I’m starting to worry, a little bit, that maybe I’ve gotten myself into an unhealthy relationship. And I’m just as surprised as you are, because I am—by all accounts, if I do say so, myself—a strong and independent woman with a clear sense of right and wrong and personal boundaries. If anything, I’m usually TOO quick to dismiss someone for having transgressed in a way that is (to me) insurmountable.
And that’s why I find myself really puzzled by my current situation. I mean, love is a beautiful thing. When you love someone, and they love you back, you’re supposed to be good to each other, right? That’s what it’s all about? I do for you, you do for me, together we are happier, stronger, our best selves, etc.?
You all know I’ve already been through one extremely painful divorce. I just don’t think I can go through something like that again. Maybe that’s why I keep trying to work it out. I keep telling myself that it’s okay; it’ll get better; I’m just misunderstanding and really, no harm was meant.
Oh, did you think I was talking about Otto? This isn’t about him. He’s wonderful. Far better than I deserve, in fact, but let’s pretend I’m a better wife than I actually am so that he doesn’t figure it out. (Thanks!)
No, things are great with Otto. The problem I’m having is with AT&T. And I just can’t seem to understand how this happened.
Everything was beautiful, in the beginning. I mean, I’ve had an AT&T landline for years. DECADES! And while everyone around us got rid of their home phones in favor of cell phones and VoIPs, we steadfastly maintained that a reliable landline was the only way to go, with kids in the house. And they offered bundled services, and after years of dealing with Comcast (motto: “We can always break it more, and fix it less”), their reliable television and Internet services were a refreshing change.
That was the honeymoon period, I suppose.
After years of poor cell reception here at our house with Verizon, two years ago I scored us a couple of refurbished iPhones and we made the leap to AT&T. And I never once complained about our brave-little-toaster-esque iPhones, limping along at snail-like speed on the Edge network. The phones themselves were fine. The problem was that our house apparently sits in a cellular dead zone—our phones don’t work in the house.
Inside the house: 0 bars. Top of the driveway: full bars. Very curious.
We spoke to AT&T several times about this problem, and they always assured us that it had nothing to do with them. Because we love our iPhones (and maybe just a little because AT&T assured us they cared), we stayed with them.
This summer we got new! improved! iPhones, in part because we were assured that they had better antennae and our reception problems would likely be resolved. Well, um, HAHAHAHAHAHHAA. I still cannot use my cell phone in the house for anything except playing solitaire, which is truly useful as you may imagine.
So we called AT&T and said, “Well hi there, our new phones do not work any better, we still have lousy signal, and hey, we heard that you are giving away those 3G MicroCells to folks who have lousy coverage, could we maybe get one?” First Otto spent an hour on the phone trying to get one, after which he was told he needed to visit our local AT&T store to get one. So he went and spent TWO hours at the store and went round and round with them and in the end we still have no MicroCell, because they want us to pay for it even though it’s their stupid, sucky coverage that renders our phones useless. And even though plenty of people got them for free, some without even asking, and EVEN THOUGH we have a long, documented history with AT&T of having poor signal at our house.
And like a couple of battered women, Otto and I reassured each other that our iPhones are worth it, and AT&T is great in many other ways, and it’s okay, and we’ll get through it together.
Then last week we had a minor thunderstorm on Thursday afternoon. That night, my ex didn’t call the kids, which is unusual but not hugely so, as sometimes he misses a night. But then on Friday I got a positively indignant voicemail on my cell phone (the phone never rang, you know, on account of my NOT HAVING ANY SIGNAL HERE AT HOME) from him about how he’d like to “talk to his kids again!”, and that was how we figured out that Thursday’s storm had knocked out our landline. Apparently what happens if you call us is that the caller hears the phone ring and ring and ring and no one ever answers, which is understandably puzzling when the answering machine never picks up. (And if you are my ex it may lead you to conclude that we are purposefully tormenting you, because that’s what we do, you know.)
So Otto called AT&T (from outside!) to report the outage and ask for it to be repaired. No problem, said AT&T. We’ll have that fixed for you…
… by Wednesday. Could they at least change what happens when someone calls so that it would indicate the line isn’t working? No. Could they maybe forward our home phone to one of our cells so that at least it could go to voicemail? Nope, they couldn’t do that, either.
