AT&T Transition Not The Smoothest So Far

It appears that the transition from AllTel to AT&T is not without its problems though the latest issue sounds more like a non-issue to me. Yesterday's news from Winner resident and South Dakota blogger Doug Wiken exposed equipment issues affecting the transition of AllTel customers in the Winner area apparently because of a malfunction at the local tower.

Now this morning I see that the Argus is reporting that a certain number of former AllTel customers have complained to the South Dakota PUC that their coverage with AT&T is worse than it was with AllTel. Obviously that is not good news and on the surface goes against what AT&T promised when their purchase of AllTel assets was approved.

Looking deeper though, those that the article quotes as having poor or no coverage at all appear to have not had Alltel coverage either and were in fact roaming on Verizon's network for their local cell phone usage.

Customers in remote areas who had relied on roaming off Verizon towers no longer will be able to do so because of incompatible technology and will have limited service.

Darrell Sullivan of Hill City got a text message recently warning him his service "may change or be limited." Several phone calls later, Sullivan learned that his new phone wouldn't work for him at his home.

"I found out that if we want to go to Rapid City to make our phone calls, we should have coverage there," he said.

So AllTel customers that didn't have access to the AllTel network before the merger are now mad that they don't have access to the AT&T network now?

The fact that Verizon is the only provider for these and many other folks in South Dakota is an issue in and of itself but the fact that a certain number of people were unwilling to use Verizon directly (and instead used AllTel and roamed) and now can't isn't AT&T's fault. All they are required to do is provide the same coverage as AllTel did (roaming not included) which I assume they are doing. In this case I would think all AT&T should be required to do is let these folks out of their contracts...and maybe point them towards the closest Verizon store.

Then maybe those same people complaining to the PUC should change their tact and instead start complaining about why South Dakotan's, especially those west river and in the more rural areas, have so few choices when it comes to providers in general.