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Well after much ado, I have left AT&T behind and couldn’t be happier. Not only is my service better (so far no dropped calls or data connections), but I saved money on my monthly service (for me and my family) over what I was paying at AT&T. After much complaining about my AT&T service, my wife’s phone died and I refused to get a new phone with accompanying contract from AT&T and suffer for another two years. My wife and I had talked about moving carriers multiple times, and even took a trip over to the Sprint store so she (and my daughter) could look at the phones in person. While out on a date (with my wife), we stopped by a different Sprint store which was much bigger and had more phones on hand. After a bit more discussion, and call my daughter to look at the phones on-line (so she could pick one), I bit the bullet and made the switch. We also had to call my oldest son so he knew that his service was about to end, he promptly came to the store to sign up on a new account with Sprint also. This also helped reduce my monthly service charges. My wife and I both purchased EVO’s and are quite happy with them.

So now I will stop complaining about AT&T’s service, but since I work in the wireless industry, I may still complain about what they do to their customers (and possibly T-Mobiles).

It would seem that AT&T is going to continue to be forefront on my mind as they announce their intention to purchase T-Mobile for $39 billion (US) in cash and stocks. Why should you care? Well, if the purchase goes through there will be only one GSM network in the US. No big deal? Consider the costs.

AT&T has the worst reputation as far as carriers goes, they have really bad customer service and a really unreliable network. So, we would have one less choice for service. Additionally, AT&T is going to use the spectrum the T-Mobile currently uses for 3G data service for LTE. Great you say? Not for T-Mobile customers, who would have to purchase new phones as they would no longer have data service and with that they would have to sign contracts for the data plans that AT&T provides; which means their cost for the service plan will go up significantly. AT&T will have no reason to make it cheaper to use their service, and as some have referred to AT&T’s practices as ‘draconian’, now more people would have to look elsewhere for service.

You could argue that T-Mobile has a fairly reliable network, and that will help AT&T. I would argue that the only reason AT&T has such bad network service is that they did not upgrade the network to be more reliable, and with that track record, why would you possibly think that they would change that. They will now just have more cell sites that will degrade over time. True, AT&T has announced upgrades to their network that will enable them to claim ’4G’ (not real 4G, the fake stuff that all the carriers except Verizon are claiming) in more places, namely Portland and San Diego. Spending $19 billion in upgrades will not help AT&T much, or they could forgo upgrading their network in the hopes that they can rest on the T-Mobile network for a time. Except that AT&T and T-Mobile do not use the same spectrum frequencies for 3G (4G) data, which will leave the AT&T customers still wanting a reliable network.

What a tangled web they weave. I would have liked it better if Sprint would have purchased T-Mobile.

It seems that I am really unhappy with the way AT&T has been acting lately, and this would be no exception. If I have a data plan, I should be able to use that data connection any way I wish. If I choose to use it only on my phone or tether to my laptop, the choice should be mine as I am paying for the data connection. AT&T says ‘No, you must have a tethering plan for that.” So AT&T get to charge me twice for the same data connection? How is that right?

Recently some AT&T customers have received a text message that goes like this:

“AT&T Free Msg: Did you know tethering your Smartphone to a computer requires a tethering plan? Pls call 888-860-6789 for details or visit att.com/dataplans.”

Then AT&T sends out an email:

