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I Opted Out Of AT&T’s Yellow Pages And Still Got Hassled

// November 19th, 2011 // No Comments » // annoying, marketing

Sometime in the past twelve months, I found the opt-out site to tell AT&T that I don’t want to receive their yellow pages phonebook. I immediately filled in my information, feeling rather good about myself, primarily for ridding myself of one more piece of trash that gets left on my doorstep, but also feeling a bit more green, as I was theoretically saving trees by not getting a huge stack of dead ones delivered. The opt-out website makes a big deal out of how much better and earth-friendly the YP.com apps are, and all that jazz.

You can imagine my surprise last week when I received a phone call ON MY CELLPHONE. It was AT&T letting me know that they had recently delivered phonebooks to my area, and wanting to confirm that I indeed, had NOT received one. First off, if you call my personal cellphone and it’s not just to say hi or tell me that something is ready for me to pick up, you’ve hassled me, and you’re now on my bad list. Especially if you’re a business. So, while a bit perturbed that they had actually called me, I was partially impressed that they wanted to make absolute certain they had honored my original request.

This was until I came home that afternoon to find the door hanger below on my doorknob:

There are several things that make this a huge fail in my book:

1. I specifically went out of my way to request that AT&T not leave dead trees on my doorstep. That also includes leaving dead trees on my doorknob to confirm that there were no dead trees left on my doorstep. Yes, I realize that a door hanger is significantly less dead tree than a whole phonebook, but a dead tree is a dead tree, and I have to throw them both away, so they’re equally a hassle.

2. If you’re going to call me to confirm that you didn’t accidentally give me a phonebook, why on earth would you ALSO leave me a door hanger confirming that (with a number on the door hanger to call in case I needed one)? You’ve now hassled me TWICE in response to me asking you not to hassle me once.

3. As an AT&T customer (we have U-verse for our Internet) I’m now slightly annoyed that they’re wasting money. Instead of paying for a single print of the phonebook and one person’s wages to deliver it, they’ve now wasted the printing costs of this door hanger (cardstock paper, multiple colors, two-sided), along with the costs to have one person deliver the door hanger and another person use a computer and a phone line to physically call me.

I realize this is a great example of a first-world problem and all that. I do. But still. Also, I really really really hate door hangers.

Why I Chose The Nexus One

// July 21st, 2010 // 12 Comments » // android

Since announcing that I was leaving Symbian and picking up a Nexus One from Google, I’ve had countless discussions about why I chose this particular handset over others on the market that are newer. The answer is easy – it’s really the only option for AT&T customers who want a decent Android experience.

The other big guns in the Android ecosystem – the HTC EVO 4G, Motorola Droid X, and HTC Droid Incredible – are all CDMA-based devices that won’t work on AT&T’s network at all, and don’t support the use of SIM cards. In fact, there are currently only 5 Android devices on the market today that support AT&T’s 3G network: the Motorola Backflip, the HTC Aria, the Nexus One, Motorola Milestone, and the Samsung Captivate.

The Motorola Backflip, HTC Aria, and Motorola Milestone don’t have the specs that I needed. Since my biggest complaint with my Symbian-powered smartphones is the overall speed and multitasking capabilities, I knew I needed to get an Android device powered by a 1GHz processor and with a minimum of 256MB of RAM. That instantly rules out the Backflip, Milestone, and the Aria, leaving only the Nexus One and Samsung Captivate. I also really wanted to have at least a 3.7-inch display.

With early reviews showing the Captivate (and its unbranded brethren, the Samsung Galaxy S) with stuttering and lags in the menus and applications, the Nexus One started looking even better. There’s a really active developer community and the Nexus One has already been officially updated to Android v2.2 – an update that the Captivate is slated to get, but no one really knows when. Also, the Nexus One has been the first device to receive previous new versions of Android, by virtue of it being ‘pure’ Android. Thus, it stands to reason that it’s much more likely to get whatever the next version of Android is – more likely than a manufacturer-customized handset like the Captivate is, at least.

Since I used my upgrade to pick up a RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700 a few months ago, I was going to purchase either handset at full retail, so pricing wasn’t a factor in this comparison. To be honest, I ruled out the Samsung Captivate pretty quickly – with no flash for the camera and reviewers saying it stuttered, it doesn’t really offer me any benefits to go on. Oddly enough, the decision actually came down to the Motorola Milestone and the Nexus One.

The Motorola Milestone is the GSM variant of the Motorola DROID offered on Verizon. It’s roughly the same price as the Nexus One, but I’d have to import it – it’s only officially sold in Canada. While the Milestone only has a 550MHz processor and 256MB of RAM, it also has a hardware QWERTY keyboard and dedicated camera button with dual-LED flash – both features that I really wanted to have. In the end, I chose to go with the Nexus One instead, mainly due to the processor and probability that it will continue to be upgraded.

