Does Operation Chokehold make sense?

Fake Steve is pulling out a corporate disobedience action plan against AT&T this Friday, December 18: Operation Chokehold. The idea is having iPhone users in the USA go crazy in downloads that day to choke AT&T’s systems and give its CEO a lesson from the user side to fix their network.

Do you think this kind of initiative is worth it? Will it benefit or hurt USA iPhone users? Does Operation Chokehold make sense?

Suggested by Ramón Suárez

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11 reasons for

Yes, Operation Chokehold makes sense because…

  1. Anonymous opinó:

    Why?
    Because ATT should make their service better in place of raising prices

  2. Anonymous opinó:

    It will send a definitive message to AT&T. The Asian communities have REAL bandwidth compared to the US.

  3. fcp opinó:

    What is great about this action plan is that, if it succeeds, it will demonstrate a reason why the usage-based pricing *is* better.

  4. Anonymous opinó:

    ATT should foresee giving service at peak demand anyway

  5. Anonymous opinó:

    Because this is the best way to get a point across. For the millions of iphone users out there that are locked into contracts a boycott is not an option. This is the next best thing to getting their frustrations known to att.

  6. Anonymous opinó:

    Because all he is suggesting anyone do is USE their phone. They pay for the service. It’s time to watch youtube, foxnews, cnn, etc.

    Video is the worst we can or would do…lot’s of people watching stuff….which is exactly what we pay for, nothing more, nothing less.

    Can we crash them? Well, no…but we can disrupt them.

  7. Anonymous opinó:

    AT$T wont understand until something like this forces them to sit up and take notice. The network sucks, we all know it and so do they. They need to take a good portion of the profits they are making off those expensive data plans and upgrade their infrastructure more than the minuscule amount they are now.

  8. Anonymous opinó:

    AT&T wont get the point unless something like this happens. Until then they will continue raking in massive profits (increased by overages when the caps go into place) and making minuscule upgrades to their network. They have been doing this for years.

  9. BD in Ohio [1] opinó:

    Data and voice are separate on the network; hence emergency communications will be unaffected. Only data communications would arguably be affected, and that only for the duration of the protest. AT&T should be accountable for the representations it makes to consumers regarding the amount or level of service it is selling at the price it is selling it.

  10. Anonymous opinó:

    Consumers are taking a stand and directing the mark, as it should work in America.
    A lot of concern over loass of emergency calls: it will not happen. At most this will take down MMS, so if you have ATT, you may not be able to check your email for an hour (thats a vacation, or excuse).
    ATT has a great opportunity here, if they manage this well, you could see it in one of their anti-Verizon commercials.

  11. Ramón Suárez [16] opinó:

    Although it is just a PR stunt, it has brought up the subject so that it is discussed and pushes the company publicly to take a stand. If they fail to take advantage of it and turn it into an opportunity they will hurt their brand much more than the success of the chokehold could.

2 reasons for

No, Operation Chokehold does not make sense because…

  1. Chase opinó:

    It is just a big stunt for AT&T users to feel like they are accomplishing something against “the man” Nothing will happen during chokehold, it only shows AT&T what their customers think of them, which I think they are well aware of. Good luck downing a nation-wide cellular network, you’re gonna need it.

  2. Ben opinó:

    Hah. sorry, I just had to love that there were no entries on this column. Choke the hell out of them.