AT&T sold me a small trash can when I asked for a SIM card.
I walked into an AT&T store trying to get cellular internet working on my Dell laptop. I walked out with AT&T Internet Air. Not a SIM card. An entire home internet tower.
I needed a data-only SIM card to give my Dell laptop cellular internet while traveling. A simple, well-understood product AT&T has sold for two decades.
Walk in. Ask for a data-only SIM. Walk out with a SIM card and a plan. Total time: 15 minutes.
The rep insisted data-only SIMs don't exist anymore. Then the manager insisted they do, but not at this store. Then a third employee walked me to a display and rang up a countertop 5G cellular router the size of a small trash can. I did not consent, exactly, so much as give up.
- 01Asking three employees the same question.
- 02Showing them AT&T's own website listing data-only plans.
- 03Attempting to leave without buying anything.
- 04Calling support from the parking lot.
I kept the Internet Air unit, returned it 12 days later, and ordered a prepaid data SIM from a MVNO that shipped in 48 hours. The MVNO uses AT&T's network.