Is New Customer Guarantee a Reason To Choose AT&T?

AT&T is on a mission to set itself apart as the leader in converged services, and its latest offensive is a customer guarantee to provide service credits to wireless and fiber internet customers in case of certain outages.

There’s also a promise for better customer service when you call in or need a technician to come out and help.

“We’ve been on a multi-year journey to improve the customer experience, placing our customers at the heart of everything we do,” said Jenifer Robertson, executive vice president and general manager of AT&T Mass Markets and Mobility. “This isn’t about maintaining the status quo; it’s about redefining it.”

The guarantees are best in class, but may not be a reason to switch to AT&T if you already like your mobile or internet service. That’s because most providers offer some kind of refunds for outages, and because Verizon’s qualifying outages have some big exceptions.

Who will be impacted by the new outage guarantee?

AT&T’s guarantee covers residential and small business customers on fiber internet and wireless networks, and it takes effect Jan. 9, 2025.

If you’re a residential subscriber, you’ll get a text message notification about the outage, plus a full day’s refund for outages. If you’re a business customer, you’ll get a notification and a link to the company’s redemption portal instead.

Is the AT&T guarantee a big change?

The new guarantee is a policy change from AT&T. Previously, its terms of service for residential customers said the company “does not guarantee performance of your service on an end-to-end basis.”

That said, the guarantee is in line with what we expect from AT&T. When its mobile customers experienced a massive outage in February 2024, for example, the company gave each impacted customer a $5 bill credit. At the time, the company blamed the outage on a maintenance issue.

How much will each service credit be?

The exact dollar amount of the service credits will depend on how much you pay for internet or mobile service each month. The credits will kick in after fiber internet outages lasting 20 or more minutes or mobile outages affecting 10 or more towers lasting 60 minutes or more.

If that happens, bill credits will be calculated per day based on your bill before taxes and fees.

Below are a few examples of what that could look like.

Daily credits for AT&T fiber internet plans

What counts as a qualifying outage

The new policy covers outages caused by AT&T, and that’s true for both fiber internet and mobile customers. The policies exclude outages caused by third parties, natural disasters, or bad weather. For fiber internet, the policy also excludes maintenance-related outages and outages caused by cut cables at the service address, wiring issues inside the home or business, or power outages.

In other words, the credits would have taken effect in a situation like the February 2024 outage, but not for outages related to hurricanes, wildfires, or that construction crew that severed a fiber line a few blocks away.

How the customer service guarantee works

Business and residential customers qualify for the new service-related guarantee.

If you call in as a residential subscriber and aren’t connected to a real person (or receive an offer for a call back) within five minutes of being transferred to technical support, you will get an offer of a reward card. If you call in and need a technician to visit, but they can’t come that day or the next day, you’ll also get a reward card for an unspecified amount.

Business customers get the same guarantee, but they’ll get a link to the redemption portal instead of the card.

How the new policy compares

AT&T touts its new policy as one of a kind in the industry, and it’s true. Kind of.

It’s common for cell phone and internet providers to offer service credits in case of outages, but AT&T is the only provider to guarantee refunds for outages as short as 20 minutes.

Back in September of 2024, Spectrum announced it would offer full-day refunds to customers who experienced outages of two hours or more. Spectrum also said it would guarantee same-day service calls if a customer requests one by 5 p.m. That promise doesn’t include a promise of financial compensation, as far as I can tell.

Google Fiber regularly also offers outage-related credits, for example, but they aren’t guaranteed.

My take on AT&T’s new promises

AT&T already has a strong reputation for customer satisfaction—the company was in a three-way tie for second place in our most recent customer survey, earning 3.9 out of five stars.

Today’s announcement is not necessarily a good reason to switch to AT&T,  but it is an acknowledgment from AT&T that it’s taking customer service seriously.

In the universe of telecommunications, that’s a breath of fresh air.