OK, it wasn’t exactly “free.” I had to drive over to the AT&T store and pick it up, so yeah, couple dollars worth of fuel and 20 minutes time.
No not free at all.
It does make a helluva difference in the call quality and signal strength, so overall, since I value that quite a bit, I guess they are paying me with the privilege of using it.
nm
I’m with MeanJoe. I’ve had AT&T/Cingular for over 12 years and, to my recollection, have never dropped a single call. Since upgrading to a Blackberry, the internet works just fine for me (streams videos and all) and have had spectacular customer service when upgrading or fixing any problems with the 'phones. So…anyway, there’s another side of it. Meanwhile, to the OP, I happened to be at the Radio Shack/AT&T kiosk yesterday when a customer was having the sales person show them a map of coverage areas (good versus bad). I didn’t know until yesterday that you could even see that sort of thing, but it might be a good idea to check out if you go looking for a new provider.
Remember where so much of the the blogger crowd is located: San Francisco and New York. FWIW, the wireless provider I’ve had the most reception problems with is T-Mobile. Too many dead zones.
My problem was always AT&T customer service. No dropped calls, but I had a dumb phone that was difficult to text on, so I don’t do it. But the customer service sucked.
I recently had to wait out the contract length so I could dump them. I’ve been on a $39.99 plan since 2001, and it has since grown to approx. $65/month, after taxes, county taxes, post-9/11 fees and other random fees.
I bailed out of that and joined Virgin Mobile for $25/mo unlimited everything. I am now a happy camper.
Nope, no company loyalty from me. My mother worked for AT&T for 35 years before she retired. I love mom, but don’t care for the Death Star. So nerts to them.
Santa Cruz, actually. Hey, I was just sharing my experience. And yes RaftPeople I am serious. BTW, I switched from Verizon (due to messy relationship issues) which I liked less but didn’t think “sucked”.
No interesting story, merely the room where x-rays were being taken.
Over the years I have had Verizon, T-mobile, ATT plus probably 1 or 2 others I am not remembering.
Guess what? In my experience they are all very similar. They all drop calls somewhere.
Verizon. Had to stand on my patio for the phone to get reception.
T-Mobile? Had reception at the house but at 2 out of three of my offices no reception.
ATT? Great reception at home and office but there a couple of spots where I know I will drop a call if I drive through that area. BFD.
Had those with other carriers also.
When I got my first iPhone it locked up on the 2nd day I had it. Took it back to the ATT store. Salesman took it in the back and 3 minutes later it was back and functioning. I have never had any other interactions with ATT customer service other than that and when I upgraded to my new iPhone. That was painless also.
*“It doesn’t look like (Verizon Wireless) decimated AT&T as many people thought they might,” said Piper Jaffray analyst Christopher Larsen.
AT&T, which reduced the price of one iPhone model to $50 in the quarter, also noted that it still added 3.6 million new iPhones to its network in the quarter and that 23 percent of those customers switched from rival services.*
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/20/att-idUSN2013421720110420
Let us know how that class action idea works out for you! 
Is your point that 3.6 million new customers are about to overload AT&T’s network even more?
Or that 3.6million people that didn’t know AT&T sucked are about to find out?
Either way, both good points.
How could that many people not know AT&T sucks with all you AT&T bashers out there calling for class action lawsuits? :rolleyes:
Looks like the “real” point you have now unwittingly made is that you you don’t get the point.
Equating a growing business constantly building new infrastructure and adding more customers and increasing revenue with sucking clearly illustrates your willful ignorance.
I suspect most of the current crop of AT&T bashers fal into one of 2 categories: 1) clueless cretins who bought smartphones without checking the coverage maps and/or did not learn how to use them properly. 2) Ship jumpers who traded their contract termination fee for self-indulgent gadget grabbing with nothing on the horizon but losing another contract termination fee on the iPhone 5 rollout timing.
Just a little speculation. 
Let us know how that “not sucking” and being a retarded AT&T basher works out for you!
It’s working out quite well for me, thank-you very much. I can make a call anywhere I want (even in my basement) without worrying about dropping calls, and I pay significantly less than the average AT&T customer does using comparable equipment. If that makes me retarded, well then, so be it.
You appear to have confused the roles of customer and shareholder. As a customer, I form my opinion of a service based on my personal experience with its performance*. While it’s nice to hear that they’ve added 3.6 million new customers, or that the last quarter’s profits exceeded expectations, or that they’ve just laid down 100 miles of fiber optic cable in Fish Nuts, Idaho, it doesn’t mean shit if my phone doesn’t work when I need it to. If I’m paying for a service that I’m not getting, they suck, regardless of how big the CEO’s last bonus was.
Just not smart enough to find a good deal? I’m paying $197/mo. for 4 iPhones, unlimited messaging, 2gigs data @-8gigs total) and 700 combined minutes. That’s less than $50/mo apiece. Show me a cheaper (much less “significantly”) plan for that service level.
I love it when they resort to “significantly,” “most,” and other “non-specific” terminology. :rolleyes:
Edit: OBTW, that’s total inc, taxes, fees, yada, yada.
I am on a single line plan–450 minutes a month (including free incoming calls, mobile to mobile, and unlimited nights and weekends starting at 7 PM), unlimited text messaging and 5GB of data. It is a bundled plan that comes in at $69 a month.
According to AT&T’s website, the most comparable plan is Nation 450 w/ Rollover minutes at $39.99, Data Pro 2 GB for $25, and Messaging Unlimited for $20. Add it all up and it comes to $84.99 a month. Keep in mind my plan includes 3GB more a month data.
Significantly less? Absolutely. And before you spew out more crap, it is a contract plan.
Now, you show me a cheaper plan than the one I’m on, sport.
Not smart enough to find a better deal. Oh well… :rolleyes:
Let me guess: You pay sticker price for cars, right?
Man - I thought console fanboy argument threads were dumb, but now…
What more do you want? I have provided rates as published by AT&T to again prove you wrong (it’s not the first time, either. As my cite, well, just go look back at this thread). Now you’re trying to tell me that cell phone rates are negotiable? I call bullshit.
Provide cites to your claims or go away. It’s to the point where you’re just arguing to be an asshole. What do they call that again?
I guess when your screen name is “Cell Guy” you gotta go with what you got. 
When your network is broken, it’s pretty easy to set low prices - heck, any dollars will probably do.
I bet if you had offered AT&T $50 for the entire 2 years, the manager would have thought to himself:
“Hmmm, 50 dollars to use our crappy network? We only have $100 invested in it, 1 more sale and we break even, yep, let’s do it”