AT&T Has New Revenue Scheme – To Fleece Suckers
Posted 03/25/2010 at 6:46am
| by J Keirn-Swanson
Color us unimpressed. While supposedly AT&T has been dumping money into their 3G network to boost its capabilities (are you guys working on 4G yet?), it's still hard to get a signal inside many buildings. While it's more than you need to know, let's just say that some of us can't even get a signal in our own bathrooms.
Yeah, it's that bad. And that's why AT&T's announced 3G MicroCells don't really excite us.
According to Ma Bell's press release this femtocell is "an innovative solution that allows residential customers to route wireless phone calls and data connections (or sessions) across a home broadband connection." In other words, AT&T wants to put up a tiny 3G tower in your home in order use your broadband connection to fix their spotty coverage. And they want you to pay for it.
Whaaaat?
It gets better. They explain up top that this "innovative solution" is very helpful for those whose "dense wall and roof construction" prevent them from getting optimal 3G coverage. And then we're told in the fine print at the bottom: "maximum coverage of the AT&T 3G Micro Cell™ is approximately 5000 square feet. Actual coverage will be limited by the density of obstructions." So if you have the thick walls of the kind limiting your 3G in the first place, this "innovative solution" will do you no good whatsoever.
And how much does the Death Star of phone companies want to charge you for this lovely, possibly worthless "innovative solution"? Once again, the press release: "AT&T 3G MicroCell is available for a one-time cost of $149.99." Wow. So for $150 I can fix your problems? Thanks, AT&T.
But since they figure people might balk, the sweetener comes in with this line: "Consumers who select 3G MicroCell calling plans at purchase are also eligible to receive a $100 mail-in-rebate." Aww, thanks bunches. We give you $150 bucks to fix your problem and you refund us $100 of that in the form of a credit card good for 120 days. And it even goes on to say that if we pick up AT&T's broadband service when we buy our Microcell, they'll kick in another $50 refund.
But wait, let's revisit something up above. "Consumers who select 3G MicroCell calling plans." Wait, wait. We have to buy something else from AT&T to get this $100 refund. How much do the calling plans cost for this "innovative solution"?
"For $19.99 a month, individual or Family Talk customers can make unlimited calls through a 3G MicroCell" reads the press release.
Excuse us while we repeat ourselves.
Whaaaaaaaat?
Let's get this straight. AT&T has crappy 3G coverage in lots of places. Many customers can't get coverage inside their own homes. So AT&T, instead of fixing the coverage issues, decides to sell a device for $150 (which may or may not work inside your home) that will either eat up your minutes or you have the option of dropping an additional 20 bucks a month to have unlimited use the network you're already paying for. Is that about the long and short of it? And to get the refund, they essentially comp you five months of this unlimited calling on your own service.
Wow. That's just...words fail us. "Innovative" is one way to describe it, much in the same way that the first bank robber was forging a bold new innovation in cash acquisitions.
Will Smith got pretty much the same take as we did here. Once again, FAIL, AT&T, FAIL.