For the past few months, I’ve noticed that coverage with AT&T where I live has progressively gotten worse. It’s so bad now that I can’t really count on AT&T at all anymore for important calls. There are 3 different phones I use (including my wife’s) on AT&T, and the service has been consistent on each. I figured I’d put matters in my own hands with the MicroCell, but that product is a joke itself, but that’s a different matter altogether.

Since their solution to dead spots (via the MicroCell) is worthless, I’ve exhausted all options other than to get in touch with them directly to address the underlying issue: bad coverage. Below is my experience, including direct quotes from this evening’s chat session with their technical support. By the way, I had to resort to an online chat session because their coverage is so poor I didn’t want to wait on hold, get in touch with someone only to have the call dropped.

First Contact

Two weeks ago I called their customer service number to get the ball rolling. The person I spoke with was actually friendly, but not very helpful. Her suggestion was to re-register the phone, give it a few days, and see if there were any improvements. She promised to call back 3 days later to check in, and we agreed on a specific time for her to contact me. While she did call back (twice), it was hours before the time we agreed on, and I wasn’t available. Of course, her troubleshooting didn’t solve anything.

Online Chat Session

I finally made the initiative to get back in touch with AT&T to further escalate my issues. A storm knocked out the power earlier, leaving me with no WiFi connection, and I was barely able to post a twitter update with the coverage in my area. I opted for the chat session with technical support this time to have a transcript of the experience.

The first person I “spoke” with was Nick Cedillo. Must have been the level 1 rep. Nice enough, but not too helpful. I had to verify my account info, explain my issue, turn off the phone while he sent updates, restart, turn off, remove SIM card, wait for more updates, restart, nothing changed. I explained to him (same as I did to the person I spoke with on the phone earlier) that it wasn’t the phone, since I have 3 different phones all with the same coverage, but I understood that I had to go through the motions.

Exhausting everything on the level 1 checklist, I was then sent to another rep, this time it was Matthew Hutchins.

Getting Nowhere, Fast

Now with a different rep, I had to verify again my account information. Obviously I had wasted the last 20 minutes with Nick, since Matthew knew nothing of the conversation that had already taken place. I had to explain everything to him again, and he had me do most of what Nick had me do, all over again. Nothing new, same problems, no coverage.

Since two reps went through the checklist on their customer service cheat sheets, the pre-package answers started flowing from Mr. Hutchins. I do intend to post the full transcript of the chat session soon, but essentially here’s what I learned a few interesting facts. From the phone conversation two weeks ago, I found out that months ago my area was listed as “good coverage” in their system. Now their system shows my area as “moderate coverage”. No explanation as to why service has officially been downgraded in their system from Matt though. Here’s what he did share with me:

Matt Hutchins:

“Thank you. I do show that you are in a moderate coverage area. Areas that are in moderate coverage should have sufficient signal strength for on-street or in-the-open coverage, but may not have it for in-vehicle coverage or in-building coverage. In addition, service in this type of area is affected by things as simple as the foliage on the trees. In spring and summer, you can loose signal simply by the trees filling in.”

Gotcha. So I guess that means that AT&T covers 97% of the country, but that doesn’t apply if you’re inside or in a car. And 2 out of the 4 seasons, that 97% figure goes out the window. And technology apparently hasn’t been developed to allow coverage within walls. Oh wait, it has actually. His response was obviously a cut-and-paste from the customer service manual.

Matt Hutchins:

“Right now, I show that all the towers in the area are at full capacity. I am very sorry for any inconvenience. We do work constantly to enhance the network. However, at this point the coverage in that area is only moderate.”

Hmm, months back I was already told that coverage in my area was “good”. Now it’s only “moderate” and there’s no explanation as to what changed. Other than seasons and the leaves on the trees. But, Spring happened last year too, and leaves grew then, and there weren’t any problems. What gives? Matt didn’t know, that’s for sure.

Call For More Information

Essentially, the response I’m getting is “You’re S.O.L.”. To keep pushing the issue, I inquired about canceling my account. He couldn’t give me any information, other than suggesting I contact AT&T over the phone to discuss the matter. IF I HAVE NO COVERAGE, I CAN’T CONTACT THEM! He then offered to inform me of the closest AT&T corporate store where I could go to speak with someone in person. I’ve mastered the art of Googling it long ago, so I know where to go.

From there, Matt continued to dodge my questions and was obviously done with me.

Customer Satisfaction Survey

Matt actually terminated the chat session before I was done chatting with him. That flagged the auto-response from AT&T, which stated, “Thank you for visiting the AT&T Live Support Chat. We know you have a choice in wireless providers and we appreciate you choosing AT&T. Please click the close button to end your session. A customer satisfaction survey will automatically appear and we appreciate your feedback.” Hmm, there was no survey prompt. So here’s my satisfaction survey response: The customer service, much like your coverage, is a joke!

Full transcript of my chat session with Matt will hopefully be posted soon.