Going Cellular

I've had AT&T and Verizon and I've had a problem with reception on both - in my own yard. I'm wanting to go to a family plan and try to save some money. I don't use half the minutes on the lowest plan. All I want is mainly for emergency purposes. They won't let me go to anything smaller than 450 min.

I called AT&T on Feb. 20, 2010. The rep asked me if I wanted to add the data package. I asked if I could cancel it after a few days (to make sure there wasn't a minimum fee)? The rep assured me that I could cancel it any time. I agreed. Feb. 25, 2010, I called to cancel the data plan. She asked why and put me on hold. After several minutes, she came back and said that because I have a “smart” phone, I was required to have the data package. I explained that I have had this phone for 3 years now and have never had the data package before. She said it was a new policy since Nov. I told her that the rep who sold me the data plan told me that I could cancel it. She put me on hold for couple of minutes and then said she was sorry, but I would have to keep paying for it. My only option was to buy a new phone from them that was not a "smart" phone. I explained to her that I run a business and need to have my current phone. I explained again that I was told I could cancel any time. She said the rep had not made a note in my record saying I had permission to cancel the service. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She put me on hold for 10 minutes, and then said she was sorry, but I had to keep it. I asked again to speak to a supervisor. She put me on hold for 5 minutes, and then I spoke to China, who also told me that it was AT&T policy and I can never cancel it. I told her I was not informed of that and explained what I had been told. She said I would have to keep the data plan or buy a different phone. I refused to buy a different phone and asked how to close my account. She offered to send me a non-smart phone to use. I appreciate receiving a free phone, but it is not acceptable that the phone which I bought from AT&T for hundreds of dollars is now unusable unless I pay for a data plan. I’ll have to carry 2 phones. I also find it unacceptable that their rep told me I could cancel the service, and they are refusing to honor that. If she had told me I could never cancel, I would never have signed up.

Update: I called to activate the free phone that they sent me. The supervisor, China, told me that I would not have to pay any fees for the phone or activation and that I would not have to renew my contract to use the new phone. However, when I called, they told me that they were sorry I was misinformed, but in order to activate the phone they sent me, I would have to agree to a 24-month contract and pay the activation fee. I explained who I had talked to and what they had told me, but they refused to honor it, again.

You son-of-a-bitches, and yes you should be able to detect quite a bit of anger in the opening of this letter.
You have misrepresented and lied to me about your worldwide cell service to me again and for the last time. I am stuck here in Kaohsiung, Taiwan with no cell coverage other than to be only able to receive incoming calls. This is after on Friday Feb. 12th I called AT&T to confirm that I had my worldwide coverage intact and that there would be a seamless transition when I arrived in Taiwan. The two times I traveled, someone or your incompetent system placed a roaming block on my worldwide coverage and once again as of this letter I still have no coverage.
On Friday morning Feb. 19th before I called the international customer service number from my cell phone and the number that the Chunghwa Telecom’s recording gave, besides it stating that my cell phone is unauthorized to use the system. When I attempted to contact the number provided ; 0800080090 which is Chunghwa Telecom on my phone it tell me that my cell phone is unauthorized to use the system and then gives me the same number to call. When I attempted to call that number on my friend’s cell phone it prompts for the cell phone number which when I entered +19546326865, and then it promptly disconnects.
On Friday night 9:15 PM my time, 0815 EST Saturday your time, I call your customer service number; +19168434685 and talked to one of your representatives and then to one of your technicians on my friends phone which I will demand total reimbursement for the :21::43 international calling time. My Case number is TT00013267021, now it’s bad enough that this is the 3rd time that you have left me stranded without cell coverage the last time you cost me a quick diving job, since I am a self employed freelance Commercial Diver and rely on my cell phone, oh yes, that job was for between $ 5,000 to $ 10,000.
Now when I called, I was assured by your technician that this problem would be rectified within 24 hours which has come and gone, I have received no call back from AT&T as to the status of this problem.
Now if the services that I provide, the representation of myself, and my product were done in the same way as AT&T’s I would never be able to have any follow-up job offers for my services, so now what now is your major malfunction?
In fact I would bet that T-Mobile and even Verizon would be able to provide me with the coverage that I need. Come to think of it I know a lot of people including my family members use AT&T for their cell phone coverage, also I’m sure that the Better Business Bureau, and your competitors’ would also be interested in your misrepresentation of your services.
When I found out, by checking my account 9546326865 on the AT&T web site, I found this nice little message copied right off the web site; L103: As a security precaution, your account has been locked. For further assistance, you may click the image below to access our live Click to Chat group during the following times: 8:00am - 10:00pm M-F, 8:00am - 9:00pm Sat ET; or call Customer Service at 1-800-331-0500 or dial 611 from your wireless phone.
Now what part of worldwide coverage does this include, especially when I was assured that I would have seamless coverage. Also, when I informed the technician of this note and that my account had been locked he addimently denied this, which even more inflamed me because, basically he was implying that I was lying about the above message, that my account had been locked.
Now you need to fix my non-coverage by any means possible, even if you need to resort to kissing Chunghwa Telecom’s ass. Because I am going to be here until March 5th and when I get back to the States, AT&T will wish that they never treated me and misrepresented their product.
As of last night Saturday the 20th I still had no coverage and I found out from my friend, an interesting reason for your incumbency and for the lack of coverage which is, that AT&T and Chunghwa Telecom do not have a good working and binding relationship. Now if this is indeed fact then you are libel for the misrepresentation of your services. And by not informing me as of the my inquiry and agenda on the Feb. 12th call and insured that I would have cell phone coverage in Taiwan, China, and Japan as soon as my flight landed. I could have had time to cross my services to another provide that would offer the coverage I required.
Now fix my coverage and pronto!
Also call me as to the status of my coverage at 954-632-6865 since I can’t call you.
David Sim, (one very pissed-off customer)

