How I Got Out of my Wireless Contract Penalty Free
Flashback to Aug, 2008
I’m standing in an AT&T Wireless store, purchasing my first iPhone and signing up for a 2 year contract. A few months later my 2G iPhone is stolen out of my gym locker. Now because there is no insurance on iPhones and the 2G was discontinued in that short period of time I have a choice; buy a 2G from eBay or other site or upgrade to the 3G. Upgrading to the 3G requires a new 2 year activation and an increase in my monthly costs. In November of 2008 I renewed my contract and bought the 3G iPhone.
Today
I still have that same 3G iPhone but it’s all beat to hell. Only one speaker works, the “vibrate” button fell off and the battery life is poor. So now I’m looking at either purchasing the 3GS (which I’m sure will be discontinued this summer) or get a new phone and plan with Verizon.
Well What About The Warranty?
When I bought the first phone I bought the extra “Apple Care” warranty plan. When the phone was stolen I was told I can rollover the warranty to the new phone or get a refund on the original warranty. I chose to roll it over. Today Apple tells me that wasn’t an option and the Apple Care Rep I spoke to was misinformed. I’m still trying to get my refund on the warranty but it’s slow going.
Verizon Wireless
I loved Verizon. I got my first Verizon phone when I was 16 years old (1999). It was a “bag phone”, basically a suitcase with a corded phone attached to a base (something very similar to the photo on the left). Verizon was so good to me, providing great coverage and great value in their plans. I’m not saying their plans are cheap but you get what you pay for. The only reason I left Verizon was for the iPhone which had no real competitors then, unlike today.
My Plan
So I decided to get out of my AT&T plan but desperately wanted to avoid the early penalty that comes with all wireless plans. I researched online on how to get out of a wireless plan early. There were some strange recommendations but the constant was “claiming” to not have service at your home or neighborhood.
On Friday February 19th, 2009 I called AT&T wireless and pressed “4″ for “Questions About Canceling Your Contract”. I was surprised that it was a main menu item (maybe I shouldn’t have been). I spoke to a rep and explained to him that my service has been terrible at home over that last few months. I told him that I really liked my AT&T service outside my neighborhood but as I approached home my cell service would drop. I even told him about a time I had to pull over to finish an important call on the side of the road because I knew my call would be dropped.
This customer rep was very nice and apologetic for the inconvenience. I then told him that I used my phone for business and couldn’t afford to lose anymore calls. He then stated “Well sir, if we find that the poor service is on our end, we’ll take care of you”. I responded “Does that mean let me out of my contract with out penalty?”, he said “Yes”. At this point I knew I was on the right track. From there I was passed on to a Service Tech who walked me through the process of turning my phone off and on, checking my settings and resetting my network settings. After this the tech called my cell number after asking me if I was currently home. I answered the call and he said “Sounds like you have service now”. I replied “it’s intermittent”.
After a few more minutes of tips and tricks I could implement for better service like:
- Turn off “Push” because your iPhone prioritizes content over the call which can cause it to drop
- Shut your iPhone off for 1 min at least once a day
- Reset your Network Settings periodically
- Use the 2G network when you aren’t getting good reception with the 3G
I quickly decided that these recommendations weren’t ideal, I’m sure you can see why. Before the tech hung up he asked that I write down all of my lost calls over the next 3 days and someone would be calling me on Monday to check in and see how are things are doing.
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
No one called to check on me.
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
I noticed that for brief moment I had “No Service”. I quickly took a screenshot with the iPhone and called AT&T. I explained to them that I couldn’t deal with this anymore. That no one called me and that I’m still suffering with poor service. That I liked AT&T and I loved my iPhone but I can’t deal with this anymore. I offered to send them my screenshot but they didn’t want that. Instead they offered to send a tech out to my neighborhood to check out the service in the area and determine whether it’s my phone or if there is some type of interference.
I knew what that meant, so I explained to them that I really can’t wait for that and I wanted to get out now. After some polite debate I asked for a manager. The manager was kind but said the exact same thing the rep said. Eventually I said something which seemed to trigger me getting out of my contract penalty free.
“I’m still happy with AT&T, I’m not an angry customer… YET. Please let me out of my contract so I can just make and receive calls from my house.”
Now I’m on Verizon using the old cell phone I had back in 2008 waiting for the Nexus One, happily making phone calls from my house. 