Today is Wednesday. We’ve been without a landline for a week. I can only assume that AT&T is terribly busy telling people who want free MicroCells to SUCK IT and that’s why no one is free to come fix our damn phone.
Yesterday I had to take Monkey out before Chickadee got home from school, and usually if I’m not going to be here when she gets home I leave her a note asking her to call my cell when she gets in. But because the phone wasn’t working, yesterday I just left her a note saying that the phone was still out and she should probably not burn the house down.
AT&T has been a part of my life for so long. We used to have something beautiful, you know? But maybe it’s time for me to leave them. I’m so confused.
If only I could call someone to talk about it. You know, if I had a phone that worked.
wow. that sucks.
I hate hate hate AT&T. I live in a VERY wired, connected, hip kind of city where I get 4 full bars of cell phone coverage in every square foot of the city EXCEPT in my house. I have to walk outside and sit on the front porch to take a phone call. They also drop my calls about 300 times a day.
The problem is that I love my iphone too. Oh I love it so.
sigh
I don’t have an iPhone *because* it requires using AT&T. The other companies aren’t much better, but they do not suck as much as AT&T
You remember Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine the phone operator, right? “We don’t care, we don’t have to. We’re the phone company.”
that is awful! I do have to say though that i had AT&T while in college (1999) and my cell phone did not work in my dorm room. Or inside any building on campus, or in the grocery store, or in….well you get the idea. No reception. I switched to Verizon 2 weeks later when i went home to visit my parents. I have had verizon ever since (11 years now) and i LOVE them. Their customer service has always been stellar. I had an LG Envy and used it so much that the port where the charger plugs in broke from over use and they gave me the two year pricing (even though i wasn’t due for another 6 months) on a new phone. I’ve never had a real problem with them, and when you get an answer that is obviously “just following their training rules” call back and talk to someone else, because they are probably a newb and don’t know that they can actually help you.
One of my best friends has AT&T and cannot use her iPhone in her house. I love my Droid more that words can say.
I’m with Susan. I LOVE those iphones, but won’t switch to AT&T to get one. My parents have the “phone won’t work in the house” issue too. Very strange.
I hate AT&T they can not seem to get high speed to my house but starting 3 houses down they have it. I have begged and begged and they told me that they HAVE to stop somewhere. When we first had our home phone turned on it took them 2 weeks to even come out and put the service in. I would NEVER use them for cell service I have used Nextel & Sprint for 12 year and love them.
Ugh. My husband had that problem. We ended up switching to Credo Mobile. Right now we don’t have smart phones, just regular old stupid ones. But we never have signal problems.
hmm.. Interestingly enough I have the exact same issue with my phones in the house (picks up outside, worthless inside) yet I have Verizon.. It sucks but no one can figure out why it wont work here either :(
Lots of sympathy here…no advice. I hate dealing with the cell phones and we just put up with AT&T because we’re too tired to try anymore.
I switched from T Mobile because I could not resist the iPhone. But I switched TO TMobile because AT&T/Cingular was so horrible. Even with that history, I still couldn’t resist the iPhone.
I put up with the abuse. The way I see it, only 10% of what I use my phone for requires me to actually “talk” on the “phone.” So the dropped calls, feh. Who cares? At least it’s shiny, and it gives me the internet, and my email. And stuff.
Good luck, Mir.
Hah. I had Verizon in a former house – you know, the canyer-hear-me-now? folks? Beeyewtifull coverage until a block from my house. And a block from the kids’s school. And a block from the soccer field. Yah. That was useful.
I have AT&T for my iPhone because I am a ginormous Apple nerd (YES I have an iPad – JUDGE ME!) but I use Qwest for tv and internet and landline – never not once dropped anything. Never. Once. They Are Great.
Except they partner with DirectTV who are fabulous until you try to cancel for some reason and then they hold on to your ankle and drag around the house and out the door wailing WHY???? WHYYYYYYYY????? DON’T YOU LOVE MEEEEE??? At which point it’s dude- I have THREE kids, I do not need this.
