Vandalism causes serious phone outages in upstate New York. (Courtesy: Verizon Communications)

Frontier Communications’ landline customers in Lewis and Oneida counties faced long distance service outages, while just about everyone in northern Oneida County is without both landline and cell phone service after fiber lines serving cell towers and landline customers were cut Monday.

The New York State Police have launched a criminal investigation into the sabotage, while Verizon Communications implies the damage might have come as a result of a strike against the company that began last weekend.

The largest outage, which cut off cell service and landlines, originated in Deerfield, where cables were severed.

Several upstate communities are facing lengthy service outages from a variety of acts of vandalism, most from cable cuts and damage to junction boxes.

Verizon has rushed out news releases regarding the damage, offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of individuals that intentionally damage Verizon cables or facilities or cause or attempt to cause physical injury to any Verizon employee or contractor.  Verizon urges anyone who witnesses sabotage of Verizon property or any suspicious activity to call 911 immediately, then call the Verizon Security Control Center at 1-800-997-3287.

Both sides of the dispute are now appealing to Congress to intervene, an action that may not bring immediate results.  Both the House and Senate are currently in their five-week summer recess.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WKTV Utica Criminal investigation into cut phone lines that caused massive outages 8-9-11.mp4[/flv]

WKTV in Utica covers the impact of widespread landline and cell phone outages in Oneida County, upstate New York.  (1 minute)

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WRGB Albany Verizon Vandals 8-8-11.flv[/flv]

WRGB in Albany explores additional acts of vandalism in the Capitol District and gets reaction from striking workers about whether they were involved.  (3 minutes)

Nevermind. We'll resell Sprint instead.

Back in January 2010, Cox Cable announced it was getting into the cell phone business with an ambitious plan to construct its own competing wireless network.  Cox used their little spacemen to market their forthcoming alternative as delivering “unbelievably fair” pricing and terms for cell phone service.  The bigger players were selling bait and switch plans with high extra charges and bill shock at the end of the month, or so Cox’s ads suggested.

Now, the cable company has announced it is pulling the plug on its partially constructed 3G network, and will rely exclusively on reselling Sprint service.

“We believe this approach is good for our customers, allowing us to take the necessary steps to fulfill our promise to deliver a Cox experience that customers expect from us,” read a statement from Cox.

What happens to Cox’s existing infrastructure, and the frequencies it won at auction in 2008, is unknown.

Although the reasons for the change of heart are not officially known, there is speculation in the investment community Cox’s expensive launch of 3G technology would be outdated just as larger providers were unveiling newer 4G networks.  Additionally, the dynamics of the market are increasingly trending towards a duopoly, especially after AT&T announced its intentions to acquire T-Mobile.

Two major carriers will provide service to the vast majority of Americans if the merger is approved.  That would leave Cox in a difficult position attracting investment to build its own network and interest from consumers looking for the latest and greatest smartphones Cox couldn’t sell.

Sprint’s wholesale division has allowed several providers to resell Sprint’s network, no capital investments required.  Cox had already been relying on Sprint for providing cell phone service in several markets.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Cox Wireless Advertising Campaign.flv[/flv]

Cox Wireless’ marketing campaign promised “unbelievably fair” pricing on its own wireless network.  Now it will resell Sprint’s network instead. (2 minutes)

Soldiers starting basic training or preparing to deploy overseas have a lot on their minds.  Worrying about their AT&T cell phone service isn’t supposed to be one of them.

Stop the Cap! has been hearing from soldiers in several states who are sharing similar stories about AT&T insisting on hefty early termination fees when calling to suspend or cancel service because of military training or deployment abroad.  Cell phones are prohibited during basic training, which lasts 10 weeks.  So why pay for a service you cannot use for two and a half months?

The Chicago Tribune shared the story of Nathaniel Jungheim, of Chicago, who faced an intransigent AT&T when he called to put his account on hold during basic training.

“They informed me that they have recently changed how they handle military accounts and said I would have to pay $10 a month plus taxes to keep my account in suspension,” he said.

Jungheim said he complained and was told he would either have to pay the monthly fee or $275 to terminate his contract.

