12.23
[The following is anecdotal.]
Okay, I bought an iPhone at the beginning of August.
As a device, with the exception of battery life, I like it very much though it hasn’t completely replaced my 1st Gen iPod touch as my main MP3 player (I occasionally knock my touch onto the floor at work due to headphone cord length (and it survives). Don’t really want to do that with the iPhone, which cost me twice as much as the touch.)
As for local cell service — I must be one of the lucky ones. I get excellent connectivity locally – both 3G and voice. (Of course, I bought it more for the data plan than voice so I’m a light voice user. I rarely use 1/4 of my allotted minutes a month. And I don’t do SMS.)
Traveling thru New England back in August? There were a few dead spots along the MassPike and driving along I89 in Vermont. It had improved a LOT by Thanksgiving, in the same areas. (I81 in Virginia? Not as many 3G dead spots in November as in August. My mother lives along the edge of AT&T service along the upper edge of the Adirondacks (in NY). In August? EDGE. In November? 3G.
So it’s getting better in the US, no matter what the Anti-Apple/Anti-AT&T internet echo-chamber denizens claim.
Doing business with AT&T? Well, that has been an adventure.
I already had AT&T local and long distance service (well, It used to be Southern Bell before they somehow renamed themselves as AT&T and merged with a couple other baby Bells).
So, when I switched to an iPhone, I wanted to bundle all of my services — based on the theory that things would be “cheaper” (My guestimate was that I could get an iPhone and the only thing that would cost me more than what I had before was the required iPhone data plan.
It didn’t quite turn out that way.
There were a few snafus with the paperwork that I didn’t notice for a couple months. It was probably the original sale person’s fault, if anyone’s. And I don’t really blame him. I’m guessing that going thru an AT&T Mobility (which is the former Cingular with was spun off of the old AT&T before that) sales person to set up my regular phone service stuff wasn’t the most brilliant idea. I made too many changes at once. (And, as any programmer should know, that can lead to problems) I should have gotten the iPhone and LATER changed my service plan for my landline/long distance.
So, what went wrong?
1. I was billed double for long distance (new plan+ old plan) — oops. Old long distance should have been removed.
BUT when I called AT&T and asked for an explanation of the oddness this caused on my bill, the very helpful customer service person fixed it for me and gave me credit for the overcharge.
2. Found out today… I was being charged the “bundle” amount for long distance but my iPhone wasn’t actually bundled into my plan as I thought so I didn’t qualify for that bundle price. And an automated audit had caught this and had upped my long distance plan/fee. Which = double $$. Ouch.
So I called AT&T and said “Say what?” and got it fixed. So now my iPhone IS supposed to be bundled with my other AT&T services. And, this ALSO includes a discount for the iPhone plan. Or so said the very friendly customer service person who helped me out.
We’ll see what happens when I finally get the merged bill.
But, even though the initial mistake(s) were theirs… I consider this ultimately a positive customer service experience. Mistakes made were fixed without argument by friendly people and anything I was over-charged was credited to my account. Leaving me with a positive impression.