Yeah, not a fan of AT&T. We were without a phone in our house for over a month after the floods here in Nashville in May. Our Comcast service was up and running when the power came back on three days later. AT&T – well, not only did we not have service but they didn’t prorate the bill until I called and said “Hey, I haven’t had service – what are you charging me for.” They said that even though they knew our home was in a flooded area they couldn’t prorate the bill unless I called and reported the outage. They did adjust the next month’s bill after some “discussion.” Good luck!
“regular old stupid ones”….hahahahahaha
me too Aimee, me too.
I am so technologically impaired when something doesn’t work, I think it’s my fault….just thankful I don’t have AT&T!
*snort* I have this really great phone–tv, internet, GPS, email synch, camera/video, mp3 player, unlimited data/roaming, AND IT MAKES AND RECEIVES PHONE CALLS. And every time I hear complaints about the iPhone and AT&T, I am flabbergasted that people continue to line up and pay for it all.
It’s a Samsung Instinct, if you were wondering.
I had the same problems with AT&T. I live way out in the wilderness and the only service I can get here is Verizon which I’ve had for a few years. The only real problem I have with Verizon is that they send me these stupid text messages telling me that I am either running out of minutes or data time. Since I never even use a fraction of my minutes and I have unlimited data, it’s quite annoying. It’s just a ploy to get you to log on to your account so they can sell you more useless stuff.
It’s kind of like the airlines, they take something that should be fun and convenient and make it such a pain in the butt, that you hate using their services….
I sympathize. I’ve heard many nightmare stories about AT&T and decided an iPhone wasn’t worth it. I’ve also done the same thing with upgrading phones thinking I’ll get a better signal. Never works.
I’m having terrible issues with Verizon at the moment. I was with TMobile for almost 10 years. But my phone crapped out right at the time my contract ended, and I was considering an upgrade to a smartphone. It was between the MyTouch 3G and the Droid Eris which both had great reviews. Since my boyfriend put a Verizon signal booster in the house, he’s been getting great reception on his Samsung Omnia. Best Buy was running a special for a free Eris, so I made the switch.
Big mistake.
I spent four months trying to get Verizon to credit me for the activation fee which was supposed to be waived. Best Buy ended up just ended up compensating me themselves after about 12 attempts. I also only get 2 bars in the house – even when standing right next to the booster! Not to mention all of the dropped and missed calls. Wasn’t technology supposed to be getting better?? How is it we can talk to people on the moon but I can’t get a signal in my own house or at Target?
Definitely going back to TMobile when my contract ends. And probably a basic phone. I love the apps and having googlemaps at my fingertips, but I’d rather have a phone that works in my own house when I need it.
*Sigh*. We have Sprint. Our old house was basically split in 2 – you could get a signal on the east half of the house(the bathrooms, kitchen and dining room), but not on the west half (the bedrooms and the living room). In our current house, we can get a signal in all rooms except my bedroom, except when we can’t. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. Earlier this year, we started getting a lot of dropped calls at home and in the neighborhood. According to customer service, the tower nearest our house is broken, and no, they don’t have any idea when it will be fixed. But they gave us 30 extra minutes a month for our trouble. That almost makes up for the call that dropped just after I started talking to the csr at the DMV after waiting on hold for 45 minutes. My phone is work-issued and the rest of the family has stuck with Sprint so our calls to one another are free. Even if that wasn’t the case, I get the feeling none of the other carriers are any better.
Our land-line is through Time Warner, and we’ve never had any issues(knock on wood) – at least to the best of my knowledge. We don’t use the home phone much, so it could probably go out for a few days and none of us would notice.
I abandoned ATT a few years back after they started tacking weird charges onto my long distance bill and no one could explain what they were, nor would they take them off.
Hope everything works our sooner rather than later, and dear Chickie doesn’t catch the house on fire. Or least that she has the wherewithal to run to the neighbors house to call the fire dept if she does.
Time to get a BlackBerry. And I can say that honestly, because as of Monday I don’t work at RIM anymore :)
I’ve had issues with AT&T since the late 1980’s… I suspect there’s a training tape floating around somewhere that has me on it explaining to the “nice person” on the phone what the CEO of AT&T would have to do to get my business again. Let’s just say it wouldn’t pass most internet filters :)
So…. nothing new here!
