Cingular to be AT&T -- not!

Well, you can say goodbye to Cingular. SBC, which closed its merger with AT&T last week, decided that after spending untold millions promoting the Cingular brand for its joint venture with BellSouth, that they're going to drop the name and start selling wireless service under the AT&T brand name. (At least for the most part, they say there will be a few places where they still use the Cingular name).

Anyway, we can get why they're doing it — SBC, which was one of the Baby Bells spun off from AT&T during the big break up of 1984, is officially changing its name to AT&T, and they want to unify all the branding — but man, are things getting confusing. As you'll recall, last year Cingular snapped up AT&T Wireless, which had been spun off from AT&T in 2001 for the princely sum of $41 billion. They then spent the better part of the past year spending tons of time and money trying to eliminate the AT&T Wireless brand and integrate its network, subscribers, and services into Cingular. The integration is pretty much done (or close to it), but now they're going to go through all that again, except in reverse, which means that some of you out there will go from being AT&T Wireless subcribers, to Cingular subscribers, only to become AT&T Wireless subscribers all over again.

P.S. - See for more background check out The Engadget Guide to AT&T Wireless/Cingular/SBC/AT&T Merger Mania.

Update: Cingular fans, we have good news — as reported by RCR, apparently Cingular spokesman Clay Owen said they "are continuing with the strong Cingular brand that we have spent the past five years building and promoting." In other words, it looks like USA Today's report was predicated on some miscommunicated information — SBC is changing its name to AT&T, yes, and they plan on resurrecting AT&T branded wireless service, yes, but apparently as something more akin to an MVNO leasing Cingular's network capacity. So if we're to believe RCR on this, then Cingular stays, AT&T wireless is back as an MVNO in "select" markets, and all is well. We'll keep you posted… [Thanks, Vic.]

[Dave Zatz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Strange move indeed... and it will cost them a decent amount of cash to make the change. I wonder if they're figuring they can get more mileage out of the old AT&T brand? Of course, when I think of AT&T I do think "old" - which probably isn't what they're going for.

[Ben brenker @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Nah, it's just because people hate Cingular so much, they're switching the brand.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Whoopie... do i get to go back to ATTWS's crappy customer service and inflated prices? I dropped ATTWS for CWS a year before the merger, watched CWS's customer service do a nose dive during the merger and now I'll be back with the company (in name, at least) that I made such an effort to leave? Great. Guess it's time to learn how to make smoke signals.

[karmaghost @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Wow, just when I had gotten used to seeing Cingular as a big brand name, they go and do this. Will they have a different logo than the old-tyme AT&T globe? I thought Cingular had the best one of the bunch.

[Topmounter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

They have to be kidding, they have done an excellent job of selling me on the Cingular brand and making me forget about the nightmare that was ATT Wireless.

[Topmounter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

They have to be kidding, they have done an excellent job of selling me on the Cingular brand and making me forget about the nightmare that was ATT Wireless.

[Giggles of Doom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Doesn't this defeat the whole point of the breakup that was done in the first place? SBC/AT&T whatever seems to be getting close to being a "ma bell" again with all these mergers.

[VGuru @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

This has got to be the stupidest, most costly needless waste of typical upper brass management. They should instead take that money and upgrade to 3G. What a waste of college education.

[Daniel Pritchard @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Good. I always thought the Cingular "glob man" was stupid-looking. The name just smacks of too much "professional naming services," as well. I can't wait to see it die. Of course, between the name and the carrier itself, the name is the more attractive part, but losing the marketspeak name can't hurt.

PS: I don't dig the new lower-case ATT logo either. I prefer the old-school one. But that's just me.

[NNTPgrip @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

If they don't switch it back then all the AT&T stuff in the future on Sci-Fi movies won't make sense?

What other reason? Sounds pretty stupid to me. But then again Cingular is a pretty meaningless name. However it's better than American Telephone and TELEGRAPH!?!?

[DJ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Worst move ever. I was planning on getting a new plan/phone. I guess now is a good time to think about going with a different provider.

Boo @ AT&T

[Raj @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

i dont care what they call it, just as long as it doesnt affect my service... this reminds me of Aerial->Voicestream->whatever it is now (either t-mobile or cingular b/c they were GSM)

but it is kinda weird that they spent all that money spreading out the cingular brand name to only scrap the whole thing and start using ATT, and i hope they upgrade that logo b/c i was growing quite fond of the cingular logo... that little guy hoping all around telling me to be safe and curtious...

[Saluki @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Giggles, you are correct. And now you have figured out how investment bankers make their fortunes.


break a company up, collect fees. Aquire another company, collect fees. Buy back original spin off company, collect fees.

