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AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

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Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#21

Post by jsz0 »

tsetse-fly wrote: post #17
tptacek wrote: post #12

I'm not seeing Siegler acknowledge whether or not he had enabled TechCrunch's "safe" AT&T tethering hack, which is notorious for messing up voicemail. This despite multiple commenters asking him. (I think TC readers may have another nasty surprise waiting when AT&T finally gets to running 'awk' on the logfiles those tethering sessions land in.)

Can anyone that hasn't enabled tethering confirm that their visual voicemail hasn't been working? There were a slew of people on the MacRumors forums that were tethering and didn't realize that their visual voicemail had been broken for days.

Yep it's a well known side effect of some of the tethering hacks. This gentleman may have created his own problem and is now having a hissy over it.

Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#22

Post by quizbiz »

physcab wrote: post #18
tsetse-fly wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can anyone that hasn't enabled tethering confirm that their visual voicemail hasn't been working? There were a slew of people on the MacRumors forums that were tethering and didn't realize that their visual voicemail had been broken for days.

If people ever called me I would be able to tell.

Give people a reason to need to call you.

Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#23

Post by Xichekolas »

jsz0 wrote: post #19

Apple should seriously consider buying Sprint. When they first struck a deal with Cingular one of my first thoughts was they were picking a carrier that was within their reach to purchase down the road. Obviously AT&T had the same idea though. Given Apple's position in mobile electronics it would make a lot of sense to own their own data network. EVDO data in every device. iTunes Store over EVDO on every iPod. Extrem…

That is actually possible too, since Sprint's market cap is only $12.8b, and Apple's is $135b. A deal that is part cash, mostly Apple stock would probably go down well with current Sprint shareholders (the ones I know are fairly pessimistic about Sprint's future, but are holding in the hopes that the Pre helps, or it gets acquired for a premium).

Sprint definitely has a history of horrible customer service, which maybe Apple could finally slay. I live in their home market (KC), so obviously coverage is great here, but not sure if it would be sufficient nationwide to be worth it to Apple. That said, Amazon apparently thinks coverage is sufficient for the Kindle.

Definitely an interesting idea... who knows if Apple really wants to bother running the network though. It could take a while to raise network and customer service quality to meet Apple-customer expectations (ie. perfection), tarnishing Apple's hard-earned brand name along the way. Claiming all the successes (the device) and blaming all the problems (the network) on AT&T could be convenient.

Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#24

Post by derefr »

jsz0 wrote: post #19

Apple should seriously consider buying Sprint. When they first struck a deal with Cingular one of my first thoughts was they were picking a carrier that was within their reach to purchase down the road. Obviously AT&T had the same idea though. Given Apple's position in mobile electronics it would make a lot of sense to own their own data network. EVDO data in every device. iTunes Store over EVDO on every iPod. Extrem…

Apple would enjoy many benefits from buying a telecom company, but there's one factor that would almost certainly prevent it: anything bad the telecom did would then be blamed by the public (even if completely irrationally) on Apple. Apple makes most of their money from being the "sexy consumer electronics company", and no matter how you try to spin a telecom, you can't make it sexy. The only way Apple could successfully buy out a telecom would involve replacing the entire culture of the telecom with Apple's own dedication-to-snobby-perfection culture, which itself would involve replacing most of the employees and management with Apple's own. They'd have no one left to make computers!

Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#25

Post by BrentRitterbeck »

derefr wrote: post #24
jsz0 wrote: post #19

Apple should seriously consider buying Sprint. When they first struck a deal with Cingular one of my first thoughts was they were picking a carrier that was within their reach to purchase down the road. Obviously AT&T had the same idea though. Given Apple's position in mobile electronics it would make a lot of sense to own their own data network. EVDO data in every device. iTunes Store over EVDO on every iPod. Extrem…

Apple would enjoy many benefits from buying a telecom company, but there's one factor that would almost certainly prevent it: anything bad the telecom did would then be blamed by the public (even if completely irrationally) on Apple. Apple makes most of their money from being the "sexy consumer electronics company", and no matter how you try to spin a telecom, you can't make it sexy . The only way Apple could success…

While Apple has the iPhone, they're not a telecom company. Few companies do well when they start to stray outside of their core competencies. Think Time Warner.

Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#26

Post by santry »

tsetse-fly wrote: post #17
tptacek wrote: post #12

I'm not seeing Siegler acknowledge whether or not he had enabled TechCrunch's "safe" AT&T tethering hack, which is notorious for messing up voicemail. This despite multiple commenters asking him. (I think TC readers may have another nasty surprise waiting when AT&T finally gets to running 'awk' on the logfiles those tethering sessions land in.)

Can anyone that hasn't enabled tethering confirm that their visual voicemail hasn't been working? There were a slew of people on the MacRumors forums that were tethering and didn't realize that their visual voicemail had been broken for days.

FWIW, I've been using the tethering hack from http://help.benm.at on an iPhone 3GS and visual voicemail has been working just fine.

Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#27

Post by ojbyrne »

tsetse-fly wrote: post #10
spoondan wrote: post #3

I loathe AT&T. It mistreats employees and customers. It overcharges and delivers astonishingly poor service. It makes regular billing "mistakes". It willingly, almost gleefully, assists in the violation of its customers rights and privacy. It is a paragon of inefficiency. It fights against progress to keep its anachronistic business model relevant. It uses the legal system as a club. And it ensures that any actions b…

Most of what you're saying also applies to the other carriers in the US. Verizon has a history of crippling its phones. Sprint has horrible customer service. T-Mobile has very little coverage. There are no good carriers.

My experience suggests the same for Canada. And it seems likely that can be broadened to the entire world.

Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#28

Post by treyp »

santry wrote: post #26
tsetse-fly wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can anyone that hasn't enabled tethering confirm that their visual voicemail hasn't been working? There were a slew of people on the MacRumors forums that were tethering and didn't realize that their visual voicemail had been broken for days.

FWIW, I've been using the tethering hack from http://help.benm.at on an iPhone 3GS and visual voicemail has been working just fine.

try setting your greeting

Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#29

Post by miles »

Xichekolas wrote: post #7
spoondan wrote: post #3

I loathe AT&T. It mistreats employees and customers. It overcharges and delivers astonishingly poor service. It makes regular billing "mistakes". It willingly, almost gleefully, assists in the violation of its customers rights and privacy. It is a paragon of inefficiency. It fights against progress to keep its anachronistic business model relevant. It uses the legal system as a club. And it ensures that any actions b…

This is also the company whose sales reps swear up and down, to this day, that they don't offer dry loop DSL "because there is no demand". Of course, if you know the magic phone number, you can call the dry loop division directly, and they are as helpful as can be. I asked one once why they were so hidden... she answered: politics.

And the magic phone number is...?

1-800-264-0002

But you might want to do a bit of research before signing up:

Get AT&T Dry Loop/Naked DSL In 5 Minutes http://consumerist.com/342490/

AT&T Dry Loop DSL Hard To Find, Get And Cancel http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Dry-Loop-DSL-Hard-To-...

Re: AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure

#30

Post by charrington »

I totally agree that my new iPhone is basically an iPod touch. I get no AT&T signal at my house and marginal signal elsewhere. And it looks like I don't even get voicemails reliably. I should cancel my AT&T contract (there is a 30 day grace period) and get an iPod touch instead. There is no phone in the iPhone thanks to AT&T.
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