It’s Not Just You, AT&T Sucks For Everyone In Oklahoma Right Now

If you haven't paid that much attention to social media the last few weeks, there has been a rash of people complaining about their AT&T cellular service across Oklahoma.

I know it was a hot topic of discussion either last week or the week before in Lawton, but it comes up every few months anyway, for most different cellular providers at that.

If you have AT&T like I do, you might have noticed a sharp decline in call reliability over the last few years, but most notably in the last few weeks. I can't hardly complete a call without it dropping unless I keep my phone perfectly still. It's maddening.

Talking while cruising across town? Dropped.

Talking while walking to another room at work or home? Dropped.

Trying to look something up while shopping in a store? No signal.

It's as aggravating as cell phones were back in the early pre-3G days. When phones had keys, texting was a last resort, and we didn't make phone calls until after 7 pm because those were "free minutes."

I've called and talked to AT&T support a handful of times over the last few months, but nothing they offer in terms of advice has panned out.

After seeing a big threat on Facebook a week or two ago, I realized it's not just me. It's everyone with AT&T. Locally here in Lawton, my parents in Northern OK, my sisters in Tulsa, etc... so I reached out to the phone conglomerate to see if this is just a side-effect of a larger improvement project.

When asked about the ongoing issues with AT&T and what the possible or likely cause was with everything, this was their response.

AT&T Statement:

We monitor the performance of our network around the clock to serve our customers. At this time, there are no known wireless outages in the area. In any location, there are many factors that can impact signal strength, including topography, building materials if a customer is using their device indoors, or even the type of device.

Additional:
- Customers experiencing issues with their service can reach us at att.com, on the myAT&T app or over the phone at 800.288.2020.
- We encourage the use of Wi-Fi Calling for anyone with coverage concerns: https://www.att.com/features/wifi-calling/.

In my dealings with tech support, my wifi calling option actually makes my calls drop more often.

The super-polite technician told me it has to do with our phones constantly making the jump from AT&T cell towers to wifi signals. How it's somewhat unreliable, and recommended I turn it off from the main screen, and the hidden option buried deep in my phone settings.

While I was appreciative of the time he spent with me working on this issue, it didn't work for me... and based on the growing social media threads, it's not working for a lot of people.

Maybe a carrier change will solve the problem...

Here's the biggest rub of all. The same thing people are complaining about with AT&T, the same complaints are made about the other big cellular providers. Verizon and T-Mobile/Metro consumers are always asking for better provider recommendations too.

If they all suck, they're all equal, right? What's the point of jumping ship to another company on the signal-reliability struggle bus?

Maybe it's just time to go back to non-smartphones.