Cingular bans the word "engadget" from its customer forums

Oh, Cingular. We know you're pissed at us -- you stopped returning our phone calls a while ago after we posted that product roadmap we got our hands on -- but banning all mention of our name, as well as our URL, from your user forums is a little cheap and heavy-handed, don't you think? Guess you don't want your users making informed decisions about your service. Anyway, we must be doing something right, because here's the message users get when trying to post anything to Cingular's customer forums with the word "engadget" in it:

The message body contains the following prohibited content: 'Engadget' You must remove this content before submitting your post.

When writing your message, remember to keep the language clean.

Then again, from what we understand "engadget" is now a swear word in Albanian, so maybe we're being unreasonable.

[Thanks, David K.]

Update: There is one Engadget mention in an old forum post, but as of Thursday, September 14th, the word "engadget" is still banned!

Update 2: It took about a week, but we're unbanned!

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 13th 2006 7:22AM]

What's depressing is the gaggle of morons who still get off on saying, "first post". (IP Ban)

As for Cingular, they're just as stupid, but not by much.

[clawson.jack @ Apr 27th 2009 3:13AM]

hmm...odd... anyways Cingular forums are not so popular.I'm a newbie to engadget . It's a pretty good site. I get most of my info on gadgets off trackle(http://www.trackle.com)

Cheers,
Jack

[Evan @ Sep 13th 2006 7:27AM]

wow, thats really dumb. at least you know you're getting noticed.

[Cingular hater @ Sep 13th 2006 7:31AM]

Lol .. This is pretty funny .. cingular is run by a bunch of morons .. I have two words for them .. Grow Up... !!

Also, they are definitely not raising the bar .. the service sucks!

[justDIY @ Sep 13th 2006 7:33AM]

searching and posting "engadget" works fine here - maybe they were just messin with ya, a little pre-dawn fun, ya know?

[Raaaaah! @ Sep 13th 2006 7:40AM]

k.
I had to see for myself. It works just fine, you thilly! :D

[Matt @ Sep 13th 2006 7:45AM]

go Verizon!

[Holosoth @ Sep 13th 2006 7:52AM]

Don't worry. No one goes on the Cingular forums anyways.

[blurry @ Sep 13th 2006 8:08AM]

No love lost, really. Cingular sucks. Badly. I fly to various parts of the country every week and I still get dropped calls and a lot of "What did you say? Your phone's breaking up" type comments. (I have a new undamaged V3 Razr and the bar usually reads full.)

In addition to their crap reception and dropped calls, they are horrible at keeping their data usage prices competetive.

So let 'em ban "Engadget." No real geek should use their crap service willingly anyway.

[Arjun @ Sep 13th 2006 8:10AM]

HHAHA. That's hilarious.

[Ferris @ Sep 13th 2006 8:13AM]

Who needs Cingular, anyway? Despite Cingular's claims of "fewest dropped calls," Verizon's coverage is much better.

Also, even with the "Can you hear me now?"-guy, the Verizon commercials aren't as annoying as the ones for Cingular.

[Fred @ Sep 13th 2006 8:23AM]

You should come up with a word that we all really know is secret code for Engadget. Something that could never get banned, and then we would all have a secret little wink if we saw the word on their page. WEEEE!!!

[Hammo @ Sep 13th 2006 8:23AM]

I have bene using Cingular for a couple of months in New York city, having been a GSM user in Australia and Europe since launch.

I don't understand how Cingular's GSM service can be so bad. Anyone actually know why? I've tried different handsets too, from different manufacturers.

Their advertising for lowest number of dropped calls contradicts my first hand experiences. :-(

[vrf @ Sep 13th 2006 8:32AM]

so did Singular fix the issue, or did engadget fall for a little hoax?

[Ross @ Sep 13th 2006 8:32AM]

blurry - most, and I stress most, of the problems you're having lie in one thing - the V3. The antenna in that phone flat out sucks - it's not the best phone for roaming and travelling around. Also, Motorola's are absolutely notorious for having 'false bars' worth of reception. Check out howardforums.com if you think I'm lying...

[vrf @ Sep 13th 2006 8:33AM]

Cingular, rather.

[Cingular pays the bills. @ Sep 13th 2006 8:40AM]

Being a Cingular tech, I can honestly say I love Engadget. Don't know what I would do without you.

