A 90-year-old was frustrated by AT&T's slow internet — he spent $10,000 to personally inform the CEO

Although he was praised, some people questioned the man's decision to spend $10,000 on the unusual ads.

PUBLISHED OCT 21, 2024

Shoppers shop at AT&T in the King of Prussia Mall on December 11, 2022 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. | (Image Source: Getty Images | Mark Makela)

Slow internet can be frustrating in an age when people are connected 24x7 and almost everything is done online. In California, a 90-year-old man was so frustrated with AT&T's slow internet service, that he took out two newspaper ads for $10,000 to get the attention of the firm's CEO. He urged the chief executive of AT&T to provide better service in the North Hollywood neighborhood.

According to NBC News, Aaron M. Epstein who has been an AT&T customer since 1960, started having issues with his internet speed around seven years ago. He said he was paying for 3.5 Mbps, but it couldn't handle streaming."When I would watch a movie on Netflix or some other streaming service, it was like a slideshow. It would start and stop, start and stop, very frustrating," he said in an interview to NBC News, back in 2021.

AT&T cell phone retail store | Getty Images | Jet city Image — A representational image of an AT&T store | (Image Source: Getty Images | Jet city Image)

Epstein then started calling the company to ask for faster service but was told that it was simply not available in his area. Epstein added that he didn't want to change to another internet provider because he was concerned about having to change his phone number and email address so he decided to publish two ads in The Wall Street Journal to reach the top brass of the company.

A spokesperson for The Wall Street Journal confirmed that the ads were run in the February 3 edition of the newspaper; one in New York and the other in Texas where AT&T has a headquarters in Dallas. Epstein's ads are titled "Open Letter to Mr. John T. Stankey CEO AT&T," and talk about the problem on behalf of many of his neighbors as well.

Stock image showing a person browsing the internet | (Image source: Taras Shypka | Unsplash)

"Many of our neighbors are the creative technical workers in the Universal, Warner Brothers, and Disney studios in the adjacent city of Burbank and our city. We need to keep up with current technology and have looked to AT&T to supply us with fast internet service," it reads.

It then goes on to say, "Yet, although AT&T is advertising speeds up to 100 MBS for other neighborhoods, the fastest now available to us from ATT is only 3 MBS. Your competitors now have speeds of over 200 MBS. Why is AT&T a leading communications company, treating us so shabbily in North Hollywood?"

After the ads were published, Epstein said he received a call from AT&T CEO John T. Stankey's office asking him how they could help him. Soon two technicians were sent to his home. "It's a lot faster and it's everything I expect of it," the customer said about the improvement in his connection.

His actions have received mixed reactions from people around him. While some people praised him others called him out for spending so much. "I'm not a frivolous spender of money and $10,000 means a lot to me, but in this particular instance it was money well spent," he said, explaining that he and his wife passed the time during the coronavirus pandemic by streaming TV shows and movies.

"People are not going to expensive restaurants. People are not going on fancy vacations. My wife and I are at home and watch Netflix and streaming services more. So, I have no complaints whatsoever about spending this kind of money," he added.