Please Kill The AT&T iPhone Monopoly

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.