AT&T

I've had a number of bad experiences with AT&T over the years. The last experience was around ten years ago, after which I've been avoiding them like the plague. Their customer service sucks, their internet sucks, their telephone service sucks, their billing department sucks, and their web site is pathetic, particularly the self-service and "contact us" sections.

I live 20+ miles outside of San Antonio, where internet service providers are scarce. I had good, 6Mbps internet service with a small company that provided that service via line of sight radio. At some point earlier in the year, tree and foliage growth between my antenna and the company's tower started blocking my signal and significantly degrading my service. So...I left the company and went with AT&T DSL service because they'd finally upgraded the lines to 6Mbps from 760Kbps.

First of all, they sent me a wireless DSL modem, which I didn't ask for. I asked for a modem alone. I returned that and bought a modem at Best Buy.

The internet service was fine for a while, then started degrading. My download speed is frequently as slow as 230Kbps. There are moments where it gets up to around 5Mbps, which is fine, but the inconsistency, latency, and unresponsiveness of their network is unacceptable.

I opened a ticket five days ago and have yet to hear from anyone, and trying to find the status online is impossible. The system is often down...when you do get in, all it tells you is that it was opened. When I searched the web site for ticket status - I was informed that once I log in to my billing account a status will be displayed. Guess what - Right...it isn't.

The second that small ISP fixes their tree problem, or Time Warner comes to town, I'm ditching AT&T.

I shall, for the rest of my life, avoid AT&T. Everything about the company's customer-service sucks. Really.