In our house we love AT&T – same problem with the signal in the house – but I am starting to think it is something in the house (our friends with new houses do not have this problem – but all with older homes do) – however customer service has been fantastic – my husband called about the Uverse – the box went out and the first thing they wanted to know was did it affect the other services – phone and internet – followed up by are you going to be around this morning. The box was replaced by 12:30 and did I mention it was a Saturday. Last year, they came and replaced a box on Labor Day. I think if I tried to get rid of them – my husband would have a fit. Also if you have Uverse and your landline through the system – it is possible to set up your landline to forward after 3 rings.
Tried Tmobile. It didn’t work in our Village. Tried Verizon. It didn’t work in our house on a hill in our Village. Tried Sprint. Worked in our Village (but, sadly, not anywhere else). Tried Tracfone. Eureka!!!!! Works everywhere. Even in Walmart. The only place I’ve ever had is in our summer home way out in the boonies. It doesn’t work in the old mobile home on the property, but I figure since its 40+ years it must be made of solid steel or something like that. Works fine in the cabin though. I think it uses Cellular One…
It still sounds better than Bell.
And what is it with the exes who assume purposeful tormenting? Don’t we realize that we lead busy lives, with no time left over to even contemplate purposeful tormenting, let alone carry it out. Nor the will, nor the interest, “It’s not all about you, *darling*.” etc., etc..
It’s not inconvenient to go outside to make calls, right? I mean, it’s only… 102 degrees or so… at least in Arkansas. No big deal!
iPhones do WiFi, don’t they? Do you have a wireless router in your house for internet? Set up your iPhone to connect to your WiFi at home, and you should be good to go. At least, that’s how it works with T-Mobile. Their WiFi phones will automatically connect to WiFi when cell coverage isn’t around. It’s a little buggy, since it tends to drop coverage wile making the switch, but it does give you coverage. Kind of nice, too, since when you’re on WiFi, you’re not using your cell minutes.
Though… no idea if this works on AT&T or not.
And that is exactly why I’m typing this on an HTC Incredible, and not my beloved iPhone 4. My husband uses his cell phone exclusively while on the job, and he just couldn’t take it anymore. He told me when he brought me this new Verizon phone that he had taken our iPhones to a lovely farm where they would have plenty of coverage and be able to run and play. Sniff. I sure miss that little rascal!
No iPhones for us! AT&T has such poor service in our area they are as rare as a Big Foot sighting!
Thank The LORD my iphone works in the house. Cause I love it. But… Mir, as you know… sometimes when it’s really really not working for you… it’s better to let go, no matter how good the package looks. Better to explore your other options…ya know?
And.. I know lots of people are doing it…. but..we haven’t been able to give up the landline yet, I don’t know…. something about depending solely on cell phones… just… doesn’t seem…anchored. Or something.
I currently have Verizon, and I hate it. I used to have AT&T and hated them too. Next month my family and I are getting new phones. My folks are getting iPhones while I will be getting something less fantastic (I already have an iPod Touch). If we don’t get service at home, heads will roll. You can find my whole Verizon story at my blog under the title VERIZON SUCKS (parts one and two). I’m a little concerned now about the whole AT&T thing.
Aaaannnd… that’s why I have an iTouch and an iPad instead of an iPhone. I love all the apps and calendar option at my fingertips, just don’t love the monopoly AT&T has on iPhone service. I admit I do miss being able to connect anywhere, anytime as one does with 3 or 4G, but the history of not being able to use the iPhone as a, you know, PHONE has scared me away from ever jumping into a contract with AT&T. That, and the new data plan prices. I’ll just stick to free wifi when I can get it and use my three year old cell phone from Verizon for calls on the go.
Maybe AT&T will find this post and decide to buy some goodwill by giving you the free MicroCell you deserve. It would be nice to see the good guys win for a change. (You and Otto qualify as good guys, to be sure.)
I am so glad you are having this problem to. Here I was thinking I was the only one on earth having this problem. I’m not in this boat alone…whew, thank goodness. Oh and good luck!
I am another that is drooling over iphones but refusing to get one because they are AT&T…that said we do have a land line–but only because I dont’ want to change my email address AGAIN–so for the house AT&T stays for now.
I am holding out hope that Verizon gets the iPhone very soon. I refuse to go to AT&t for cell.