never again.....I gave att a chance and they screwed it up FOREVER. I do not recommend att to anyone. Their customer service is horrible!! I canceled the line 3 days after I recieved the phone and still been having problems with the bill for 3 months now. I had to keep calling in to make sure they had my phone and to make sure my bill was only going to be for the days that I had the phone. They dont communicate with each other (the notes they leave for each other dont help) nor do they communicate with their customers!! Also get this, I recieved my phone bill a month later for $200 for the 3 days my phone was active...I went into the att store and he opened up my line and it show that it was currently ACTIVE even though att recieved the phone back weeks ago!!! If you do have an account with ATT and are having problems, make sure you keep calling back to verify that they did what they said because everytime I called back, nothing changed as if I never called them and left my bill to rack up.

I recently switched from AT&T contract based plan because I just couldn't keep up with the exorbitant monthly bills, not to mention their mediocre at best customer service. This time I went for prepaid mobile phone which i bought at Wal Mart. The plan is Straight Talk and though the phone is a no bells-and-whistles cell, it's perfect for texting and talking. The plan comes with unlimited calls, unlimited text, unlimited web access for just $45. By far the best plan out there right now.

I have nothing good to say about AT&T Wireless. I live in Cincinnati, Ohio and AT&T's 3G coverage and service here is terrible. I am on my second Blackberry phone and am constantly getting dropped calls at all times of the day and night, poor voice quality where there is crackling and static when I attempt to make a call, the voice constantly cuts out and sounds garbled, there are many times when I don't receive voice or text messages for a day or two, and there are many dead zones. On top of all this, the 3G network will go down periodically through the week. It's ridiculous and I am at the end of my rope. I pay $100 a month for this kind of service. I have called customer service and tech support numerous times and am always given the run around. Nothing is ever fixed. I'm on my second phone and the problems are still happening. My phone isn't the problem, it's their poorly managed network that they refuse to spend any money on to upgrade or add towers. Believe me, AT&T does not care about customers, it's about getting the money. I never had these kind of problems with Verizon and Sprint.

In every bill they charge additional money. Your bill never come normal. You should give at least 4 hours per month to talk to AT&T people to fix your problem, very stressed. Customer Service worst, very impolite. Once a customer service guy became enraged at me, very funny. You have to wait long hours on call. The plans and rates are very confusing. They charge two month bills for data plan in first month. They try to cheat you and grab your money wherever and whenever they can. I am Switching to Verizon.

Being handicapped, and retired, my wife and I started with AT&T sometime ago, now we can no longer afford the poor service, and dropped calls. At $@300.00 per month I can not get the dropped calls, nor poor reception remeeded, and they could careless; Tech. support, yeah, right. They have jacked me long enough, look-up" Materially Adverse", people cause this may be their wake-up call. BAD DOG !!!!!!!!!

NOTHING BUT DROPPED CALL BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE DONT BUY A PHONE FROM AT&T MY HUSBAND AND I ARE GOING TO VERIZON THIS IS WHY GM WENT DOWN BAD SERVICE YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED.