To the guy in NY, give it time. NY is a big upgrade area. Nokia also hires the most asinine RF crews in the world to install new RF lines. They do a half-assed job and when it comes time to integrate an upgraded site nothing works because of bad RF lines. Sounds like an excuse, but it really is the truth. They are doing their best out there.

Cingular techs in NY are also unionized and that is another reason the sites aren't doing what they should be. They aren't being maintained properly and as often as they should be. Go to Jersey and you should see better quality.

[T0E TAGG3R @ Sep 13th 2006 8:40AM]

I have cingular because I had Verizon before and they had no service in just a couple areas and they were pretty important to me. switched to cingular and never had a problem. They're quad band phones can be used all over the world.

The main reason I switched to cingular is because I got sick of the helicopters and guys flying down buildings on ropes you know "the network" that follows you around. Try sneeking into a house late at night with those guys...they totaly blow my cover.

As for cingular banning engadget from their forums...NOT COOL! Engadget is my favorite website. Although it seems to be accepting the word engadget currently?

[Dick @ Sep 13th 2006 8:51AM]

Cingular does suck. 1/2 of our employees half Cingular, 1/2 half Verizon, and the Cingular employees are ALWAYS dropping calls, or walking around trying to get better reception. And Cingular doesn't do anythign about it. When I'm on the road with a sales director or VP, I'm continually loaning my phone to them to make calls in areas where they have no service.

It's almost comical how Cingular advertises, and how badly their service sucks. Towns of 200,000 people, and my peers get dropped calls all day long.

I guess the only thing funnier is the story that they're going to ditch the Cingular name and go back to AT&T Wireless after the merger is complete... which would be a COMPLETE waste of time and money. Who likes AT&T? Anyone? Who wants to be reminded on a daily basis that they now have service from AT&T? I think Cingular is a step away from that, and would have a better impression to an average customer.

[Richard @ Sep 13th 2006 8:54AM]

go engadget your selves cingular

[kaybee @ Sep 13th 2006 8:59AM]

eff cingular, for many reasons, this is just the latest.

[Peter Rojas @ Sep 13th 2006 9:10AM]

Raaaaaah!

The word "Engadget" is still definitely banned. If you search you'll find one old post with "Engadget" in it, but try logging in and adding a post to the forums with the word "Engadget" in it and you'll get the message I posted above.

Peter Rojas

[krizage @ Sep 13th 2006 9:19AM]

I have been wanting on a 3g network and I was seriously considering dropping my cingular service. (How is that for a dropped call) This news is the straw. I think they are going to have more and more trouble keeping up with verizon this kind of an attitude. Don't give the customers what they want (3G and decent phones) and do whatever you can to keep them in the dark. I want out.

[wolwol @ Sep 13th 2006 9:23AM]

so...when they gonna ban the word verizon, tmobile and sprint?!
eh yeah, another, gizmodo?!
anyone tried that????

[Vincent @ Sep 13th 2006 9:30AM]

"I still get dropped calls and a lot of "What did you say? Your phone's breaking up" type comments. (I have a new undamaged V3 Razr and the bar usually reads full.)"

V3 Razr.. that's why.

Anyway, I happen to like Cingular's service 'round her' in Suburbia, New York. I get reception where the others (except Verizon) don't. Was especially noticeable when I switched from TMo to Cingular, and then went northshore-style for Christmas, I was shocked to see three bars instead of *Searching for signal...* So don't bash Cingular's service, they're on par with that.

Who's gonna be the first to say E N G A D G E T to get past the filter? Let the battle begin!

[JamesB @ Sep 13th 2006 9:38AM]

Time to filter cingular out of Engadget.com!!! ALL OF IT. Do it, just for a day! PLEASE!?

[James Whited @ Sep 13th 2006 9:51AM]

I like Verizon's coverage, like most people say, but I hate how the cripple phones, I have a Samsung SCH-a950, and I can't play mp3s on it, which is why I got the darn thing in the first place, and I can't sync it via Bluetooth, nope, not at all, not even a hack to enable OBEX, just headsets. Its not the phone I hate, just Verizon's crippling phones. That's about the only area I give Cingular credit (That and coverage around my old high school, you couldn't get coverage in the school, with any service, only my friends RAZR could get signal in the school) they don't cripple phones. I get so fed up with Verizon's crippling at times that I am considering switching to Sprint after my contract expires, they don't cripple phones and use a similar service to Verizon (PCS and CDMA). Besides, I really like that a900 better than the RAZR.

