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AT&T

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1,435 User Reviews

5.3

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Author: Kalicia Bateman

LAST UPDATED: April 2nd, 2022

AT&T Wireless is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T and was formerly known as Cingular Wireless. Headquartered just outside of Atlanta, GA, it offers cellular and data services across the U.S. It the second largest wireless communications service provider in the country after Verizon.  

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The Good

  • Basic Plan Affordability 
  • Unlimited Plans
  • No-Contract Options
  • Device Compatibility 
  • Hotspots Available

Basic Plan Affordability

Compared to other big-name cell phone providers, AT&T has some of the best prices for talk and text cell phone services.

AT&T offers a barebones phone plan to customers starting at just $30/line per month (when you enroll in monthly credit card or bank AutoPay). This is a great non-contract option for customers who want a basic phone plan with minimal data (1 GB). This is also a great product because customers can get unlimited text and voice at a price that undercuts both contract and non-contract competitors.

Unlimited Plans

Customers who want unlimited data also have some good options with AT&T's unlimited plans. Data plans are on the pricier side but include good network coverage and ample entertainment benefits. 

Starting at $40/line per month, you get unlimited talk minutes, text, and data at 4G LTE speeds in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as well as 480p DVD quality video streaming (max of 1.5 Mbps) and access to 35+ live TV channels.

The carrier's top Premium plan includes even more entertainment options: a choice of one complimentary membership with HBO, Cinemax, Pandora Premium, or a number of other entertainment services. 

No-Contract Options

AT&T offers both non-contract prepaid cell phone plans and contract cell phone services and is clear as to differences between what each plan includes. 

Device Compatibility 

AT&T provides a SIM card for users with older iPhones and Android phones if you want to bring your own device. With these SIM cards, phone users can continue to use their phone for a little bit while longer if they don't have the money to purchase a new phone. Or, they can purchase any unlocked phone to use on the AT&T network. 

In addition to Windows phones and Android phones, customers can buy phones with the Amazon Fire operating system, allowing them to enjoy their eBooks and apps purchased through Amazon.

Additionally, AT&T also sells other devices that can be managed with the cellular plan, including:

  • Tablets
  • Cellular modems and routers
  • Digital TV services

AT&T has tablets available that support Windows 8, Apple iOS, Android, and the Fire OS by Amazon.

Hotspots Available

AT&T offers a number of different mobile hotspots, including the AT&T Unite Pro. This device has up to sixteen hours of power and lets you boost the battery life of your smartphone. The Unite Pro also lets clients share an Internet connection with up to fifteen devices. Several of AT&T's plans include mobile hotspot data usage, including the Unlimited3 plan which allows up to 10 GB of 4G LTE data with mobile hotspot. 

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The Bad

  • Customer Complaints

Customer Complaints

AT&T reviews bring to light concerns stemming from the contract service and the overage fees.

While the pay-as-you-go plans are subject to data throttling, there is a service fee of $15 per GB that a client goes over their monthly data quota. Other customers have complained about the slowness of the network when they start using a lot of data on their monthly-unlimited plan.

Other customers take issue with AT&T's customer service, network coverage, and pricing. 

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The Bottom Line

AT&T Wireless offers contract and plan flexibility to customers by including both contract and non-contract services. It has some of the best entry-level plans in the industry along with a wide variety of phones and other devices to choose from.

AT&T Wireless has one of the most diverse offerings of mobile hotspots, with one brand that is able to support up to fifteen devices. There are also battery backup options on most of the mobile hotspots for smartphones that may need a quick battery boost.

In order to get the most out of your data plan, make sure you have purchased the appropriate monthly data plan for your needs. If you start getting towards the end of your data quota, you may find that your data plan is being throttled.

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User Reviews

Star Rating

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3.7

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1,435 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

35%

4 grade

29%

3 grade

19%

2 grade

8%

1 grade

9%

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Brandie Rothrock Winston-Salem, NC

We moved from SC to NC 8 years ago. Called to tell them to update the address. Aparently they only updated 2 of the lines and continued to charge us higher SC taxes on one line. Then we added my dad and stepmom. It seems they decided to put my stepmoms primary address as SC too and charged us higher taxes. We just now found this out. I dont get paper bills. I get electronic to my bank. I figured since we called to change our address and the account shows our proper adress that all things were correct. It appears not. They basically said thats our problem not theirs and they didn't care.