“I asked to speak to a supervisor but was told they would say the same thing,” Jungheim said.

Those “changes” are likely illegal under the Service Member Civil Relief Act, a federal law which protects America’s soldiers from predatory practices from bankers, property management companies, insurance companies, and yes, cell phone companies.

Text of S. 3023 [110th]: Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2008
Oct 10, 2008: Became Public Law No: 110-389

SEC. 805. TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF CONTRACTS FOR CELLULAR TELEPHONE SERVICE FOR CERTAIN SERVICEMEMBERS.

(a) In General- Title III of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 531 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 305 the following new section:

SEC. 305A. TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF CONTRACTS FOR CELLULAR TELEPHONE SERVICE.

(a) In General- A servicemember who receives orders to deploy outside of the continental United States for not less than 90 days or for a permanent change of duty station within the United States may request the termination or suspension of any contract for cellular telephone service entered into by the servicemember before the date of the commencement of such deployment or permanent change if the servicemember’s ability to satisfy the contract or to utilize the service will be materially affected by such deployment or permanent change. The request shall include a copy of the servicemember’s military orders.

(b) Relief- Upon receiving the request of a servicemember under subsection (a), the cellular telephone service contractor concerned shall–
(1) grant the requested relief without imposition of an early termination fee for termination of the contract or a reactivation fee for suspension of the contract; or
(2) in the case that such servicemember is deployed outside the continental United States as described in subsection (a), permit the servicemember to suspend the contract at no charge until the end of the deployment without requiring, whether as a condition of suspension or otherwise, that the contract be extended.

AT&T doesn’t feel the law applies to them, however, judging from complaints we’ve been receiving from readers.

Stop the Cap! came up on a private military forum open to service members, and ever since, we’ve heard some stunning complaints about AT&T and suspicions the phone company is hoping to rely on soldiers not fully understanding their rights.  Remarkably, all of the complaints have been about AT&T.  Verizon and Sprint reportedly treat the troops with considerably more respect.

“I was ordered to Europe last November and wanted to call and cancel my AT&T service and ran straight into a brick wall with those people,” shares Elizabeth.  “They told me they don’t suspend accounts for anyone, only cancel them, and demanded $200 in early cancel fees to be paid immediately on my credit card or they would ruin my credit.”

Nathan, who is now serving in rural Alaska, shared a similar story.  On his third call to AT&T, the representative offered him just one choice — a $10 a month suspended plan, if he agreed to extend his service contract when he got back.

“I was reading off of AT&T’s own website stating the company would cancel my service with no penalty, but the operator could have cared less,” Nathan writes.  “If I didn’t like it, he would charge me $300 to immediately cancel my contract and that was that.”

Nathan got the distinct impression the representative was accusing him of ripping off AT&T for a new phone he wanted to “walk away” with free and clear.

JJ managed to get a supervisor to “do him a favor” and cancel his contract with no penalty, but only if he faxed over his military ID, birth certificate, driver’s license, orders of deployment, and a copy of a major credit card for “verification purposes.”

“I told them to forget it — I was not about to send some low paid AT&T call center guy every form of ID I had so I could discover my identity stolen when I got back,” JJ said.

“AT&T cares less about the troops who defend their right to exist in a free United States; they only care about money and that is disgusting and unpatriotic,” JJ shares.

Another customer, deployed overseas, was told to report to an AT&T store in the United States to discontinue service — there was no other way to cancel penalty-free.

As has been so often the case, when media attention shines a bright light on potentially illegal business practices or bad service, relief is soon in sight, for at least a few people.

The Problem Solver called Brooke Vane, a spokeswoman for AT&T, and described Jungheim’s situation.

Vane emailed Thursday to say AT&T adheres to the federal Service Member Civil Relief Act, which provides guidelines for how companies deal with those who are called to duty.

Vane instructed Jungheim to call AT&T’s customer care phone number again and go through the process of suspending service.

“Once he meets the requirements, including providing us with his orders, as required by law, we can process this request,” Vane said.

Thursday evening, Jungheim called AT&T and spoke to a representative.

“I faxed over my deployment orders … so I should be a go,” he said.

