Hi, so I’ve been a T-mobile customer since 2005. Recently, I’ve encountered an issue where I can no longer endure the nonexistent spotty coverage in my house. To cut my incredibly boring life story short I’m a recent graduate and I’ve been expecting phone calls from recruiters regarding job offers and phone interviews especially during these two weeks. It’s incredibly mortifying when an employer calls you and a) you do not receive a missed call, b) you pick up and the call drops, c) you expect your VM to be accessible when a phone call does not go through.
Due to unfortunate timing, for these two past weeks, my voicemail was deactivated unbeknownst to me. When I began receiving emails from HR saying, “Hi, this is our second attempt at reaching you to set up an interview. We were unable to reach through the phone number provided” I realized I had an issue. According to the customer service rep 50 other people in the area have already called and a ticket was sent out to fix the issue. Apparently there was an outage of some sort and a T-mobile tower was damaged thus affecting the service and triggering customers’ voicemails to be deactivated and service to be limited.
Thus when recruiters calls my phone it will continue to ring or they will receive an automated message saying “This subscriber is outside of the coverage area” or something along those lines. Stupid me. I should’ve instinctually realized that something was wrong with my service but I never encountered an issue with my voicemail being deactivated internally by T-mobile. I am still kicking myself for not realizing sooner that my voicemail was not functional. I don’t even know how long my voicemail was inactive for.
I called customer loyalty to express my frustration and they credited me $10 towards my plan. The $10 credit is what I would have received regardless once I upgraded my devices. It’s this offer “By upgrading your device you may qualify for a price reduction on your monthly service cost.” My plan went from 59.99 to 49.99. They transferred me to troubleshoot so they could reactivate my voicemail. Two hours later I realized that the voicemail for the second line was not reactivated thus I had to call back again. I spoke with them about the coverage issue and they had me manually search for the T-mobile network but the only provider that popped up was AT&T. The technicians were very friendly and knowledgeable and remorseful for not being able to resolve my No Service/Coverage issue.
Right now I’m at a crossroad and I’m debating on whether I should purchase new devices and stay with T-mobile and their unreliable and infuriating coverage or just bite the bullet and migrate to AT&T where I am willing to pay more for service. I am willing to pay more to have the ability to sit in my bed and text or place a call using my phone instead of getting into my car and driving towards the entrance of my community just to receive signal. I am willing to pay more for peace of mind and convenience of having reliable service. Everyone in my community has migrated to different carriers. Even my siblings have transferred to AT&T because they couldn’t stand not having service at home.
At the same time I have been a customer for almost 10 years, since I was in the 8th grade. I never really had a big issue because I didn't visit home often but now that this is my primary residence I am at my wits. Despite my frustrations the carrier has sentimental value to me and I have a grandfathered account. I really do want to just stay with T-mobile because I'll be easier for me and I might relocate to an area with T-mobile coverage later. But I do not want to ever relive my panic with not having reliable service especially during a crucial time.
Current stats.
Two lines since 2005. Haven’t upgraded devices since 2010
59.99 FamilyTime 700 Minutes
14.99 Unlimited Text
Final price with tax is $88
Usage for two lines.
200 minutes a month
300 texts
The reason for my miniscule usage is because I do not get coverage where I am thus I do not have the capability to send out texts or make phone calls. In essence I’m paying for services that I cannot access.