Reader Rom is angry with AT&T because they won’t sell him an iPhone 3G for the price listed in their press release. AT&T says the promotional pricing ($199 for an 8GB, $299 for a 16GB) is only available to, among others, existing iPhone customers. Rom is an existing iPhone customer.
at&t
By 8.18.08
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Good news for some of AT&T’s business customers who don’t live near a AT&T or Apple Store: if you’re part of with AT&T’s Premier Enterprise program, you can now buy your iPhone online. [PC World]
California Declares Free Market Broken, Recommends Price Controls For Phone Services
By 8.16.08
“There is no indication of any change in the near future regarding the current state of competition. Market forces have not yet met the challenge of controlling price increases.”
By 8.13.08
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Best Buy will start selling the iPhone on September 7th, making it the only retailer other than Apple and AT&T to offer the device. [Associated Press]
AT&T Lies About 3G Coverage, Buys You Off With $250 Credit
By 8.6.08
Reader Corey checked the 3G coverage map before buying a new iPhone, only to find out that the map was wrong. The story has something of a happy ending, however, because Corey says he’s pleased with the $250 service credit AT&T offered.
AT&T Calls 9 Times In 12 Days Trying To Sell DSL
By 8.5.08
Would you buy DSL service from a company that either doesn’t care about Do Not Call lists or doesn’t know how they work? A man in Missouri was harassed to the point where he considered calling the police, because no matter what he did, AT&T wouldn’t stop calling. Every time he tried contacting AT&T to get it to stop, he ended up in automated phone systems with recorded messages, busy signals, and disconnections—but never a live person. Only after he wrote to a local consumer advocacy columnist did AT&T pay attention and turn off the telemarketing fire hose. AT&T didn’t, however, explain why they were targeting this person, or whether anyone else is facing the same barrage of calls.
Get 75% Off Your ATT ETF By Switching To Pay-As-You-Go
By 8.1.08
If arguing for completely getting out of your AT&T early-termination-fee isn’t your thing, you can try doing what Felix did and get 75% off it.
Buying An iPhone Is A Huge Pain In The Butt For Business Customers
By 7.28.08
So there appears to be something of a shortage of iPhones this time around, and while it’s probably good for “creating buzz” it’s not so great for wooing busy business customers away from their Blackberries, according to reader James. You see, only the Apple store has iPhones, but only the AT&T store can activate them for James.
Verizon Was The Most Frequent Target For Identity Theft Scams In 2007
By 7.24.08
Identity theft reports to the Federal Trade Commission show that Verizon was the most frequently named company, averaging over 900 events per month in 2007. According to an updated study by Chris Hoofnagle, senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, the number of complaints involving Verizon nearly tripled from 2006. Rounding out the top five are AFNI (a collection agency), JP Morgan Chase, AT&T, and Capital One.
Getting Internet From AT&T Is Almost Impossible If Your Address Is 914½ Whatever Street
By 7.24.08
We’ve seen a few addresses that have fractions in our time on this planet, but we never stopped to think about what it was like to try to order internet at one of these locations. Turns out, its about as annoying as you think it would be. Meet Michael. His address is 914½. This problematic little fraction causes AT&T to completely freak out for two months.
AT&T Will Roll Out Tiered Internet Access In October
By 7.22.08
“When AT&T provides broadband service by speed, it will do so in discrete, non-overlapping tiers,” Quinn said in written testimony. “We will strive to provide service within the speed tier purchased by the customer and, if we find that we are not providing service within the ordered speed tier, AT&T will take action either to bring the customer’s service within the ordered tier or give the customer an option to move to a different tier.”
Should AT&T Be Advertising The iPhone's 3G Speed Where There Is No 3G Network?
By 7.21.08
Reader temporaryerror brings up an interesting point. Should AT&T and Apple be advertising the iPhone 3G as “twice as fast” in areas where there is no 3G coverage? He sent in the above advertisement from the local Wichita, KS newspaper. He says that the closest 3G network is 120 miles away in Topeka, and that the advertisement doesn’t disclose this information. Is this ok?
Moving With Movearoo's Help? Hope You Like AT&T, Verizon, And Qwest
By 7.17.08
Movearoo.com is a new website that appears to offer free assistance with your move, helping you set up things like phone service, gas, and electricity at your new address. The site calls itself “Your Total Moving Resource.” It’s a helpful site, sure, but you should be aware that it’s funded by AT&T, Verizon, and Qwest, and exists primarily to promote their services. In other words, you won’t find a comprehensive list of competing phone service providers through Movearoo, only those offered by the three sponsor companies. A consumer advocate points out the drawback of making Movearoo your sole relocation resource:
By 7.15.08
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Well, it looks like the new iPhone has been unlocked already. [Gizmodo]
Two Out Of Three Of My iPhones Were Defective And The Third Won't Receive Calls
By 7.15.08
Reader Michael is having a rough time with the iPhone. He says that two out of three of the iPhones purchased by his family were defective, and the third one wouldn’t receive calls. Weirdly, this story has a happy ending, because Michael found some contact information on Consumerist that got his problem solved in 5 minutes.
That Sure Is An Expensive Phone Ya Got There, Mr. Hobo
By 7.14.08
Fine, fine, the iPhone is decent and all that, but here’s a funny clip from “The Soup” that puts the lie to that whole “It’s so much cheaper!” hype. And if you’re not an iPhone owner and need even more reason to feel good about that, check out Wisebread’s rant against people who stand in line for gadgets.
Exchanging A Defective iPhone 3G Is A Huge Pain In The Butt
By 7.14.08
Reader Joshua wants to warn everyone that exchanging your defective-out-of-the-box iPhone 3G is a huge pain the butt. His girlfriend got her iPhone on launch day but quickly discovered that the speaker was broken. She brought it into the Apple store to have it checked out and an employee accidentally dropped it. At that point, Apple told them they’d just replace to the phone. That’s where things got complicated.
