AT&T Dumbness

[RJM62]

I've been toying with the idea of buying a BlackBerry Q10, but it's not supported on StraightTalk. There are ways to make it work, but in my experience, making an unsupported phone work on a MVNO tends to be unreliable. The hack that works today may stop working tomorrow.

VZW wants too much money for me to sign up with them -- more than twice what I'm paying now for the identical service through ST (over a VZW tower, mind you). And there's no known hack that will enable a 4G device to work over VZW's own prepaid. So I decided to look at AT&T postpaid. If I pay for the phone up-front, I can avoid the contract.

Lo and behold, AT&T recently put up a new tower that their coverage map says should provide me with a bodacious 4G signal, and their rates are reasonable. But when I actually tried to browse their plans, my ZIP code comes up as not having service. So I called their sales line, and they said they could not write the contract because their system says there's no service, and there's apparently no way to override that.

In the course of our conversation, she said that BB10 no longer needs BIS (which I already knew), so the Q10 should work anywhere any other 4G smart phone works. But their system says it won't work where I live, so they can't write the contract.

So I put an ad on Craigs List offering $35.00 for someone with a 4G AT&T smart phone to come to my house and test their phone. Lo and behold, a college kid with a Windows phone called me and said he could use the money. Sure enough, the service works just fine. Four bars of 4G and download speeds around 8 M/s.

So I called AT&T again -- this time from the kid's AT&T phone -- and they still insisted that the service won't work, and therefore refused to write the contract. There is no way to override that, they told me again. It's "hard-coded" into the system. The only thing I can do is ask "Engineering" to do a test and update the database, which I can't do because they refused to give me "Engineering's" contact information.

Right now, the desire to buy the phone has passed. But if it comes back, I think I'll try telling AT&T that the phone is actually for my daughter (whose ZIP code works in their system), but that I'll be paying the bill. Either that or use one of my friends' addresses in The City. Or see if AT&T allows separate service and billing addresses.

I understand why they don't want to write contracts where their system says they have no service. But it's dopey that there's no way to override it. I mean, this is a mobile phone. Aside from errors in their system that cause areas to show up dead when they're not, what about people who in fact don't have service where they live, but who do have it where they work or travel?

It's just idiotic.

-Rich

 

[docmirror]

Sorry, but this is exactly how I would code the order-taking process. Imagine 10,000 order takers in India, Philippines, maybe Sri-Lanka who have no idea where the US is on a map. Any/all of them are allowed to override the cell zone coverage map and write the order for you. Some dipsnort in a shack outside of Kayenta AZ calls ATT and orders a phone with all the 4G bells. No problem, it's all money right? Next thing you know, the phone shows up at the shack and the kid can't get ANY signal. Not even analog. Who's to blame? Well, lots of blame to go around, but my choice is the dipsnort who was allowed to override the coverage map and write a contract for a phone which can't be used unless they drive ~15 miles away.

Not to say that ATT aren't dumbasses, but for this case, it's exactly what I would do if I were ATT. Or VZW, or Sprint, etc.

Sorry.

 

[ARFlyer]

I have to agree with random. If you were dealing with a local service it might be different. But the person in xyz doesn't know if you really have service. They only know what the computer tells them.

The local Domino's delivery area stops at the foot of our driveway. Since the computer system doesn't know that fact we can't order online, we are forced to call in our orders. They have a written sticky note, really , next to the phone just for our family's list of address.

The same thing happens if you call flight service and there is a problem with your local ASOS station. I've call numerous times and been told VFR is not recommended on CAVOK days. The reason is because the ASOS station is out of whack and reporting LIFR. They can only report what there computer tells them. You can tell them it's CAVOK but they still will say VFR not recommend.

 

[silver-eagle]

At one point, I had a company supplied Sprint which would only work a mile from my house. We traded it in for a TMobile which worked only if the wind was blowing out of the north, downhill, at 15+. Then came Verizon. The problem with that was my personal was with Verizon so if one had a connectivity problem (sort of drifts from 0-5 bars all day long), you could almost guarantee the other wouldn't work either.
If I were setting up an order entry system for a mobile phone, I would validate the location and sell the customer the phone ONLY if he agreed that connectivity may be spotty at best because of the location. Plus, you can get repeaters that work through the internet. For a good salesman, he could upsell getting a satisfied customer in the process.
With all their construction going on, connectivity is likely to change.