The activation process didn’t work correctly and I had to call and read numbers to them that their automated system should have prompted me for. A couple weeks later, I got a text message saying that my phone had “exceeded $20 in text messaging charges this month” so I called them up and apparently the text messaging plan I’d selected was never actually applied to my account, but that was easily taken care of and retroactively applied.

Device review

I have been extremely satisfied with the device itself. My initial reservations about the on-screen keyboard have gone away; I have a very decent typing speed on the phone, especially with two free hands. I wasn’t really able to type one-handed on my Windows Mobile phone due to the device’s design. I’ve never owned an iPod before, preferring standalone usb key-type players, but I find myself using the integrated iPod functionality on a fairly regular basis, especially the “Genius” mode.

While the voice recognition is neat, it can’t really distinguish things I feel that it should; and there are certain people/song names that I can’t get it to recognize, even after repeated tries and variations on pronunciation. The funniest of these is Monty Python’s “The Lumberjack Song.” I also don’t know too many commands, which is sad because you could probably do some very neat things with voice recognition on a phone.

Service review

Signal is generally good, although I live in a major metropolitan area so I’d hope it would be. I didn’t get any signal in the panel/conference rooms in the Sheraton (one of the Dragon*Con hotels) although I did get signal in the deepest rooms of the Hyatt, which didn’t work for me under Verizon.

At the recent football game against Clemson, I went from having five bars when the stadium was half-full to not being able to connect to the network at all with the stadium full. That’s a pretty serious problem to me; big sporting events are one of those places where you use/need/depend on your phone. Hillary has Sprint on an ancient phone and was able to connect just fine.

Today, June 30 at 12:30 PM (afternoon), I received an email from AT&T stating the following:

Unfortunately, we cannot validate your credit card number. Please call us at your earliest convenience with a different credit or debit card number so we can complete your order: 1-866-499-8008, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

So I called the number listed there, which apparently the number for their web services division or something along those lines; the part of the company that deals with orders placed through their website. Their system has an hour hold time, as opposed to the general support number which had a (generally) very short hold time.

After what was likely an hour of listening to their surprisingly catchy hold music, I explained my experience from the previous day and asked him if a similar thing had happened to my card again. This guy suggested that it had, and recommended that I call my bank (Wachovia) to find why they are denying the transfer, despite my strong suspicion that the problem was actually on AT&T’s side.

First, I checked my Verizon voicemail just in case Wachovia had left a message; they hadn’t. The person I talked to at Wachovia did see some activity on my account, so they transferred me to their “loss prevention” division so that I could find out exactly what was going on. Each previous time I’ve had suspicious activity on my account, Wachovia Loss Prevention had called me to verify, so I found it mysterious that they didn’t do so here as well. After several detailed identity checks, the guy at Wachovia Loss Prevention told me that my account had initially been charged on the 19th, and that charge was still in the system, so the two subsequent charges (on the 23rd and the 29th) were rejected as duplicates of that one. He did give me an authorization number and a term id for the charge on the 19th that was supposedly valid, so that I could give those numbers to AT&T. Finally, I had what I needed to know to solve this, or so I thought.

I wasn’t free to call AT&T until about 6:30pm that evening. I called their general support number this time (1-800-331-0500, Mon-Fri 7am-10pm, Sat 9am-6pm) under the theory that they would be able to use this new information. Fun fact: it apparently took me three minutes to explain my story (up to that point) to this guy. He told me that he (regrettably) could not solve my problem, and that he’d need to connect me to the 1-866 number in the email, but that he was going to give me a $25 credit on my account for my trouble. He also conferenced me into the other number because “it has better hold music” something that he didn’t need to do. This was a guy I’d probably have a beer with, and high five. He could only stay on the line on hold with me for ten minutes, so I sat through another hour of holding to give the transaction information to this AT&T web rep.

Around 7-something, I was connected to a very nice girl, and explained what I had experienced so far to her. This was by far the most informational and productive conversation; the kind that you experience once in your time with a company. She was initially confused by the bank’s provided authorization number and transaction id for the charge on the 19th, and consulted with her supervisor a couple times. She then suggested that I needed to call Wachovia back and tell them to drop/reverse the charge from the 19th (which was “pending”), as it was apparently canceled on AT&T’s side.

