Now that Operation Chokehold–the plan to stress AT&T’s 3G network today–has taken root in the media, Fake Steve Jobs is trying to redirect the enthusiasm into something that’s more television friendly. [More]
cellphones
T-Mobile Down Throughout Southern States, But Back Up Now!
By 12.17.09
What the heck, did you guys strike early, and target the wrong wireless carrier? The day before the possibly-ill-conceived “Operation Chokehold” is supposed to bring AT&T’s wireless network to a standstill, T-Mobile steals all the bad press by going out this evening across large parts of the Southeastern US and Puerto Rico.
Update: Immediately after posting this, T-Mobile announced the service was back up.
Operation Chokehold: AT&T Users To Protest Slow Network By Simultaneously Running Data-Intensive Apps This Friday, 3pm Eastern
By 12.16.09
Sick of AT&T’s unreliability and dropped calls, participants in this Friday’s “Operation Chokehold” are plotting an act of consumer disobedience to bring the network “to its knees.” [More]
AT&T Network Blame Game Takes Weird "It's Apple's Fault" Twist
By 12.14.09
Last week AT&T, in yet another of a string of PR failures about the health of its network, made things even worse by publicly blaming its customers for, you know, being customers. Over the weekend, though, a new thread was introduced into the narrative: it’s the iPhone’s fault. Not because it’s too popular, which has been the old complaint, but because the hardware doesn’t work right, and AT&T can’t say anything about it for fear that Steve Jobs will reach down through the clouds and smite them.
That sounds pretty tragic and sad for AT&T, but the problem is nobody knows if it’s true, or if this is yet another strategy to shift the responsibility from AT&T.
Teen Runs Up $22,000 Verizon Bill
By 12.14.09
After a man added his 13-year old son to his Verizon plan, his cellphone bill rocketed to nearly $22,000. [More]
Wireless Industry Needs Better Oversight From FCC, Says Government Audit
By 12.10.09
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just completed a survey of wireless customers and a review of the “tens of thousands” of complaints made to the FCC every year, and they’ve reached a verdict: the FCC needs to step up and provide a better way for consumers to get help. [More]
AT&T Hints That It Might Introduce Usage-Based Pricing For Smartphone Customers
By 12.9.09
What do you say when everyone keeps complaining that you can’t handle traffic on your network? If you’re AT&T, you say “We just need to charge more money” and “Our customers who are actually using their phones as advertised are ruining things.” AT&T’s head of consumer services, Ralph de la Vega, told investors today that usage-based pricing is going to happen eventually, and that the company is planning on giving heavy users–who make up 3 percent of their customers–“incentives to reduce or modify their usage.” Somehow I’m guessing he doesn’t mean coupons or cash-back bonuses. [More]
Sprint Fee Increase Is Your Chance To Escape Without Early Termination Fee
By 12.9.09
Sprint has confirmed they will increase monthly regulatory fees from $.20 to $.40 on January 1st, creating an opportunity for customers to drop their contracts without incurring an early termination fee, which could save you up to $200. [More]
AT&T: Want To Tell Us We Suck? There's An App For That
By 12.7.09
AT&T has debuted an iPhone app that will let AT&T/iPhone users submit reports when they experience poor phone service. This will be a popular app. [More]
AT&T Sends Monster After Verizon Subscribers In Threatening New Ad
By 12.7.09
Happy Halloween from AT&T! The maligned cellular carrier’s latest ad doesn’t seem to be as concerned with getting Verizon to stop picking on it. Instead, a headless Luke Wilson staggers around the screen, roaring silently and searching for someone to kill. Stick to AT&T or who knows what might happen to you. [More]
Senate Introduces Bill To Rein In Early Termination Fees
By 12.4.09
Yesterday, four senators introduced legislation to make cell phone early termination fees be actually related to the cost of the phone. [More]
Sprint Served Customer GPS Data To Cops Over 8 Million Times
By 12.3.09
An Indiana University grad student has made public an audio recording of a Sprint employee who describes how the company has given away customer GPS location data to cops over 8 million times in less than a year. Ars technica reports that “law enforcement [officers] could log into a special Sprint Web portal and, without ever having to demonstrate probable cause to a judge, gain access to geolocation logs detailing where they’ve been and where they are.” Update: Sprint says the 8 million figure refers to individual pings of GPS data, and that the number of individuals involved is in the thousands. [More]
It's Official, Everybody Hates AT&T
By 12.2.09
There’s a new Consumer Reports survey out that ranks cellphone companies by customer satisfaction, and to pretty much no one’s surprise, AT&T comes in last in all 19 cities surveyed. (Verizon came in first.) As AllThingsD notes, the survey “suggests that AT&T’s shortcomings are more widespread than the carrier would have us believe and not simply the product of a high concentration of iPhones in the country’s larger cities.” [More]
Sprint Forcing Customers On Too-Good-To-Be-True Plans To Upgrade
By 12.1.09
I don’t know how Corey ever managed to secure a monthly plan that only costs $2.50–oh wait, it looks like some old offer Sprint forgot about but some of their customers found. Well, now Sprint knows about it, and they’re not happy. On the bright side, hey, no ETF to worry about if you want to switch carriers, Corey. You can read Sprint’s take-it-or-leave-it offer below. [More]
Nokia Breaks Customer's Phone, Wants Money To Fix It
By 11.24.09
A couple of months ago, Nokia ruined the Wifi capabilities on Chris’s phone, and now he can’t get them to fix it. Well, actually they told him they will fix, but only if he pays for the “repair.” Ah, I see–this is a good secondary revenue strategy, Nokia. Sort of a protection racket! Well played! [More]
Sprint Gives Stranger Full Access To Customer's Account, Shrugs
By 11.20.09
When Campbell changed his phone number with Sprint earlier this year, the company immediately assigned his old number to a new customer. They also gave that customer full access to Campbell’s account.
AT&T Says Their Rep Doesn't Want To Die
By 11.19.09
AT&T is very concerned that you know the TRUTH about the chat transcript from yesterday’s “AT&T Rep Wants To Die” post that we picked up after hit the front page of Digg. They say the screengrab is “doctored” and “fraudulent.” We say, who cares? It’s a hilarious online pass-around that any normal internet user would takes with a grain of salt. By the time we had picked it up, it was already old news. In any event, they provided us with the REAL conversation between rep Darlene and customer Robert:
