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AT&T Cust. with No Coverage in Area - What are my options?

K

khongaeng

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 17, 2008
109
2
USA or ประเทศ&
I'll start out by saying that I think AT&T's 3G network (where available) is great, and I don't mind paying $30 a month to use it.

However, I just recently moved to Maine and found out that even though I am in the 2nd largest city in Maine, AT&T doesn't have a 3G network anywhere within a 100 mile radius of the city. Also, I count myself lucky if I ever see the E pop up on my phone when driving around or while in a 1 storey building.

My question for all of you that have moved to secluded areas of the country is have you had any success negotiating with AT&T about their craptacular coverage? I simply cannot see how anyone could justify spending $30 a month for a network they can't access (3G not at all, EDGE almost never). Has anyone been able to negotiate lower or even waived termination fees? Unfortunately I just bought a iPhone 3GS on the release date, so I am locked into AT&T for a very long time. At this point I think I will just eat the termination fee so that I can actually have a cellular service that works.
 
khongaeng said:
I'll start out by saying that I think AT&T's 3G network (where available) is great, and I don't mind paying $30 a month to use it.

However, I just recently moved to Maine and found out that even though I am in the 2nd largest city in Maine, AT&T doesn't have a 3G network anywhere within a 100 mile radius of the city. Also, I count myself lucky if I ever see the E pop up on my phone when driving around or while in a 1 storey building.

My question for all of you that have moved to secluded areas of the country is have you had any success negotiating with AT&T about their craptacular coverage? I simply cannot see how anyone could justify spending $30 a month for a network they can't access (3G not at all, EDGE almost never). Has anyone been able to negotiate lower or even waived termination fees? Unfortunately I just bought a iPhone 3GS on the release date, so I am locked into AT&T for a very long time. At this point I think I will just eat the termination fee so that I can actually have a cellular service that works.
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It's best if you call 611 and clearly explain to them your situation and what you want. Be straightforward and don't lie. Here we can all say and comment, but we can't do anything to help. Better get answers from the source...
 
I would check if T-Mobile has service there - if so, jailbreak and use them (although you won't get 3G, at least you'll be able to use your iPhone with edge).

Or sell the iPhone for a tidy profit and switch to a different carrier/phone.
 
typically yes you can get the fee waived, you usually have to show them some kind of utilities bill to prove you really moved, and they'll 'test' the area and if they see it's really a lack of coverage they'll waive the etf.

in short, it can be done, it's just a pain to do.
 
jav6454 said:
It's best if you call 611 and clearly explain to them your situation and what you want. Be straightforward and don't lie. Here we can all say and comment, but we can't do anything to help. Better get answers from the source...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree thatI am at the mercy of the delightful customer service reps at AT&T, but I was wondering if anyone else has had any success in softening the blow.

I was thinking about T-mobile, but I hear that their service is even worse up here, so the only other options for me are Verizon or some other local CDMA carriers. I would probably keep my iPhone as a iPod Touch even if I left AT&T.
 
christyn said:
typically yes you can get the fee waived, you usually have to show them some kind of utilities bill to prove you really moved, and they'll 'test' the area and if they see it's really a lack of coverage they'll waive the etf.

in short, it can be done, it's just a pain to do.
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Thanks for the info, this is good to know.
 
jav6454 said:
It's best if you call 611 and clearly explain to them your situation and what you want. Be straightforward and don't lie. Here we can all say and comment, but we can't do anything to help. Better get answers from the source...
Click to expand...

christyn said:
typically yes you can get the fee waived, you usually have to show them some kind of utilities bill to prove you really moved, and they'll 'test' the area and if they see it's really a lack of coverage they'll waive the etf.

in short, it can be done, it's just a pain to do.
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Agreed. If you are having such bad coverage, they should waive all of the fees when you terminate your service. Good luck.
 
