is great compared to the others I have had. And getting to upgrade like every few months doesnt hurt either. My cousin has sprint and she has to fight them for an upgrade, she wants the epic and they are treating it like their iphone 4 even compared them saying they were pretty much the same phone and couldnt allow special upgrade pricing or something like that.

 

[mrmeany]

Because of a lack of carrier coverage in my area, the only true choices I have are AT&T and Verizon. I was with verizon till my wife swore them off after like 5 straight incorrect billings and some of the worst customer service ever. Switched to Cingular then to AT&T and all problems have been resolved quickly so, honestly no complaints except for the occasional desire to see 100% coverage no matter where I go, but maybe that's just being spoiled.

 

[sremick]

Only reasons I'm with AT&T are the GSM tech, better coverage than anyone else around here, and slightly better customer service than Verizon.

Honestly, my work discount doesn't play a role.

However, they are still a bunch of arrogant jerks when it comes to how they do business, their prices are outrageous, and they really need to get with the program when it comes to Android and stop using Apple's kielbasa as a tongue-depressor.

 

[DustinD]

I have to agree with the people praising their customer service, a couple times I went over my minutes limit, and I was unaware that I hadn't increased them yet, and they said don't worry about it and erased the extra charges.

But like sremick said, they need to get with the program as far as android.

 

[GreatBigDave]

My wife and I have been with Cingular/AT&T for 7+ years, and honestly, I can say our service has been good. We've had a couple customer service issues that were eventually worked out. There is one place in my daily commute that tends to drop calls about 2/3 of the time (and it's near O'Hare airport, I figure the planes need their radios more than I need mine), so I'm not worried about it. I truly get the feeling that a lot of AT&T hate is from the iPhone folks. All I have to say to that is because Apple insists on doing things their way only, sometimes you're going to pay for that inflexibility.

 

[Ruben Cisneros]

My wife and I have been with SW Bell, Cingular and ATT since 1990. We have had our share of issues but Customer Service has always taken care of them. The last issues were 2 cellphone towers being down in our neighborhood. We could call but receive phone calls. They did not realicze the towers were down.

 

[3gAndroid]

I've been with AT&T for years. They had a very good reputation till they were bombarded with complaints from the whining iPhone fanboys. It's rather revealing as to the influence and expert finger pointing by Apple. When it comes to Apple all reality goes out the window. Replaced by their hype, lies, and manipulation.

Here's an example. I have carried more than two or more activated phones for years since I'm a huge mobile enthusiast. I have two primary lines on AT&T and two on Verizon. My AT&T BlackBerry always delivered great call quality. My iPhones dropped calls. That in itself is proof positive it's not AT&T. In addition, it's not a well known fact that the chip Apple selected is not optimized for AT&T's network. Yet Apple has done a very good job of blaming the problem on AT&T.

Don't get me wrong I'm not advocating for AT&T, but I _am_ advocating for full disclosure.

 

[3gAndroid]

I truly get the feeling that a lot of AT&T hate is from the iPhone folks. All I have to say to that is because Apple insists on doing things their way only, sometimes you're going to pay for that inflexibility.

Excellent post, well said. I could not agree more!

I find _some_ of Apples past & present products quite nice. As a multi-platformist, I've used their laptops side by side with ThinkPads for a long time.

What I do find quite irritating is their arrogant corporate culture, their closed dictatorial eco system, and elitist attitude.

It just makes me appreciate Android that much more...

 

[3gAndroid]

I have to agree with the people praising their customer service, a couple times I went over my minutes limit, and I was unaware that I hadn't increased them yet, and they said don't worry about it and erased the extra charges.

But like sremick said, they need to get with the program as far as android.

Here's my take on AT&T and Android.

I lay half the responsibility on AT&T, half on Apple for intimidating AT&T, thereby discouraging the inclusion of Android phones amongst the normally wide selection of phones that AT&T usually offers.

