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story category AT&T CEO Walks a Foot in Your Shoes
'I want to be treated like a customer...'
(old news - 12:51PM Wednesday Aug 01 2007)
tags: business · AT&T
On the heels of Charter's CEO slumming it with his workers to find out why their customer service stinks, AT&T's new CEO Randall Stephenson tells the Atlanta Constitution that he demanded to be billed and treated like a regular customer:
And so he was. "It wasn't very good at first," Stephenson said. "But I think until you actually just use our service like our customers do, you don't have an appreciation sometimes for the hoops we make people jump through."
In the interview, Stephenson says he expects Atlanta to see U-Verse before the end of the year, and calls the company's criticized EDGE network "a very good experience." He also defends the company's decision not to advertise the $10 DSL they were required to offer as a BellSouth merger condition:
"We haven't made it difficult to find. To be honest with you, that's not a product that our customers have clamored for. We still have $15 offers out there in the marketplace, even $20 offers, for 1.5 megabit speeds. Those are really kind of the minimum speeds that give a good user experience. So I don't want to necessarily offer up a product where the user experience is not what I would consider really state of the art. That $10 product is kind of in that mode."
Hmmm, 768kbps $10 DSL isn't advertised because customers don't want it?

Related:
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Forums » AT&T CEO Walks a Foot in Your Shoes
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icp1
Premium
join:2000-10-13
Saint Louis, MO
clubs:
·AT&T DSL Service
·AT&T Southwest

up and down

I read this article yesterday I think,
while I like the idea of him having to call the dang regular number and dealing with billing issues like the rest of the masses, the DSL comments are quite out there in my opinion, and I am usually an AT&T supporter...

Jon
Premium
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL
·1and1
·AT&T DSL Service

Re: up and down

said by icp1 See Profile :

...while I like the idea of him having to call the dang regular number and dealing with billing issues like the rest of the masses...
He doesn't call and deal with them, His assistant does.

You don't really think this guy is gonna sit on hold and talk to a CSR like the rest of us do you?

S_engineer

join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL
·Comcast

Re: up and down

Randall Stephenson is full of s@#%!. It insults our collective intelligence to say that he's wasting the same amount of time with ATTs CSRs. I'd love to see his conversation with "Todd" in Bangladesh!

I'm sure the stockholders love to know thats he's wasting vast amounts of time listening to advertisements and bad canned music.
--
Burn a tire, but make sure you buy that carbon offset!

GemSnake
Premium
join:2000-10-19
3rd layer
clubs:

Re: up and down

That's Bangalore! Thank you very much, my friend. j/k
Mannus
Premium
join:2005-10-25
Fort Wayne, IN

Re: up and down

"Bangalore's won't fight without their leader"

phattieg

join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL
·Verizon Wireless B..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..

said by Jon See Profile :

said by icp1 See Profile :

...while I like the idea of him having to call the dang regular number and dealing with billing issues like the rest of the masses...
He doesn't call and deal with them, His assistant does.

You don't really think this guy is gonna sit on hold and talk to a CSR like the rest of us do you?
I don't know the guy personally, but he is not the only CEO who wants to be treated like a normal customer. I highly doubt he has his assistant call, simply because the whole purpose of doing it this way is to test a few things. By doing this, he can see if the policies that are in use now are "working" policies. To check hold times. To see billing errors, or other situations that might frustrate customers into bailing out. I know it's hard to believe he wants to be treated normal, but I know of a few "higher ups" that do the same thing, and they don't have their assistant call.
--
SIPPhone/Gizmo # 17476200648 / PIMPNET Chatline / Ran by Asterisk & Slackware 10.1.

supergirl

join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL
·Cox VOIP
·Skype
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southeast
·magicjack.com

And so he was. "It wasn't very good at first," Stephenson said. "But I think until you actually just use our service like our customers do, you don't have an appreciation sometimes for the hoops we make people jump through."
That says it all. I bet when he said he was the CEO he got perfection. I get the runaround everytime I talk to T. How star 69 gets on my bill and IT'S BLOCKED is beyond me. Then it takes two managers to credit it. Gee.
--
Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl
iotastorm

join:2006-01-24
Florissant, MO
OK dude. Call First Tier Support with a DSL problem.
Feel the pain......

lordfly

join:2000-10-12
Homestead, FL

768 vs dial-up

Lets see, $7/mo for dial-up or $10/mo for 768K. Am I missing something here?

djrobx

join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
·PHONE POWER
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable


2 edits

Re: 768 vs dial-up

For light users who are mostly web surfers and emailers, there's not a big difference in the "user experience" between 1.5mbps and 768kbps. I think a $10 768kbps DSL product would have a big appeal.