“Dear [Customer],

We’ve noticed your service plan may need updating.
Many AT&T customers use their smartphones as a broadband connection for other devices, like laptops, netbooks or other smartphones– a practice commonly known as tethering. Tethering can be an efficient way for our customers to enjoy the benefits of AT&T’s mobile broadband network and use more than one device to stay in touch with important people and information. To take advantage of this feature, we require that in addition to a data plan, you also have a tethering plan.
Our records show that you use this capability, but are not subscribed to our tethering plan.
If you would like to continue tethering, please log into your account online at Cell Phones and Cell Phone Plans – Wireless from AT&T, or call us at 1-888-860-6789 Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. CST or Saturday, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. CST, by March 27, 2011 to sign up for DataPro 4GB for Smartphone Tethering.
Here are details on the plan:
DataPro 4GB for Smartphone Tethering
• $45 per month (this gives you 4GB in total, combining both your smartphone data plan for $25 and the tethering feature, $20)
• $10 per each additional GB thereafter, added automatically as needed
• Mobile Hotspot capabilities are included for compatible Smartphones
If we don’t hear from you, we’ll plan to automatically enroll you into DataPro 4GB afterMarch 27, 2011. The new plan – whether you sign up on your own or we automatically enroll you – will replace your current smartphone data plan, including if you are on an unlimited data plan.
If you discontinue tethering, no changes to your current plan will be required.
It’s easy to track your usage throughout the month so there are no bill surprises. For example, we send you free text messages when you reach 65, 90, and 100 percent of your plan’s threshold. If you would like to monitor your account more closely, go towww.att.com/dataplans to learn about other ways to track your data usage.
As a reminder, our smartphone data plans also include unlimited usage of Wi-Fi at no additional charge. AT&T smartphone customers can use Wi-Fi at home or on-the-go at any one of our more than 23,000 U.S. hotspots already included in your data plan.
Thank you for bringing your account up to date. We appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve your mobile broadband needs.
Sincerely,
AT&T”

Is it just me, or have they gone over the line as far as trumped up billing. We all saw this on the wireline side, now the cell services are doing it too. It would not be so bad if it were say $5, but a $20/mo. charge just so I can attach my laptop to my phone, they are off their rocker. Just one more reason to stop using the service. There will be some point where the cost will become so high (like the price of gasoline) that people will stop using their cell phones (much like people dropped their wireline phone service). Long praise snail mail (well that is going up too… crap).

AT&T jumped on the 4G bandwagon to save face in the public arena. However, things have not worked out they way they planned as they have been called out by numerous testing facilities on the speed of their ’4G’ network. Today AT&T announced an upgrade to that ’4G’ network in San Diego. What I find interesting is that they state that it will enable the ’4G’ speeds that they claim they already have.

“AT&T*, building on its strong 2010 record of network accomplishments, today announced network improvement plans designed to enable 4G speeds** and enhanced reliability to San Diego and surrounding communities in 2011.  The wireless network enhancement plans are part of AT&T’s planned $19-billion investment in its wireless and wireline networks and other capital projects in 2011.” (Source – PRNewswire).

So really they don’t have the fastest network in the nation if they need to spend $19-billion to upgrade their network. Just something to think about.

As a side note – I have been a customer of the same network here in Las Vegas since 1997, which is now owned by AT&T. Am I a little critical? You betcha, the network service has been rapidly degrading over the last few years and is now bad enough to where I am looking for another service provider. Way to go AT&T!

UPDATE: AT&T has also announced a network upgrade in Portland, the release seems to be pretty close to a cut and paste job with some extra details. I am seeing a trend here…

The Motorola Atrix is a new phone that I had the chance to use at CES. I was sold on it after only fifteen minutes of use, and I was really impressed with the thought that Moto put into the docks that will be available. The laptop dock in particular held my attention for a period of time due to its innovation. I want one…

However, I was disappointed that AT&T has put the price point so high ($500) for the laptop dock, that I may just abandon the idea all together. I have been on the same network since 1996 going through multiple carrier purchases (Nevada Bell, Pacific Bell, SBC, Cingular, & AT&T) and have been a loyal customer. Granted I have suffered through the bad customer service with AT&T, and the dropped calls (which are getting more frequent), and this phone was AT&T’s saving grace for me. Until I saw the price for the laptop dock. Sure I could do without it and have a nice phone, but I use my phone for work and would like to not have to carry around a heavy laptop with my phone. This would have been a great solution for me.

Many have suggested that AT&T is just testing the waters, but after killing the ‘unlimited’ data plan (another thing that I use) and requiring another fee for tethering if you buy the laptop dock through them (another $20 a month) they have effectively killed my interest in this phone. Thanks AT&T! Sprint is sounding nicer by the day. Maybe even Verizon (don’t bet on it).