Aloha folks,

I've been an ATT Wireless customer for almost four years here in Hawaii.
I started out with a Nokia 5160 on their TDMA network, upgraded to an
8260, moved from Honolulu to Hilo, and upgraded again to a 3650 on their
GSM network last April.

At the time I upgraded to the 3650, I had to talk to a *lot* of people
on the phone, since they were just getting up and running and their
"migration" process was a massive "charlie foxtrot."  I was told that
service would initially only be available in Hilo, but that it would be
rolled out in the more rural areas soon.

I believe the main tower serving the Hilo "metro" (haha) area, which was
already upgraded at that time to serve both 1900MHz and 850MHz GSM, is:
 FCC reg# 1006853, 19.6386N/155.0472W, KEAAU

In the ensuing 10 months, three other nearby towers, serving outlying
towns and the main highway around the island, have been upgraded:
 FCC reg# 1007553, 19.4831N/154.8822W, PAHOA
 FCC reg# 1058613, 19.9403N/155.2008W, NINOLE
 FCC reg# 1018562, 19.4831N/155.2781W, OOKALA

Unfortunately, these three towers appear to have been upgraded with
support for GSM on the 850MHz band ONLY.  Which means I spent $250
(that's $400 minus rebates) on a "mobile" phone that isn't very
"mobile" after all.  (Oh, and yes, I *know* 850 has better propagation
than 1900, and all that stuff.)

My child attends school in the PAHOA tower's service area; 1900MHz
service from KEAAU is very spotty there, if it comes in at all.  I
travel the highway served by the NINOLE and OOKALA towers for work
and leisure frequently, there is no coverage there whatsoever, once
I get a few miles from Hilo.

Last week, I went to the local AT&T Wireless store (Kilauea Avenue,
Hilo) to talk to them about whether there were any solutions to this
problem.  The closest thing they had on 850MHz was the Nokia 3200,
with an inferior camera, no Bluetooth, no RAM expansion, a smaller
screen, and a dumbed-down interface instead of the 3650's fullblown
Series 60 environment.

I posted about my problem on AT&T's customer web forums (registration
required) - "1900MHz nodes hard to find on Hawaii's Big Island" in their
"Report Network/Service Issue" board.  Other users pointed out that the
3650 has been superseded on AT&T's web site by the 3620 - same phone,
"normalized" keypad, and 850/1900MHz support - and that there was the
possibility that ATT Warranty Repair might send a 3620 back if I sent
my 3650 in for a firmware upgrade.

Today, I called ATT's Customer Care folks, and explained the problem I
had with lack of network compatibility, along with the need for a
firmware upgrade (phones aren't supposed to randomly switch completely
off, apps aren't supposed to crash consistently).  They said I'd have
to buy a new 3620 retail, full-price ($320), OR buy one from their
web site for $199 with a year's activation, but I'd wind up with a
different number, would still have my existing contract, etc etc.

Then I callled Warranty Repair, and they said that they could replace
my somewhat quirky phone with a new one for $25... but it'd still be
a 3650, and still wouldn't work here.

Then I called Customer Care a couple more times, and eventually got to
someone who asked me what I wanted (I want a 3620 as a replacement for
my 3650 since most of their network here is totally incompatible with
the 3650), checked with their supervisor and some "resolution" specialist,
came back and said that as soon as the 3620 became available in stores,
they'd let me have one for $199 if I extended my contract by a year,
and I wouldn't have to wait for my current contract to run out in 2
months.  That was their best offer.

Gosh, thanks, guys.  You sold me a phone, told me you'd be rolling out
service, then rolled out service that doesn't work with it.  But hey,
I can get one that works for only $BIGBUCKS more.  Not good business
practices, there - in fact, after determining that Customer Care was
totally unwilling to resolve things, I filed a BBB complaint, and since
I know there are plenty of other 3650 users here, I'm debating whether
any local lawyers might be interested in doing anything "on behalf of"
all of us - and I'm not a litigous sort.

The horrible part?  The FCC database indicates that AT&T's got towers
in *significantly* more towns on this island than any other carrier -
13 or 14, compared to 7 for Verizon and 8 for T-Mobile - and looks to
be the only company that doesn't leave big huge populated areas without
any coverage at all.  So if I switch, I'm probably even worse off.

-Dan