It's still relatively tough to find a site that takes advantage of connections faster than 768kbps. Most streaming video sites are STILL 300kps at best.

Hell, we have an office of about 70 computers sharing a 768/384 DSL connection, and I rarely ever hear anybody complain about it being slow. Usually when it is, it's only because someone's uploading a big attachment.

--
Laser eye surgery rocks! I love frickin' laser beams.
ncbill
Premium
join:2007-01-23
Winston Salem, NC
·AT&T Southeast

Re: 768 vs dial-up

Yep, that's the big reason they don't advertise it - few would want to pay for faster broadband.

Cable broadband here is 6x faster - for 5x the price.

I am very glad I switched to $10/month DSL.

Even gladder they have to sell it to me for that price through the end of 2009.

At $10/month, it's also a great backup for those with cable broadband (here cable drops if the wind blows hard)
xo

join:2007-06-15
Perry, FL

Re: 768 vs dial-up

i agree with you. here, 1 megabit dsl costs 80 dollars a month. yes, you read that correctly. so i'm stuck between either outrageously priced dsl or cable with awful customer support. for $10 dollars, i would love a 768/384 backup dsl line.

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME

For $10/month... they would have more people sign up than they probably want at that price. For a cheap/stable connection, I would take it. The only thing that would be painful, would be downloading ISO images (Fedora Core).
--
Canada = Hollywood North
ossito16

join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN
·RCN CABLE

What?

Ok, I am lost. He said it ($10 dsl) isn't advertised because customers don't want it. Can someone explain this comment? So if the Gen Motors was unloading leftover 2006 Corvettes for $1000, they would not advertise because we supposedly would not want it. How do you know we don't want it if we don't know about it?
bamabrad

join:2006-01-27
Port Orange, FL

Re: What?

THEY (AT&T) doesn't want YOU to know about it. The only way I found out about it AND a link to it ( almost IMPOSSIBLE to find it on their site). I had a dial-up acct and use my computer at work until they decided to charge $15 dollars for it-so I decided to go the $10 DSL route.

Cabal
Premium
join:2007-01-21
Boston, MA
768K DSL is hardly a Corvette. If GM was unloading leftover Chevy Aveos for $1000, I'd save my $1000.
bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
·Packet8

Re: What?

said by Cabal See Profile :

768K DSL is hardly a Corvette. If GM was unloading leftover Chevy Aveos for $1000, I'd save my $1000.
Yeah, but what if all you needed was an Aveo? Seriously, you had a broken down piece of crap Yugo (dialup) and wanted something newer and better but didn't want to spend a lot on it. $10, 768kbps DSL makes perfect sense.

For you it probably wouldn't since you probably have used faster products.
--
Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool.
ossito16

join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN
·RCN CABLE

said by Cabal See Profile :

768K DSL is hardly a Corvette. If GM was unloading leftover Chevy Aveos for $1000, I'd save my $1000.

Ok I got carried away, online education is expensive so u don't have a lot of extra cash lying around. For extra 3 bucks I can move up to 768dsl. So you would keep the 1977 Chevette (aka dial-up) instead of moving up to a $1k Aveo (768 Dsl) if you knew about it.

rcdailey
Dragoonfly
Premium
join:2005-03-29
Rialto, CA

said by Cabal See Profile :

768K DSL is hardly a Corvette. If GM was unloading leftover Chevy Aveos for $1000, I'd save my $1000.
Ever driven an Aveo? I have. They're not too bad for a little car. $1000 would be a good deal, just as $10 for 768kbps down is a good deal.
--
No one is always right or always wrong, unfortunately.

Michieru2
zzz zzz zzz
Premium
join:2005-01-28
Miami, FL
...How insulting...

cabana
now in strawberry
Assistant
join:2000-07-07
New York, NY

Host:
AT&T Southeast
56k Lookout (Broad..
Customer Service Mr. CEO! -- why the hell reinvent the wheel! -- its not rocket science --consumers know service cost money -- and they are willing to pay for it...but rarely does a company DELIVER IT!