He will not be charged the $10 a month.

AT&T's website for servicemembers makes it easy to buy more of their products and services, but doesn't deliver much help to those who want to put their accounts on hold or leave. (Click image to visit site.)

Stop the Cap! recommends you arrange to cancel or suspend service as soon as you have a date in hand for basic training or deployment abroad.  Then call AT&T at 1-800-331-0500 and notify them you need to fax your written request to discontinue service, penalty-free, and are including a copy of your military orders.  By declaring your intent, you will present yourself as knowledgeable about your rights, and are less likely to encounter resistance from AT&T.

Do not fax or mail copies of any forms of personal identification.  They are not required under the law and there is no reason to expose yourself to identity theft.  We recommend you consider service cancellation over service suspension, because it lets you walk away from AT&T free and clear.  You will lose your cell phone number, but when you return, you can sign up as a new customer and receive a new phone discount.

Always write down the name and extension of the person you spoke with along with the time and date of your call and keep it in a file until you are assured the request was processed properly.

If you encounter problems, insist that your call be escalated to a supervisor.  If that fails, two of our readers reported they had near instant resolution to their ongoing problems with AT&T by calling their member of Congress or two Senators.

Verizon Communications formally closed its acquisition of Alltel in January 2009, but some former customers are only now feeling the impact as they transition to… AT&T.

That’s right, AT&T.

Although Verizon acquired the bulk of Alltel’s national customer base, the federal government ordered Verizon to sell off its future Alltel customers in communities where the company would likely be the overwhelmingly dominant player.  Verizon sold off most of these orphaned customers, numbering over a million, especially in the Mountain Time Zone, to AT&T.

The transition from Alltel to AT&T would be a bumpy one because the two companies use different wireless technologies, meaning every customer would have to be provided with a new phone.  Alltel’s customers remaining with Verizon didn’t experience this, because both companies use CDMA technology.

AT&T agreed, as part of the deal, to supply every one of its new postpaid/contract Alltel customers with brand new GSM phones (although AT&T was unwilling to provide free advanced smartphones like Apple’s iPhone).  Prepaid customers were less lucky — they only received discounts off new phones.

Stop the Cap! has talked with more than a dozen affected customers in Arizona, New Mexico, Michigan, Utah, Wyoming, Iowa and Colorado about their experiences as they transition to AT&T service.  With AT&T now proposing to merge with T-Mobile, which could also mean some new phones for T-Mobile customers, we wanted to learn what customers thought about being moved from one carrier to another, what their experience was before the transition and after, and whether they intend to stay with AT&T.

Our panel included a young man from Utah who used his phone at home and outside of the state as he performed mission work for the Mormon Church in rural Florida.  We also spoke with a retired couple living in Arizona who chose Alltel because of their unlimited calling circle option to stay in touch with friends and family in Minnesota.  Also participating: a travel agent in Michigan, a realtor in New Mexico, a self-employed contractor in Colorado, a farmer in Iowa, and several others who shared their stories with us in e-mail.  By mutual agreement, we’re keeping their last names private because some have pending disputes with AT&T.

Breaking the News: Alltel Sells Out Their Customers to Verizon

When Karen, a realtor from New Mexico first heard word that Alltel was selling out to Verizon, she wasn’t sure exactly what that meant.  There was considerable confusion in her part of southern New Mexico mostly because the local media does a poor job of covering telecommunications stories.

“In New Mexico, everything in the media is centered around what is going on in Albuquerque and everything else is given little attention, except in the local newspaper,” Karen says.  “But whether you are in Las Cruces or Roswell, the quality of the story depends on the quality of the poorly paid reporter.”

Karen was not worried about the sale at first, because she was aware Verizon had a good reputation for cell phone service.  She had originally selected Alltel because they had good rates and friendly customer service.

“If I ever had a problem with my phone, Alltel would always fix it, even if it was out of warranty,” Karen explains.  “That meant a lot to me because they didn’t have to do that, but it was why I always renewed my contract.”

Heath, who runs a home-based contracting business in southern Colorado, didn’t like what he was hearing from the start.  Neither did Marion and Will, a retired couple living outside of Phoenix.