[NNTPgrip @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

They should change it to ALSCGWLTC
American
Locked
SIM
Card
GSM
With
Low
Tower
Count

[Kevin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

AT&T will have a new logo, you can see it used in the Flash animation at http://www.att.com/.

[Steven Schrab @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

This is wack. I prefered the Cingular brand. Much more friendly.

[Michael Conlen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Don't forget, Cingular bought AT&T wireless then sold the AT&T wireless name back to AT&T so that they could creatse a new AT&T wireless piggy backing on someone else's network (Sprint I believe) which I presume is never going to be done.

I guess all the companies figured they had been giving each other enough of their money that it was time to make honest companies out of each other.

[jzdogg @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

In the history of business, this might be the stupidest marketing move ever! I'm sure your sharholders will be glad your wasting millions on new logos and letterhead!

[Ryan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I heard about this a few weeks ago. It seems to be a waste of money... how about spending that extra money on getting new towers in places we need them. I live in an old BellSouth Mobility DSM area and service has been crap since we went to Cingular.

So, has BellSouth finally agreed to merge with SBC? or is the president still being a a$$ about it? SBC seems to have better pricing and better technology on landline services.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Raj - that would be OmniPoint > VoiceStream > T-Mobile.

I had OmniPoint during their first year here.. it wasn't bad at all but I switched to ATTWS and stuck with them till about 2 or 3 years ago. I switched because their GSM rollout was so problematic and my phone (Ericsson T68) had plenty of signal but could never make a call or keep an incoming call longer than 2 minutes. I bought a Moto T720 which helped a lot but I got tired of ATTWS jerking me around and went to Cingular, then they bought ATTWS and now they're going back to ATTWS... what a world... oh well, only 1 more year in my contract since I upgraded a broken phone and stupidly got locked to a 2 year extension.

From now on, I'm taking an unlocked phone with me and activating without contract. My next stop might be T-Mobile but with their customer service track record it doesn't look promising either. It seems as though cellular providers don't give a damn about their subscribers and intentionally give them bad service.

[Jonathan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

#7,

In terms of history, innovation, and name recognition in telecom, it's really hard to top AT&T. Yeah - the second T stands for "telegraph", so what? The same is true of NTT DoCoMo, and it hasn't hurt them any.

9#

They have a new modified version of the AT&T logo - http://www.sbc.com/gen/press-room?pid=7521

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Does this mean I'm going to go back to getting really crappy customer service? Really, it's time for me to re-up my contract. Do I stay with Cingular or jump ship to some other wireless provider?

[Jonathan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

#13

Cingular doesn't lock their phones (I know AT&T Wireless did) - but I sincerely doubt they'll start again.

[Jonathan Wilson Jr. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

wow i'm glad to hear this, i was originally on AT& T then after having cingular, my plan went up and their voicemail set up blows, which recently got switched to the AT&T version which is much better, hopefully more improvements on the way.

[The1 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Hey..stop.. LOL I work for SBC now AT&T; you should see how hectic things are for us in the data world trying to merge everything into one BRAND. PURE KAOS

[YukonDawg @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

How does BellSouth feel about this...I thought Cingular was a joint venture between them and SBC? Are they selling their share to SBC+AT&T?

[not counting unhatched chickens @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Hold on everybody. SBC's acquistion of, and name change to ATT is official. But SBC is only a joint owner of Cingular. SBC (now ATT) can not change the name of Cingular without agreement from Bell South - which has no current rights to the ATT name.

[iomatic @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Changing a logo does not change the brand.

They'll have to redo all of their communications strategies, rework all kinds of programs, including direct-mail, internal documentation, display ads, retail presence, print ads, web marketing, not to mention the website, staff training, ad infinitum.

Jesus MF'n Crizzus.

What utter stupidity on the behalf of management; here we are losing money in education, welfare (not the welfare programs, but of people), the war on "terrists", the War in Iraq, etc., and these idiots waste BILLIONS OF FUCKING DOLLARS on this bullshit?

How Republican.

...

...

[VGuru @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I will definately jump ship. There is no way AT&T, SBC, Ameritech or whatever they call themselves is getting any of MY money.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Jonathan - actually, they do lock their phones. I had a V400 with Cingular and it was unlocked. It broke and they sent me (with a LOT of arm-twisting on my part) a V551 which was locked.

PS: Having been through a fiasco with ATTWS about a locked phone, people looking to get the unlock code may be able to call the phone manufacturer and ask for the "consumer advocacy" department and plead their case. Service providers don't give out subsidy codes readily or at all and while both the manufacturer and the service provider will say that "we don't have the subsidy code, call the other guy" at least in the case of Motorola, they keep the codes and can give it in 5 minutes. The trick is to get about the idiots answering the phones and go to a higher level of support.