just be courteous

and understanding that the person on the other end gets tons of calls like yours and might not be in your area. like jav6454 be honest and truthful and keep your head you get more with honey and kindness. if you are nice the CS agent is more likely to be sympathetic to you and will go the extra mile. if worse case you don't think you are being treated right you can politely ask to speak to a manager or just say thank you let me think it over and call back latter and try another cs agent, yes they will have the record from the other conversation but they still might come up with something different good luck.
 
labman said:
and understanding that the person on the other end gets tons of calls like yours and might not be in your area. like jav6454 be honest and truthful and keep your head you get more with honey and kindness. if you are nice the CS agent is more likely to be sympathetic to you and will go the extra mile. if worse case you don't think you are being treated right you can politely ask to speak to a manager or just say thank you let me think it over and call back latter and try another cs agent, yes they will have the record from the other conversation but they still might come up with something different good luck.
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cant pm you, but whats that 25/125? looking to buy an iphone shortly
 
You should be able to get an exemption and break your contract early if you moved and there's no service. I can't guarantee this, but I seem to remember reading this is the deal somewhere.
 
Call in and be nice, explain the problem. Unfortiantly AT&T doesn't garuntee 3g service everywhere.
 
it's At&T referal program

STC1709 said:
cant pm you, but whats that 25/125? looking to buy an iphone shortly
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very simple if you are joining AT&T and you get refered by somebody they do have to sign up for the referal program. that takes less the 5 minutes. then if you mention you were referred both parties get $25 credit each. then after that you can sign up as a referrer yourself. everybody is happy. :D opps saw the above post too late oh well.
 
I am in somewhat the same situation. Our (both wife and myself) iPhones do not work in our house. In general reception is pretty good in our area except for an area right around our house. Calls are generally dropped within 10-20 seconds of being made. This happens on both our iPhones. This has caused us to miss several very important phone calls. I have thought seriously about calling AT&T and trying to get the ETF waived and go back to Sprint. But my wife and I have talked and we really, really do like the iPhone and would hate to give it up. So what I've done is setup Google Voice for both of us with calls going both to our home phone (Vonage) and our iPhones and when at home we just answer on our home phone. This does cause some additional issues because my wife and daughter (who also has an iPhone) talk on the phone a lot and so now our daughter is having to pay for minutes with AT&T that she used to not have worry about. I am hoping my ultimate solution will be a micro-cell unit whenever AT&T comes out with them. If it was any other phone besides the iPhone though, I'd gone the ETF route.
 
wolfpackfan said:
I am in somewhat the same situation. Our (both wife and myself) iPhones do not work in our house. In general reception is pretty good in our area except for an area right around our house. Calls are generally dropped within 10-20 seconds of being made. This happens on both our iPhones. This has caused us to miss several very important phone calls. I have thought seriously about calling AT&T and trying to get the ETF waived and go back to Sprint. But my wife and I have talked and we really, really do like the iPhone and would hate to give it up. So what I've done is setup Google Voice for both of us with calls going both to our home phone (Vonage) and our iPhones and when at home we just answer on our home phone. This does cause some additional issues because my wife and daughter (who also has an iPhone) talk on the phone a lot and so now our daughter is having to pay for minutes with AT&T that she used to not have worry about. I am hoping my ultimate solution will be a micro-cell unit whenever AT&T comes out with them. If it was any other phone besides the iPhone though, I'd gone the ETF route.
Click to expand...

Have you looked into signal boosters? Not the the scams where you put foil on the back of your phone, but plug-in amplifiers (I know some people with car signal amplifiers who swear by them).
 
