AT&T... the good, the bad and the ugly

seadoug

seadoug

Well-known Member
Location
Texas
Anyone have AT&T? I have them for internet and cell phone service. A couple of years ago, they installed new 5G cables.

Our neighbors were having trees cut down in their back yard and the tree service cut our internet cable. Our internet was down all day yesterday. I knew what happened. I called their 800 number. I went through all the automated questions about whether we had rebooted our router, "I'm running some tests", "I'm still running tests", etc. The automated system even sent me a Smart Home link that didn't work. After what seemed like an eternity, I got to the prompt to have a live person call me back. They did, but the call somehow disconnected. (Could have been user error. :ROFLMAO:)

So I called back and went through the same routine. I kept yelling "agent" into the phone but the automated system seemed to dig in its' heels and make me go through the same routine again. I finally received a call back and I'll have to say, the guy I spoke to was extremely helpful. They sent out a technician this afternoon. He confirmed the tree trimmers had cut a line and had to install all new cable. It was a 2-hour job.

When he left, he said "someone will be out on April 11 to bury the cable". I said, "That's what I was told when it was originally installed, but no one ever followed up". He said, "Really"? I said, "Were the cables buried?" He said, "No, that's why the cable was cut". Duh! The irony was that he had to use the Smart Home app, that had not worked, to finish the job. After some time, he got it to work and went on his merry way. I did receive a text from AT&T letting me know that someone would be out on April 11.

Their automated system is definitely the "ugly" as they don't want you to speak to a live person. The "good" was that they got someone here quickly who did the job. The "bad" is that he couldn't see the cables had never been buried. I give them a 3 on a scale of 5.
 
Having worked in an underground AT&T facility back in the 90's I got to hear from others who transferred from outside how bad it was for customer service way back then. They were already beginning to cut humans out of the equation of customer service.

I won't have them if they are the only company left on the planet.
 
Where I live now there are cables sticking up all over the place, cut uncut, some incased in short metal boxes
but when the opening to the box breaks or falls off there has to be 20 orange wires shoved in there.
I have learned the orange ones are the cable company and the blue ones are for phone service.
I have T-Mobile internet and phone, no wires. Mine is still on when neighbors lose theirs.
 
It all depends where you are. I just changed to Internet Air and went to my local Att store to do it easily. The first rep knew almost nothing and the next helped me, so I save money with faster speed with a new modem. The 800 number rep was useless to me.
 
I have AT&T and I absolutely dread having to interact with them. I feel like I have to brace myself mentally and physically like I’m gearing up for war before contacting them by phone.

The last time I needed to interact with them I went to the AT&T store rather than calling and had a much better experience. There must have been about four agents in the store and I was lucky enough to get the only one who really knew his stuff.
 
I've had AT&T cell service for about 8 years and haven't had any serious problems with them.

Recently I decided it was time for a new phone since mine was not allowing some apps to work and battery life very short.

Found a deal on a locked to AT&T network phone I liked, so ordered it.

When it arrived, I took the unopened box to our local store and asked if they could set it up and I needed to keep my number.
After a very short wait, a tech person sat down with me and they went to work setting up my E-Sim, transferred all my data, pictures,
contacts, etc.

This didn't take long and the tech person answered all my questions about the new phone and had me call the wife to see if everything
was working, call-wise.

Nice, personal service, so I guess it just depends on your location.
 
My phone is a pre-paid AT&T. I had it out with them about seven years ago and went pre-paid. I also learned my lesson about autopay. Never again with any company. They are, however, the only semi-reliable service in this rural area so I'm stuck with them.

Internet service is with a fiber-optic company owned or just operated ? by the local power company. No problems with that.
 
I had AT&T for many years for landline and WIFI. The landline price increased in price every 2-3 months, and the WIFI was the slowest service offered in my area, without any option at any price to get a faster speed. I had the same issue as the OP with delays in repairs and automated messages.

I went to the AT&T retail store approx. 3 yrs ago to look into a cell phone, and the lowest price was $80 a month. I said no - went to the T-Mobile store right down the street, got a month-to-month WIFI plan for $55 / month, and it has not gone up since.

Then I got a "Straight Talk" no contract phone for $45 a month, which has also remained the same price. Service on my phone is provided through the Verizon network, making it just as reliable as having a phone with Verizon.
 
We only used AT&T for cell use for a number of years until we moved to our present location. The reception with AT&T was really bad here, so we changed to Verizon.
We never experienced problems with them, but that was 10 years ago.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
Then I got a "Straight Talk" no contract phone for $45 a month, which has also remained the same price. Service on my phone is provided through the Verizon network, making it just as reliable as having a phone with Verizon.
Click to expand...
I’ve been with Straight Talk no contract from the get-go and also had that $45 plan for years. Then at some point i learned they had come out with a $35 plan so I switched over to that. It offers ‘only’ 10GB of high speed but i use only a fraction of that on a monthly basis anyway. So i’m $10 per month richer & happy as a clam😉

p.s. did you know Verizon bought out Straight Talk a few years back?
 
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Lizzie00 said:
I’ve been with Straight Talk no contract from the get-go and also had that $45 plan for years. Then at some point i learned they had come out with a $35 plan so I switched over to that. It offers ‘only’ 10GB of high speed but i use only a fraction of that on a monthly basis anyway. So i’m $10 per month richer & happy as a clam😉

p.s. did you know Verizon bought out Straight Talk a few years back?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestion about the lower price plan. I will definitely look into that next time I renew, since I use very little phone internet.

Yes, I heard Verison bought both Tracfone and Straight Talk. I was concerned when that happened that things might change for the worse - but no, it's all been the same.
 
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