“We had our dealings with Verizon back in Minnesota when we lived there and we never liked them because they cost too much,” Will says.  “Alltel was a great choice for us because they had a calling circle plan that let you make unlimited calls to certain numbers, and we talked with our daughter back in Minnesota daily using our cell phone.”

Confusion about the deal only got worse when Alltel (and in some cases Verizon) notified our panel members they would not be Verizon customers after all — they were being sold off to another cell phone company.

Alltel -> Verizon -> AT&T -> Frustration

Micah, our reader in Utah first contacted us more than a year ago to express his confusion about why he was not only losing his Alltel account, but now he was somehow ending up as a customer of AT&T, a carrier he definitely wants nothing to do with.

“I figured I could at least live with Verizon because they are everywhere, but as I started performing my mission work for the church in rural central Florida, I learned from my parents I was actually going to end up a customer of AT&T, something I definitely never wanted,” Micah says.  “AT&T is terrible in Utah and worse here — nobody wants AT&T unless you are in Orlando or Daytona Beach.”

Alltel Markets Sold to AT&T (click to enlarge)

“At first we thought, cool, new phones for everyone,” Shanie told Stop the Cap! from her home in Muskegon, Mich. “AT&T has been promising major expansion of service here in western Michigan since they notified us they were taking over for Alltel, but then we started learning the details.”

While Shanie’s family of four would be given four new phones, their choices of new phones were limited, although AT&T called them “comparable.”  Many of AT&T’s smartphones were not covered, even if families already owned smartphones purchased from Alltel.

“We also discovered if you wanted one of these advanced phones, it meant a new two-year contract with AT&T, effectively forcing us to stay with them longer,” Shanie says.

Jed, a farmer outside of Sioux City, Iowa says AT&T did a poor job keeping him informed.  Jed stopped receiving all communication from Alltel (other than a bill) and never heard a word from AT&T.  Instead, one of his neighbors warned him that his Alltel phone was going to quit working by the middle of May.  Jed was upset because the deadline for him to choose a new free phone had passed and he never had the opportunity to make a choice, never having been notified about any of the changes.

“The newspaper might have said something about it, but we don’t get the paper here and nobody has much time to spend watching television,” Jed shared.  “We would have thought AT&T would have notified us, but they apparently forgot we were here.”

Last week, a new phone arrived from AT&T in the mail, unsolicited.

“What a way of doing business — we thought at first it was some sort of fraudulent purchase and we almost didn’t accept it from the driver,” Jed said.

AT&T has been sending out new phones all month to customers across several states, encouraging them to call and activate them on AT&T’s network.  Once customers do that, their old Alltel phones will quit working.  That was a problem for Shanie’s daughter at college in Grand Rapids.  When mom activated her phone, the primary one on the account, her daughter’s Alltel phone stopped working.

“AT&T has you call a toll-free number to activate the phone, but first they require y0u to accept the terms and conditions for doing business with AT&T, which can include contract extensions for some people,” Shanie said.  “I had no idea activating my phone would end service on all of the other Alltel phones on the account.”

Alltel customers in these states had new AT&T phones shipped to them on this schedule.  The second date refers to the service transition cutoff date:

Bailing Out for Alternatives

Jody, a soon-to-be-ex AT&T customer in New Mexico, says there was plenty of fine print to wade through when he prepared for the switch from Alltel, and he didn’t like what he saw.

“AT&T is very tricky about how they handle customers who want to depart Alltel and avoid becoming an AT&T customer,” Jody says.  “You cannot cancel your Alltel contract and avoid an early termination fee, but you can cancel AT&T within 30 days of switching and escape a hefty exit fee.”

Indeed, AT&T’s transition website says Alltel customers who want to switch providers will face an early exit penalty as long as their Alltel phones remain active.  Those who switch and activate their new AT&T phones get a 30 day window to drop AT&T and avoid an ETF:

If, after moving to AT&T service, you choose to discontinue your AT&T service, you will have a 30-day period to opt out of your AT&T contract without an ETF. After that 30-day period, standard AT&T terms apply including any applicable ETF.