[Jack Frost @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

My suggestion: attingular

[bazald @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Wow... My family is still on ATTWS at this point. Does this mean that we won't be forced to pay $80 reactivation fees all around after all? (I think we should switch to Sprint anyway...)

[Patrick @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I've had 3 Cingular branded phones and they were all locked, even the quad band. I thought all carriers locked equipment in this country.

[Stephen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Oh my god what a waste of money. In the mean time where the hell is the HSPDA and/or UMTS service? I am going to switch to verizon when my contract is up because cingular's inability to get that system online really bugs.

[Jonathan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

#25,

BellSouth isn't protesting the name change - they think it'll generate more revenue.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/business/2005-11-20-cingular-att_x.htm


Jeff,

I believe you %100 - but that must be a recent development. I got my phone about 8 or so months ago and it's unlocked - as is every other Cingular phone I've encountered in recent history.

[Whisky @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Well that is confusing. I had AT&T wireless and switch over to Cingular wireless and now going to go back to AT&T damn... I hope we all get something free out of it.

What a waste of money, all the AT&T stores change their name and logos and now they will do it again.

[puh_fifer @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

This is only happening in New York so they can rejoin the Better Business Bureau.

Oh snap biotch

[DJ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I just noticed something... does anyone else think that their new logo looks suspiciously like the google earth logo?

[Paul @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I want my Sony W600 before they rebrand it with AT&T. :(

[Chris Coleman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I'm actually still on my old AT&T plan through Cingular.

I'm getting such a better deal this way. Add in taxes and everything, and I'm getting like 600 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends for $46 a month.

And they said I can get all the same phones, I just have to special order them.

[U. Betchya @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

They can change their name, but they STILL suck.

[Antti @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

With all that money thay use to rebrand the service, the phones and everything else... I just wonder how many square miles of coverage they could have added?

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

haha... hmm, let's see, a few years ago I left Cingular to go to ATTWS because at the time, Cingular had the absolute worst selection of phones of any of the carriers. So I'm happy w/ATTWS, then they get bought by Cingular last year and I'm a Cingular customer again, now I'm going back to ATTWS from Cingular? Whatever. As long as they don't jack with my plan/rate or my coverage, I don't really care much which name appears on my phone's screen. (the case still says AT&T, haha)

[mark smith @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

#10 - They changed their name about 7-8 years ago from AT&T to AT&T... Seriously. They dropped the acronym and now it does not stand for anything. So they are just AT&T. No telephone, no telegraph, etc..

[Donald @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

As an employee of a call center that was AT&T Wireless before the merger with Cingular, I have to ask if anyone has a baseball bat handy.

After the twentieth call from John Q. Public about why he's being billed by AT&T Wireless again, I'm probably going to bash my own brains in.

[Phil @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I tried to upgrade my phone from ATTWS to Cingular last summer, only to be told that I'm stuck in an ATTWS contract until mid-2006. So I bought an unlocked phone on eBay and now I'm happy with my service again. But now I'm even more confused about what will happen if/when I want to upgrade when my contract expires. Will I become a Cingular customer for a few months, then get switched back to ATT? An ATT customer? Or will their system be so screwed up that they won't be able to upgrade me to anything and I'll have to switch carriers? I can't wait to find out!

[Timothy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Wow, talk about an ugly logo. And what's with the stupid little circles inside the globe? Way to intricate. The font they chose is ugly as well, and they should have stuck with all caps, the whole lowercase thing is over and done with.

[Dave @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

As the brother of an SBC high-up's secretary, I can tell you that SBC is only changing their name because the AT&T name is better recognized in the world economy. I believe it is a brilliant move.

[gtriamy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

GAAAAAHHHHHH~!!!!! so does that mean i've spent untold hour...no, DAYS, on the phone with cingular to get myself a new contract from my old ATT contract just do get a phone that works,....... FOR NOTHING!!!! GAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH ::grabs gun, walks down the street to cingular store::

[eunix @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

"The integration is pretty much done (or close to it), but now they�re going to go through all that again, except in reverse, which means that some of you out there will go from being AT&T Wireless subcribers, to Cingular subscribers, only to become AT&T Wireless subscribers all over again."

But they'll also have to convince the original Cingular customers that the AT&T name is better. The change from SBC wireless to Cingular was ok since it was just a new name, along with a catchy logo. Now they'll have to convince customers that the name change to AT&T is ok even though Cingular's the one that ate up AT&T. I dunno about that, AT&T just screams old.