I am not a big fan of the corporate giant. I do remember seeing an AT&T commercial in junior high for cordless phones, and thinking that if I had money, I would buy stock in AT&T. The company has taken quite a few turns in the past fifteen years.
AT&T is now the name behind my DSL service, once called SBCYahoo. I never liked SBCYahoo, and I was kind of glad to see AT&T come in. I honestly have no idea who is actually at the helm, technically. Companies these days buy other companies, absorb the employees and the name, or fire the employees and retain the original name. You never know what these clowns are going to do. Corporate business is so complicated.
But I’ve always liked AT&T. My first cell phone service was Sprint. I was underimpressed by the reception my phone got. I switched to AT&T. That service was turned off simply because I was in college and was poor. My next service contract came through T-Mobile, whom I now use. I have no real reason for not choosing AT&T except for their notoriously poor customer service. When I had one problem with my AT&T cell phone service, it me forever to get an actual human on the phone. Everything was so automated because they are too cheap to actually employ enough customer service reps.
I won’t hold that against them, though. At the time, I never dropped a call. They had excellent coverage. I really chose T-Mobile for the minutes/price package. With an advertised special, I got 1500 any time minutes per month for $49. Of course there is tax and fees, but that’s not bad. Only in my two busiest months did I exceed 1500 minutes.
I’ve developed a sort of trust in AT&T, though. A tech is coming out to my house tomorrow morning to check my Internet/phone line. Now, I may be singing a different tune if he/she tells me that the problem is the piece of crap modem SBCYahoo provided me when we signed up. I won’t be as happy then, since I learned tonight that a decent modem in the store can cost $200-300. I’m not into spending all that money on something I should already have received from my Internet Service Provider.
That’s not the point of the story, though. The point is, I wish I had invested in AT&T when I was in junior high. I would have a nice chunk of change by now. Back then, I thought they were going to lead the technological revolution, which they may or may not. Still, AT&T has stood the test of time. It is a company worth respecting, even if it is just a name now run by Cingular.
That didn’t make much sense. That’s my cue. Time for all good little boys and girls and kitties to sleep in their beds.