Bottom line -- Consumers want value for their money -- a product that does what is says it will do - and customer service to address the issues that arise with utilizing the service. PERIOD. Yes -- company needs to make money -- but here is the thing.

Seems there are few companies who get the mix right. No matter what the price point is...$10.00 or $100.00 -- PROFIT still gets the biggest piece of the pie. The advertisements say "we are doing all of this for you joe consumer" ...but come on the truth is " you are really doing this for yourselves, Joe and Jane Business Owners".

DUDDERZ

@bellsouth.net

Re: What?

DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH...
No one wants to pay for anything...
let alone customer service...
we want the cheapest possible...
don't lie and say "we would pay"
that just makes me laugh!
lesopp

join:2001-06-27
Land O Lakes, FL

If he really wants it

When he stated 'I want to be treated like a customer...', did the interviewer kick him in the family jewels and then urinate on him?

CyBrChRsT

join:2003-02-28
Kansas City, MO

Re: If he really wants it

haha I luv it.
Mind if I use that here and there where feasible?
Only in conversation though cuz it just wouldn't seem right reusing it online since u've already done so graciously

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

1 edit
Yeah, really. "Hold please..." [click]

LOL

Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:


1 edit

I think I just lost my lunch all over my keyboard

He doesn't want to offer a service that's not state of the art?

What the he** is uverse?

Mr Stephenson, it is the state of the future demise of your company.

It is a disaster.

It is so uncompetitive for a next generation service compared to the cable companies and fios to be the laughing stock of the broadband world.

Sir, you have 51,000 customers at last count.
Out of ALL this time you've been rolling it out.

Have you been to the uverse forum on this website? I don't think i've seen anything as unexciting as that place since my last visit to a dentists office for a tooth extraction.

Have you seen FIOS's latest numbers? They're HUGE! Over 200,000 new customers in just one quarter alone!

Mr Stephenson..your company is losing that many landlines per quarter. comcast is ripping you to shreds with their slowsky commercials...fios is kicking your butts every which way but loose,

DOCSIS 3.0 is ON it's way!

Sir, you will be competing then against the likes of 50 to 75Mb cable and more.
And Fios that's at least at those speeds.

And...your next generation service is..6Mb that's really 5.5 in disguise?

Do you understand that your DEMISE is at hand?

Do you understand that you'll be selling 386sx computers in the face of the core2 duo revolution?

Do you understand....ANYTHING at all Mr. Stephenson?

MR GORBACHEV..err..Stephenson......TEAR DOWN THAT WALL..Errr..I mean those VRADS!!

And let's get with the program..OK?
bogey780

join:2004-03-19
Here

Re: I think I just lost my lunch all over my keyboard

I hope this is a macro and you're not actually typing these arguments from scratch everytime they post AT&T news.
Cod

join:2000-07-05
Greensboro, NC

Re: I think I just lost my lunch all over my keyboard

said by bogey780 See Profile :

I hope this is a macro and you're not actually typing these arguments from scratch everytime they post AT&T news.
I think he gets paid by word...
pcnetworx1

join:2005-09-21
Bethel Park, PA

Re: I think I just lost my lunch all over my keyboard

I really think you might be right.

I really find it funny the banter of the fanaticals here (Rick and Batterup come to mind)

Sometimes insightful, usually funny, but it really adds character to the site.

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME


1 edit
Personally, I think they'll actually build MORE VRAD's to increase the speed, as the local loop will be shorter. There are those that already have sync rates above 100Mbps... they're just not using it all.

I think part of the reason only 51,000 customer have it, is that with all those VRADs out there...most of them are still not active. I.e. Santa Clarita was live in May, they 'just' built the VRAD last month, and it has power, but I still can't get Uverse.
ShadezeRO

join:2006-04-24
Fort Lauderdale, FL
·AT&T Southeast

Re: I think I just lost my lunch all over my keyboard

said by en102 See Profile :

Personally, I think they'll actually build MORE VRAD's to increase the speed, as the local loop will be shorter. There are those that already have sync rates above 100Mbps... they're just not using it all.
....I hope not! They are terrible to look at, and on top of that it'll lower my property value -_-

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME


1 edit

Re: I think I just lost my lunch all over my keyboard

Considering that where they are here, it shouldn't have any impact. I.e. they're ALL between the backyard cinder block wall and the street. None of them here are in anyone's front yard (none that I've seen anyways). They now have VRADs at both ends of my HOA (~420 homes)
--
Canada = Hollywood North

dj12midnit
Tag You'R It
Premium
join:2000-07-28
Lynden, WA
clubs:
·Comcast

Give them a little taste.

