AT&T is in a great position BECAUSE their network is perceived as unreliable. It’s not that they are on undesirable phones or their customer service is horrible as per a recent study done by the Noit-Mussa Group. It’s easier to fix a network than corporate culture or public sentiment based upon bad customer service experiences.

If AT&T was smart and really wanted to make an impact with their newly announced $2 Billion network upgrade they would put 100 towers in Austin, Texas for SXSW. Then they’d announce their new campaign “No Call Left Behind”.

AT&T would then magically begin monitoring dropped call rates on the networks present. Since most of the tech world and “now web” media will either be at  or monitoring SXSW from afar behind a wall of LCD monitors in their Dr. No-esque lairs, AT&T could leverage the web coverage and boast about their cell coverage, hopefully, announcing that the No Call Left Behind Act was a huge success. Finally Apple should help in this effort because the better the perception of AT&T the fewer excuses people have to not buy an iPad.