Shortly thereafter, Google announced that the final shipment of Nexus Ones arrived in its distribution centers, and that it would not be ordering any additional units. While some have claimed that makes the device obsolete, I disagree. Of course, the device is now EOL (End-Of-Life), which is somewhat of a factor, but the technology and specs inside are by no means obsolete, especially compared to the current crop of Android-powered devices on the market.

To be quite honest, I only really expect to use the Nexus One for about a year. By next summer, Verizon’s 4G network will likely be launched in enough places, and I’ll have an idea of whether or not I can stick with the same phone for 12 months, too. I’m really hoping that there will be some improvements in the Android cameraphone selection by then.

What do you think? Even though Google’s made the Nexus One officially EOL, does that make it obsolete? Is it still a solid choice?

Yesterday’s Fail Brought To You By AT&T And Chase Bank

// June 2nd, 2010 // No Comments » // annoying

Yesterday was a day from Hell, mainly due to two companies – AT&T and Chase Bank. Normally, I’m a huge fan of both – I’ve been a customer of these companies for a decade, which says a lot.

It started with AT&T. We setup a POTS line at home for our new security system about 30 days ago and received a welcome pack but no bill. Friday we received our first bill – a disconnection notice, letting us know the service would be terminated if we didn’t pay by.this following Friday. I tried to pay the bill online, but you have to get an online registration code to do so, and this can only be obtained by either a phone call to your home or through snail mail. Given we don’t have a a home phone hooked up (recall its only for our security system?), snail mail is my only option. First fail.

In the meantime, I need to make a payment by phone to prevent disconnection. I called the number on the bill, which of course is an automated voice recognition system. No matter, I have a college degree and healthy amount of patience, I can do this. I get through the entire system, slowly reading out my credit card info, only to be told its declined. I know for a fact there are plenty of funds. I tried again, then pressed zero until I got a live person on the line. I pilotely explained the situation and that the automated system was apparently having issues with my card. The representative didn’t apologize for my trouble but did inform me she could process the payment manually but there would be a $5 ‘convenience’ charge. I told her there was nothing convenient about the entire situation and confirmed that she was telling me I would have to pay $5 just to be able to pay my bill. She said yes, and I promptly hung up. I called back to get a different rep (commonly referred to as ‘Rep Roulette’) and got Antoinette – after having to go through the entire automated process again. She was very helpful, and said that if it was their system not taking my payment, I wouldn’t be charged the convenience fee (finally).

However, when Antoinette tried to take my credit card as payment, she received an error, too. We tried my other Chase Bank debit card, but got the same result. I then asked if she could do a check-by-phone if I gave her my routing number and account number, which she could. This went through, but now I needed to call Chase Bank to figure out why my cards hadn’t gone through.

I first logged into my Chase Online account and found that there were several ‘pending’ charges on both cards – obviously the attempted charges that the automated system couldn’t process. Apparently, even though I have 3 other AT&T bills that I pay *EVERY MONTH*, Chase Bank decided these were potential fraud, and so blocked them and locked my debit cards – both of them. It’s a good thing I was home and not out on the road trying to use them for something important, like gas. While on the phone with Antoinette, I had missed a call from a 1-800 number on my other phone, and the voicemail confirmed it was Chase Bank’s fraud department trying to confirm things. I decided to call them back to get things cleared up, and this is where it all went to pot.

Chase’s fraud department starts with an automated line. There’s no shortcut, that I could figure out, to get to a live person – you have to suffer through all the prompts. This includes confirming your identity by answering 2 or 3 multiple-choice questions about your credit history. After you’re confirmed, the system goes through and reads out every single potentially fraudulent charge – with no way to skip around. You’re then given the option to press 1 if all of the charges are OK, or press 2 if one or more are fraud. There is no option to press X for an operator – only by pressing zero about 15 times does the system ‘offer’ to connect you. At this point, I’m already quite pissed off – I’ve wasted roughly an hour on this whole stupid process. After exiting the automated Chase system, I’m given hold music, with a promise that someone will be with me shortly. After 15 minutes of hold music, the automated voice comes back on and, I kid you not, says something like, ‘I’m sorry it’s taken so long – we don’t have any available representatives at this time. As soon as one is available, we will have them call you back on this number’ and then it simply disconnects – there is no option to keep holding, at all. I had to go through this process three times before I FINALLY got a representative! After explaining the situation to him, he confirmed that I had both of the cards in my possession, but was unable to prevent the duplicate charges from going through to my account. He simply said, ‘If their automated system said it didn’t go through, you *should* be OK’.