8 years ago

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Jessica C. Apex, NC

As far as cell phone reception goes they are good, I haven't had too many issues with that. What I can't stand is that you can only group-text with 10 people, and if your group is bigger than that all of the incoming messages come in on different threads. So if you aren't staying on top of it, you don't know who sent what message when and in what order. And to reply, you have to pick one thread with 10 people and go with that. This means that I miss out on all of my in-law family's messages unless I want to go through and make sure I reply with the same message on different threads. Do that though, and they've got to deal with a bajillion threads instead, and it all gets messy. Start with being on the opposite side of the country from all of them and then add not being able to message with them as a group, well, it makes for a very frustrating situation.

9 years ago

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Michael White Irvine, CA

AT&T is ok if your do everything in their kiosk or store. But if you order an upgrade online, you better hope they do not use Enjoy to deliver the package. You will never get it. I finally gave up waiting 5 days for a next day delivery. The company Enjoy who does the deliveries, is the absolute worst! Excuse after excuse, promises of delivery, oh, and the 45 minute wait time for support. Unprofessional, and unactable. When my contract is up, goodbye AT&T!

4 years ago

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Aaron H ,

Coverage is good but lacking in customer support. Got a deal on two iPhone 11's (Buy One & Get One Free) they didn't value the second device, so at the end of the day we had to pay them off. Thankfully T-Mobile was willing to buy out both phones (Over $1000) and give us two additional phones for half off. We are disappointed after being long time customers, but definitely not looking back.

5 years ago

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Jennifer D. Houston, TX

My bill is never the same! The service is ok and I don't have many dropped calls but the customer service isn't great. They lack empathy and the emotional intelligence to cater to a call or complaint. Customer who call are frustrated or confused or looking for clarification and instead of bouncing them person to person they need to do a better job of addressing issue and de-escalating.

7 years ago

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Joe Baust Murray, KY

They have become more insulated from customers and good customer service. When they dropped my call...on their network...they did not try to contact me. When I was billed for something they were supposed to have canceled they told me it was my responsibility to contact them after they dropped my call on THEIR network. That tells me they could care about me, my phone service and good customer service. I pointed out they are more expensive, their service is often spotty and I have been with them for decades...that is what you get for staying with a Company.

7 years ago

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David DePaul Lake Worth, FL

They are terrible. Extremely expensive, I pay 150+ for one line, and in the city I live in (Lake Worth, FL) there is never any service or data. It is a ghost town, and I have used their app "mark my spot" numerous times, in fact I have had several people use that app for almost a year now in the same location, and they claim it is always "fixed" but it never is. We have to drive a town over to play Pokemon Go. I will switch as soon as my $1,900 phone is paid off.

8 years ago

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Rebekah Williamsburg, KY

Several evenings ago, the service on my phone began to randomly go from full bars to zero then to "no service". For approximately 30 minutes, it did this every 30 seconds or so. After about 30 minutes of come and go service, it went to "no service" again and stayed that way for approximately 12 hours before service was finally restored. I was unable to get any help from ATT Cares and it took days for an actual person to message me back about the issue, which is obviously now resolved so that message was pointless.

8 years ago

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Randie S. Edmond, OK

2 separate items: Phone service and U-Verse. Phone service: Expensive but great network. Had them up until 2015. My father in law passed, we had no money, and found out my brother in law had been stealing money we all gave to him to pay the bills with (utilities, rent, shared household things). Called ATT to explain, they pretty much said 🤷‍♀️ pay your bill or lose service. Set up a payment arrangement for the next month. Then we found out about my brother in law and called to explain that we needed to split the bill or something. They immediately cancelled service and sent to collections. We never paid. We lost a huge part of our lives and had money stolen from us but money was more important to ATT. Well, 🤷‍♀️, that's why I don't have this network now. U-Verse: Scheduled 3 DIFFERENT APPOINTMENTS for a tech to come out and set up. Schedule ran behind the first 2 times. The last time? Couldn't find my house. Okay, I lived out in the country but it was in a trailer park. 4th time of scheduling, i watched the tech pull into my neighbors yard, sit there eating until my scheduled time, and then play on his phone. I took pics and called ATT about 30 minutes past my scheduled time. Let them give their excuse before going off on them about what I was STILL SEEING. Cancelled my U-Verse account right there but their tech next door couldn't pick it up. Noooooo I had to print off the packing slip and take it to UPS. Fine! I did that, and guess what? They sent it to collections because they "never received their device back". Went to UPS for my receipt and they printed me 2 copies. The guy at their counter literally told me they do that to almost everyone gullible enough. Most people end up paying the collection fee because they don't want to dispute or take the credit hit. He said what happens is they don't ship the units back individually. They wait until they have a box full and ship multiple, so if you don't have your serial number, ATT can claim you never sent yours in because how can they separate so many devices being sent in at once? They've tried to send it to 3 different collection agencies since then, and every time I smile knowing I have my crumpled up receipt 4 years later. Harassment? Maybe. Do I care? Absolutely not. I know I can fight this one.

