Prelude: My spouse and I planned to move from AT&T to Consumer Cellular last September. We backed out of our plan, though, and returned to AT&T after less than a week, in return for new phones and some other perks. I should emphasize that we never had a problem with Consumer Cellular. For nearly half a year, phone life appeared to have gone back to normal. But then some version of AT&T AI discovered that, for an unknown reason, my phone number had never been retrieved from Consumer Cellular. My spouse’s number had come home, but not mine. The automated system solved its problem in an unexpected fashion and the following is that story:
It began on a Friday, early in February. At 12:33, I received a text message from AT&T that said: “Hi, it?s AT&T. Your number change is now complete. Your wireless number ending in **36 has been changed to 309******* and you can start using it right away.”
Below this message, my phone said, “The sender is not in your contact list. Report Junk.”
I had never asked for a change. I had never wanted a change. The message punctuation was funky. What was that question mark? I deleted the message. Just more spoofing, right?
I went on to a fun afternoon in Chicago, hanging my art in a science fiction-related art show and then attending live panels on biochemistry and writing poetry. Check out capricon.org, reader, if you are looking for a February science fiction convention. This last year’s theme was “Let Your Geek Flag Fly.” I was happily letting my flag fly.
But back to the AT&T story. Driving home, I called an anonymous Agent of Shield multiple times. Fortunately, I left messages that were, well, me… One example:
“The sign said there was supposed to be a traffic slowdown, but it didn’t happen. So I can’t hang up because the red button’s not on the screen, Siri’s not answering and I can’t look for the phone. Too much traffic. Sorry about the long message.”
The Agent of Shield called me back, recognizing my inimitable style and told me my calls were coming in on a weird, unfamiliar number.
This was when I discovered that the text from AT&T had been legitimate — if any sudden, unsolicited change of a phone number without forewarning can be called legitimate. On the issue of forewarning, I loved the AT&T rep who later said they sent me an email beforehand. She then asked if I had checked my spam folder. Er, no, I don’t usually read spam. I did check the folder after I spoke with her. I never found that email nor the alleged text from them. Though if the text came in loaded with strange question marks and other wacky punctuation, I might have deleted it. I don’t think I did. I undeleted all my recent texts to find the alleged text. Hundreds of pleas for political contributions re-flooded my box. No AT&T messages were among them. I had to re-delete all those texts, of course.
On February 9th, I drove straight from the convention to the AT&T store in Wheeling, Illinois. I trusted them to help, and I still expected to be able to fix this problem. Within a few days, I would begin to feel unsure that I could fix it — not without changing carriers — but I persevered. I probably persevered for 18 plus full hours on the phone, not including store visits. If any readers are AT&T customers in the Chicagoland area, I will recommend the Wheeling AT&T store on Dundee, although they are under new management now. But Tony and others there definitely tried. They spent over an hour the first time, calling AT&T, talking to people, trying to figure out what was happening with my phone number, and then trying to locate someone – anyone — who could fix it. Finally, though, they told me to go home, when they could not reach anyone who could help me. Call “611” they said. They even gave a script to use to try to jump levels of support. It didn’t work, but I appreciated the effort.
AT&T customers can use the number “611” to go directly to support — I should say to be put directly on hold, both short holds and long holds. I strongly recommend the option where you push a number so they can call you back when they manage to get around to you.
I recorded a “33 minute” outgoing call to AT&T on the 9th at 7:33 PM. My first solo attempt to figure out what was going on. Looking back, the zombies had shuffled over the hill, but I was so distracted I barely thought about the implications of what was happening. Incidentally, you can’t count those 33 minutes as the total time. I’m sure the phone stops counting when they transfer you, and I was repeatedly transferred and transferred and transferred. More on that later.
Back to the phone log: I call “611” again on 2/10/25. It says 1 hour 53 minutes — but you can’t trust the numbers, as will be clear later on.
I call again on 2/16/25. This might have been the four hour call, a monstrous nightmare of transfers. Let me explain how this goes: You get a tech support person. They may or may not appear to understand the situation. You have to repeat the whole story even though supposedly everyone is taking notes. Supposedly there are case files filled with notes. A couple of tech support persons have been excellent. Most were barely adequate, if that. None of them solved the problem.
I call again on 2/22/25. One hour 12 minutes listed. Seemed much longer. I’m sure it was much longer. See the call from 2/27/2025 below.
