I think the problem being highlighted here is that AT&T (and many company's support) is becoming out of line with what we're expecting from good customer support these days.

While I am not yet a customer, from my understanding if you call/contact Zappos for example, their customer service reps fix the problem. They don't run through a script, and they don't put you off onto another department that will have you troubleshoot the same steps again.

Yes, I realize there is a difference between network troubleshooting and shoes, but having enabled and well trained reps who are the first to receive the calls and are able to actually fix most scenarios is important these days. Of course these things come at a cost and many larger/older companies are not able to come to grips with that type of a change.