Replies

meld the US and German versions together to permit using it on the US T-Mobile networks.

That'd be good. T-Mobile has excellent customer service and billing. I've been with them for 5 years now.

Verizon's also decent but CDMA. Sprint.... is a demonic force on the planet. AT&T/Cingular gave me their normal phone-bounce treatment last year when I was trying to get some answers about a deal they had.

I finally gave up all too much wasted time on hold, and then reading all too many negative reviews about them.

Not sure I'd buy an iPhone on its merits, but there's no way I'd go two years with AT&T.

OK, this is kinda long, but it's cut from an actual email I wrote to a manager a couple of years back concerning Cingular service (I wanted him to "share my pain"):

I have a work-order to install four wireless laptop aircards.

The first two cards go swimmingly. The software loads up no problemo and Cingular was quick & efficient to activate the cards. Card number three didn't go so well. It took two weeks to catch up with the gentleman. I uninstalled the old software and installed the software for the new card.

Bluescreen!

After a bunch of "round & round" I discovered that there is a revised version of the software that we are using now (but no one bothered to tell us lowly techs).

Uninstall the obsolete version and install the new. Looks much better.

I call Cingular to activate the card - it takes a while but I finally get my turn. They take my info (including the questions that they aren't supposed to ask like billing numbers and qualified billing agent names) and wait while they turn on the card. Problem is - they can't get it to go! Back on hold while they parley with each other. Ultimately they determine that the SIM card is bad.

Another interminable wait on hold. Now the battery in my cellphone is giving out! When they come back on I alert them that I may lose the call and they grab my shipping address. I'm ready to head back to Seattle when I remember that I've changed the configuration of the end user's laptop and I can't leave it this way. So I uninstall the new stuff and reinstall the old stuff (a sizable task when you take into account how monumentally slow these Toughbook laptops are). Four days later the replacement SIM card arrives.

It takes two more days until I am able to coordinate with the end user and go at it again. I do the software razzle-dazzle and go to activate the card. The voice-menu at Cingular has changed and activating aircards isn't one of the options. I call our Cingular Rep to set me up and he accommodates me (I hate bugging him too much but he definitely comes through when I need him!). I get the card activated (finally!) and send the user on his way. The final cost (time-wise)? Approximately eight hours.

To install an AirCard.

But I'm not done. I still have one more to go.

Luckily, the last end user is available and going to be in a meeting for two hours. "Plenty of time" I say to myself (when will I learn?!) Out with the old - in with the new.

Call Cingular to activate.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait some more.
My turn!
I give the nice lady all my info (including the aforementioned "not supposed to be mentioned" billing info). Wait.
Wait.
She comes back to tell me that the SIM card number I gave her is already in use.
Phooey!
She checks some more (which gives me an opportunity to review the Muzak) and finally says; "Yes, your SIM card is already in use. As a departure from previous AirCard adventures, this particular rep suggests that I could obtain a replacement SIM if I go to one of their retail stores. I remind this Rep that I am a Corporate Customer and that trying to get service from a retail store won't work (a lesso I learned the hard way!), but she insists. A quick scan of their website reveals a store a couple of miles away.

So I bundle up the laptop and the Aircard stuff and venture out in search of the store. Easier said than done, but I eventually find it.

The nice man behind the counter tells me that he cannot replace a SIM card without charging me $25 (refundable, but that means purchasing it, expensing the purchase out of my pocket, and hoping that I can get my money back).

So I return to the customer, sans a working SIM, reverse razzle-dazzle the S/W and give the laptop beck to my now definitely disgruntled customer.

I do have another SIM card on order and hopefully I will receive it before the field serviceman retires.

Now I realize that my saga was long, boring, and more than a little painful to read. Believe me - it was anything but boring to experience. The better part of two days doing two 20-minute jobs. And I'm not done yet!

Two interminable days later the Cingular store calls. They have my SIM! Happy happy!

I high-tail it to the store and stand around for the better part of an hour waiting my turn. Finally I get the attention of one of the sales clerks.

"Hi, I'm Charlie and I'm here to get a replacement SIM card that I ordered".

"Hmmm. I don't usually do that. Lemme see if I can find someone to help you."

A half-hour goes by before that happens.

"Hi, I'm Charlie and I'm here to get a replacement SIM card that I ordered".

"Did you order one from this store?"

"Yes. Here's my paperwork"

She peruses the paperwork with an increasingly serious look.

"Are you sure you ordered it here?"

"Why yes, I am. You'll notice your store number on the bottom of that workorder."

"Well I'll have to check this with my manager."

And away she goes.

Another twenty minutes flies by.

Her manager comes out from the back, holding my paperwork. Seriousness seems to be the order of the day. I knew what was coming next, but sometimes it's hard to deal with it..

"Hello, my name is Larry. How can I help you?!"

"Hi, I'm Charlie and I'm here to get a replacement SIM card that I ordered". I repeat with a dogged determination.

"Yes. Hmmm. I see. Well, the thing of it is, well, we don't have your SIM card."

"Then can you answer a question for me?" I inquired.

"Why the hell did you call me and tell me that you did!"

"Well, er, ahem, I don't know. But we don't have your SIM card."

"However, if you'd like, you could pick one up from our Bellevue store (17 miles away).

"No thanks. I do believe that I've had enough. If you'll please return my $25 dollars, I'll be on my way."

"Well, We don't have your $25 either!"

"Nevermind, I'll take it up with my Cingular Rep."

All told, it took over a week of downtime, a half-dozen trips from town to town, and direct intervention from our Corporate Rep in order to get my customer up and running.

Good thing I don't get paid piece-rate!

Worse phone service on the planet? Try canceling Vonage. I had to call investor relations and talk to some dude in “exectutive response.”