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I’d love to work at a cookie factory. Everyday, I’d come home and smell like fresh baked cookies and everyone would love to be around me.

AT&T's email to me about their coverage.

Dear Clark Baumgartner, 

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail AT&T regarding AT&T services. My name is Michelle Chapman and I am happy to help with your inquiry.

As the U.S. market leader in wireless data service, we typically don’t respond to competitors’ advertising. However, some recent ads from Verizon are false and misleading, that we want to set the record straight about AT&T’s wireless data coverage. 

The key facts are: 
AT&T’s wireless data coverage reaches 303 million people ? or 97% of the U.S. population, where they live and work. Our data coverage consists of 3 different types of technology: 

3G. 233 million people or 75% of the population are covered by AT&T’s 3G network, the nation’s fastest. 

EDGE. 301 million people or more than 96% of the population are covered by EDGE. 
**** With both 3G and EDGE coverage, customers can access the Internet, send e-mail, surf the Web, stream music, download videos, send photos, text, talk and more. The only difference ? with some data applications, 3G is faster than EDGE 

GPRS. Covers 303 million people, allowing you to talk, text, e-mail and access basic websites optimized for wireless. 

AT&T is the #1 network for smartphones, with twice the number of smartphone customers than Verizon, our closest competitor. Some of the reasons include:
Most popular smartphones. Unlike Verizon, AT&T offers the most popular smartphones in the industry. 

More wireless apps. Unlike Verizon, AT&T customers have access to more than 100,000 applications, more than with any other wireless company. 

Talk and E-mail at the same time. Unlike Verizon, AT&T’s 3G network lets wireless customers simultaneously talk and surf the web or do e-mail. 

Fastest 3G in the nation. Unlike Verizon, AT&T has the nation’s fastest 3G network.

Thank you for allowing us to set the record straight. We appreciate your business and will continue to work hard to deliver the best wireless data experience in the industry. 

I hope that the information provided has been helpful and has resolved all of your questions. Should you have additional concerns or questions about this issue please reply to this email. If you need to contact us again regarding a new issue please send us another email via the contact link through your online account. Again, my name is Michelle Chapman, and we realize you have many choices for a wireless service provider.  I want to personally thank you Clark Baumgartner for considering AT&T as your choice for wireless service!

I encourage you to visit our web site (www.att.com/wireless) often to view current and previous monthly statements, make payments and to shop for new product and service offerings.

Sincerely,

Michelle Chapman

AT&T

Online Customer Care Professional

I got the same schpeel everyone did. Great. All I did was prompt them to stop being such a whiny baby and to freaking do something about it. If the networks were comparable, then the ads would in fact be false. Currently though, they are still 100% accurate. I don’t like Verizon at all, but they are in the right here. I just wanted AT&T to be more proactive about the situation and make active attempts to improve the network quality and coverage.

Meaningful Apology.

What determines a meaningful apology? Clearing your own conscience or making sure your intent was heard by the opposing party? This is a more powerful question when two parties “breakup” and will never cross paths again. In this case, self preservation wins out - self vindication, rather.

This is the type of redemption earned by, say, sending a text message: “I’m sorry.” No you’re not. You’re just sending that so you can say you did - so you can you can turn around and tell everyone you did everything you could to console them, but they were too cold and filled with hate to accept the apology. It’s not an apology, perhaps that’s why?

It’s taking an easy way out. You’ll forever think that are the winner here by doing the very minimum expected of you: saying “I’m sorry” without meaning it. Just like a second grader that dumps his milk on another student. They trained you well. A forced, socially dictated response with no feeling or heft behind it. Great.

Friendship is not a means you utilize to get somewhere. I guess I didn’t notice that friendship is only an end. No one told me that the loneliest people were the ones that spoke the truth - the ones that made a difference. I guess it’s up to me, should I take the risk or just smile?

What do you know, it happened again.

Comments

I added Disqus comments to my Tumblog. Neat stuff. You can post with openID, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Most people already have one of these, and I’d hate to make people give up their email address to verify and/or sign up just to comment. This way everyone wins. I get community, and you don’t have to sign up for anything. Now if I only have people that wanted to comment on my stories. Heh.

Check them out, it’s pretty simple.