AT&T Sucks!

AT&T.  The American Telegraph and Telephone company.  An American icon.  A government supported monopoly.  As clear a case of an over-bloated, incompetent, bureaucratic, don't give a damn corporation as there is.

Some may be too young to remember when AT&T was the standard of the world.  The best service, the best customer service, at the best price of any other communications corporation on earth.  True, you have to be pretty old to remember that, but it was true.

Some of you may be too young to remember when there were hundreds of telephone companies spread throughout the land.  In the years following WWII, Eisenhower pushed to secure the U.S. by developing the interstate highway system and by consolidating communications systems to assure rapid and dependable communications nationwide.  Thus did AT&T and the "Baby Bells", the Bell Telephone Companies, gain government support for taking over every small town mom & pop telephone company in the country.

And here, 50 years later, is the result.

In an effort to consolidate my personal communications systems and possibly save a little money, I contacted AT&T (my land-line and internet server) about their new U-Verse bundle.  Here's what happened:

1. Tech comes out to the house to see if I can get Uverse and determines I can.  (My brother, three doors down has it, but I'm on the fringe, about 300' away)
2. We set up the appointed day for the big switch.
3. Tech arrives and disconnects my land-line and DSL.
4. After several hours of work, tech can't get Uverse to work.  Calls in diagnostics team, meantime... no land-line phone or DSL for me.
5. Two days later diagnostic team determines signal not strong enough for me to get Uverse.  Still no land-line or DSL.  (My wife and I have a home office and depend on email and fax, neither of which now exist.  We run our business out of Panera Bread Co's. wi-fi)
6. Can't get old phone or DSL turned back on because work order in progress.
7. 4 days and dozens of calls later ATT decides we have to start over as new customers.  We lose the phone number we've had for 15 years, the one all of our business associates use.
8. 6 days later we re-establish phone and DSL service with new number.  Which means we have to contact all of our contacts to change contact information.
9. No apology, no nothing from ATT, but since we're "new" customers we get DSL at a discount for 6 months.

Would have dumped the whole thing and gone to Comcast which is our TV provider except that we lose the Comcast signal every time it rains, or if I hold my mouth wrong.  Need phone and internet more dependable than that (again, home office).  Can't use satellite as too many big trees in the way.  Direct-tv suggested we cut one down, a 100-yr old Live Oak.  Right. 

Next:

Time for me to renew my cellular service - AT&T.  Want a free or cheap upgrade as the phone I've got from the last time, an LG something-or-other "smart phone" is a piece of crap.  Here's how it goes:

1. Online looking at upgrade options when chat window opens, "How may I help you today?"
2. Me, I want a non-smart phone that will give me basic phone service but I want it to synchronize my MS Outlook calendar and contacts with phone and computer.  I don't need nor want any texting/internet/gps packages.  Do you have a phone that will do that?  (something my old Nokia did years ago)
3. Rep, Just a minute I'll check.  (5 minutes pass)  Yes sir, we do have a phone that will do that.  It's the AT&T something-or-other.
4. Me, Are you sure?
5. Rep, Just a minute.  (5 minutes pass)  Yes sir.  I checked with my supervisor and the AT&T something-or-other will do that.
6. Me,  OK, I'll take it.
7. 3 days later phone arrives.  Follow instructions for charging and activating simm chip.
8. Plug phone into computer to synchronize calendar and contacts.  Nothing.  Phone sits there.  Computer says, "What's this?"
9. Take the whole thing to local AT&T store and am told phone won't do that, I'll have to buy a smart phone and pay $15 monthly data package.
10. Pissed, I send the phone back and cancel upgrade.
11. Go back home and move new simm chip into old phone, connect to computer to download and sync calendar and contacts.
12. Event deletes half of contacts from computer (of 100 or so, remember, business) and duplicates those that are left on the phone and computer.
13. Takes over an hour to delete duplications, still haven't restored all contacts.

This was a month or so ago.  Last week got "offer" from AT&T on phone that would do everything I wanted.  Stupid me, I gave it a shot.  Same result as above, only this time I did not activate the new simm chip so was able to keep all of my data.

If it weren't for my wife and I having a "family" plan that adds my phone for only $10 a month, I would have dumped them.

The moral of the story:  Fuck AT&T!