AT&T Wireless has made its next move in the race against Verizon for nationwide mobile phone domination: it’s acquiring fellow GSM carrier T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom for a combination of cash and AT&T stock currently valued at $39 billion. DT will then have an 8% stake in AT&T, and AT&T will gain 33.7 million current T-Mobile USA customers. [More]
at&t wireless
I Don't Want To Give Up My Droid X For Forced Switch To AT&T
By 10.22.10
Nick is one of the current Verizon customers whose contract has been transferred to AT&T due to Verizon’s acquisition of Alltel. He writes that he would be okay with this if AT&T actually offered a phone comparable to his current Droid X, and if he didn’t have to pay $200 for the sort-of-comparable phone they’re offering, the Samsung Captivate. [More]
How 5 Different Companies Treated Us After My Father's Death
By 9.10.10
Everyone deals with death at some point, and everyone grieves differently. The major corporations our lives are intertwined with often don’t want to let us go–or create unneeded problems for our survivors. Dan’s father recently died, and he wrote up a comparison of his family’s experiences with a variety of large companies. Out of Bank of America, American Express, Fidelity, AT&T Wireless, and Comcast, which companies do you think were the easiest to deal with under the circumstances? [More]
AT&T Still Wants Some People To Have Unlimited Data: BlackBerry Users
By 7.8.10
Michael writes that his wife uses a BlackBerry for her work e-mail, but pays for the service herself. It’s part of a family plan with Michael’s iPhone, to be precise. When Michael tried to put their phones on a limited data plan, he learned something interesting and hilariously backwards: customers can only pay $15 for Enterprise access (e-mail on a Microsoft Exchange server) if they’re also paying $30 per month for unlimited BlackBerry data. What if they don’t use that much data? Well, too bad. [More]
AT&T Kicks Business's iPhone 4 Order To The Back Of The Line
By 6.17.10
Tyler tells Consumerist that he and his family, like every other person in the United States (or so it seems) tried to pre-order the iPhone 4. Since they were ordering three phones for their small business, they dealt with the business sales department over the phone. Their order went through: and then everything went horribly, horribly wrong and the entire iPhone pre-order system went down in flames. Now Tyler and family’s order has been pushed back, and now their order now comes after those placed after their call. [More]
AT&T Salesman's Lies Stuck Me With A Stupid Obsolete iPhone
By 6.16.10
Tim writes that back in April, he walked out of a local AT&T store with a shiny new iPhone 3GS and a tiny pack of lies. A pushy salesman told Tim that he had heard from corporate that there was no new iPhone model planned for the rest of this year. Nope, no way. (Clearly neither Tim nor this salesman are regular readers of Gizmodo.) [More]
Should I Keep A Free Cell Phone Line That I Can't Actually Use?
