8/30/2006
How AT&T “serves” as a drain
Back in March I posted this, touching on the issue of AT&T taking financial advantage of our troops in Iraq. Tommi, who had just recently returned from serving in Iraq commented on the problem. Pascal commented too. But the post has been read hundreds of times and been commented on elsewhere.
This morning I received an email comment from an Spc who was formerly from Ar Ramadi, Iraq with the Vermont Army National Guard. I take this situation personally because I’m a professional in the telecommunications industry. I’ve spent almost thirty years of my life working around telecom. And I’m a VietNam vet. And I lived in Vermont for five years, so this note raised my hackles against the legacy telecom machine…again (admittedly, this is easy to do because it’s an industry that has completely lost touch with providing service in the quest for more return on less investment and next to zero R&D).
Here’s the note:
Ken,
Having served a year in Iraq and 6 months in Qatar, I can say that the AT&T situation IS bad. But it was not the only option we had. I found one unit with a satalite phone set up from Italy. I dont remember the name of the company. Here is an example of the AT&T costs: you buy a 500 minute phone card after a “conection fee” you are left with a little over 200 minutes of call time. At $35 per card that adds up for so little talk time. The satalite phone you paid for online. I bought $25 worth of talk time(was given 10 credit while the CC cleared) and had over 1000 minutes of talk time with NO connection charge and the quality was better. We were pissed, AT&T really gave it to us hard.
So here’s my note to Ed Whitacre, CEO of the new AT&T. Not my AT&T that was an honorable employer. CEO of the new AT&T. The one that fucks over customers at every turn.
Ed - I’ve noted many times that AT&T is dead, but like an elephant, still running on momentum. Any large beast tends to carry forward with inertia until it finally drops. People have observed that AT&T keeps raising its’ head and showing signs of life. I disagree. AT&T has become a disreputable company with bad intentions and downright stupid policies toward customers. You, as the leader of this company, are contributing mightily to the death of the traditional (read legacy) telephony business. The death of your company, which is coming, is overdue. Your practices represent a past. A past that there is no room for in todays technological and service environment.
Rex Hudler, in Sports Illustrated was quoted saying “Be a fountain, not a drain.” Your company is a drain. A drain on technology, a drain on advancement of the use of technology, and an emotional and financial drain on our troops serving overseas.
Quit being a fucking drain and do something right for a change!
Technorati Tags: AT&T, US military, Ed Whitacre, customer abuse, bad business practices
Filed by Ken at 8:16 am under Technology