Once when our landlines went down (squirrels chewed on the line multiple times before they paid to have the tree trimmed) the last thing the phones did before dying was to call 911. The first I knew about it was when a cop knocked on the door. We both ended up very puzzled, and I walked out of the house to call Verizon on my cell.
It’s quite possible that Tracphone *is* AT&T. HA! Either that or T-Mobile.
Whoa.
AT&T was wonderful before they bought Cingular (or vice versa, however that went). As soon as they merged, I began having the same issues I did that made me switch from Cingular to AT&T in the first place. Went with US Cellular and haven’t looked back.
AT&T can’t handle the volume of iphone stuff – the demand for service is beyond their capacity, and they know it. That’s one of the main reasons they began charging for various levels of data usage, rather than continuing to offer unlimited data on their plans. It won’t make much of a difference for a few years, as existing contract holders are grandfathered in (though I’m not sure if it will continue if they renew), but it’s a start.
My first phone was Cingular/ATT. Same deal — no signal in the house (or yard), and as the two year contract went by more and more places lost the signal. I decided that the reason they were advertising “the fewest dropped calls” was because you can’t drop a call if you can’t make it in the first place.
I hope you get your phones fixed soon.
Seriously almost had a heart attack with that intro. How frustrating and also stooopid AT&T. I hate customer-driven companies that have crappy customer service-or cellular service.
Oh, how I covet the iphone. Beautiful iphone. But the AT&T? HATE. I had AT&T before the advent of the iphone and the service/coverage was just awful, so I switched…to Sprint. I love Sprint. I get bars everywhere, never drop a call, and I get a lot of minutes/texts on 4 lines for not a lot of money. But the iphone….oh I am so tempted. And it doesn;t help that I have 2 teens who also covet said iphone and badger me constantly to switch. I hear Verizon may be getting the ophone in January….
Gack.
We live in a rural, hilly, mountain-y area and our county has truly poor cell coverage. I went with US Cellular because they let me have a phone for 30 days to see if it would work. It worked up to the driveway, then nothing.
We resolved to just live with the landline and use the cells when we were out.
Then US Cellular upgraded to 3G and lo and behold, the phones now work for texting almost everywhere in the house. One does have to stand in the dining room with one’s head pressed firmly against the window in order to make a cell phone CALL, mind you…but we mostly text from home, anyway.
I think there’s no cell phone company without huge problems, the problems just differ according to area of the country. We just chose the problem that annoyed us the most (no coverage in our county for Verizon, AT&T,etc) and found the company which could alleviate it.
I think that’s all you can do with cell phone service.
Just don’t forget to pay your bill or they may send a big burly serviceman over to “rip it out of the wall”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9e3dTOJi0o&feature=related
You should call your local version of the Public Utilities Commission. Seriously. You land line is considered a public utility and thus AT&T are bound by that. The telco that I work for gets fined if service is out for over 24 hours unless its an emergency which is defined as flood, fire, or other natural disaster. In the interests of good customer service, they should have given you the microcell for free just because you can’t get signal. I know the cel phone division is different from the local service group, but if you are going to call the PUC, you might as well ask about that too. I program broadband services, so I am not as familiar with the rules for cel phones. Those rules will vary by state, but you should have some recourse if you choose to go through that hassle.
If you decide you want a different cel company, explain to the sales person about the crappy reception. Even if your contract is a new one with AT&T, the new company may elect to pay your early term fee because you couldn’t get the service promised you by the other company. Just remember, you have to ask, because they won’t volunteer that information.
There are a ton of cel providers out there, not so much for the residential line though. Most if not all companies would love to have your cel business. Just saying.
Wow. We are in the process of firing T-Mobile and switching to AT&T because we also live in a dead zone (the leading theory is that the signals from the FOUR cell towers nearby just go right over our neighborhood), despite having “very good” coverage on T-Mobile’s map. It took SEVEN AND A HALF WEEKS, 21 calls to customer service (most of which occurred out in 100+ degree sun), and 10-15 hours of our lives for T-Mobile to give us inconsistent answers, never get back to us when they said they would, and finally say “we can’t fix this problem, but you should just use Wi-Fi calling!” Then when we needed to get new, Wi-Fi capable phones in order to do this, they acted like they were doing us a huge favor by letting us pay the new contract price for them. Um, no. Now we are coughing up the $$ for pretty new phones (and a MicroCell), but at this point it seems worth it to not have to deal with T-Mobile’s nice and poilte but horribly ineffective customer service department ever again.
