I have been a customer of AT&T Wireless since 1999. I was very careful choosing my provider and plan, as I enjoy traveling up and down the I-5 corridor in Oregon and Washington. In my opinion, at the time the only true competitors for my business were AT&T and Verizon. The AT&T coverage, though, was slightly better.

The Good

AT&T Wireless offers ten phone models at competitive prices (if you sign up for a contract) from four different manufacturers. They range in price from $0.00 to $399.99, with several price points in between. Their website (http://www.attws.com) makes it easy to compare between models.

There are plenty of plans to choose from at several price levels. Right now they're offering enough free off-peak minutes that one could ostensibly give up one's land-line phone.

Their coverage is still one of the best in the area. I do encounter some dead spots, especially in remote areas, but nothing like I did with my Nextel phone. (I have had the "fortune" of carrying several different types of mobile phones due to my work.) I now carry a Verizon phone for work reasons, and its coverage is almost, but not quite as good as the AT&T phone's.

Their website is fairly easily navigable and you can add and delete features without calling "Customer Service" to do so.

The Bad

I travel to Canada on occasion, and from the minute I cross the border, I incur roaming charges on every call, incoming or outgoing. If I don't want to be charged $0.60/min for roaming in Canada, I must add a $19.99 monthly charge to my bill.

I prefer Verizon's website to AT&T's - it's easier to navigate and there are some cool features like reverse number lookup - a feature you can only get with AT&T if you use online billing for residential long distance. Verizon's feature tutorials are also shorter and more easily understood. AT&T's website seems more geared toward presales customers - those looking for wireless service.

The Ugly

"Customer Service" - it's an oxymoron with this company about seventy-five percent of the time. Their main goal is to get more money out of you, whether it's by encouraging you to upgrade your plan, making features disappear so you have to pay to get them back, or urging you to extend your contract in order to gain more minutes.

Story time: When I first signed up for AT&T, I was put on a great plan that bundled my home long distance (at a great rate!) with my wireless bill. In August, I was forced out of that plan and had to switch to a regular plan - bundled billing was no longer available. So I changed.

Not long ago I was looking over my bill and noticed I'd been charged $9.75 for a single 65 minute call made from the Tacoma area back to my hometown in Oregon. I was surprised at the high charge, so I went online to review my plan. When I looked, my plan (Digital Advantage) was supposed to include free long distance from within my home calling area. I checked my home calling area, and I had never been outside of it. I then called "Customer Service" and was told that when I'd changed plans (not by my choice) that my free domestic long distance had not been coded on the account in August in error. However, they were only willing to credit the mistaken long distance charges back three months, according to their "policy". When I asked to speak with a supervisor, I was denied. I have since written several e-mails to their customer service, to no avail.

Yesterday, I logged into my account on the website and noticed that my free off-peak hours were missing from my plan. I called back in again, and was told, "Since you changed your plan those minutes are gone." I patiently explained that I did not "change my plan" - an error had been corrected - AT&T's error. She replied that the additional minute package was not available to add back to my plan - the promotion had expired. She explained that I was no longer entitled to free minutes. I threatened again to talk to a supervisor, and she offered me unlimited off-peak minutes if I extended my contract by a further six months.

Today, I discovered that I no longer had voice mail. I logged on to the website and found that all my included features (call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail, etc.) had been turned off. I had to turn them all back on (using their website) and set up my voice mail again.

The Bottom Line

I'm still recommending AT&T Wireless, just for their local coverage. However, customers should be diligent about their bills and charges, because AT&T seems prone to "mistakes" and other difficulties. Also, keep in mind that every time you make any alterations to your basic plan (not features), it will likely cause the removal of any promotional minutes you may have received. Good luck.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 39.99