Dear Friends,
You know what I’m buying the family for Christmas? A new phone plan. I fear that if I were to unleash my full rage about my current situation with AT&T, you wouldn’t be that interested and you’d probably question my mental health. But I feel compelled to say a few things.
AT&T Wireless is a perfect example of a mega corporation that has completely lost touch with reality. It is a fossil. A dinosaur. Completely inflexible. We had an old legacy plan that, as we added our eldest daughter to the account, didn’t provide enough data, and we started using it all up before the month was over. You’d think it would be a pretty easy to just buy some more data, right? Very, very wrong. So, we needed a new plan, and here’s what AT&T offered: not enough data, or way too much data—for a premium, of course. Not knowing what else to do, I bought the “Unlimited” data plan for our three phones. Oh, and that gold-plated plan doesn’t allow your phone to be a hotspot; you pay extra for that. I mean, seriously? Is this the 20th century or something?
These frustrations all led to a wonderful place, though. A Christmasy place. A place of joy and gift-giving. By having these problems I started really scrutinizing what this ridiculous cartoon company was charging me.
After upgrading to my unlimited plan, I was paying AT&T $180 per month for three lines (that does include some monthly payments for financed phones).
With my newly acquired Mint Mobile plan, I just spent $180 for four lines for the next six months. (Three free months as an introductory offer.)
Got that? I got an extra line for daughter #2, along with each of us having enough data for our usage, and I am covered for the next six months for the same amount of money AT&T was charging every single month. Or, put another way, AT&T wants $45 a line per month for more data than I could possibly need, offering no alternative. Mint wants $15 for the exact amount of data I need. One of these two wireless companies is going to win in the long run. The free market at work, unfolding before us in real time.
Again, here’s apples-to-apples:
AT&T: Four lines, six months, $1,080.
Mint: Four lines, six months, $360
Hmm. Tough decisions...
Add to all that AT&T’s unbelievably terrible website and user experience (I mean, when you’re having trouble with the website—which is always—and call customer service, not only do you have to wait on hold forever, but when the representative gets on the line they have the exact same problems with the website that caused you to call in the first place. Good times). Add to that that the employee of our local AT&T store was so staggeringly incompetent that when he created my daughters account, he asked for her driver’s license and typed in her name reading directly from it. Naturally, an account for somebody named “Mutton” got created instead of “Mattson.” Add to that that AT&T’s bills are total and inscrutable gobbledygook. Add to that the fact that the representative on the phone lied to me. Flagrantly. Repeatedly. While upgrading she said I was eligible for a free Samsung tablet. I said, “Sure!” And then I asked repeatedly, “Am I going to be charged a monthly fee for that tablet?” “No, not at all. It’s completely free.” Well, they sent the tablet and I set it up. Lo and behold, I later logged on to my AT&T account to discover that for that little worthless tablet I was being charged $20 a month and there was no way to change it. That was the proverbial last straw. Time for a serious backlash. Not another dime to these crooks.
Of course, AT&T makes it as hard as possible to leave, so actually switching all our phones over is a pain; you have to ask them, pretty please, if they will unlock your phone so you can switch carriers. I am happy to report that on Mint Mobile’s end, their instructions were a breeze.
So I don’t know who needs to hear this, but surely some of you do: take a good look at what you’re paying for wireless, and do what it takes to fix that. Merry Christmas!
Backlash(es)
Someone sent me this screenshot:
So, I am not the only one to get in trouble by upsetting what Dave Chappelle calls the “Alphabet People.” There is something noteworthy and instructive here. Twitter calls Mr. Schweppe’s Tweet “hateful conduct,” but I’d encourage you to read it again. All he does is express his hope that governors fight for a public policy already being implemented by other states. Twitter’s stance here appears to be that advocating for one side of a legitimate political debate in the public square (i.e., should we ban the mutilation of dysphoric minors?) is, in and of itself, “hateful conduct.”
Is that the way political debate is supposed to happen in our republic? One side of an urgent political debate gets to banish the other side by fiat and thus win by default? That’s the modus operandi of the progressive left, and it is deeply corrosive of our political system. And before long it will spark a tremendous backlash.
As will news stories like Lia Thomas, a transgender “female” currently breaking all female collegiate swimming records. You should really watch this:
The LGBTQ+ community might think that celebrating “Lia” is some kind of good public relations move, but they are mistaken. Normal people—which is to say, the vast majority of people—simply do not celebrate this. They do not believe this. Thomas’s own teammates do not believe this. They know that “Lia” is not a female. You remember the legend of the Emperor’s New Clothes? The “fashion” designers almost pulled it off, parading the naked Emperor in public and getting the crowds to “ooh” and “ahh” over his new robes. It almost worked because the crowds were terrified to do anything else; they didn’t dare contradict the Emperor or his posse. That is what Twitter is trying to do: chill public debate and strike fear into the hearts of everyone so they will not, like the heroic little boy in the aforementioned story, point and say, “He’s naked.”
Or in this case: “He’s not a female.”
Everyone knows this (even the ones who have deceived themselves know this deep down), and the more progressives double down, demanding that we say otherwise, the greater the backlash will be. There are always a lot of factors that go into elections, but one of these days, perhaps the 2022 midterms, a very expensive bill is going to come due for progressives. I do not believe the American people are going to tolerate this kind of bullying forever.
Next Friday is Christmas Eve and I promise to write you something more uplifting for that occasion! I sincerely hope you enjoy your holiday week, and spend lots of time feasting with your friends and family.
Excellent, Brian.