Cellular Service Provider Ponderings
We have looked at cell phones in general. Bottom line there - if you aren’t using a decent ‘Smart Phone’ you are hamstrung.
The next issue - ‘What about service providers?’
Ponder this:
- Specific phones only work with a given provider. As this piece is written the iPhone, for example, is only functional in the U.S. with AT&T. Most of the big networks are opening up to allow phones from other providers to work, with the exception of the iPhone. For now.
- Coverage maps claimed by providers are theoretical, not based upon customer’s experiences. I have an iPhone. Love the thing. I have been forced to use AT&T obviously. I live in an area on the east side of Tampa that has a significant population and lots of cell towers. One would think those facts would mean that a massive group such as AT&T has the area easily covered … Wrong. Upon moving here I discovered my phone works perfectly fine everywhere, except in my house. Anywhere outside - it is flawless. I have this nasty habit of actually using the thing indoors now and then.
To fix this coverage problem I searched high and low. Eventually I found a device - an extender - at Buy.com for about $200. It works well when installed properly (no brainer it ain’t - if you are impatient with tech hardware I suggest you hire the 8th grader next door to hook it up for you… don’t stop until you have a great signal). You order the extender needed according to your service provider.
Setting Up / Changing Aspects of Service
I nearly get a headache simply reflecting momentarily upon past experiences with cell providers - both in stores and on the phone. I don’t mind naming names in order to save you headaches and hits to your wallet.
First, some coaching. Realize the profit-margins on many aspects of this highly competitive market are so slim in the U.S. that those hired are not highly trained - at least not those at the retail level. The simple mathematics of the business make it a reality that something gets dropped. Unfortunately, some of the larger companies drop things the most.
Inept training eventually equates to customer problems. Some hires made by providers have a mind for such things. That’s a bonus and has nothing to do with the training approach used with the companies. More than once, I have walked out of a store as a late teen aged kid was about to ‘help’ me with something he had no knowledge of. (“This list of addresses thing, I’m not sure of… let’s try this…” - that is a bad sign - time to pick up the phone and move down the street…)
Get Out the Kleenex…
After using T-Mobile with no coverage issues for a couple of years, I ended up on the receiving end of a “T-Mobile Necktie” (throat is slit, and mobile phone is inserted where tongue used to exist). I had by far and away two of the wildest customer service meltdowns imaginable. I can only share one story here. (In the second one, the customer service person refused to allow me to speak to anyone else other than her - she was the first to pick up the toll-free number. She looked up my name online and began to refer to me as “Mr. Kindness” - I did not raise my voice one iota. I did clearly point out the illogicalness of their policy. The story melts down from there and moves onto me receiving email from my own new email address this person set up for me - this is the sort of stuff Jerry Springer would bleep out…)
The story… One time said provider helped me change a phone number from one area code to another - a mere $18 charge. I stated no less than four times this was not a new mobile account. I asked the person if he had a magnifying glass. He laughed. I didn’t. People were behind me coughing, shaking their keys - hey, more than five minutes in line at T-Mobile and you’re burning daylight. Perhaps you’ve been in the same line. I clarified what I was looking for - was assured this was indeed a change of area code agreement.
Skip ahead ten months. Since we paid the T-Mobile bill via a credit card each month, I didn’t bother to look at the fine print. I tend to assume I am not being messed with. Again, Wrong. Janie discovered early into the new year I had in fact opened a new account that day. My old account was kept open. Not one call was made from it from that evening on - for eleven months.
After four calls to T-Mobile I realized people with physical bodies work at places like that, but they could well be replaced with automated responses. There must be a finite number of possible situations that come up. Of the several people we spoke to the exact words were spoken back each time. They were reading from a script. “Why would I keep an account alive when I have not made a single call from it in eleven months? That is nonsense.”
‘Sir-you-signed-an-agreement-stating-you-wanted-to-open-a-new-account…” On the second call I began to finish the sentence for the person.
Suggestions:
1. When establishing service, if at all possible, choose a carrier that does not require a contract.
It may well be possible to purchase a phone aside from the company (many places sell phones that are unlocked) then use a specific company from month to month. If you do this, check with a couple of providers to see if they can activate the phone you are looking into. I have done just this prior to my present phone - it worked very well.
At the time of this writing it looks as though Congress is going to pass federal laws prohibiting or at least lightening up the power of cellular companies. If you can hold of on establishing a contract, wait for a couple of months until laws are established.
2. If you alter your service in any way whatsoever, treat this change like a legal transaction - it is a legal transaction in fact.
Get the name of the person helping you. Record that in your mobile phone.
In many cases, any adjustment you make to your account renews your account. Of course each company is different. I discovered later that when I upped my texting limit my two-year account was automatically extended from that date.
3. It is highly unlikely you will be able to keep track of the multitude of papers such as contract like this…
Get an affordable double-sided, high speed scanner. Begin to make it your practice to scan all official papers that pass your way each day. Then have the discipline to label such things that go into your PDF files. (Scanners are now in the $350 range - the SnapScan is fantastic… recommend you bypass the HP versions at this point until they have worked out the bugs).