[The Steven @ Sep 13th 2006 9:51AM]

It's true, thet do drop the fewest calls... by holding the connection despite the poor sound quality so you WANT to hang up, and by just not having service WITHIN their service area!

I'm going back to two tin cans and some string!

[Raphael @ Sep 13th 2006 9:55AM]

Look again!!!

http://forums.cingular.com/cng/board?board.id=TheLounge

[marshall @ Sep 13th 2006 10:04AM]

This is why i'm glad the only cingular service i ever have is some free crap that is provided by my job... whatever company gave them the right to say they had the least dropped calls, all need to be shot.

[Jesse @ Sep 13th 2006 10:04AM]

That's certainly one way to lose customers. :P Fools.

[apeguero @ Sep 13th 2006 10:14AM]

That was funny: "go engadget yourselves cingular". That was very funny stuff man.

Now, I like the idea of using a secret word in that cingular forum for Engadget. I'd say something like ingadget?

Anyway, Cingular may also be a little upset about the good job Engadget has been doing keeping track of the suspicious moves AT&T has been doing in order to circumvent their previous monopoly. It does become clearer to me especially since AT&T is bought out by Cingular which is then bought out by AT&T and so on and so forth...I only hope when this merger finalizes AT&T won't require Cingular people to "switch" over to AT&T. I remember the last time I did that I got dinged with a new one year contract and was charged for a new SIM card activation because my old AT&T one didn't work in Cingular's "All Over Network". Yeah right Cingular/AT&T/Cingular/AT&T or whatever it is you want to be called today.

[Bostongraf @ Sep 13th 2006 10:17AM]

Just use http://tinyurl.com to get around posting the engadget links.

[netboy @ Sep 13th 2006 10:17AM]

i know all of you that hate Cingular are JEALOUS of them!
i getting 750k-850k ALL THE TIME on their
Cingular 3G UMTS/HSDPA network!
and dont give me that crap that verzion got EVDO! I used to have Verzion EVDO, and i only getting around 450k-700k most of the time. that y i switched from version to Cingular 3G!

[Zach Wilt @ Sep 13th 2006 10:17AM]

Cingular, raising the bar.


go t-mobile.

[kerunt @ Sep 13th 2006 10:20AM]

Hey Engadget, why don't you censor the word "Cingular"? No one wants to hear of them anyways :D

[kerunt @ Sep 13th 2006 10:22AM]

gojcaj,

The "swearword in Albanian" part was a joke ;)

[Darla @ Sep 13th 2006 10:41AM]

Wow, I guess this just shows how juvenille they can really be. Go T-Mo!!! hehe

[Tim @ Sep 13th 2006 10:51AM]

I think it is time for some imaginitive spellings of e||G@dGe+

[Dar the Monk @ Sep 13th 2006 10:53AM]

I think thats funny... Apple announces their iTunes moble with them and then cingular goes a head and bans the nerd-republic (us). Sad times for them. Ok, our mission is to ban Cingular...everyone switch to Verizon or someone else. make Cingular's new motto: "Most dropped customers."

[Crazyjamaican46 @ Sep 13th 2006 11:54AM]

As a former Cingular customer service represenative I can tell you that Higher Ups in that company absolutly hate sites like engadget. They are far to informative. People learn about unlocked phones and future products(osborne effect) and both of that hurts cingular when it comes to increasing their average revenue per user. ARPU. They have blocked sites like this and most forums from all company computers even though I always considered this site and others like phonescoop and mobility today incredible resources. That often hurt me when talking to Power Cell phone users like most visitors to engadget. Its all about the money. Think about it. They still charge an $18 upgrade fee when customers change handsets even though all we are doing is updating the imie # in the system. They also actively try to terminate service with LTV1 (life time value 1) customers. Those are customers that generate less than $50 in Revenue per month. They are never elegible for upgrades. We were told to never adjust their bills. We never sent them to our Customer Retention Team (SAVE Team) and they never got the benefit of hearing from a Cingular customer care advocate after a bad experience. They always were and continue to be screwed over. So FYI if you pay less then $50 a month and your a Cingular customer and you are wondering why you continously recieve horrible customer service, you now know why. You are unwanted. LOL. I'd like to thank you for choosing Cingular Wireless. The network with more bars in more place. Have a great day.

