Dear AT&T Please Check The Date
Posted on 25 August 2009, at 4:30 pm, by Dan Cohen
Dear AT&T,
You’ve been making some neat moves lately. The new Visual Voicemail for BlackBerry… NICE. Working with Sony on a eReader with integrated connectivity… well-played. And reports that you are finally expanding your service so you actually live up to your ads… About frigging time.
And what you have been doing for iPhone users… just awesome.
Oh no, wait a sec. That’s just wrong. You continue to treat iPhone users like 2nd class citizens. How so? You ask… BB owners can use applications like Slingbox and Truphone over 3G but iPhone users? Nope. And even though the app got updated to use 3G, Qik can’t stream on the iPhone the way it does from a Blackberry. No doubt you are behind THAT one too. Nice. And although they have to pay through the nose, every other smartphone offers some kind of tethering plan. iPhone users… nope. Oh but you have done some things… like trying to change the Terms of Service on our contracts, then recanting then trying to again. Between you and Apple I’m not really sure who is worse these days.
And while we’re talking do me a favor and check the date. My calendar tells me it is August 25. Does yours say that as well? It is the 25th right? Thought so. Well that means September is almost here and with it the end of summer. And that’s really the impetus of this love-letter.
When the iPhone 3GS was announced it was a big deal that it included MMS and tethering.
See this picture??? See who is missing?? Yeah that would be YOU!
Other wireless networks were able to support the services but not you. What’s with that?
To your credit you said, “Don’t worry, it will take a little time but it is coming.” Heck, you promised MMS by “later summer” and said that tether would be offered but the pricing would be coming soon.
Well, it is the end of August. That pretty well equates to later summer in my world. So where’s the MMS? Where’s the tethering plan?
Enough adding services to the Blackberry. Enough new deals with Sony to put more stress on your already stinky network (although at that price there aren’t going to be all that many readers on your network I suspect.) How about you stop that stuff, take a minute and actually add in the features you promised???
What do you say.
Signed-
An iPhone User Who Wishes the iPhone Was Available On Another Network
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August 26th, 2009 at 11:28 am[...] good friend and former contributor here, Dan Cohen, has got a good post up over at Gear Diary – asking AT&T to please check their calendar. And, more pointedly, asking about those [...]
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August 25th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
One way to show them how you feel as they don’t seem to listen to complains. Cancel your contract, buy a Pre, and switch to sprint.
You’ll also get faster 3g, better coverage, and about $30 to $50 less per month in fees and a device that can multitask. Then keep the ol’ iphone for the other apps or get an ipod touch. Unlike AT&T you can easily teather on the pre, including via wifi so any nearby device can share that fast sprint connection.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Ok, I’m missing something here. When I was living in the UK (only moved to the US back December 2008), all, & I say it again, ALL networks included tethering into the data price plan, or to put it another way it was free! So why can’t US carriers do that? MMS was a statutory item for all networks from day one including pre-pay customers, so why can’t it be done over here?
I love it here in the US & I would love to get hold of a good quality phone with a good data rate & add-ons, but the pricing & inclusion of items is their downfall (for me).
I was considered a heavy user in the UK (my bill 2 years ago was averaging the equivalent of $1000 per month, but even what is on offer by the operators over here, the prices are way out of my reach for regular use compared to what I was used to in the UK.
The US cell phone operators are really getting up my nose & that is very politely put! They really need to rethink their business strategies in order to secure future customers. Remember, even a large international company like Vodafone have to keep up with the times & the customers needs.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:53 am
i hate to be crude but the most vivid phrase i can render is ” pissing into the wind” … dan this is good and needed and appreciate it
thanks
wally