We dumped the landline for Vonage last winter. I wasn’t quite ready to give up a “home phone” but I was sick of my landline bills going up for NO REASON. Yes, Vonage depends on my cable internet, but if the cable goes out, the calls are forwarded to my cell phone.
So, I’m going to assume only one service provider over there has the rights to sell the iPhone? I think that would send me insane! Have you thought about contacting Apple directly and asking for one of their newfandangled cases that are meant to boost reception? Unless that has to be done through AT&T as well, at which point I guess you just set up a tent on your driveway.
It was during a time that I lived in the Atlanta area that I had to drop AT&T. I now live in So. Cal where using AT&T just isn’t possible-no service anywhere! (I have iPhone envy) But the grass is always greener. You’ll drop AT&T only to find someone else has other (more fun!) problems. I hope they work that out for you soon. Maybe tweet about it and someone will pick up on it and get it fixed for you! You know–the squeeky wheel….
I agree with Jason’s Mom.
We had trouble getting our land line up and running post-move, and Jill’s job requires her to send and receive faxes pretty much daily. We got nothing but runaround until we complained to the Public Service Commission.
Within 24 hours they resolved the allegedly intractable paperwork issue, and 24 hours after that, a technician spent 3 hours at our house making sure that we had an actually working jack or 3. Also, although the customer service person told me 800 times that if the person came to our house and found a working jack, ATT would have to charge us, they did not actually charge us.
I suspect that is because the only working jack they found was INSIDE a bolted shut air vent, but technically it was within our house and I feared/expected them to charge us. (They also found the wee edge of a wire where someone cut the jack from the wall, but as there was technically no jack, I was prepared to argue that.) (Have I mentioned that the previous owners of our house were extremely peculiar?)
I work in the wireless industry, and generally if you get coverage in your home, you are lucky. The frequencies at which cell phones work do not penetrate through walls very well. Georgia in general has terrible cell coverage, it’s usually a terrain/foliage issue. The microcell solution is OK but it’s a new technology that is riddled with problems… and won’t work if your landline internet is down.
Different phone models do better in low coverage areas. You might want to call AT&T and ask them what your expected level of coverage is and what phones work best in your area.
I had wanted an iPhone SO bad but I just could not do it because I did NOT want to work with AT&T. Sorry to hear about your issues though. Good post :)
Mir you are not alone. We get great signal in our BATHROOM but not the rest of the house. GGGRRR !! Am very frustrated with Att right now.
Get yourself a wireless internet set up at home, it saves on battery life too! We have 3 iPhones in this house. DD had to drop her TMobile plan because they could get nothing here.
Rumor is Verizon will get the iPhone next year….
Based on the post and the comments, I’m glad I’m not the *only* person in Ga that doesn’t get cell coverage in my house. We’ve had to keep the landline for exactly that reason.
reading all of this I cannot comment on the phone company as I am in Canada but do feel that there should be a campaign ditrcted to apple to ask them why they continue to let AT&T have a monopoly with the iphone and know that many many potential customers are looking elsewhere for phones. surely it is not in apple’s interest, especially with the excellent alternatives around?
I haven’t been particularly pleased with AT&T since a few years ago when they randomly shut my cell phone number off because they thought I was dead. I was, in fact, not dead, and it took me three freaking days to convince them of that.
Unfortunately, around here Verizon sucks more than AT&T and all the Boost Mobiles and MetroPCS and whatnot work great if you’re dead in the center of town but nowhere else, so even though I have cell service in my husband’s recliner but not next to it on the couch, with AT&T we stay. Meh.
see it’s not really a problem. you just come to the front of the house – the office is best – usually…. and then you hold onto the window frame with your left hand and put your right foot out and you shake it all about…..
I had by far the worst customer service experience in my life with AT&T. I cried it was so bad. I am pretty tolerant consumer, but my whole family switched from AT&T after that experience. I have no doubt as to why they have changed the name of their cellular service a couple of times.