Old name, New Company

Jody got his new phone and promptly canceled his AT&T service.  He switched to CellularOne, a company with a legacy name but a very local network.  It has its own cell towers only in northern Arizona and parts of New Mexico.  For everywhere else, it depends on a roaming agreement with… AT&T.

Jody’s CellularOne plan still offers completely unlimited calling, texting, and data for around $80 a month, and that includes AT&T’s nationwide network.

“CellularOne offers a much better deal than AT&T, but you can only choose from three lower end smartphones — no iPhone to be had here,” Jody says.

Heath in Colorado wants out of AT&T as well.

“They drop calls all the time and their network strength is awful in my neighborhood, and I depend on my cell phone and don’t have a landline,” Heath says.  “I don’t know why we had to be stuck with AT&T who apparently de-commissioned Alltel’s towers, which used to deliver a rock solid signal here.”

But not everyone is heading for other carriers.  Sam in Farmington, New Mexico says AT&T is bringing 3G to his community and mobile broadband speeds have been much faster than what Alltel used to deliver.

“AT&T’s data plans are overpriced, but if you can hang onto your existing Alltel plan but use it on AT&T’s network, it’s not so bad,” Sam says.  “Unfortunately, you cannot upgrade to an iPhone and keep Alltel’s plans — you have to pick one of AT&T’s.”

The Future for T-Mobile Customers

Although T-Mobile shares the same GSM network technology AT&T uses, the two companies have different frequency allocations for their respective networks.  T-Mobile customers seeking access to AT&T’s network will probably need new phones to access it. While AT&T claims T-Mobile’s own largely urban network will supplement AT&T’s own coverage, customers may need new equipment for that to be true as well, unless AT&T co-locates their own cell antennas on T-Mobile towers.

Former Alltel customers tell Stop the Cap! AT&T didn’t offer the latest and most popular phones for their swap, and some customers too far away from an AT&T store had to get a new phone without being able to try it.  AT&T allowed customers to exchange phones within 30 days, which helped some of our readers, but most felt the entire idea of being forced to switch to AT&T an inconvenience.  Most were also disturbed that one of the competitors in their area was disappearing, and considering Alltel served largely small cities and rural areas, there was already a lack of choice for most.  In total, three of our readers are staying with AT&T, two left for CellularOne, one chose to switch to a prepaid plan, and the rest went with Verizon after all.  If Alltel were still around, every customer we talked with for this piece would have stayed with them.

Here in West Virginia, cell phone reception is often by the grace of God.  The incredibly mountainous state makes “line of sight” communications a real problem when the nearest cell tower is blocked by a gigantic shale rock formation someone blasted through to build a road decades earlier.

AT&T probably still delivers the largest coverage of rural areas in the state because its towers expand beyond the major highways other carriers cover. But even with that expanded service, using a smartphone indoors is going to be a problem in many places.

Recently, AT&T sent letters to approximately 7.5 percent of their customers in the rural areas most likely to have reception problems, offering a free “MicroCell,” which is comparable to a mini cell tower inside your home or office.  The equipment works with your existing broadband connection to expand “coverage” inside your home.  For data purposes, the MicroCell doesn’t deliver anything your personal Wi-Fi connection couldn’t, but if you rely on a cell phone, having signal bars makes all the difference if you are waiting for an important call.

A considerable number of those letters reached families in West Virginia, and that is no surprise considering the state is by far the most difficult to blanket with wireless coverage in the eastern half of the country.

A letter to AT&T customers inviting them to receive a free MicroCell

But the problem is, some families are receiving the free offers, while others are not, and that is creating reception envy.

AT&T 3G MicroCell

Charlotte, who lives in Whipple, W.V., outside of Oak Hill, was visiting with her neighbor Joy last week and noticed her husband fiddling with the latest gadget on his computer desk.

“It looked odd because of the way it spread out on the bottom, so I asked Joy what in the world he was installing,” Charlotte says.

“It’s a cell tower thing AT&T gave us to get better reception,” Joy responded.

Despite the fact the two families live only a few homes apart and signed up for AT&T service with the exact same phones within weeks of each other, Charlotte was never offered AT&T’s MicroCell.

