Please Kill The AT&T iPhone Monopoly
Sep 11th, 2009 by Brett Greene
I don’t want to hate my AT&T cell phone service and the iPhone monopoly, but I do. To be fair, I know people on the East Coast who love AT&T and can’t stand Verizon. But in Colorado, Verizon service is awesome and AT&T is way below par. I’m talking about constant dropped calls, conversations that cut in and out and lack of internet access.
Apparently this is true in Austin and other areas too.
Even though I mostly use my phone for data and hardly use the voice option I have to pay a premium price for it. The lowest voice plan is 450 minutes so I can’t even lower that to 150 which is still more than I use.
But that’s not the biggest issue. The worst thing is that I work from home and can’t even access the Apple App store much less talk to someone on the phone from that location.
The AT&T customer service representative I spoke with today pulled up my location and said, “Yes, in your area we have low to no service, but if you walk 10 feet away it could be better. I see that there’s a note to add a transmitter near you, but there is no date scheduled for when it will be built” (Awesome! And I have a note to give you a million dollar check, but I don’t know when it will be written.)
Me – “Actually, I’ve tried using the phone while I walk my dog in the neighborhood and while driving and it’s bad for at least a 2 mile radius.”
AT&T – “Well, your options are to either cancel your service or pay the full monthly amount.”
Me – “Can I get a discounted monthly rate since I’m not able to use your service or my phone most of the time from my location?”
AT&T – “No sir.”
Me – “But AT&T has a monopoly on the iPhone service contract. If I cancel my AT&T service then I can’t use my iPhone at all. I’m not able to use Verizon or another carrier that DOES have great service in my area. The iPhone is what I want, it’s your insufficient service that I don’t want. So what you’re saying is that I have to pay the full price for monthly service even though AT&T can read the fact that I can’t get decent service from you where I live. ”
AT&T – “Yes, we have the iPhone contract until at least late 2010. Please understand that the iPhone device is very complicated and is very challenging to service.”
Me – “Then why did AT&T sign an exclusive service contract for service that you admit you’re not able to provide? That’s like signing a contract to provide ice cream in the desert when you have refrigerated trucks that can’t keep the temperature cold enough to keep the ice cream from melting.”
….and on it went and I received a lovely $27 discount for one month though I’ve lived with crap service for 13 months so far.
So I’m just another blogger sharing yet another story about incompetent customer service from a corporation that quite frankly doesn’t give a damn and doesn’t take responsibility for not delivering on what you have to pay for.
Conclusion: iPhone – awesome. AT&T in Colorado – crap to non-existent service in most areas. AT&T wins short term profit and long term horrible word of mouth & faces a mass exodus in late 2010, customers lose, bloggers write about it and it doesn’t change. Excuse me now while I leave this in the past and move on to focus on issues I have some control over with hopes that I can go back to Verizon in late 2010.
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Ditto, ditto, ditto….drop. Same experience for me and others. Beyond annoying to say the least. While at CU/CSU game in Folsom Field last week I was unable to place call inside stadium for the entire game. The stadium is right in the middle of the largest university in the state that has wireless access everywhere. No coverage and no laughing matter when my 12 yr old son got stuck outside during half-time with no ticket and couldn't call me. Pathetic.
Sorry ot hear about the incident with your son Mike. That makes an even more prescient point than mine: If you're paying for phone service that doesn't work it can be dangerous in emergency situations.
Sorry to hear about the incident with your son Mike. That makes an even more prescient point than mine: If you're paying for phone service that doesn't work it can be dangerous in emergency situations.
Oh brother, and I just finally upgraded (or so I thought) to an iPhone after 5 years of being a crackberry addict. Sure, the apps are way cool but the mail and phone are just lousy on the iPhone and yes, the cell coverage is worse than with my BB which was also on AT&T (not 3G). Love the YouTube video and will definitely post to Apple about how they are slowly killing their brand with this contract. Thanks for sharing your pain Brett.
Thanks Fiona. Too bad we all have pain to share. The voices have been loud on this for awhile sowe'll see what happens down the road.
My friend, Mark Blair, posted this on the Facebook version of this post and it's worth noting here too:
Keep in mind that if Apple was to offer the iPhone on Verizon and you wanted to switch, you would be forced to buy a new phone. AT&T and Verizon run different kinds of networks (GSM vs. CDMA) which require different radios in the phone. You would also lose the option of unlocking your phone and popping in a different SIM card if you ever travel internationally. It's my understanding that GSM networks are most common in Europe.
I agree completely, Brett! I've been drooling over my roommate's phone, but refuse to leave Verizon as I always have coverage when she doesn't, and ultimately, that's more important to me than anything else. 2010, huh? Guess I'll have to drool a bit longer. Can't believe no one has come up with a viable alternative to the iPhone yet!
ATT is pitiful at best. There are 5 spots in my daily drive (17miles) where I drop a call. I called ATT and they gave me the same story as Brett minus the discount.
I have 3 blackberries on the family plan and my wife can't even make a call from her library. They sent some new SIM Cards that aren't even provisioned so now I have to call back and waste another half hour of my life so I can try to connect to their network which they know is saturated and has nothing to do with the SIM Card, but this is the game I have to play if I intend to get my contract nullified.
Clarissa, yah, there's no phone close to having the great features that iPhone apps offer, but the phone service is crap. To keep it in perspective it's good to remember that it's a mini computer much more than a phone. So I guess we should give telco providers a little slack, but if they can't service the phone they shouldn't have gotten contracts to do the service.
Henry, Your story would be funny if it wasn't true. Getting out of a cell phone contract is now harder than getting out of a gym membership contract. It's amazing that it's legal for them to bind us into these contracts.
I've never heard of Blackberry issues with AT&T. I'm sorry you're experiencing that, but glad you shared.
I hear you. I was with AT&T for a while, but switched to Alltel, now Verizon. Verison rocks in my area and I live in the rural country. Can't wait to use a Blackberry in my area.
Lindsay, wait on the Blackberry and get an iPhone next year after the AT&T monopy contract expires. Then you can have all the extra iPhone features that Blackberry lacks and have Verizon – best of both worlds.
[...] With AT&T profit in the billions of dollars you would think they could just let this little blip in costs ride until they actually got a tower near this couples’ house. But no, AT&T is keeping their eye on the prize and cutting costs and aiming for even higher profits next year, in part bolstered by their iPhone monopoly. [...]