Excuse me, you’re my bank, I’m your customer, and you’ve got all my money in there, and you’re telling me it ‘should’ be fine, and there’s nothing you can do otherwise? Are you freakin kidding me? There was basically nothing I could do, and I’d already wasted 2 hours of my day off jacking around with this, so I confirmed that both of my cards were unlocked and able to be used without hassle.

Both companies meant well, but here’s some ways this could have gone better (in case either of them are reading this).

1. AT&T – an ‘online registration code’ is the dumbest thing ever. I have 3 other accounts with you, I promise it’s me.

2. AT&T – the notion of a $5 ‘convenience’ fee for having a live person take my payment is beyond ridiculous. You should be glad I’m paying you at all – I’d guess there are alot of your customers who don’t.

3. Chase – I really appreciate you guys keeping such a close eye on my account – really I do. However, you have to make it easier for me to manage this – having to call in, sit through the entire automated system, then sit on hold for 15 minutes to just be disconnected is a 100% guaranteed way to piss off your customers.

The Truth Behind The Nokia Booklet 3G Pricing

// October 14th, 2009 // 11 Comments » // stupid, toys

I’ll admit, it’s tough to understand the concept of a netbook, for some. I mean, it’s *almost* the regular cost of a low-end notebook, but it’s smaller, and tends to be less capable in terms of processing power and that sort of thing. However, there’s tons of inaccuracies floating around out there, specifically in regards to the pricing setup for Nokia’s Booklet 3G, which was detailed yesterday. Tony Bradley, on Yahoo! Tech News, spews forth some complete nonsense in his diatribe about why the Nokia Booklet 3G has ‘hidden costs’. Let’s break his article (which you can read in full here) down a bit:

That subsidized price comes with some strings that affect the total cost of ownership though. The $299 price tag is based on a 2-year wireless service commitment with a mandatory data plan requirement. So, $299 isn’t just $299. It is $299 plus $60 a month for two years which brings the total cost up to over $1700.

But wait, there’s more! The data plan you get for $60 a month has a limit of 5Gb of bandwidth per month. Even moderate netbook users could easily surpass the bandwidth cap and end up hit with steep overage charges that add even more hidden costs and increase the total cost of ownership for the Booklet 3G.

Ok, so, he’s got the pricing right – $299 with a 2-year contract on AT&T at their $60/mo Laptop Connect package, which has a 5GB monthly limit. For starters, something that Tony *doesn’t* point out is that currently, across all four of the major carriers (Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint), if you want a monthly data package to get your laptop (netbook or not) online, it’s going to cost you $60/mo and has a 5GB monthly limit (update: T-Mobile’s is only $50, but still has the 5GB limit). Tony makes it seem as though the Booklet’s monthly plan is device-specific – it’s not. It’s the industry standard for connecting anything that’s not a phone or PDA to the internet via 3G. It’s the same plan you would get with a USB dongle, the MiFi, or any of the other embedded-3G netbooks that the various carriers offer.

Let’s continue, because Mr. Bradley has some other information quite incorrect, as well.

To be fair, all netbooks are little more than glorified calculators without some sort of wireless network service. But, just keeping things within AT&T, I could buy an un-subsidized Acer Aspire One netbook and get DSL service from AT&T for $19.95 a month without the bandwidth limit. Granted, I would have to spring for the $40 to add a wireless router to my network, but the total cost for the netbook and Internet access over the same two years is about half the cost of the Booklet 3G contract (not including charges for going over the data limit).

You can forego the AT&T subsidy and purchase the Nokia Booklet 3G outright for $599 without the contract. That brings the total cost over two years down significantly, but the device is still almost double the cost of comparable devices.

This part actually has two main points, so I’ll take them on separately:

The Acer Aspire One netbook that Mr. Bradley mentions is *not* comparable to the Nokia Booklet 3G. For starters, there are several different models of that netbook, each with varying display sizes (8.9″-11.6″) and storage capacities. We’ll use the 10.1″ model, since size-wise, that’s the closest to the Booklet 3G.

The Acer is powered by the Intel N270 Atom processor at 1.6GHz, while the Nokia is powered by the newer Intel Z530 Atom processor, also at 1.6GHz. Both computers have 1GB of RAM. That is roughly where the similarities stop. The Acer, admittedly, has a 160GB hard drive, while the Nokia only has a 120GB, so there’s one for the Acer.

However, the Nokia quickly overtakes the Acer in nearly every other category. The Nokia has WiFi b/g/n, whereas the Acer only has b/g, and the Nokia comes with Bluetooth built-in and a GPS receiver integrated into the machine. The Nokia’s display, while still 10.1″, has a resolution of 1280×720, while the Acer maxes out at 1024×600. The Nokia Booklet 3G has an HDMI-out port, while the Acer only has a VGA output.