 

[jdCaptivate]

I've been with AT&T (in some form) since 1994. The only time I wasn't, was when work provided me with Nextel and then I did a 3 month stint with Verizon (worst phone service I have ever experienced, as far as performance and customer service).

After that, I went back to Cingular, which went back to AT&T. Mostly for the customer service. I haven't ever had an issue with customer service, in fact it has always been a pleasure to work with them.

My most memorable experience was mid 90s. Someone had cloned my phone number and run up over $800 in calls to Hong Kong. When I called them up, I explained I didn't know anyone in Hong Kong, nor would I have any desire to call anyone in Hong Kong. Without so much as an investigation into the calls, didn't even transfer me to a higher level rep... they wiped the calls from my bill. My next experience with them, was when I actually did run up over $400 in calls. I called and told them, I was going to have to cancel my service and arrange a payment plan, to pay off the balance. Again, without even transferring me to a higher level rep. She asked me what would it take to keep me with them. I told her, I simply didn't have the money and didn't have any other option, but to cancel and make payments. The rep, then said... "What if we were to wipe the bill clean? Would you stay with us?" Well, after I picked my jaw up off the floor, I repeated her offer and said that I would most definitely stay with AT&T if she pulled something off like that. Couple of keystrokes and my balance was $0.

Now, I certainly don't expect them to do something like that again... but it made quite an impression on me... and as I already said, I've always dealt with pleasant people, who provide reasonable solutions and even offers of changing our plan, to save us money.

When I bought my Captivate from an online dealer... $89.99, I called AT&T and asked if they could match the offer. The rep put me on hold, to check with her supervisor. When she came back, she apologized and said she couldn't offer the same price. However, what she did offer me, was to bill me the $199 to our bill, then do a rebate on the bill of $110... making the cost $89. Had I had the money on my debit card at the time, I would have taken her up on the offer.

I think the only beef I have with their service is the 2GB data plan. And that's only in principle. Reality is, I don't come close to using that much data (since I'm usually on WiFi). I could even switch to the lower plan and be safe. I just stick with the 2GB... because, you never know.

 

[JadeEyedWolf]

I have been with AT&T since about 2001. It was AT&T wireless then, then we were merged with Cingular, and now it's AT&T again. As far as coverage is concerned, at least in my area (Washington DC metro area), the only disadvantage has been underground coverage in the Metro system, but that's changing now and I barely ever use the Metro anyway. Never had any issues with customer service either; staff has always been very polite and helpful. It must be due to the fact that most of AT&T's customer service call centre staff is Canadian lol! (AT&T/Rogers merger in the future anyone?)

My only issues with AT&T have been with some of their policies and not their level of service per se. Lemme give you an example: I have a dedicated data line with them for my netbook. I have had this line since ye olde Cingular days and really lucked out on this one because the terms of my contract provide me with no holds barred truly unlimited data usage; no 5gb monthly cap for me! However, just recently, I tried to connect to no avail. I called up customer care and discovered that AT&T had been going through a bunch of older unlimited data accounts and changing them over to the 5gb plans; apparently they had been sending notice of this change in my billing statements for months prior. I never got those notices, and lucky for me, my account was apparently one of the exemptions, so I still got to keep my unlimited usage.

I know I got a little sidetracked there, but my point is that I don't like AT&T's policies on limitations (it's exactly the same reason I won't ever buy anything with a lower case "i" in front of it too). AT&T filtering the Android Market. AT&T lowering their data caps and raising prices when more and more devices are using more and more data. Things like that. Rather than focusing on restricting what users can and cannot do on their network, they should really focus on providing their subscribers with the more and more freedom to do whatever is possible, all at a fair and reasonable price. No more data caps. No more market filtering. No more crippling and watering down subsidized devices. Wouldn't it have been nice if our Captivate's all had front facing cameras and LED flashes, and every other feature that the international version has? If I am going to pay for a piece of technology, I don't want to be limited by the service provider in how I can use that technology; my only limitations should be defined by the capabilities of the hardware itself.

*whew!* Rant done.