There are 4 calls on 2/28/25. A couple more hours of my life wasted and gone.
Why the numbers are inexact: I called on 2/27. My phone says I called at 2:26 PM Outgoing call. This is important: The phone log says the call lasted 3 minutes. Why I believe the log ends as soon as they transfer you: Because I did not get off that call until about 5:45. My friend Bhagya spent an hour visiting during the call. We let the puppies play while I went on and off hold. My first tech guy was great, but he did not understand what he was up against. I explained it all again. I told him I had been transferred to the porting department four times already. (Looking back I think it was five or six times if you count three-way calls with Consumer Cellular. Those calls are on my spouse’s phone.) Transfers never worked. But “L” believed in himself. He tried and he tried. He initiated a 3-way call with Consumer Cellular. Lots of repeating the old information. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Consumer Cellular gives us a new porting pin. Then the fatal blow: “L” transfers me to the Ports Activation Center. THIS HAS NEVER WORKED BEFORE. ANY CALL TO PORTS ACTIVATION ALWAYS DEAD ENDS. I warn “L,” but he believes he can solve my problem. I know I am about to fall into a black hole, but I thank him profusely anyway. So much effort on this diligent tech’s part. Alas, now I will lose him forever. AT&T tech support people do not have extensions. There is no way to call them back.
And maybe the brand new porting pin will help, I think, one last burst of … not optimism, only the faintest ray of hope. But the pin does not work. More conversations with AT&T porting employees in another country. I struggle to understand their questions sometimes. I am a former bilingual teacher and I am quick at picking up accents. But some of the employees in ports activation are definitely fighting language barriers on top of my peculiar situation.
Well, once again, my whole afternoon has vanished. I had a zoom call set up for 5 and I texted that I was on hold with AT&T so I would be late. That was at 5:04. I finally got off hold (over half hour listening to mind-numbing muzak) and spoke to “M” at AT&T customer service — until about 5:45 when I gave up. Tech support rep “M” actually TOLD me to give up. It can’t be done, she says. The number can’t be found. Except the ports guy said they had the number and it was right there. I ask for a manager. “M” does not help. She says she cannot transfer me to a manager. She cannot escalate, she says, and maybe she is right. There have been two special case files established. Both were closed. No one above Maria’s level has talked to me for well over a week. No one above her level has ever called me, except from Consumer Cellular.
They did try to call my spouse, who is the technical account holder, but he has fumbly fingers from essential tremor and did not get to the calls in time. This is normally no problem. He checks the phone log and returns the call. Except AT&T never leaves a callback number. Once, it seems so long ago, I briefly spoke with a supervisor who had called him. But she disappeared. She probably tried to call him. But those calls did not work. Two closed case files. No way to talk to anyone more than once unless they call back. They don’t.
No one from AT&T ever called me, even though I tried to get them to put my new phone number in the last case file. No one called. Or said anything as they closed those special case files. As far as I can tell, all they managed to do was to try repeatedly to port over a number that for some reason could not be ported. I can’t even be sure of that.
Here is where I strongly suspect AI enters the picture. I told my story to many people. A number of customer service reps appeared to understand and seemed entirely competent as they tried to find a work-around fix. Others radiated confusion, however. They had a script they were following and the “system changed my phone number” was nowhere within their script. They were completely lost when the script failed. Nothing within their authority could solve the problem. No had enough agency or authority to go off-script. One man in the Ports Activation Center actually accused me of having gone into a store where, he insisted, I must have changed my own number. He told me righteously that the number could not have been changed any other way. Another man in Ports hung up on me, I’m fairly sure. They can’t technically hang up on you from Ports — you have to hit the end button yourself– but they can transfer you to some weird number which says that “you are not authorized to call this number.” That transfer ends your entire multi-hour call in a heartbeat.
The upshot of this tale is that I now have two carriers. I have two numbers. For multiple reasons, I had to reclaim my old number. This two-number system is working fine except for the obvious extra cost. Reader, did you know your one cellphone can have two sim cards and two separate carriers? It can!
On the issue of customer support, I will say that if you want support, I strongly recommend Consumer Cellular, which advertises 100% US-based customer service. You can always reach a friendly, helpful non-AI human.
As to AT&T, well, they never did solve my number problem. I loved the part where customer support kept trying to upsell me a new, additional line for only $10 more per month — a brand new line that could not be given my decades-old phone number which AT&T had never managed to retrieve.
