December 09, 2003

AT&T Cell Phone Service in San Fran Sucks

I used to really like AT&T but in the last several months their service has really gone to hell. The audio is very choppy even with good signal strength and the calls drop all the time. Knowing what I know about electronics the type of distortion souns like digital packet loss - in short - AT&T is oversold and running in excess of their capacity.

Additionally - my cell phone turns off by itself even with a full battery. I seems as though AT&T is turning off phones to save bandwidth. And this results in missed calls. When it comes down to it - I'm not getting what I'm paying for.

I'm thinking about switching. Verizon is on my short list. Definitely not going with Sprint because they have a bad habit of fraudulently billing customers and I'm not going there.

But - I'm sure I'll have a fight with AT&T over the commitment thing - but the way I see it - they committed to providing me with cell phone service and they aren't keeping their end of the bargain. So - I will at least get even by publicly documenting my experiences on the net for all to see.

Posted by marc at December 9, 2003 12:32 PM | TrackBack
Comments

It seems that San Francisco is not the only place receiving substandard service from AT&T. I live and work in Burbank, California and have experienced all the same problems that you described including my phone just turning off by itself with a full battery charge. Over one third of all my calls are dropped which I have not been credited for. My monthly bills before signing on for this service were approximately $135.00 less than what I am paying for now. I have called customer service numerous times and promises have been made but nothing has been done about any of these problems (not to mention that their standard wait time is around 25 minutes which you are charged for if calling from your wireless phone.)
I have spoken to many people in my area that have left AT&T because of such problems who said that they were charged a fee of $150.00 to back out of their contract. It seems to me that you should not be penalized if your not receiving the quality service that you were promised and are paying for.
I feel that until a class action lawsuit is filed representing both Southern California and Northern California that AT&T will continue taking advantage of their unsatisfied customers. I am going to call my attorney this week to see what would be involved to file this action lawsuit. If you are at all interested in being involved in this suit please contact me.

Sincerely,
Janine Carver

Posted by: Janine Carver at December 21, 2003 11:52 PM

I live in Texas (DFW area) and just signed up for service with AT&T after backing out of my contract with Spring, for the same problems as discussed. Now that I am in a contract with AT&T, I am also expericing the same problems as dropped calls and distorted signals. I would like to be involved in the class action law suit if one should come to pass.

Posted by: Katrina Williams at September 24, 2004 10:26 AM

I have experienced the same problems and finally got fed up and switched when my contract period was up. I called to cancel the service and was told that I was going to have a $175 cancellation fee. I agrued that I lived up my end of the deal and kept it well past the 1 year service periiod. Apparently, when my first contract service was up they automatically signed me up for another month...without my knowledge. They are saying that because I continued to use the service that was my agreeing to the new service terms. Long story short...I have contacted an attorney for help. Let me know if any of you are interested in suing AT&T along with me!

Colleen Brodt
brodt_colleen@yahoo.com

Posted by: Colleen Brodt at January 28, 2005 11:48 AM

We have AT&T customers for approx. 10 years.I have had nothing except more problems since the merge, the issues have increased. After lowering our service to the lowest we can be charged (we have two line on AT&T, and 3 on cingular), then we have suspended the service and are being charged $9.99 a month for the AT&T vacation suspension and the minimum monthly service charge for Cingular. This is only temporary until we figure out a way to get out of the cancellation fees. In the meantime we have purchased other service. If there is a class action lawsuit let me know or if anyone has another idea let me know.

Posted by: Deborah Ciufo at June 17, 2005 02:17 PM

Obviously this is country wide. I too have had ALL the same problems you have described.Especialy their horrible customer service and lack of air time in connections. They definately multiplied problems after thier merger. My sons phone is totally gone and mine does repeated "crazy" things. The phones lasted in poor shape til 2 days after their warranties ran out. Now I am stuck with contacts that "they" are not living up to 1 phone totally dead and the second one with a mind of its own. No wonder there is so much general apathy in our country regarding "all" things. Big business runs the show!! Irritated in Wi. with no where to go or a place to be heard and justified.

