http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/ Engadget Comments for AT&T Wireless stores go to sleep, wake up as Cingular stores http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/
Suck.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/
So I think the "new phone" thing is only for TDMA people.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/
Be careful if you plan to switch to Cingular cuz you might end up downgrading phone/service availability. Most current ATT phones have the additional 850MHz band that current Cingular phones don't. This additional band gives better penetrations inside buildings. I'm sure future Cingular phones will take advantage of this 850 band (as well as EDGE). But during this transition, I'm afraid some ATT customers might get duped and downgrade phone and thus their service... and not know it. I mean the bottom line in getting service is to get good receptions, right? (Well, it's a compromise between reception and price, otherwise everybody would be on Verizon.)

In all, I'm not seeing anything positive for existing ATT customers since their phones and services are being or will be deprecated, possibly in a year or two. They'll be forced to spend more money (new phone, activation fees). I'm feeling bad for my parents now whom I've just convinced to open up new ATT accounts. They've just spent a fair amount of money on new equipments and it's just over the 30-day trial period now. It's too late for them to back out.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Be careful if you plan to switch to Cingular cuz you might end up downgrading phone/service availability. Most current ATT phones have the additional 850MHz band that current Cingular phones don't.
-- /quote --

What are you talking about? All Cingular GSM phones support 850/1900 Mhz and have for years now. The 850 band isn't available in every Cingular market (such as NV and CA, for example) but all phones support both bands. So Cingular customers who live in areas that have both ATT And Cingular towers, the merger now means more bars of reception, receiving both the 850 and 1900 bands.

As for unlocked phones, Cingular's policy is to ship world phones (tri-band and quad-band phones) unlocked. Rarely but it does happen, a bad batch accidentally goes through locked but, customer service is supposed to help with that when it happens. Dual-band phones, though, are locked.

Starting Nov 15, new customers are supposed to receive 64k sims and buy Enhanced Network Selection (ENS) phones. As for current ATT and Cingular GSM customers, they can still use their 32k sim cards and old phones. The only customers who need to buy new equipment are ATT customers who want to migrate to Cingular's current plans.

Cingular will especially try to push ATT TDMA customers toward GSM but then Cingular has been trying for years to push its own TDMA customers towards GSM. Cingular would rather TDMA die but I don't see that happening for another few years. So.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/
Thanks.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/15/at-t-wireless-stores-go-to-sleep-wake-up-as-cingular-stores/Dec 19th 2005 12:06AM