He really fails to see the big picture. There are still a lot of people out their on dial up, and what those people need is just a taste of Broadband to get them hooked. Throw out a little money advertise the 10$ deal then once they are hooked they can just keep tempting them with a little more.
--
Sig Remove by order of the sheriff.
bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
·Packet8


1 edit

Defending EDGE ?

Q: The device has been largely praised, but there have been exceptions, including some complaints about the speed of AT&T's EDGE network. It was Apple's choice to use EDGE. Do you feel like you take the hit on that, as opposed to Apple?

A: Take a hit on the EDGE network? First of all, EDGE network is the only national, wireless broadband network available. If you want ubiquitous coverage across the nation, EDGE is the only opportunity you have.
Wow, this guy starts his response with a half truth... Good one there Randall. Let's totally forget about EVDO and selectively present the facts.

There is not a 3G network that is yet ubiquitously employed across the nation.
And neither is EDGE... Sorry Randall, but your largest network in America actually doesn't cover some places and neither does EDGE.

Second of all, EDGE is, for things like emails and transporting photos and that type of thing, it's a very good experience.
Yeah Randall, if you have really, REALLY low expectations and no concept of quality. Waiting upwards of 1 second, sometimes even more (three to five), for the network to acknowledge your request with full signal strength is not a "very good experience." Of course, I'm betting you never synced your phone with Activesync or used IMAP across EDGE either Randall ? That certainly isn't a "very good experience" when it fails half the time because of EDGE. Both actually work just fine on my Sprint phone and both are much faster.

And he's got to be kidding me when he says that transporting pictures across EDGE is a good experience. Pictures require more bandwidth that web browsing and web browsing on EDGE is painful.

For Web surfing, if somebody wants to be a power Web surfer, there are 20,000, 30,000 Wi-Fi hotspots around the country, plus many people in their home have Wi-Fi hotspots.
So, in other words, our network sucks and you need to use Wifi to see that "very good experience".

Randall, at least be honest... Just goes to show that corporate types are just as full of shit as politicians and are to be trusted likewise... Not at all.
--
Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool.
wierdo

join:2001-02-16
Tulsa, OK
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Teliax VOIP

Re: Defending EDGE ?

EDGE is far better than you make it out to be. 3G is, of course, a much better experience, but EDGE is light years ahead of GPRS and is quite a bit better than 1xRTT when you have a good signal.

My only problem with EDGE is SSH. MMSing works fine, emails work fine, everything works fine except the most interactive of traffic.

They do need very much to work on a more aggressive 3G rollout, though. They are expanding, but the pace seems glacial. They've had the T1s installed at one site I'm familiar with for a couple of months now, but there's no sign of progress on getting the new radios installed.

Your complaint about bandwidth indicates that you really don't know how the EDGE network works and whether or not sending a picture across it would be reasonable. After the upgrades, I get 180Kbps on the EDGE network pretty regularly, and 200Kbps isn't uncommon, as it used to be. (Previously 120Kbps was my usual speed, with bursts up to 180, now my bursts are right up to 200-230Kbps with both my laptop and my E62)

EDGE has more bandwidth than anything with its broad deployment. Where it sucks is latency. 500-600ms (typical, when the connection isn't asleep) is just too much. It doesn't matter one whit for sending one single picture, though, as only one round trip need be made to start the transfer.

Web browsing seems awful for you because your device doesn't make enough concurrent connections to overcome the awful latency. EDGE is sort of like satellite, only better. It works fine if you have your browser set to download 4 or 5 things at once, but if it only downloads one or two things at a time it takes forever because of all the sequential round trips you have to wait on for all the images and whatnot to be loaded.
bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
·Packet8

Re: Defending EDGE ?

said by wierdo See Profile :

EDGE is far better than you make it out to be. 3G is, of course, a much better experience, but EDGE is light years ahead of GPRS and is quite a bit better than 1xRTT when you have a good signal.
I will conceded that EDGE definitely is a much better experience that GPRS ever was, however, I am by no means giving it short shrift. EDGE is not "far better" than I've made it out to be by any stretch.