This sounded like I was getting passed back and forth, so I tried a different method; I inquired as to why the order/charge from the 19th was canceled in the first place. After consulting the notes on the account for a few minutes, she determined that because I was switching from Verizon to AT&T, AT&T submitted a “port request” to Verizon. When Verizon didn’t return my port request in time, the transaction was automatically canceled. Then a human looked at the order on the 23rd (the second working day after I had ordered); the port request had presumably been returned, so they resubmitted the order, and recharged the card, which (again, as far as I know) was then declined by Wachovia as a duplicate charge.

The girl I was talking to then discovered that the charge from the 29th was actually going through, but whoever charged my card hadn’t updated my account status or notes, which is why the email was (apparently mistakenly) sent out on the afternoon of the 30th. That does not answer why the first person I spoke to on the 30th did not realize this, but I don’t pretend to be a support tech, so I don’t have the answer to that. So to this date I didn’t receive an email when I should have, and received one when I shouldn’t have. Classy. I did get a “confirmation number” from this girl, should I have any further problems, and which will presumably work in some field on their website. This girl also provided me with a free upgrade to priority shipping. She put a note on my account that I wanted more than a $25 credit, but was not authorized to provide it herself. Presumably, my order has been rectified, and I’m doing pretty well at this point.

I asked about getting a copy of these mysterious notes on my account emailed to me (mostly for intellectual curiosity, partly because they might be useful in actually getting a damn iPhone in my hands, partly for the purposes of writing this entry) but she apparently wasn’t able to do so, but said that the general support division might be able to. So, another transfer and a short hold time later, I explained what had happened to yet another person and made my request for some sort of record of what had happened emailed to me. She wasn’t authorized, so she transferred me to a “resolution specialist” who verified my information and almost immediately transferred me to a “manager.”

Out of all of the people I talked to, this “manager” guy was the least useful; from his voice, I pictured a douchey-looking white guy in a cheap suit with an MBA. No offense if that’s describing you, dear reader. He was pretty hostile to this request for the account notes; I clarified that I simply wanted a written record of my plight sent to me, preferably through email. Apparently any description of what has transpired would include AT&T’s “specific business practices” and that he could not even send me a summarized version; “nobody in AT&T can.” Again, I tried a different method; I walked him through some of the people I’d talked to, and pointed out which were most helpful to me, emphasizing the girl who (hopefully) fixed my order and gave me free priority shipping. After I’d run through that, I said that I still wanted more than a $25 credit, and he transferred me to another number.

At this point it was around 8:30 pm, I believe. This hold period was blissfully short, too. She had my account notes, but we worked out that I would tell her what had figured out so far (as detailed above) while she read the notes that corresponded to my story. She put me on hold for a few minutes while she verified my story and “found out what [she can] give me.” She came back and briefly asked which text messaging plan I’d selected and said that she was talking to a “resolution specialist” before I was put on hold again. When she came back, she told me that she was able to give me an additional $100 credit on my account, for a total of $125 and free priority shipping on the iPhone 3GS. I was pretty satisfied with that, and we joked a little and I told her to have a good night.

So, to summarize, I talked to two people at AT&T on the 29th; one AT&T and two Wachovia on the afternoon of the 30th, and six at AT&T on the evening of the 30th, for a total of eleven people over two days. I received a credit of $125 on my account for my trouble, and free priority shipping on my iPhone 3GS when it is available. The only downside here is that the order was technically placed on the 29th, when my bank account was (re)charged, so the 7-10 day wait starts from there, and not from the 19th, when I had originally placed the order. Throughout this process, I was always calm and respectful to the people I talked to, as they’re just doing their job, and (in my opinion) if they can’t do something, it’s better to ask them to transfer you to someone that has the ability to do so instead of yelling at them. Let us all hope that this truly is the last “My Problem with AT&T” post.

Update (June 30 @ 9 PM): much has happened since I posted this, and my issue has been resolved through many, many hours on the phone with AT&T. I am in the process of writing that up.

I’ve had Verizon since August 2004, and after several years of mediocre service (that is to say, nothing horrible or particularly exceptional happened) I decided that I wanted an iPhone, which meant switching to AT&T. Now, I have particular reservations about using AT&T as a service provider for anything due to delivering your world… to the NSA. However, the allure of the iPhone and my several iPhone-toting friends won me over.