[Crazyjamaican46 @ Sep 13th 2006 12:09PM]

As a former Cingular customer service represenative and a current T-Mobile customer I can tell you that Higher Ups in that company absolutly hate sites like engadget. They are far to informative. People learn about unlocked phones and future products(osborne effect) and both of that hurts cingular whenit comes to increasing their average revenue per user. ARPU. They have blocked sites like this and most forums from all company
computers even though I always considered this site and others like phonescoop and mobility today incredible resources. That often hurt
me when talking to Power Cell phone users like most visitors to engadget. Its all about the money. Think about it. They still charge an $18 upgrade fee when customers change handsets even though all we
are doing is updating the imie # in the system. They also activelytry to terminate service with LTV1 (life time value 1) customers. Those are customers that generate less than $50 in Revenue per month.
They are never elegible or upgrades. We were told to never adjust their bills. (we could transfer to Fraud) We never sent them to our Customer Retention Team(SAVE Team) and they never got the benefit of hearing from a Cingular customer care advocate after a bad experience. They always were and continue to be screwed over. So FYI if you pay less then $50 a month
and your a Cingular customer and you are wondering why you continously recieve horrible customer service, you now know why. You are unwanted. LOL. I'd like to thank you for choosing Cingular Wireless. The network with more bars in more place. Have a great day. and FYI(Cingular may not have the best network but they DO have the largest digital voice and data network in America. Its significantly larger than Verizon's)

John Doe- CSR1
Lubbock Call Center - Currently Servicing the Southeast Region

As a Cingular Customer Service Representative and Professional, I'm commited to one call resolution. I am determined to keep our promises, follow through, and exceed customer expectations!

This e-mail, and any attachments, are intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. It is the property of Cingular Wireless. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email, any attachments thereto, and any use of the information contained is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify me at 888-552-4171 and permanently delete the original and any copy
LOL F you Cingular

[Roy @ Sep 13th 2006 1:17PM]

YOU GO ENGADGET!

[Josiah @ Sep 13th 2006 2:00PM]

Has anyone actually tried this and seen the problem since the two comments above that say they don't see the problem?

[Liam Daly @ Sep 13th 2006 2:36PM]

engadget you should shove this on digg ;), its pretty sad they did this!

[Chris Miller @ Sep 13th 2006 2:39PM]

Simple solution! Just write "N-Gadget" or "3ngadget"...gotta love simple ways of getting around blocks...@$$|-|013$! ....sorry XD

[DeShaun @ Sep 13th 2006 3:01PM]

That's a low blow from Cingular.

Funny how the service gets bashed so hard. I've just gotten service with Cingular and so far they've been rather reliable. If I had a major gripe, it would be that their selection of phones pales in comparison to that of its competitors, but considering I've never had a problem with my service (living in NYC), I don't really see what others are saying. I do wonder how other services function outside of the city, though.

Again, petty service spats aside, filtering "engadget" out of your forum is really lame. Why you'd slap the hand that informs your customers is beyond me.

[Judous @ Sep 13th 2006 3:33PM]

Pretty funny how so many people jump on a stupid band wagon of blind hate, and over exaggeration. I GET DROPPED CALLS ALL THE TIME!! ALL DAY EVERYDAY!!

Being someone with a Novatel U730 aircard in the Seattle area. I have never had this fast or reliable connection, yes sometimes I don't have a lot of bars in my apartment, but that's with any Cellular network. In cities.. coverage is gonna be approximatly the same with all carriers. Difference in providers is gonna be Network reliability, pricing, roaming, and if you travel out to the backwoods.. coverage out there. I have T-mobile for one reason, unlimited mobile to mobile with friends/girlfriend. I have a Cingular Aircard because HSDPA is amazing, and I have always good customer service from them.

Oh BTW

http://forums.cingular.com/cng/search?submitted=true&q=engadget

So not sure that this news post is at all valid. I love Engadget, And I browse this site all day at work. Wouldn't you think putting up a post about Cingular being petty is kinda redundent? And it doesn't look to good now that it isn't even true.

[S.A. @ Sep 13th 2006 3:39PM]

Cingular is horrible and now im stuck with them for 2 years. I get horrible signal and call quality is horrible even with a decent signal.

[B from TX @ Sep 13th 2006 3:52PM]

It's still a problem. Check the screen shot:

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/5059/cingoppressionwy1.jpg

As stated above, there is only one post on their board with "Engadget" in it.

Thanks Chris Miller:
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/4563/cingfunnyfs7.jpg