My only problem with EDGE is SSH. MMSing works fine, emails work fine, everything works fine except the most interactive of traffic.
Well, I hate to tell you, but EDGE has done nothing but fall flat for using Activesync to an Exchange server and using IMAP. My sync sessions to the Exchange server constantly fail when I'm using my EDGE connected devices. Same problem with IMAP. Downloading messages, though, is faster than dialup, but nothing to write home about.

Your complaint about bandwidth indicates that you really don't know how the EDGE network works and whether or not sending a picture across it would be reasonable.
Try sending or receiving large image files across EDGE at less than or around 100kbps. Not a very enjoyable experience. Sorry, I know well enough how the system works.

After the upgrades, I get 180Kbps on the EDGE network pretty regularly, and 200Kbps isn't uncommon, as it used to be. (Previously 120Kbps was my usual speed, with bursts up to 180, now my bursts are right up to 200-230Kbps with both my laptop and my E62)
And I regularly get between 3-700kbps, with bursts to 1Mbps on my EVDO devices with lower latency... Sorry if I'm not as impressed as I used to be.

EDGE has more bandwidth than anything with its broad deployment.
Bandwidth is not related to deployment.

Where it sucks is latency. 500-600ms (typical, when the connection isn't asleep) is just too much. It doesn't matter one whit for sending one single picture, though, as only one round trip need be made to start the transfer.
No, but it does matter when you are making several connections to a server to download mail headers and messages.

Web browsing seems awful for you because your device doesn't make enough concurrent connections to overcome the awful latency. EDGE is sort of like satellite, only better. It works fine if you have your browser set to download 4 or 5 things at once, but if it only downloads one or two things at a time it takes forever because of all the sequential round trips you have to wait on for all the images and whatnot to be loaded.
That's only part of the problem. Latency affecting session setup times contributes equally, if not moreso, to the problem of EDGE performing poorly, than the low number of sessions. Your statement that more sessions would instantly solve the problem shows that you know little of TCP/IP.
--
Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool.

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME

Re: Defending EDGE ?

I have used EDGE for 'some' traffic (tethered), and it wasn't horrible.
I would NEVER want to try and use it for an SSH / tunneling session though.

I have had up to 1Mbps tethered on UMTS/HSDPA through my Samsung zx-20, and used it for SSH, and it was very good. Typical ping was ~230ms (w/o load).

I've never got past ~140kbps on EDGE (class 10 on Samsung zx-20), and just won't use it

I personlly think AT&T missed the boat on selling a true 3G iPhone.
--
Canada = Hollywood North
wierdo

join:2001-02-16
Tulsa, OK
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Teliax VOIP

said by bmn See Profile :

That's only part of the problem. Latency affecting session setup times contributes equally, if not moreso, to the problem of EDGE performing poorly, than the low number of sessions. Your statement that more sessions would instantly solve the problem shows that you know little of TCP/IP.
Except that concurrency reduces the apparent effect of latency.

Also, I don't know what's wrong with Outlook/Exchange, but I use IMAP all the time on EDGE with my laptop. Would I rather have 3G? Definitely. Is it as bad as you're making it out to be? No. I'd sure like it to be faster, but waiting less than a second for a small message to download when you click on it isn't bad.

sholling
Premium
join:2002-02-13
Hemet, CA

Smoke and Mirrors

I'm sure that even if AT&T's CEO did slum it, it won't be for long. Corporate officers always demand little perks. Little things like direct lines to the VP of support so that someone manager level or above is assisting them within ten minutes or so. It's also a simple matter for a smart middle manager at a telecom to have someone program the system to give priority to calls from a preprogrammed list executive staff home phone numbers, and to route those calls directly to hand picked members of the level two or level three support team.
--
"Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
--FREDERIC BASTIAT--
Cyber2lz

join:2001-11-15
Odessa, FL

New company,

Same old BellThink. Always TELLING us what we want.
at&t, your world delayed.
--
The Light Pipe is the Right Pipe !!!

jgkolt
Premium
join:2004-02-21
Lakewood, OH
clubs:

huh

is he genuinely disconnected or does he truly believe that

CyBrChRsT

join:2003-02-28
Kansas City, MO


4 edits

GauuwwD it's all a crock of shit!