Case in point – the Nokia Booklet 3G has quite a few features that the current crop of netbooks don’t have. You can’t compare the Booklet 3G to an Acer Aspire One (or an EeePC, for that matter), as that’s similar to comparing the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic to the Nokia N97 – sure they’re both touchscreen smartphones, but with a number of important differences.

Second, and worse yet, Tony says he could buy the Acer and get the $20 AT&T home DSL plan and get a similar experience to the Booklet 3G with AT&T’s data plan. Part of the draw of netbooks is that their size and weight and battery life make them *much* better for portable computing – NOT having to be within range of an outlet to get work done. Buying a netbook and using it with a home DSL line completely defeats the entire purpose.

My favorite part of Tony’s…..article……is the next to last paragraph:

The Nokia Booklet 3G faces an identity crisis. It has the price tag of a high-end netbook– eclipsing the price of much more powerful notebook computers– with the features of a middle-of-the-road netbook device. The subsidized cost may lure in some users who want the prestige or are willing to pay twice as much over time in order to spend less today, but compared with other netbook and notebook alternatives the Booklet 3G is just not a good value.

So, given the direct comparison of the Booklet 3G’s features – newer, faster, more energy-efficient processor, higher resolution display, bigger battery, more features (WiFi n, Bluetooth, GPS, etc), and sleeker design against the Acer Aspire One that he mentions, Tony somehow sees it as a ‘middle of the road’ netbook. I’d be interested to have an example of a ‘high-end’ netbook – which Tony says is how the Nokia Booklet 3G is priced as.

Basically, no matter what netbook you purchase today, if you want 3G access for it, you’re going to be paying *someone* an additional $60/mo, and you’re going to have a 5GB monthly limit, regardless of which carrier or netbook or notebook it’s on. Given that, the $299 pricetag of the Booklet 3G doesn’t seem so bad.

Of course, you could still tether your phone to any netbook (Booklet 3G included) for cheaper (though not exactly within the Terms and Conditions of your cellular service), but assuming you use the correct plan (which the majority of consumers will do), you’re still going to be facing a similar monthly bill. Saying the Booklet 3G costs $1700+ while other netbooks are similar and *much* cheaper is simply not factual – not for the same experience.

**To be clear, I’m in no way saying that I think $60/mo for 5GB of 3G access is a fair price, nor a good deal. I’m only stating the facts based on pricing and plans currently available from the major carriers. My overall point is that saying the Booklet 3G is overpriced because it comes with a $60/mo limited 2-year contract is absurd – you’ll pay the same monthly price for 3G on a computer (netbook or notebook) whether you get the Booklet 3G subsidized or not.

Disclaimer: I own an Asus 1000HE EeePC and tether it to my cell phone when necessary. I paid $425 for it.

Nokia Booklet 3G To Cost $299 From Best Buy

// October 13th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // toys

Today at an event in New York, Nokia announced that its Booklet 3G netbook will be an AT&T exclusive, taking advantage of the carrier’s high-speed 3G network. The mini-laptop will be sold exclusively through Best Buy, priced at $299.99 with a 2-year contract from AT&T. The contract requires activation on AT&T’s $60/month Laptop Connect plan, which offers a 5GB monthly limit.

Today, AT&T already offers 3 netbooks, from Acer, Dell, and Lenovo. All of these are priced at $199 with a 2-year contract, which positions the Nokia Booklet 3G at only $100 more. While the Booklet 3G’s suggested retail price of roughly $600+ is absurd for a netbook, this contract pricing is actually really attractive, for the right consumer. Sat beside my Asus 1000HE EeePC, the Nokia Booklet 3G looks awesome, feels awesome, and performs way better. Similarly, when positioned, for an extra $100, next to the other netbooks that AT&T currently offers, the Booklet 3G will, in my opinion, fly off the shelves.

The only sticking point is the $60/month data plan. For advanced users such as myself and most readers of this blog, $60/month for a (nearly) unlimited data plan on a netbook is quite absurd. I pay $20/month for my unlimited (truly unlimited) data plan on my regular AT&T plan, and can easily tether my phone to my 1000HE for 3G access already. However, most consumers have accepted that portable computer data is going to cost them $60/month. It’s the same on all four of the major carriers.

With the pricing and hardware in order, Nokia is in a great position to use software updates to continuously increase the value proposition of the Booklet 3G over the next year or so. The built-in GPS receiver, accelerometer, monster battery life, and integrated 3G antenna all open up the possibility of some cool applications just waiting to be developed.

What do you think? Are you interested in the Booklet 3G, or do you think it’s still priced out of this world? I hope to have a Nokia Booklet 3G for review shortly, and will definitely be doing some hard-core comparisons against my Asus 1000HE EeePC, which I think is currently one of the best netbooks on the market.