After realizing that the service on my cell phone (AT&T) has gone downhill over the last few weeks, to the point where it is almost impossible to place a call, I went to the AT&T store to see about replacing the phone, as it seemed that the issue clearly wasn't with the network. It turns out that my current phone (about a year and a half old) no longer works with the upgraded network and as a result does in fact need to be replaced. Of course, the only option for replacement is to sign a two-year contract, at which point they would be happy to replace your phone for free. Otherwise, the only other option is to buy a cell phone at retail, which is near to impossible and overpriced (at least five times the price of buying the same phone with a contract). Of course, they do need to update their network, but doing it in a way that scams customers into signing a new contract is hardly the right thing to do.
Posted by zach at February 22, 2004 2:31 PM