I started out with ATT back in Dec. and the fuckers keep bumping up my bill and every month I'd call to bitch and find out wtf was going on. Talk about a bunch of clueless monkey fucks. Either they are stupid or their script that their billing dept/dsl support people read out of the book state ---> "QUEUE Act stupid here ---> (stupid clueless reason here)" in 5 months my bill went from $30/month with phone/dsl to a whopping $66/month and they hounded me countless times to upgrade my dsl when I told them countless times I didn't fucking need it! Then so what do they do after a month of me refusing to upgade from my happily paid $14/month dsl? They send a guy to my house to "Upgrade me to $20/month pro dsl with a $5/month discount on it so I don't pay anymore than I was already" so I said ok you got me with that one, you made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Then I get my next bill and it went from the previous $44/month to $66/month and when I called them about it they had no idea who this guy was that came to my house and signed me up for this deal. That's when I said that's it I'm done, you people have done nothing but screwed me the whole time and nobody has had a single reason for it and all I get is "I don't see what you are seeing sir. You had a prorated package that expired. WTF? Another excuse. ok so get this I cancel my service and they send me a fucking $5.00 check in the mail! Then a month goes by and they send me a $120 BILL! How the hell do they come up with I owe them that when my last bill I refuse to pay was only $66 and they sent me a $5 check??? All I wanted dsl for to start with was so I could put my server on the net at the cheapest possible price! and they end up screwing me out of hundreads to do it in the matter of a few months. What's also BS is having to pay for a freaking phone number I didn't want or need to begin with just to get the cheap net! I went back to TimeWarner for a flat $29/month for a close 9Mbps downstream connection (which is suppose to only be 7Mbps but since I run nothing but Cisco end to end and so does TimeWarner and I know how to actually run a network I think is why it's so much higher!) and got a SKYPE account. Oh and when I was on the phone with TimeWarner the chick said it's flat $29/month no hidden cost / NO TAXES! Which the no taxes was hard for me to believe, she said there is no taxes on the Internet. Which I don't get that either, I remember around 5 years ago reading that the gov was gonna start charging ISP's retro taxes on Internet access which they sure the hell did cuz it put a lot of small ISP's outta business! Now they change their mind again about it and veto it? Nice to see our tax dollars hard at work on people spending time saying they should have been charging taxes all that time on net access then they change it and run a shitload of mom and pop isps outta biz over backed taxes that weren't even backed to begin with then after nobody but the big guys are left they up and decide oh forget it. We're not gonna tax the net! Get this also though switching back to cable wasn't without it's headaches. They come out to restring the line to the house cuz dumbass neighbors cut a tree down last summer and it yanked all the utility lines off the house. We didn't bother with the cable at the time cuz we didn't use it anyway. So anyway cable co comes out to string us a new line like 5 months ago and they want a letter from the landlord saying they have permission to do it and they aren't liable if they fuckup the new attachment and what not. So it took us 3 months to get the dumbass to finally get us a letter of approval for it, cable co comes back out and this time they didn't even ask for the letter, talk about steaming pissed cuz I was put on hold for months till I got the letter and then they don't even ask for it. That's not the end of it. So anyway I have my own Cisco Cable Access Router a uBR924, I've used this thing before at two other locations with no problems. This time it took me almost two weeks to get it up and running cuz dumbasses (tier 2 dumbasses at that) thought rather than fuck with setting it up on the network with the mac that they'd just tell me it's not supported anymore. Well I'm not the type of person that takes being told I can't do something very lightly at all. I find out after being up two days and not eating and being drunk off my ass at this point and talking to some chick that they didn't even activate the damn thing to begin with, they just had the mac in there. So I wasted a week of reviewing my config in the IOS and loosing nights of sleep over it. Talk about really pissed. Got me a $25 credit to my account and they reset my billing cycle to when I actually started getting net through the router, over their incompetence when I explained the whole ordeal I went through. Whew that was a lot of typing

Moral is: DON'T EVER LET THE UTILITY COMPANIES TRY AND FUCK YOU AROUND! BTW ATT still sent me shit in the mail AFTER the fact I canceled, trying to get me to upgrade my net ROFLMAO, good communication ppl! And now I'm about to threaten filing a harassment suite if they don't stop sending me their mail begging me to come back. haha.

