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AT&T says it wants to improve its customer service, and one way it’s going about it is by crediting customers for internet outages and long wait times on the phone.
The company said Wednesday that going forward, customers will receive a full day’s bill credit for any fiber outage of more than 20 minutes or wireless outage of more than an hour. If a customer who calls into their phone support lines has to wait on hold for more than five minutes, they will receive a $5 Visa gift card.
That’s not much — and customers should be vigilant to make sure AT&T actually pays — but the costs could add up for AT&T and incentivize it to improve its operations. Spectre made a similar commitment last year.
The initiative recalls the laws in Europe that require airlines to compensate passengers for delays, a regulation that research suggests has. improved on-time arrivals.
AT&T has experimented many diffused network outages in 2024, which can be incredibly disruptive in a world that relies on constant connectivity. Job interviews on Zoom can be cut, jobs have to wait, and of course the sports broadcasts that are more and more. switch to streaming it can be interrupted at the wrong moment.
It doesn’t help that internet service providers like AT&T have a stronghold in much of the United States — in some parts of the country, especially rural areas, consumers have only one or two internet providers to choose Services like SpaceX’s Starlink help a bit with the problem, and the FCC has continued deploy capital in rural broadband development as part of its Rural Broadband Accountability Plan.
According to the New York TimesAT & T’s new policy is part of a $750 million investment that the company has made in customer service over the past four years. AT&T’s head of marketing and growth Kellyn Smith Kenny said that outages in its network have not been more common in recent years.
AT&T also plans to launch a dedicated website where customers can check the status of outages so they don’t have to take to social media to see if they’re alone.
