*** AT&T in Winner, SD area Cellphones down again

Well, that was nice while it lasted...all 3 or 4 days.  This afternoon (Sunday May 1, 2011) our AT&T Rugby phones ceased connecting.  Attempting to call anything generated the "Emercency Calls Only" message and the signal strength dropped to near zero again.

I don't know what is going wrong, but it seems to me it is time for the SDPUC or the FCC to send a technician of their own down here to see if AT&T is dumping in some old junk equipment from elsewhere that is flaky and undependable

[[Note by Doug Wiken: I received a message from Steve Kolbech at SDPUC. Text below:

Unfortunately the SDPUC does not have technicians nor is there regulatory authority to do so. To date cellular service is defined by the FCC as an informative service, much like Internet or other unregulated services. Of course this is being debated as we speak in Washington.I will make a call to our AT&T contact and see what I can dig up. Thanks, Steve Kolbeck Commissioner South Dakota Public Utilities Commission

I had forgotten about the nice, neat ruling that essentially converted cellphones into an unregulated system ripe for exploitation by the largest corporations all too ready to regulate speed and access of their customers. In any case, at about 12:04 right after noon today, May 2, 2011, the AT&T cellphones were working again allowing calls in and out and reception of text messages. ]]]]

 

Every ad from AT&T is making me just a bit more irate.   If they can't make a transition in other parts of the country any better than they did here, they should not be expanding or advertising in hopes of getting more dissatisfied customers..

*** Stay tuned even if you can't reach my cellphone number--- Doug Wiken

 

 

 

Comments

[Sean]

Agreed, i live in Wakonda, SD and have had nothing but trouble with their wireless service, and service in general.