Posted by: deb at August 3, 2005 10:45 AM

I live in florida, and had moved just a short distance (still inside my coverage area) and recieved terible service. This was 6 weeks after i had resigner up with at&t for another year. After 2 bills of over $250.00 each (droped calls) i tryed to cancle my service. They negociated a small fee to cancle, then after i had paid all of my overage charged bills, they send me a bill for the excess cancelation fee that they waved. Two years later, and 4 collection companys later, i am still fighting those dirty dogd.

Posted by: ike custer at August 3, 2005 11:53 AM

I am an AT&T customer and my service is good at best but often times it is poor. Since the merger with Cingular the service has gotten worse. Cingular has stated repeatedly they will not honor any agreements that AT&T made yet Cingular is the one who bought AT&T. We had no choice in the matter. I spoke to a customer service rep about this, more than once, and got no where. I told them I would be changing providers and they were quick to inform me I would have to pay an early termination fee of $175.00 per phone. That is absurd. They are the ones who provide poor cell service and customer service. It just proves that Cingular is more interested in the all mighty buck than in satisfied customers. They can try to charge me whatever they like but as far as I am concerned they did not fulfill their end of the contract so I feel no need to fulfill mine. I think I am going to Verizon but still doing a little more research.

Posted by: T. C, at September 16, 2005 11:14 AM

I have been, for the past several weeks and at this very moment while sitting at my computer in Glendale, CA, getting "Service Unavailable" whenever I attempt to use my Cingular cell phone to make a call. I have a strong service signal, 3 bars, and the battery is fully charged, but NO service! I can't get the cell phone to ring by calling it using my home telephone, either.

Class Action lawsuit time?

Posted by: R. W. Marston at April 20, 2006 05:19 AM

I had 3 Rivers in Billings, MT when my cell service went bad. I called the local office and they told me that they were waiting for a part to fix the problem! I waited for a week and the service did not get any better so I cancelled. The manager did not say a word about the cancellation fee and I paid my service bill in full. Later I received a bill in the mail for $400 for a cancellation fee. They have been after me for 3 years (collection co.)now they are taking me to court. Do I have a leg to stand on?

Posted by: Craig Norwood at May 8, 2006 11:45 AM

I switched to Cingular from Verizon because they have "fewer dropped calls" that's funny. I do not get cell service half the time and when I do it is all choppy and my phone freezes all of the time. If you are intrested in a class action suite for false advertising let me know. I just may know a lawyer to handle it.
Sick and tired of these companies taking advantage of consumers. It is time to fight back.
L

Posted by: Lisa Scott at June 28, 2006 08:13 AM

In the past two weeks my ATT service has gone in the dumps. Dropped calls almost ALL the time now. "No service" indication when I never used to get that message. Scratchy undesernable calls. Right now no service available. What the hell is going on?? I went to a Cingular store and said I wanted another phone. The bimbo girl working there asked me if I needed any help (after she finished texting someone) I said I wanted a different phone, she said I can't keep the plan I now have because it's ATT and I have to migrate to Cingular - I said didn't ATT just buy back Cingular? -- Yes _ then why to I have to go to Cingular if ATT now owns the company. -- We are only going to change the name - To what? -- To ATT, So why do I have to go to Cingular? -- Uhhh, do you want to see our new plans 0 uhh NO, do you want to see a new phone - Uhhh NO. -- now what?

Posted by: Frank at August 9, 2006 04:00 PM

Anyone have any information on law suits against At&t for overcharging on cell phones, and not ending contracts?

Posted by: RON LITTLE at December 19, 2006 11:41 AM

simply put, since the at&t takover we have little or no phone service, phone doesn't ring, all call go to voicemail, dropped calls when you can connecect.replaced sims cards 4 times in 3 weeks on 2 new phones at&t seems to being little to nothing to fix these issue's.

class action please.

Posted by: David at June 26, 2007 12:15 AM

I have had a go phone for a 5 months now and its worked pretty good. Just recently I have noticed that I got overcharged for a phone call. Then I called and did some checking on my account, any call over a minute they overcharge!!!!!!!!! I have gotten my account credited, but its the way there computer is set up. They probably are making millions of dollars off of this!!

Posted by: Rachel at August 24, 2007 11:24 AM
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