5 years ago

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Brittney Mac Gregor Louisville, KY

I have not had a good experience with AT&T cell service. Aside from prepaid providers, AT&T was my first "big girl" provider. I signed a 2 year contract with them back in the early 2000s. Service was very glitchy then and I experienced a lot of dropped calls and down service. When I would complain, I'd be given an excuse of a downed network but not offered a comp for my downed time. Eventually I decided to leave my contract 2 months early, and was told I had to pay a fee of close to $300 to do so. While I was appealing and disputing the fee they ended up tacking on more fees that ended up totaling over $700. I refused to pay for it, especially since the service had been so bad, I took a hit on my credit and sucked it up for several years to it cleared off. If they do business in the manner which they did back then, I'd like nothing to do with them.

5 years ago

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Brandon Griess Houston, TX

Theyre great if you have no problems, but id you have any problems and have to deal with customer service you’ll then realize what youre worth to them. I was a customer for 10 years and that didnt amount to any kind of special care. Seems like the pricing is the same no matter where you go and since there is jo loyalty i switch to spectrum, i get better customer service and notice no difference in connection to wifi/cell broadband. I just remember alot of incurred fees, and year after cancelling wifi I get a bill in collections to sequium, i didnt have the chance to tell them i returmed the router and had proof before it went to collections and just paid the money to get it off my credit profile. They never called me to tell me i had an outstanding balance, and i even signed into my ATT account months after returning the router/modem and nothing on there said I had an outstanding balance. Of course when i returned the modem at FEDEX they sent it right to them and without a doubt conveniently claimed i never returned it and never called me and just let collections to take it. Equal pricing as its competitors but you will pay much more in delinquency fees, and have the privilege of talking to someone after 1 hour wait time that will transfer you and then call will drop so you can start over. The fees arent worth the time you will spend trying to fight them… but hey they paired with Apple years ago and have been riding on their success for so many years they came out on par with them just because of that paired image.

5 years ago

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Dakota Routh Las Vegas, NV

AT&T is easily the worst cell phone company on the market. I was with them for 2 years only because of the contract. As soon as it was over we ran far away. Day 2 of being an AT&T customer went like this. Just signed up and bought phones yesterday. Woke up to all of our phones being disconnected for a past due balance. I'm laughing as I write this. How can we have a past due balance when we've been customers for less than 48 hours? So I call in only to get an automated recording that is requiring me to pay $150 in order to talk to someone. So I turn to online and I'm able to chat with a representative, who tells me that it's because my wife is required to put down a deposit. How can that be? She isn't listed on the account. I asked the representative to put it on my name for a reason and to add her as an authorized user. Turns out he did the reverse and put the phones in her name (not mine) and added me as an authorized user. That then triggered a deposit over night and disconnected our phones. Lol So to make a long story short. They wouldn't correct it and put it in my name like it was supposed to be and they ended up requiring us to pay the $150 to turn the phones back on. Never again.

5 years ago

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Monique Morgan ,

I was with AT&T for about 10 years until I moved to a new area, they did not have my services at during that time. When moved they asked for the equipment back that I threw in the garbage because of the previous items they put in my house they told me to threw away and was no use to them. By them telling me before I thought I should do the same with the new equipment they put in my home for about 5 years. Now they call themselves saying they want their equipment back and now they have me listed on the credit bureau for not paying the cost of the equipment thrown away. I have never missed a payment with them when I had services for 10 years. I could not believe they did this to me.

6 years ago

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Darlene Floriano

Not much I like. The cell service is weak. They promised Directv access to your cell. It rarely works. They don't offer hotspot with the service package overall. There's an extra fee for this service when others include it in theirs. Their customer service is under average at best.

