longer due to your breakup under antitrust law. You're the same basic
company that you were then so in my eyes so the name fits you. Now to
the charges.
AT&T has repeatedly ignored the desires of it's customers. For proof
of this I'd cite the MMS debacle. The iPhone lauched in 2007 and
iPhone customers couldn't send MMS messages for more than 2 years
after. And the biggest example of this is phone tethering. The ability
to use your phone as a modem for a computer to access the Internet.
This magical feature has been available for international customers
since the launch of OS 3.0 last summer. Yet the largest market for
iPhones, the Untied States remains without this because the network
supposedly can't handle the bandwith usage. But those lucky enough to
have an iPad can surf to their hearts content and iPhone users can
likewise spend as much time as the battery will allow for the small
price of $30/month. But to use this as a modem would destroy the
network. Mabey AT&T is having financial difficulty and can't invest
into the network as a result? But according to http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/snapshots/2756.html
they're not hurting for money. So despite making more than
$10Billion in profit, they simply can't let iPhone users in on the
whole tethering thing. Nearly a year later.
Secondly, AT&T realizes the network sucks, they just don't care.
Case in point the AT&T microcell from Cisco. (See http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/24/att-3g-microcell/
) It's a wonderful little device that plugs in to your Ethernet to
provide you a perfect reception in your house. People in citys that
have bad service, namely San Francisco, and New York would really
benifit from this but AT&T in their infinite wisdom has decided that
this magical technology must come at a price. And the cost of a cell
phone that actually works? About $150. Take a moment and reflect
what's just happened. AT&T knows your service sucks, but unless you
pay them, you're out of luck. That's not telecommunication, that's
extortion.
Finally, and most damning is the new Early Termination Fee. ( See http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=17951
) AT&T announced that they were raising the ETF for their line of
smartphones. Notably among these are the iPhone. Early Termination
Fees for those who may not know are fees that post paid cell phones
charge to recoup the subsidy they use to sell new phones. Most phones
today are sold below cost to entice customers to sign long term
contracts and over the course of the contract the phone company makes
that subsidy back. And that's ok. I certainly don't want to pay full
price for a new phone so this practice makes sense. But the ETF shoud
amortize over the course of the contract. And until recently, it did.
But now AT&T has more than doubled the ETF for new phones and they're
not amortizing it properly. So when you've fulfilled 23 months of a 24
month contract, AT&T can still charge you more than what should be
left. And it's this thinly veiled blackmail that is the worst part of
AT&T. Sure they'll sell you a great phone but if you ever want to
cancel, it'll cost you. A lot. So it's for these reasons: AT&T's
refusal to allow the same features the rest of the world already uses,
the fact they know that the network sucks and don't care, and the fact
they want to make leaving such a costly process no one does it, that I
suggest this: Buy a new iPhone. Heck, wait outside the store for one.
But buy it off contract at an Apple store. After all, you can make
calls, and send text messages much cheaper on another phone. Also
you'll be saving on the $30/month they charge for the privilege of
accessing their horrible network. And use your new iPhone on wifi.
You'll be amazed that all your Internet dependent apps work
wonderfully. Show AT&T that they can chain this phone to a bad
network, but they can't chain it's users. Hey AT&T, CAN YOU HEAR ME
NOW? G'nite.
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