AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure • Hacker News Board

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

#11

Post by jrockway » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 1:43 AM UTC

ErrantX wrote: post #2

honestly, this is the BEST TC post I have read in a long while. Extremely well written / crafted and contains serious, sensible points. I’m so pissed off that I kind of want to call AT&T and demand that they call each of the people I missed calls from and personally apologize. Instead, I’m writing them this very public condemnation. I would do the former. I really would. Here in the UK phone companies have such a mon…

At the moment I am stuck with a shit 18 month old phone because it is out of warranty and upgrading to a newer model (despite being a 10 yr long customer of my current company!) is too expensive outside of the limited free upgrade time.

This may surprise you, but that's actually how much a phone costs. Turns out we haven't quite gotten them to grow on trees yet.

I can't think of any industry (other than video gaming) where someone gives you something for free so you'll use their service; count the one free phone every 2 years as a blessing. If you want the latest-and-greatest, you have to buy it, just like with everything else.

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

#12

Post by tptacek » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 1:44 AM UTC

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.)

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

#13

Post by maukdaddy » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 1:44 AM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #9

What I get out of this is that it's best to avoid doing business with Apple's customers. (Nobody has ever filed a class-action lawsuit against Dell for using 6-bit LCDs instead of 8-bit LCDs.) They are much more demanding than the average customer -- Apple makes AT&T provide special exclusive features, and then their customers hold them to higher standards. "There isn't enough bandwidth." "Torrents download too slowl…

No this isn't about picky Apple fans. AT&T is truly shitty. I also switched from Verizon to AT&T for the iPhone and I loathe every minute I have to spend on AT&T's shitty network. Here in Chicago I drop every other call on average, and the ones that manage to stay up are usually full of garbled noise. No signal inside buildings that I used to get full strength on Verizon.

Still no MMS even though their other phones have had the feature for ages. God forbid you want to use the network in a crowded venue - Solider Field, Wrigley, Lollapalooza, network is shit anytime there are more than 5000 people nearby. Simply unacceptable service in a city this size.

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

#14

Post by vaksel » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 1:53 AM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #9

What I get out of this is that it's best to avoid doing business with Apple's customers. (Nobody has ever filed a class-action lawsuit against Dell for using 6-bit LCDs instead of 8-bit LCDs.) They are much more demanding than the average customer -- Apple makes AT&T provide special exclusive features, and then their customers hold them to higher standards. "There isn't enough bandwidth." "Torrents download too slowl…

That doesn't really fly, when in the same area where AT&T drops calls, Verizon operates flawlessly.

The "we are too spread" argument may work if you get shitty service in the middle of nowhere, but its unacceptable for large metro areas like NYC, SF

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

#15

Post by there » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 1:53 AM UTC

so at&t can pay a ton of money to upgrade its network (which apparently isn't going to be that much faster) and then lose the exclusive contract with apple, in the process losing lots of customers and no longer gaining new customers when apple releases new iphones.

or, it can not upgrade its network and just pay apple a much smaller amount to keep them locked into at&t, keeping all of its locked-in customers while increasing their prices, and continue to get new customers every time apple comes out with a new iphone. apple gets to sell more phones while pointing the finger at at&t for any network problems.

i wonder which one they'll do...

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

#16

Post by eb » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 1:54 AM UTC

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…

You're exaggerating.

I've had an iPhone on AT&T for 2 years without any issues. No dropped calls or billing mistakes and no issues with customer service. The rates that they charge are nearly identical to the other wireless providers for voice + data.

I'm not saying that AT&T has not had these problems, but your comment does not exemplify the experiences of the majority of their customers.

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

#17

Post by tsetse-fly » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 2:09 AM UTC

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.

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

#18

Post by physcab » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 2:27 AM UTC

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.

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

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

#19

Post by jsz0 » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 2:28 AM UTC

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. Extremely aggressive first party iPhone pricing on Sprint (while still selling a GSM model at a higher cost) They could really shake things up if they wanted to.

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

#20

Post by stavrianos » Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 2:44 AM UTC

there wrote: post #15

so at&t can pay a ton of money to upgrade its network (which apparently isn't going to be that much faster) and then lose the exclusive contract with apple, in the process losing lots of customers and no longer gaining new customers when apple releases new iphones. or, it can not upgrade its network and just pay apple a much smaller amount to keep them locked into at&t, keeping all of its locked-in customers while in…

How do you figure that "and pay apple a much smaller amount to..." bit? If it's in Apple's best interests to leave, then they will. I certainly don't think that Apple will collude with AT&T to perpetuate shitty service.