6 years ago

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Roberto Pujol Chandler, AZ

I like that they have good deals and competitive prices. However these past few weeks or months the signal strength in the Phoenix area has had a significant drastic drop. I am beginning to get frustrated and have considered Verizon

7 years ago

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Veronica Haltom City, TX

Have 12 lines, 3 accounts and been a customer since 04 and still I wasn't allowed to add a line because 1 account was past due. And it wasn't even the account I was needing to add to. Everyone I talked to was rude and basically told me to cancel if that's what I want.

8 years ago

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Lainey Hashorva Van Nuys, CA

Wasted so much of my time on hold and dealing with ineffectual representatives re accessing my account, a user on my account that I've never heard of and locked into a bogus contract for another 18 months when everyone around me is upgrading and getting free phones. Such a waste of time and so lacking. They are too big to deal.

8 years ago

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Gary Griffith Abilene, TX

Expensive services, billing rate change after 1/2 the contract period is completed. Overpriced. Service in my area is intermittent. Often discover when driving across town to the side of town that has ample towers available, that I missed a ton of calls, voicemails, and text messages. Again overpriced and limited coverage from a company that advertises 100% coverage across the nation.

5 years ago

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GN Seattle, WA

Being the first wireless company to offer the iPhone was AT&T's smartest move. After that benefit went away, rollover minutes were a nice touch. Now days, these are not really benefits, but are the bare minimum expectations from wireless providers and AT&T has been playing catch up to companies like T-mobile to win back customer satisfaction. The taxes and fees on my bill were always high and obscure, but I have since found simpler and more cost effective billing elsewhere.

5 years ago

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Cassandra Slatton Tuscaloosa, AL

I did not have a good experience when I was a customer with AT&T. Their products and network quality were fine; albeit a bit over priced for what I was receiving, but the real problem came with their customer service. The employees at the local store were awful. The wait time was always exceptionally long, even if I was the only one there. The employees were rude and super unhelpful if you had any issues. It’s ultimately the reason I switched carriers.

5 years ago

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Vanilla Palm Films ,

ATT has the best reach of any carrier, BUT it has the worst customer service in the entire world! There is NO company worse than ATT when it comes to customer service. Each department that you get transferred to will NOT know what the other department has done, promised to do, or was expected to do - even through the "notes" they say they leave behind.

6 years ago

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brock williams Los Angeles, CA

I had AT&T for years before switching to Credo Mobile. I found that I constantly had hidden fees with AT&T, I didn't have great coverage, and I don't agree politically with all of the causes that the company donates large amounts of money to. I switched to Credo Mobile a few years ago, and my bills have been cheaper, customer service has been much easier to access and more helpful, and I feel better about the causes my money is going to support.

6 years ago

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Matthew Wadley San Diego, CA

My company was with AT&T when I started here and since then I have switched out cell coverage over to Verizon. AT&T customer service always took over 10 minutes to pick up my call and it always seemed like they hated their jobs and that I was interrupting their day by calling in. The plan was super expensive as well. The only good thing our their cell coverage is that we had free calls in Mexico When it comes to their home service that are way better than Cox Communication. I have internet and phone at home, it is comparable to cox internet in my opinion and a lot less expensive

6 years ago

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Mike Wilson Baytown, TX

Had cell phone service through this company for over 10 years. Never felt like I was valued, always had to watch bill closely as company like to nickel and dime its customers. Customer service is the worst in the business.

6 years ago

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Bryant Coulter Chicago, IL

The actual cell phone service is fine. Great reception, clear line. The company is shady. There are sooooo many hidden charges and extra charges and no discounts applied as they promised.

7 years ago

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Richard Upperco, MD

Every time I go to the ATT store to FIX MY BILL with s more cost effective plan, then switch my bill around and promise savings, only to get the bill in the following cycle with a price increase!

8 years ago

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David Pompano Beach, FL

I don't use my phone that much anymore and their are a few carriers with so much better prices. Once my contract is over... I'm outta any carrier that holds a contract with plans at $100

8 years ago

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Brenda Ross Franklin, OH

The service is terrible, over half the time you can't make calls or text because you can't get service. in plain words it sucks soon as I get my phone paid off I will be switching

8 years ago

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A. L. Lee, MA

Although the coverage is great the customer service is terrible. I've had issues before and trying to get through to someone to actually speak to them has been a nightmare. When I first started using AT& T it was easy to get someone on the phone and now it's all a bunch of robots.