AT&T SERVICE IS THE WORST WE HAVE NEVER BEEN LATE WITH A PAYMENT MOVED TO A NEW ADDRESS AFTER 8 YEARS AT THE LAST ONE LATE BY MAIL BEING REROUTED TO NEW ADDRESS THEY TURNED OUR PHONE OFF WE PAY $150.00 A MO AND NEVER LATE GO TO VERIZON WE HAD THEM AND THIS NEVER HAPPENED SWITCHING TODAY THEY SUCK.

AT&T has been decent in this area, though there are alot of areas where the calls just randomly drop or signal is weak on one phone but on another it's strong. Driving around and using network functions is a hit or miss proposition.

Unreliable service along north green oaks blvd in far north Arlington, Tx close to the trinity river Very poor - one bar to zero bars; numerous dropped / uncompleted calls

AT&T provided excellent customer service--on a holiday!
I bought an iPhone in February. Very soon afterward, I started receiving calls for the woman who had the number before me. Calls from random people at all hours of the night, bill collectors, and even a call from a bail bondsman who practically interrogated me over the phone to make sure I wasn't actually her trying to fool him. The last straw was on Easter when I got a text from a guy saying, "Hey baby, just got out of jail." I thought I'd be nice, so I texted back and said it wasn't so-and-so's number anymore. He texted back a profanity-laden, threatening message. I called AT&T right then. Even though it was Easter, I was able to get through to a real person, quickly and easily. I explained the situation, and asked for a new number. The CSR apologized, was very helpful and friendly, and changed the number immediately. She also waived the usual $36 fee they charge for number changes because of the circumstances. I don't get any wrong number calls anymore, or any texts from jail.

very unsatisfied with at&t service. i am not the only customer in this area that has suddenly lost service. this company chooses to just double talk the situation,and offer no reason for the sudden drop in the service. if this cannot be corrected the contracts should be invalid! if all these customers don't pay thier bill wouldn't they be in default of thier contract?? i rated one star because i couldn't rate any lower! at&t customers beware don't expect any resolve to service problems as you will only get the runaround.

I know it's asking too much of any big corporation, but I insist that anybody I do business with have a desire to build relationship with customers, not just get whatever they can from customers. AT&T has inherited Apple's bait-and-switch and exhorbidant hidden charge and cusomer gouging philosophy. When I signed up for my AT&T plan they told me I could get an iPhone 3g at the contract price in mid-contract by simply renewing the contract for another two years. When it came time for me to buy the 3g, they told me I had to wait until my contract expired. Typical Apple bait-and-switch.

One thing I do know is don't buy the LG Vu or CU920 it sucks if you don't live in a big city!!!!!!

if you are looking for service and reliability, don't switch to ATT. i have been dissapointed with their service. i have been having dropped calls and not signal on my phone for a few days now and they having been able to help me. i called to terminate the contract with them,but they want to charge, when the problem is their service. but my only solution will be to pay and not give them my business again.

If there was an option for zero stars I would choose that. This service is horrible, I drop 4 out of 5 calls. I could have full reception and then I have none. At first I thought it was just my phone. I than recently moved to a bigger city in Illinois and I have no reception ANYWHERE! I have friends with US cellular who have full bars where I have none. My suggestion would be NOT TO GET THIS SERVICE!! It is useless.

My service just keeps getting worse and worse. They say I have coverage in my area and I keep telling them I don't. I haave dropped calls, undelivered voice mails, no service.

I have had too much problmes with at&t.
I got two junk phones that cost 200.00 and cant use them, they won't fix them, claiming it was my fault.
they charged me 127.00 without giving me the option.
never received the second rebate.
was ignored when I called by phone and email..

I don't recommend at&t to anyone.

Overall cell coverage is good but data coverage is spotty I go in and out of 3G areas pretty frequently. However when I travel coverage is always better in bigger cities.

I'm not really big on sifting through the details of all the plans. For me, most important is just being able to GET RECEPTION everywhere I go, which is a lot of places. I also live in a rather hilly area.

AT&T (I came in thru Cingular) is the one and only service I've tried (also tried Sprint, Verizon) that gives me good if not great reception pretty much everywhere I go.

Plus, I am a fan of the 450 minutes plan.

Love my IPhone. Service is great. Can talk, surf the net, get directions and store all my songs, pictures etc.

I like the rolloever minutes feature which has really helped us.