Hope all who took the time to read my rant got some entertainment out of it

ib50MbSoon
Formerly TwoKDialup
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI

ROFLMAO!

I could dust off my old USR Courier and invite Randall over to surf the Web a bit on my skanky 2k dialup phone line. (DSL service still not available)

Then I could have him fasten his seat belt and surf the net via Comcast HSI. Then maybe he'd get it?
--
Meet Bill and Karolyn at www.theslowskys.com

CyBrChRsT

join:2003-02-28
Kansas City, MO

Re: ROFLMAO!

lol, naw, ATT ppl don't get it.
That's why it's taken them this long to get this far.
And how far into evolution is this for them?
Big step according to ATT, no step for rest of mankind!
gopnick

join:2005-01-07
Benton, AR

Ha!

So let me get this right...

EDGE (200k at best) is a "very good experience" but 768k DSL isn't? This buffoon can't even keep from contradicting himself in a single paragraph!

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest

If he wants to impress us....

... He should come read forums here and post responses.

That would take some balls. Maybe then he'd actually improve some of these issues rather then insist there isn't any problems.

Of course, I'm sure his time is way to valuable to "waste" talking to customers here.
--
"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!)

skj
Welcome to the far side of reality
Premium,Mod
join:2002-04-04
Atlanta, GA

Host:
Charter HSI/CATV
Earthlink DSL
Embarq
ISP b2b etc
Cisco

Customers really want to pay $20 for the 768 service.

Let's see, "768kbps $10 DSL isn't advertised because customers don't want it"? I guess what customers really want is to pay twice as much for the service since it is advertised and prominently displayed for $20 on the front page of the AT&T/Bellsouth website: »bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/index.html.
--


The foundations of character are built not by lecture, but by bricks of good example, laid day by day.
Zoder

join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL


1 edit

Re: Customers really want to pay $20 for the 768 service.

Exactly. The $20 for 1.5 mbps he mentions is only available to legacy AT&T states. Ex-Bellsouth states still need to pay $32.95 for that speed tier. The $15 plan he mentions is for legacy states only and is the same speed at the $10 plan. His answer is classic corporate spin.

VegasMan
Are We There Yet?

join:2002-11-17
Schaumburg, IL

Missed opportunity

I think at&t is missing out on an opportunity here. They could advertise the hell out of the $10 plan and lure more customers in and see how many of them later upgrade to the $15 plan or higher.
--
In need of a Vegas vacation.
Geebo

join:2004-10-18
Fort Wayne, IN

wow

i say wow....c'mon people.. from his "world view - perspective" I think he is trying to change. its a start... from other ceo's who believe they are privledged.

dslwanter
Why would I want DSL? I have FTTH
Premium
join:2002-12-16
Lowellville, OH
·Armstrong Zoom In..
·AT&T Midwest

OK Mr. CEO

I hope your number, like 90% of the numbers in this township show this when you want to order DSL:

Our system indicates that our DSL service, AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet, is not available at your location. However, let's see if we have another solution for you:
You may qualify for satellite broadband from AT&T.Learn More
If DSL becomes available at my location, Contact Me

Or when you go to upgrade but can't because you're too far from the CO with no RT available:

Our records indicate that you have a service that is not renewable and not eligible for an upgrade offer. However, you are welcome to keep your current service and rate by taking no further action.

If you would like more information, please contact us at 1-877-722-3755 during normal business hours (Mon-Fri, 7am-9pm; Sat 8am-5pm).

How would that feel?
--
"You're as worthless as a screen door on a submarine!" Check out my Internet Radio Station & DJ Service, »www.thebomb102.com.

PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
Riverside, WA

I'd go for it

I was paying $43/mo. for my 512/512 wireless connection. I would have killed for 768 for $10.

GlobalMind
Domino Dude, POWER Systems Guy
Premium
join:2001-10-29
Hollywood, FL

Oh goodie.

Maybe he can try and log on their website to pay his bill and have the site fail month after month.

Sounds like a fun idea to me.
Forums » AT&T CEO Walks a Foot in Your Shoespage: 1 · 2


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