Cingular to become AT&T on Monday
By Chris Ziegler 
posted January 12th 2007 12:23PM
posted January 12th 2007 12:23PM
Now that Cingular's co-owners have been united in holy matrimony, it looks like AT&T is wasting no time in killing off the brand to replace it with its own. Like, no time at all -- in fact, ComputerWorld is reporting that AT&T will begin using dual Cingular/AT&T branding this coming Monday. The new scheme will be used for some as-yet-undetermined period of time until everyone feels comfortable that the general populace understands what exactly has become of the nation's largest GSM carrier, at which point the AT&T name'll go it alone. So if anyone out there still has an old-skool AT&T Wireless handset kicking around, here's your opportunity to pull it back out and feel cool again.[Thanks, Sam K. and jetfxr]
YEAAAA!!!! :::APPLAUSE:::
i FULLY support the demise of cingulass...now if only they would bring back at&t's customer service and loyalty policies! ah...one dares to dream...
So long, Jack, you will be missed. The at&t logo looks ridiculous in lower case, quasi-bubbly font, and they're certainly not fooling anyone if they think the new logo and 3D globe will make them appear as 'hip' as Cingular's branding did. And if they put 'AT&T' and 'Wireless' in any sentence together, the crime rate will jump 300%.
Could have balanced the federal budget with what they spent branding Cingular. Now throwing it all away for an stone age, beuaractratic, monopolistic AT&T designation. Yuk!
Glad I just received my new Treo 680 with orange blob man on the front. Hopefully, the iPhone will start a trend toward carrier billboards being removed from our expensive devices.
So can I finally buy a new phone without changing my plan? I doubt it.
They ran commercials during the OSU-Florida game, centered around "Cingular is now the new AT&T", and featuring Jack "morphing" into the AT&T globe.
I thought that was, in effect, the rebranding kickoff. What else happens Monday?
I don't know if we'll just be able to "pull out that ATT phone" & use it. I have a V60 ATT & it doesn't use a SIM, so I'm fairly confident it's still going to live in a box next to my StarTac & 5100 Nokia.
I really don't care about the logo, but I'm curious about what this company has become. AT&T Wireless started out great and became horrible. Who will be running this company after the merger? Is this basically a new company, or did AT&T Wireless managers survive all the mergers? All the potential iPhone users who fled AT&T Wireless a few years ago, crying, into the welcoming arms of T-Mobile would like to know.
Dear friends and relatives of Jack,
There will be a memorial service held for our dear friend the Cingular Jack on Monday, as his charismatic persona will be cast off by the powers that be, and, in his place, an ugly-ass blue and white sphere will be placed. These memorials will be held outside each Cingular store and stand, whether corporate or private. If you do plan to attend, please bring all your Cingular branded items to place in a casket, which will be blocking the door through which the new labeling will be transported. Also, please remember to bring at least one megaphone per person and several large posters of Jack to wave at passerby in honor of his passing.
After the memorial service, throat soothing medication will be given to anyone who needs it so that they will be able to speak normally after spending the morning shouting their objections to losing such a wonderful figure.
no, seriously, why in the world would at&t replace such an icon with that ugly-ass sphere? i mean, what are they thinking?? i'm sorry, it's white and blue, not blue and white.
maybe we should get Weird Al to sing a song about this to the tune of "American Pie", or some other American classic.
AT&T never had Rollover Minutes. I swear to Pete, if they take away my Rollover minutes, I'll jump to T-Mo so fast it'll make their little bitty globes spin!
damn straight!!!
"I thought that was, in effect, the rebranding kickoff. What else happens Monday?"
Nothing, but American Idol starts on Tuesday.
That really SUCKS!!!
I know it is only a "LOGO" change as they say.
but I like CINGULAR.
Wow.
From what I understand, it's simply a rebranding/name change. It'll still be the same crappy, we-don't-care-about-the-customers service and unreliable product line that prompted me to switch after being a loyal AT&T customer since January of 2001!
"A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet." Yes, and a piece of dung by any other name is still crap! :-)
I think that's why they're renaming - AT&T Wireless was synonymous with great customer service (I have never heard of anyone speaking ill of AT&T's customer service pre-cingular) and Cingular was synonymous with.. well.. lack of good service. I never had a problem since I started service 1/2001 until Cingular took over. Than non-stop problems. The only call that went well was the one to get the unlock code for my s710a *after* I had already cancelled and paid the ETF. Too little, too late.
Oh, and for the questions on old AT&T devices.. there were/are actually 3 networks here. AT&T's ancient original TDMA (or was it CDMA? anywho, it was SIM-less) network, which sported the old-school Nokia 5165 that I started with. Then there was the AT&T "Next Generation Wireless" (GSM .. different network than the first, although owned by the same co.). Finally, there was the Cingular GSM. After the merger, the disjointedness of the Cingular/AT&T setup was quite pronounced, including having "blue care" and "orange care" in customer service to try and help distinguish the difference to the masses. I don't know how many times I called in to customer service and reached one section, only to have to be transferred to the other b/c blue reps didn't have access to the orange systems and vice versa. When I finally went with the Sony Ericsson s710a, I actually had to "port" my number from AT&T to Cingular, and get a new SIM card. At the merger was when the crappy service AND crappy customer service came about. You can keep your stinkin' rollover minutes - I'm paying $20/month LESS for the same amount of minutes on a more reliable carrier with better customer service! A silly little name change won't bring me back.
The rebranding is about the most moronic they could do to the cingular identity which has OBVIOUSLY been very successful despite the fact that customer support has been less than desirable. While I understand some of you are glad about the rebranding... I think the at&t brand and logo are ugly, not hip at all, out dated and have an old musty smell of mothballs. The "powers that be" should think twice about this move and listen to "the people" because we're the customers.
Do we need to change the SIM card to get the name/Logo of AT&T on the phone?
BR/Elie
Let's say when AT&T became Cingular, you never signed a new contract with Cingular. You just kept paying the same, low, kick-ass price that AT&T offered you when they realized the merger was coming. Are you still part of the "new" AT&T, and therefore can reap the benefits of not switching, like getting new phones (finally!)? Or would you have to re-sign, being treated just as bad as when the first merger happened? Any ideas?