AT&T and Lenovo are bundling AT&T's Tech Support 360 with selected Lenovo notebooks

Will AT&T's recent rating as the worst 3G network in terms of reliability and customer service, put customers off these special Lenovo notebooks?

PCWorld.com recently conducted a test to assess the performance of Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint's 3G networks in 13 cities over the course of one day. The results from major cities in Eastern, Central and Western USA, demonstrate that the worst network provider, in terms of reliability, and by a significant margin, is AT&T.

With such an unreliable network, it is no surprise that customers have expressed their dissatisfaction with AT&T across numerous web forums. They have also criticised the company's customer service record, which I speculate may be in relation to the difficulties customers have had maintaining any reasonable 3G connection. Neowin.net recently posted a report from the Consumers Union, which demonstrated consumers' feelings about AT&T. Of the 26 cities surveyed, AT&T was ranked the worst in terms of customer service, in 19 cities.

Bad timing?

Despite such damning condemnation of AT&T's 3G service and customer service record, the company has decided to feature its customer service and technical support package as an allure for potential Lenovo notebook buyers. Whilst AT&T could not have foreseen the results of these impromptu investigations into its services, one could still be left with the feeling that this promotion is doomed to fail. In light of the vastly superior 3G performance offered by Verizon, AT&T's offer is really no more than a pastiche of its better promotions conducted long ago, during periods of greater popularity.

What's on offer?

According to AT&T's press release, small and midsize businesses can purchase Lenovo's ThinkPad SL510 and T400 notebooks along with AT&T's Tech Support 360 service, which incorporates a saving of 'up to $200 through February 2010 when compared to purchasing the PC and service separately.'

Lenovo's T400 scored 86% in our review and the SL510 also scored quite well, receiving an aggregate 76.67% collated from several review scores. These are both very good products, so what does AT&T's service offer customers? Tech Support 360 contains the following services:-

·         24 hours a day, 7 days a week, online IT support; including assistance with setting up wireless networks (there was no hint of sarcasm in the press release at this point), setup of security software and configuration of peripherals including PDAs and printers

·         Training on Windows 7 from AT&T's Support 360 technicians

In an attempt to add more to my list of Tech Support 360 features above, the link provided in the press release: 'https://tech360.att.com/' failed to load in both my Firefox 3.5 and IE8 browsers, perhaps the technicians are too busy helping other people's difficulties with computers to manage their own website effectively?

I'm not sure that third party technical support is a cost worth having. Whilst it is useful to have someone at the end of a phone (or an email) to help diagnose software and hardware problems – how quickly are AT&T likely to respond – and will they be able to do anything effective, remotely? It is worth noting that Tech Support 360 is not an extension of the manufacturer's warranty, so should any of the hardware fail, AT&T will not be able to do much about it.

If you are still interested in AT&T's offer, then the notebooks and accompanying technical support packages are available to purchase directly from PCMall.com, here. The SL510 costs $869.99 and the T400 costs $1049.99.