Compounding this issue is my rapidly deteriorating phone. I have had a VX6700 (which I previously reviewed) for 2.5 years; this phone worked great until a few months ago. The battery rapidly showed signs of memory effect culminating in a grand total of three minutes of talk time, until it wouldn’t charge at all. It will no longer turn on, even when it’s plugged in, so I am currently without a working phone. I particularly loved the 6700’s full, tactile keyboard, a feature that the iPhone lacks; the keyboard is also the primary reason why I didn’t purchase an iPhone years ago. My wittiest summary of the 6700 is that “you know it runs Windows because you have to reboot it every day.”

For the past year, I had been looking forward to switching to the HTC Touch Pro 2 which features an absolutely beautiful interface, large screen, and the full keyboard that I love so much. Unfortunately (as far as I know), its availability date on Verizon is still unknown; I believe it’s only available on T-Mobile at the moment, and their coverage is too limited for my needs. One of the things that pulled me to want an iPhone was the innumerable apps; my favorite example is being able to find the name of a song that’s playing. The application support for Windows Mobile is generally lacking, to say the least.

So after much deliberation and urging from my many Apple fanboy friends (love you guys) I decided to take the plunge. I was advised to wait for the next generation of the phone (which I did) and on June 19, 2009 I placed my order on AT&T’s website to migrate my number and purchase an iPhone 3GS. I received a confirmation email for my order that stated:

We estimate your order will be shipped within 2 – 5 business days pending approval if applicable. We will notify you by email when it is approved and shipped.

Your order may be subject to AT&T eligibility and credit requirements. If we have any questions about your eligibility or your order, we will contact you via email.

I realized today (June 29, 2009) that it was the sixth business day, and I hadn’t heard anything. The order status page stated that the order was “processing” and was last updated on June 23, 2009, the second business day after my order. So I went to AT&T’s website and went to their online chat; they simply referred me to the 1-800 number despite my having told them that I didn’t have a working phone. No problem, I just borrowed my girlfriend’s phone. Still, though, it’s silly to give a phone number to someone without a phone.

The customer service representative I talked to was very nice, and apparently called several (presumably internal) numbers to find out what happened to my order. She said that my ordered had been canceled because it had been entered twice and reentered it on the 23rd. After spending forever on hold, she said she’d call me back when she found out more about what happened. A call back yielded the news that my order had been canceled due to “insufficient funds.” I find this hard to believe; the order was apparently around $320, and I have had far more than that in my account since I placed the order. I wouldn’t have purchased an iPhone if I didn’t have the money to pay for it. If my bank had canceled the purchase because it thought it was suspicious, they would have called me and asked if I’d made it, as they have before when someone tried to buy overseas plane tickets on my account, and when I ordered a flat-screen TV online. Simply, there was no attempted charge by AT&T on my bank account. I verified the number over the phone, and it was correct, so it is unlikely that they charged another account.

My customer service representative transferred me to a billing representative, who proceeded to (supposedly) charge my account again. Both representatives as well as the confirmation order quoted above stated that I should have received an email saying there was a problem with my order, but no such email ever came. After I had already agonized over switching to AT&T for a number of reasons, this experience has already left a bad taste in my mouth, and I haven’t even used their service yet. I didn’t imagine that it would be this difficult to switch carriers and get a new phone, something that must happen on a fairly regular basis.

For my trouble, I thought I might try politely requesting that an activation fee be waived or some other credit be given to me, as this has been a serious hassle, particularly given that I expected to have a new phone by now, and that this has left me in a particular lurch given that my existing phone has completely stopped working. The billing representative seemed surprised that I would even ask about this, and flat out refused to work with me on that matter. The activation fee itself was only $36 and I would settle for even a part of that credited to me for my inconvenience.

I don’t make requests like this to be petty or difficult, but even Comcast (a regular finalist in Consumerist’s “Worst Company in America”) will credit back portions of monthly bills and fees upon request (and sometimes even without a request) when they mess up. And I would certainly consider the cancellation of my order without notice a mess-up, regardless of the company involved. Considering that I am committing to pay AT&T around $2,000 over the next two years, I’d expect that they’d want to make a good impression, at least to start with.

Image from NathanBowers.com.

