My point is simply that the number of users is inconsequential, if 50 people, or 50,000 people are affected, and are still paying full price for their service, then, IMHO, the problem should and must be fixed without delay and without any qualifiers or excuses.
Really?
Did you fail basic economics? How about business or math?
If a problem costs $5,000,000 to fix and you only have 50 people affected that would be $100,000 per customer to fix the problem. You could give every customer a free phone, computer, wireless card, and Audi A8 - and still have money left over. There is very little chance that a problem affecting only 50 people would ever be fixed unless it was an almost painless and transparent fix. It would be cheaper to just send those 50 people to a competing carrier.
How about 50,000 people? With that many people you start to get closer. The "fix" would cost about $100 per customer. A little more realistic, but still fairly expensive - it would probably take half year to recoup the costs on the customers for this one fix alone.
If this problem affects 500 towers, and indeed requires software to be modified, tested, deployed, tested, and turned on - then I would wager it is not an extremely cheap painless fix, and not without risk.
These things take time.
I challenge anyone complaining here to find any single company with 85 million customers that does not have issues arise from time to time.
Have you ever eaten at a restaurant that messed up your order? Did you throw a tantrum and scream about how the restaurant sucks and stomp out? Or did you ask for it to be fixed, and give them a chance to fix it?
Have you ever owned a new car that had a recall, service bulletin, or a part failure? Did you give the manufacturer a chance to fix it, or did you write articles on websites complaining about it, return the car, and cry like a child?
Have you ever had your Cable TV go out? Did you cancel your service? Have you ever had your power go out? Did you go off the grid and stop consuming electricity?
Have all of your computers worked 100% flawlessly as long as you have owned them? Have you ever missed a delivery from FedEx or has your washer ever broken?
Look - in the real world, outside of MacRumors forums - crap happens. Some times things don't go exactly as planned.
AT&T and Alcatel Lucent employees are people just like us. They might even have phones which are suffering problems, just like us. They have families just like us, and cars just like us, and bills just like us. They are professionals who work hard - just like folks at Verizon or Sprint. AT&T has 87 million customers, all using different products in different ways in different environments. Nothing is perfect.
Do I want it fixed? Yes. I am a new AT&T customer, and I would like things to not suck. But be reasonable people - it is a problem, they found the problem, they are working on fixing the problem. In the mean time, go watch a movie, go outside and ride a bike, or take a swim in a pond. Enjoy your kids or parents, and forget about your stupid 3G speeds. Let AT&T fix it.
If you are really unhappy - leave AT&T and get service somewhere else. But I warn you - sheet happens with all the carriers. Just realize that and be happy that in this day and age we have broadband that we carry around in our hands - pretty damn amazing if you ask me...