 

[RedRyno]

Ive been with ATT before they were Cingular (I think

) in SoCal, anyways I can't speak for big city reception (I.E. S.F. or L.A.) but I do dirt bike ride a lot and go in some pretty remote areas and I'm usually the only one who always has reception. My main riding buddy has Verizon and where we ride his reception blows, its 50/50 at best. Actually I had a heart attack while riding 4 years ago and my phone was the only one that had reception and helped save me, so in my book they are a-ok...

 

[Cuerbo]

I've been with AT&T for years and prior with Sprint, AT&T is much easier to deal with. Sprint customer service was a disaster and they weren't flexible at all. Only when I called to cancel the account did they offer to meet my demands, by then it was too late. As for AT&T, I recently purchased the Captivate and after three months of dealing with GPSgate, decided to get out of the phone. Took some consistent nagging but they reimbursed me for all my Captivate expenses, including accessories, and got me into an iPhone4. Not many companies will do that and there was no arguing involved, they were super aware of the issues with the Captivate.

As for reception, both phones have been about the same, the area I'm in is well covered and voice/data flows smoothly. I definitely see Verizon and Sprint going to tier data plans in the future, so no longer makes sense to leave a company with which you have a track record and start all over again. AT&T is, however, a bit expensive at time. They are like Bank of America, you get charged for each individual item. Don't know why they don't bundle things a bit better to improve their pricing.

 

[reinbeau]

A little side jaunt from corporate AT&T - today I went to an AT&T store. I wanted to buy a new charger/USB (I did say USB) cable and charger, a replacement for what came with the phone (I thought I'd lost mine). I went into the store and the clueless young thing brought me two boxes, one with the plug, one with the cord. Total was $29.99 of course (everything is $29.99 there, it seems). So I paid, and went out the door. Thankfully I decided to read the packages - it was just a charger, the cord wasn't a USB cord, it said right on the box it could not be used for data. WTF? Why on earth would they sell someone something like that when they clearly wanted a replacement for what came with the phone - the USB cable and the plug? If anyone wasn't smart enough to read it they would have gone home and been very upset when they couldn't connect with their computer.

Anyways, I went back in and returned it. They didn't have a replacement in stock, and they sent me to Radio Shack (they also didn't have a direct replacement). Thankfully I found the cord buried in my purse - I'll be guarding that thing with my life now that I know how rare it is!

To end my rant, those kids in the store really need to listen and know what they're selling, and obviously they don't Why they don't have basic equipment like that is beyond me.

 

[Invero]

I've been with AT&T for about 9 years now.

Cell service has been decent. No better, no worse than all of the other providers (on average).

My beef with AT&T really stems from their customer service reps. While always friendly and willing to help, they seem to struggle at doing basic functions. I'm not talking about 1 or 2... I'm talking about almost every one. I wanted to increase my text message plan recently. It took 5 calls, 5 reps, and a supervisor before this simple task was done properly.

About 5 years ago, I attempted to do a warranty exchange on a phone. After the call ended, I found out the AT&T rep screwed up and accidentally sold me a new phone instead. Sends me a text message telling me to call 611 back to fix her mistake. I call back, new rep says to refuse shipment, when it's returned to shipper, it'll credit back to my account. That never happened. Documentation of this incident either was never entered or was ignored, so AT&T kept trying to collect. When I tried to dispute the issue, they told me they had a signature from FedEx saying I accepted delivery. (The signature was from the original order) Finally after 4 months of arguing, a supervisor was "gracious" enough to give me a "one time courtesy credit"... implying that I was the wrong doer, and not admitting responsibility.

If it weren't for ETFs, I would have flown the coop after that. But since then, things have been mostly okay.

 

[carmendiva]

I've been with At & t for a few months(since my 18th birthday this past august)
and given all the horrid things i had heard about them
and their phones

i was a bit apprehensive
however i love At & t(and i love rollover minutes)

and their service seems great, better then my time with verizon even though verizon has an excellent coverage