AT&T notified qualified customers with a letter containing a personal reservation code, and the offer was not transferable.

“Maybe you got it and threw it away,” Joy offered.

“No, ever since the credit card companies started changing terms on us, we open every envelope that comes into this house,” Charlotte replied.

Assuming it must be an oversight, Charlotte dropped by her local AT&T store to inquire about the offer.

“We quickly learned we were not the first family to bring up this issue with AT&T as the store manager told us he was fielding complaints from all over town about the highly-selective offer,” Charlotte said.

Even worse, there was nothing the manager could do to rectify the situation.

“His hands were as tied as my patience was tried,” Charlotte tells Stop the Cap!

“The store manager offered to sell me the MicroCell for around $100 with a rebate, but why should I pay AT&T for better reception they should already be providing?” Charlotte asks.  “It seems to me if they are giving away these things to some people in a neighborhood, they should be doing it for everyone, because we pay the same bill our neighbors do.”

The seemingly random offers of MicroCell units are not limited to West Virginia.  We’ve noticed complaints from residents in northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and northern New England from others who get reception while outdoors or on the go, but find their phones useless for making and receiving calls at home.

In most cases, irate customers seeking redress from AT&T run into a bureaucratic brick wall.

Rick McGee, commenting on Engadget’s website:

I have talked to Marketing, Technical Support, and my local store, and nobody can tell me who to contact to qualify for a MicroCell. I have been an AT&T Mobility customer for over four years, with four family plan phones and two more phones on corporate contracts. The reception at my house is usually zero, at times maybe one bar, but never enough to maintain an incoming call or make an outgoing call. I guess I am a glutton for punishment, but this is the last straw.

If AT&T does not magically send me one of the MicroCell coupons, I will total up my termination fees and determine the earliest date I am willing to dump AT&T and try another carrier. In addition to the cell phones, I have two AT&T land lines, plus an AT&T internet account, so I am likely in the top tier of residential customers. With no reception at my house, I don’t see how I would fail to qualify for a MicroCell, but AT&T has no process to help individual customers with bad reception. Everyone I talk to claims ignorance. I’ve done my part, AT&T — either step up, or I am gone.

Others find similar experiences — apologies from in-person sales staff about the corporate roadblocks even they cannot navigate around.

But every once in awhile, one does.  Casey Robinson’s neighborhood lost all AT&T cell phone service when their local cell tower was destroyed in a storm.  The replacement redirected most of its signal elsewhere, leaving them with no bars.

After arguing with corporate phone support in the AT&T store for 2 hours they told me pay the $149 [for a MicroCell] or tough luck. I responded by telling them to take my family plan +2 lines, my roommates family plan +3 lines, and our Uverse U400 package with high speed internet and shove it, we will be changing carriers immediately since I have tower data from AT&T pre and post storm to show they breached our contract.

The AT&T store rep was amazing through all of this. He apologized continuously and said if it was up to them they would give out the MicroCell as soon as we walked in the door, unfortunately their computers physically block them from comping a MicroCell. While I was very distraught on the phone with AT&T, he called his manager at home and explained the situation. She drove in to the store, again apologizing for everything we had to go through, checked us out with the MicroCell then credited our account for the full purchase price and credited a month’s service to both my line and my roommate’s line for the issues we had been having. They are the only reason we still have AT&T. Of course we wrote to their district manager and AT&T corporate applauding the employee and manager, and of course from what we’ve heard they still haven’t been acknowledged for their good work.

Some others have had recent success filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau, when executive level customer service representatives come to the rescue with a free MicroCell.

Charlotte’s family intends to deal with the MicroCell Gap in their own way — by switching to Verizon Wireless, which improved service in the Oak Hill region a few years ago while they’ve been under contract with AT&T.

“We were willing to put up with the MicroCell doing the job their own cell towers should be doing, but because they don’t care about us, we’re done with them,” Charlotte says.

Customers accepting AT&T’s free offer must verbally commit to stay with the carrier at least 12 months or return the MicroCell when they depart.  If they don’t, AT&T will bill an equipment fee up to $199.

Engadget obtained this inside memo about the MicroCell offer.