Maine Service

I live in the Bangor area and switched from T-Mobile to AT&T in July. When I had T-Mobile I had ok service everywhere and I used the hotspot @home to maintain decent service at my house. Now on At&T I have had much better coverage in the area than I did before. However, my house is only 1 or 2 bars all the time. I have talked with an Apple employee and also an AT&T rep and supposedly 3G should be here by the end of 2009. There are a handful of towers in the surrounding areas that have yet to be turned on. I can only assume that the coverage will continue to get better going forward. Traveling down I95 to Portland I have great coverage. When I get to about Freeport I get 3G coverage. Hope this information is helpful. If you download Signals on your iPhone you can see some of the coverage in Maine.
 
itguy80 said:
I live in the Bangor area and switched from T-Mobile to AT&T in July. When I had T-Mobile I had ok service everywhere and I used the hotspot @home to maintain decent service at my house. Now on At&T I have had much better coverage in the area than I did before. However, my house is only 1 or 2 bars all the time. I have talked with an Apple employee and also an AT&T rep and supposedly 3G should be here by the end of 2009. There are a handful of towers in the surrounding areas that have yet to be turned on. I can only assume that the coverage will continue to get better going forward. Traveling down I95 to Portland I have great coverage. When I get to about Freeport I get 3G coverage. Hope this information is helpful. If you download Signals on your iPhone you can see some of the coverage in Maine.
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Well how about that, I live in Bangor too. I was seriously thinking about switching over to T-Mobile, but I have always wondered if the T-mobile coverage is any better. From what you say, it sounds like AT&T coverage is better in Bangor.

I have heard that 3G is supposed to be here by the end of 2009, but I heard that same story in May 2008 when I was thinking about buying an iPhone 2G before moving out of the state (they said that there would be 3G as far Northeast as Ellsworth). Now that I am back and paying $30 a month for a data plan that is unusable at best, I don't want to wait another 4 months just to find out that the AT&T reps are just making stuff up to keep or get a new customer.

A few weekends ago, I was down in Freeport and it was a breath of fresh air being able to use 3G and having full bars all the time.

In any case, the bad coverage is becoming more and more detrimental to my mental health, so I think I am just going to give AT&T a call when I have a chance this weekend and cancel my contract. I will switch back when (if ever) AT&T lives up to their promise. By the way my experience with Verizon's coverage has been phenomenal here (2 years ago)
 
khongaeng said:
Well how about that, I live in Bangor too. I was seriously thinking about switching over to T-Mobile, but I have always wondered if the T-mobile coverage is any better. From what you say, it sounds like AT&T coverage is better in Bangor.

I have heard that 3G is supposed to be here by the end of 2009, but I heard that same story in May 2008 when I was thinking about buying an iPhone 2G before moving out of the state (they said that there would be 3G as far Northeast as Ellsworth). Now that I am back and paying $30 a month for a data plan that is unusable at best, I don't want to wait another 4 months just to find out that the AT&T reps are just making stuff up to keep or get a new customer.

A few weekends ago, I was down in Freeport and it was a breath of fresh air being able to use 3G and having full bars all the time.

In any case, the bad coverage is becoming more and more detrimental to my mental health, so I think I am just going to give AT&T a call when I have a chance this weekend and cancel my contract. I will switch back when (if ever) AT&T lives up to their promise. By the way my experience with Verizon's coverage has been phenomenal here (2 years ago)
Click to expand...


I'm really surprised that you don't have better service in Bangor. I'm always on EDGE Bangor/Orono/Brewer/Hermon. Are you mostly on the outskirts of Bangor? Have your tried turning off your 3G under Settings/General/Network? I had an Apple rep tell me to do that when I first got my phone since there is no 3G here. It seems like it worked better for me then. I just turn it on when I travel to Portland. If you'd like to any additional information or talk further in detail before you cancel your contract you can send me a private message here with your email address. It really sucks that your having such poor service!
 
Bangor 3G Service

My co-worker talked to an AT&T rep this morning in the Ellsworth store. He reaffirmed that Bangor would have 3G by Thanksgiving 2009. This particular employee lives in Bangor and is waiting like us for 3G to arrive. Last year my co-worker was told about the upcoming 3G service in Portland (from the Ellsworth store) and that was available late 2008 as expected. Hopefully Bangor will be on target just like Portland was. Thought I would pass this along to you.
 
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