Why I oppose the AT&T - T-Mobile Merger

Remember when AT&T was called Cingular? They were called that up until they aquired another cell phone provider called AT&T Wireless. After which, Cingular changed their name to AT&T - the company we know now. But let us go back to when Cingular and AT&T Wireless were still two different companies.

I loved AT&T Wireless. It worked great, and I didn't have any coverage problems, and the plan I was on was perfectly fair with enough minutes to spare. They were on the a TMDA network technology, and moving towards converting over to the more internationally popular GSM network (Which Cingular used). I was happy in my little place in the world.

Then Cingular came in and bought up AT&T wireless.

For a while everything worked just fine - we were still on the old plan with the old phone, and my wife and I didn't think much of the merger at all. But after some time, we noticed that voicemail notifications would suddenly appear, but the phone would never ring. Then we started gettting fast busy signals when trying to dial out.

I called customer service, and they told us there was a problem with the towers, and they will open a trouble ticket to get it fixed. I explained to them that I have full signal bars on my phone, and it didn't seem like a signal problem. They patted my on my head and said it will all be okay. So I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and let them "fix" the tower. But things only got worse from there.

Incoming voicemails went up, outgoing calls got more and more fast busy signals. It got so bad that I couldn't place a call to my voicemail without getting fast busy signals.

Again I called Cingular's customer service to complain. I had to use someone else's phone (through a different phone company) to even make the phone call. They said there was no problem, but they will send out a trouble ticket to the tower to make sure.

This is when I decided to see if other customers were having this problem. I jumped on the Cingular forums, and there were HUNDREDS of people complaining about the exact same problem. All of them were AT&T Wireless customers. I kept tabs on the forums for a few days, but then one day, Cingular deleted every post that even mentioned this problem. Even posts complaining about posts being deleted were deleted. They would appear, and then an hour later they would be gone. I was getting so very frustrated.

The final straw was when I was at home, waiting for my wife to come home from work, but she never arrived. I tried calling her, but I only got fast busies. After some time someone knocked on my door, and it was someone I did not know: "Are you Brandon Johnson?"

"Yes," I was a little confused.

"Oh, good. We have been trying to contact you for the past few hours, but you never answered. I am a co-worker of your wife's and we have been trying to let you know that your wife is in the hospital."

I was irate. "the past few hours?!" I looked at my phone. No voicemail notifications, no missed calls, but full bars all the way.

After this incident, I had enough (my wife is fine, BTW). I called Cingular support one more time, and did what I could to escalate the call as high as I could go. Then I gave my complaint once again. The rep on the other end of the line was not suprised, but instead had a solution: "The only way we can fix this problem, is to move you over to the Cingular network." I asked what that would entail.

"First, there will be a $25 connection charge, and we will need to get you a new phone. That will be $100 with contract." Say what?

I asked why i need a new contract, and they said it was the only way to do it unless I wanted to buy the phone at an unsubsidized cost. I was then presented with plan options, all of which were much more expensive than my current plan. "Can't I keep my old plan and move it onto the Cingular network?"

"No, we can only support the Cingular plans on the Cingular network," was the response.

"So, you're telling me that the only way to fix my phone problems, is to buy a new phone at my expense, lose all my minutes to get a worse plan, and pay a $25 connection fee?"

"Yes."

Screw that. I hung up the phone, and two months later when my contract was up, I disconnected the line, and moved to T-Mobile (which works absolutely perfect).

I am sure you can see why I would oppose another merger by Cingular (Now AT&T). It became obvious to me that Cingular did not care even the slightest bit about the customer. They have their plan, their roadmap of what they would like to see, and will do whatever it takes to get there, no matter what the cost to their customers. They obviously dont care about our experience. They know that the majority of their customers will do what they want, just because it's easier than switching, and they know that the numbers will look good in the end.

No wonder Consumer Reports rated AT&T as the worst cell phone provider in the US in 2010. No wonder you can talk to pretty much anybody, and they can tell you their own AT&T horror story. No wonder AT&T customers are shelling out hundreds of dollars just to CANCEL their account with them because their service is so horrible.

Don't let the AT&T propaganda tell you that they NEED T-mobile to increase service to their customers. They only need them to make their numbers look good - so they can say "we're the biggest", and people might think they are saying "we're the best". But they aren't. They are squashing competition the only way they know how - aquisition. They don't do it by being the best. They don't do it because their customers are loyal to them because AT&T are loyal to their customers. They do it through aquisition.

How will an AT&T - T-Mobile merger help the customer? And don't say it will help with LTE rollouts, because that's going to take up until 2018 to be complete, assuming the merger DOES go through. Wouldn't it be easier just to switch to another company that already HAS LTE?

We need competition. T-Mobile and Sprint have done more as the underdogs of wireless carriers than you realize. They keep AT&T and Verizon on their toes, forcing them to keep their rates at a somewhat reasonable level. To take away one of the underdogs will only drive prices UP, not down!

I for one, will be writing the FCC, FTC, or anyone else that has a say in this merger to let my voice be heard. I hope everyone will see how important it is for the consumer to be involved, to make the choices they want. Do some research, and come to your own conclusion, and act on it!

There's a New Law Firm in Town!

I had the opportunity to write a web page for a new law firm - http://www.craposmith.com

David Crapo and Douglas Smith specialize in tax law.

Just thought I would help get the name out!

My New Blog

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