My biggest complaint so far has been Windows Mobile 5’s browser. It (seemingly) has the html and javascript support of Internet Explorer 3. But what other options are there?

Existing alternatives

About a year and a half ago, a group in Microsoft Research created a Windows Mobile browser with advanced rendering and zooming functionality presumably similar to the features in iPhone’s Safari.

After making a closed beta of their browser a year and a half ago, the internet has heard exactly nothing from them, leading me to speculate that Silverfish has been rolled into a future version of Windows Mobile, especially since the next versions are said to heavily feature multi-touch.

A fancy new browser built into the next OS would be a compelling reason for users that haven’t already sprung for a shiny new iPhone to get a new phone with the next version of Windows Mobile.

Rendering

The best feature of Opera Mobile is something that desktop users have been taking for granted for a long, long time: proper rendering of web pages. Handsets are (apparently) just now overcoming the processor and memory limitations, although pages are still somewhat slow to render.

Zoom

A feature that goes hand-in-hand with desktop-style page rendering is the ability to zoom in on a page. This is a little clunky compared to the multi-touch interface I’m used to using on newer handheld devices, and is somewhat slow to load.

Feel

While the ‘modern’ features of the browser were nice, I experienced many ‘out of memory’ errors on my device, even when viewing relatively simple pages, and even when Opera was the only program running on the device.

Opera doesn’t respect the traditional Windows Mobile interface; instead, it implements its own non-client area, something probably confusing for most users of the program. This is the same problem that Quicktime had on Windows, where it ignored the usual Windows non-client area in favor of the Mac OS interface, a frankly stupid user interface choice.

Conclusion

For simple browsing (the primary use of mobile web browsing) I found myself gravitating back to the craptastic version of Internet Explorer built into my phone. I found IE’s low memory usage and intuitive interface to be more important than proper page rendering. It’s a good program to have on a device in case it’s needed, but won’t replace IE on Windows Mobile any time soon.

You’d think that they would gladly take my money, but I had to first convince them that I had permission to change the account. It turns out that the account was actually in my dad’s name, even though I was the one paying the bills. Even remotely fixing that involved several phone calls and a healthy bit of frustration.

Once that was taken care of, I learned that I been put into a new two-year contract against my will. My original contract was a one-year contract that started in August 2004 and ended in August 2005. Sometime around August 2006, a Verizon salesperson called and asked if I wanted a new contract; I said no. He put me into it anyway. I was pretty mad when I learned about that, but you’re apparently able to go into a new contract without a penalty at any time.

Despite those problems, I became the proud owner of a VX6700 smartphone on Friday evening. So, I spent all of Friday night and most of Saturday putting contacts into Outlook, which would then magically appear on my phone. I’ve never had anything that could “sync” before, and while it’s relatively simple, it’s actually rather fascinating.

In addition, the setup process for ActiveSync is relatively painless. The on-screen keyboard takes a little getting used to, but it’s useable. I still haven’t been able to get the handwriting recognition to play nicely, as I imagine it’s looking for specific strokes. Most of my handwritten letters are actually written backwards, frustrating even the best handwriting recognition.

The text messaging functionality is somewhat hidden; it takes some investigating to find the option in “Messaging” to go to Menu, Switch Accounts, Text Messages. Also, the idea that an “x” moves the program to the background instead of closing it is strange but makes sense for a smartphone. The included game “Bubble Breaker” has proven to be extremely addicting.

Most of the websites explain how to customize your Windows Mobile 5 phone involve registry hacks, so I was able to download a copy of Total Commander CE and use it to view the phone’s registry. There are various hacks, such as displaying the Wifi/Bluetooth status on the today page, speeding up the rotation, et cetra. Most experienced users will be immediately familiar with registry editing, although the cramped interface does make it a little more difficult.

After configuring the basic settings to my preferences, I went off in search of programs on the internet (other than a basic registry editor/file explorer). One of my favorite picks is Google Maps Mobile. The interface is perfect for a mobile device, and it even lets a user set start/end points, a feature not present in the desktop version. Other than that, I have been relatively satisfied with the built-in software. Instead of installing AIM Mobile, I decided to try out IM Everywhere, a Trillian 3 plugin. I am able to access all of my IM services with little or no overhead, and it even plays nice with Trillian 3’s built-in logging capabilities.