Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

I'm giving AT&T till the end of this summer, or else I'm moving on to Big Red.  They have been stalling us around here for too long.  Promises made by store employees just don't mean anything anymore.  When my friends down state seeing 4G LTE all over the place and there is no sign of even 3G to us, then that's it for me.

Rumor is that Verizon will have 4G LTE here by summer.  Pretty embarrasing that they have LTE and we are stuck on 2G Edge.

I think I've figured out a way to minimize my ATT headaches.  My plan has 3 different phones on it, and two of the phones will expire in May.  At that point, I can sell my phone on Gazelle dot com (currently for $325!)  and help pay for the early termination feel I'll get hit with from ATT.  At that point....Verizon, here I come!  (or maybe one of the prepaid services, provided the network coverage is adequate).  Do anyone know which networks are used by these prepaid vendors?

How would you like to be a poor AT&T customer with Edge today in Escanaba? And tied into a two year agreement?

Even Sprint will have Bay City and Saginaw on LTE in the next few months. AT&T better step it up.

Randy

2g in Alpena

The full list of markets that will gain access to Sprint 4G LTE follows:

• Albany, Ga.
• Anderson, S.C.
• Bay City, Mich
• Branson, Mo.
• Bremerton/Silverdale, Wash.
• Columbus, Ga.
• Columbus, Miss.
• Decatur, Ala.
• Florence/Muscle Shoals, Ala.
• Gadsden, Ala.
• Gaffney, S.C.
• Gettysburg, Pa.
• Glasgow, Ky.
• Homosassa Springs, Fla.
• Hot Springs, Ark.
• Lake City, Fla.
• Lake Havasu City/Kingman, Ariz.
• Midland, Mich.
• Nacogdoches, Tex.
• Opelousas/Eunice, La.
• Oxford, Miss.
• Paris, Tex.
• Pittsfield, Mass.
• Saginaw, Mich.
• Spartanburg, S.C.
• The Villages, Fla.
• Waycross, Ga.
• Winona, Minn.

Is there hope on the horizon....???

I called ATT last week to complain (yet again) about the poor data coverage in the Alpena area.  I stated that I've been a loyal customer for about 4 years now, and year after year I am given the false hope that some day (hopefully before I retire and move away) they will upgreade the service in my area.  I told them that that I can only use about half of the fancy functions on my phone due to lack of data connectivity (Siri? nope.  Maps? barely.  Speach to text? nope).  Only using wifi, but not through Edge.  I was seriously planning to pay the cx fee and jump ship.

After speaking with the first agent, she politely offered to credit my account for $30/mo for the next 6 mos to cover my unlimited texting.  I told her that would be great....HOWEVER....and trying not to sound ungrateful...I was still concerned that the poor data service was here to stay and that I held out no hope of ever seeing improvement.  She sympathized with my complaint and dircted me to another department, where she felt my concerns could be better addressed.

The next fella I spoke with was very cordial and sympathetic as well.  After giving him my iPhone-life horror story, he offered to credit my account for an additional $250 dollars!  Clearly they are becoming sensitive to the complaints of shoddy service and are trying to do something about it.  He further offered that (although he wasn't supposed to bandy about any dates) they are planning to have 3G service in Alpena by March 29, and 4G service in mid May of this year.  

I don't know if they will be able to hold to these dates...or if this is just more fluff aimed at trying to placate the people who call with concerns.  What I do know is that I will be saving $380 over the next 6 months on my phone bill and, hopefully, by the end of that time I will be able to pull up a map on my phone to give me directions to the beer store so I can go pick up a 6 pack and celebrate.

If you haven't contacted ATT to express your concerns over the lack of service in your area, it may be worth your while to do so.  I was very polite and measured in my conversations with the folks on the line, and they genuinely seemed to appreciate my complaints.  Here's hoping that they can keep to these timelines and FINALLY get service upgraded  in our neck of the woods!

I called today and they never offered me anything.  But they did say that our towers are to upgraded to 4G on June 29, 2013.  

Ok, now I've heard these promises before, but at least they give me hope.

The problem for me is, that Verizon is horrible here.  They don't even have cell coverage in Pickford. I guess i will ride it out and hopefully will be a happy camper by Independance Day!