By 4.8.10
John has a mobile phone service dilemma. He writes that he’s not able to get any reception in the dorm room where he lives. Even his carrier, AT&T, seems to have admitted defeat and has offered to waive the bill for his line for the next six months. John wonders whether he should give up on AT&T and change to a carrier that actually works. [More]
AT&T Wireless Directs Salt Lake City 911 Calls To Seattle
By 3.27.10
For some reason that no one has been able to figure out yet, on Thursday night, all 911 calls that AT&T Wireless customers in the Salt Lake City, Utah made area ended up routed to dispatchers in Seattle. [More]
Close Reading Of Press Release Shows Why Everyone Hates AT&T Wireless
By 3.26.10
The 3G Microcell, the mini cell tower that AT&T has been threatening their customer base with since last fall are coming soon. AT&T Wireless customers remain underwhelmed. Why? Using technology similar to Consumerist’s own Megglefish, Tested’s Will Smith translated the press release from PR-speak to English for us, and teased out the precise reasons why this is a terrible, terrible idea. It’s all there. You just have to find it. [More]
Don't Let AT&T Convince You That Your Phone Needs A Data Plan
By 3.4.10
At the beginning of February, we began hearing from AT&T Wireless customers who AT&T helped out by putting them on a smartphone data plan that they didn’t ask for. AT&T Wireless implemented this policy back in the fall for new subscribers, and is now apparently identifying smartphone users and putting them on data plans. However, you don’t have to keep the plan if you’d rather not…as long as you bought the phone before September 6, 2009 or it is an unlocked device. [More]
AT&T Offers Me $.08 Service Credit For My iPhone Downtime
By 2.25.10
Consumerist reader Aaron wrote in to share his experience of attempting to get a service credit from AT&T Wireless after experience a data outage on his iPhone. On one hand, he was successful in getting some money back. On the other hand, he probably spent more money getting the credit than he received. [More]
AT&T Credits New Customer's $200 T-Mobile ETF Just To Be Nice
By 2.24.10
Mike shared with Consumerist a story that is almost baffling for many reasons. First, he writes that T-Mobile charged his wife a $200 ETF when there were only 90 days left on her contract. But then a delightful, wonderful AT&T customer service rep offered a $200 credit for AT&T service–effectively paying her T-Mobile ETF and earning themselves two delighted customers in the process. [More]
AT&T Customer Service: "New York City Is Not Ready For The iPhone"
By 12.27.09 — Updated: 12.30.14
[protected-iframe id="8b5c183c552e7ef12ce4d91670010ebf-40783744-40309798" info="http://digg.com/api/diggthis.php?u=http://digg.com/apple/AT_T_New_York_City_Is_Not_Ready_For_The_iPhone " width="55" height="82" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"]AT&T has apparently found a workable solution to the reported data congestion in New York City. They’ve quietly stopped selling the iPhone from their web site to customers in the New York metropolitan area.
Update: New York customers are now able to order iPhones via AT&T’s Web site. It would appear that the company has once more modified its “promotions and distribution channels.” We’ve requested a statement from AT&T, and will update this post if and when we receive it.
AT&T Tries Pushing WiFi Instead Of Tiered Mobile Data Pricing
By 12.23.09
Realizing that their customers are not keen on the idea of tiered mobile data pricing, AT&T has a new solution: offer delicious carrots instead of beating already-dissatisfied customers with sticks. Instead, AT&T Mobility President Ralph de la Vega told BusinessWeek that AT&T is looking to expand their public wi-fi network, and use access points–free or free to AT&T customers–at sites such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Barnes & Noble to help alleviate the strain on the 3G data network. [More]
Sorry, It's Your Problem That AT&T Rep Lied About Smartphone Data Plans
By 12.20.09
Robert, an iPhone user and AT&T defender, tells Consumerist that the company has managed to turn him against them. What? No! And it’s all thanks to a misinformed retail store rep and some subsequent bad customer service from call center reps. Apparently, the employees at his local store don’t read Consumerist, or they would know that AT&T no longer allows customers with smartphones to cancel their data plans. [More]
AT&T Waives $645 In Early Termination Fees For Reader With No Service
By 11.14.09
Reader Y0himba was a loyal and happy customer of AT&T Wireless. But then the iPhone 3Gs became cheaper and proliferated, and he told both Consumerist and AT&T that his family’s phones became completely non-functional. But this is not a complaint–it is a tale of victory.
Verizon Wireless Relegates iPhone To Island Of Misfit Toys
By 11.8.09
As a whimsical follow-up to AT&T’s lawsuit concerning their “There’s a map for that” ads, Verizon Wireless released their Christmas-themed set of AT&T/iPhone bashing ads today. They’re harsh, but also pretty funny.
Deadline To Ditch Your AT&T Smartphone Data Plan Extended To Oct 31
By 10.21.09
Do you want to get rid of the data plan for your AT&T smartphone, but missed the September 6th deadline? You now have a second chance. The deadline to drop your plan has been extended until October 31st.