5 years ago

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Penny Kenly New Port Richey, FL

Have had AT&T for several years and they keep going higher and higher on the coat and I email and chat and talk to them and tell them that I need the cheapest plan and it keeps going up and I put complaints in and it doesnt help and their explanations dont make any sense and I would like to get rid of them but cant yet!

5 years ago

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Alison and Alan Harney 'Ewa Beach, HI

AT&T has been slow in processing the changes to my account. I had to call the manager like 8 times at one time before he finally resolved my issue. Another time, when my son was deployed for 9 months, it took them 7 months till they finally suspended his account. Yes, they credited me all the charges BUT still were so slow in doing so.

6 years ago

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Debbie Boyd Penns Grove, NJ

Alot of double talk when they even bother to explain things to you. Different stories and "explanations" given by every different person that you talk to.

6 years ago

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Albina

You sticked with 2 years contract, lots of short times promotions to keep customers tight to company. But still the coverage is poor, but service is expensive

7 years ago

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William E Terrio

By making easier to use. I can only get one message at a time. It says I have several phone calls but then only gives me one and revers back to the home page.

8 years ago

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Christine T Royse City, TX

Loved them and had them for years but they started raising rates and had no customer loyalty plan. We had been with them for over 15 years but had to cancel because rates got too high!

5 years ago

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Cynthia M Hazleton, PA

When I had my cell service from them, I would always get dropped calls. Or couldn't hear the other person and vise versa. Reception was poor and service was bad. I switched over to a better cell service.

5 years ago

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Bernadine Birdsong Studio City, CA

I used Tmobile for years but when I married my husband he was a supervisor at ATT so I switched. Boy was that the wrong move. ATT has the worst customer service and very expensive plans when you travel out of the country

5 years ago

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Nicholas Nesbit , TX

Customer service is horrible. The service itself for internet is slow at times between peak and non peak times. I was told that my speed would be upgraded, and noticed no difference.

6 years ago

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Dan Vilmure Chicago, IL

As much as ATT wants you to believe they have the best nation wide service, that is a joke. They focus on the metro area and the 5g there. The rest of American coverage is substandard. Verizon overall is better if traveling.

6 years ago

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Sandy Bell Friendsville, TN

Most hateful sales reps. Have our home address, explained location and lack of service where we live. She promised we would have great service. Went home and zero bars! Returned for refund. She was nasty about it! NEVER!

6 years ago

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Theresa Beccaria Hollister, CA

I hate to say this but every time I have had to call AT&T over the years for cell service for home phone service for any type of service it Seems like it’s always a bait and switch

6 years ago

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Kimi Bayles Salt Lake City, UT

We switched to AT&T because we could save money. Unfortunately it wasn’t worth it. Our calls dropped constantly and I couldn’t even get service at my job. We had to switch back to our previous phone service.

6 years ago

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TyGuy Sandy, UT

I had AT&T at the time when they were the only provider offering the iPhone. I had better service camping in the mountains with AT&T, than I did in my own basement of a suburban neighborhood. Terrible coverage.

7 years ago

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Cristi Stafford

At&t is not my favorite. We hardly ever have cell service. We pay $350 for our phone bill and dont have service half of the time

8 years ago

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Tom

Too costly, too expensive, too much money, too expensive, complicated billing, vague conditions, high fees, bait and switch marketing

8 years ago

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Lesley Shockey

They will not place equipment on a County owned tower (provided free) so that several hundred of us have service at home.

8 years ago

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Linda

Because the price is too high - for no more than I use the cell phone this is almost unbearable - I am thinking of looking around

8 years ago

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Clifton Baird Clinton, MD

This company is good and bad. It gives you pretty quick customer service, but it wants to stop you from the amount of bandwidth you can use when you have enough.

5 years ago

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Bhupendra Rana Austin, TX

The call center misleads customer and they try to overcharge customers for every given opportunity. For same thing you have to follow up multiple times.

5 years ago

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Tina Garza Austin, TX

Omg had sales person come to the house and sold me internet and att tv.. 112.00 .. when connected got bill it was that amount they couldn't honor what sales person said.

5 years ago

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