Cingular to become AT&T on Monday
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Jan 12th 2007 12:23PM
posted Jan 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]
Incredible . . . they spent almost a billion dollars renaming AT&T Wireless to Cingular when they got bought out, now they will probably spend a similar amount renaming Cingular back to AT&T. I wonder who's footing the bill for that? Oh right, the customers. Good thing I jumped ship to Verizon a long time ago!!!!
You can't really "Jump Ship" to anywhere. Especially not Verizon. See Verizon IS AT&T (Bell). In the 80's everything AT&T was split into 7 companies. Things have since merged / been purchased, etc etc, making it so that there are 3 major players, But they are all still -AT&T-, at least AT&T's children.
In 1997, NYNEX was acquired by Bell Atlantic (taking the Bell Atlantic name), which later, in 2000, merged with GTE, the largest independent telephone company, to form Verizon. In 2005, following a protracted bidding war with rival RBOC Qwest, Verizon announced that it would acquire long distance company MCI. The Verizon and MCI merger closed on January 6, 2006.
On January 16, 2007, Verizon announced that it would split off Verizon New England operations in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont into a new Bell Operating Company, which then will be spun off and merged with FairPoint Communications. The deal is currently pending approval.
ditto on what pete said.
WHEN WILL PEOPLE GET THAT CDMA/EVDO SUXs ALREADY?!
- Can’t use it globally (96% GSM/UMTS/HSDPA).
- What North America and S. Korea has CDMA?
- EVDO is data only (until they update it once again).
- Still using those oooh so old school 1984 ESNs (Electronic Serial Numbers).
- Can’t just pop a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) in a new phone and go.
- Cant just move a SIM from phone to phone (work, home, shiny chick magnate).
- Carriers that are, well, not so, um geek/tech friendly.
- Verizon the phone gimp masters (Bluetooth, WiFi gimping, etc).
- Sprint’s small network supplemented by roaming on AMPS systems, YES AMPS!
- Manufacturers that play to the majority global network (Case in point iPhone).
IT’S ALL ABOUT GSM/UMTS/HSDPA, AT&T (and to some extent) T-Mobile RIGHT NOW!! (The smart move was made years ago when they decided to get off of TDMA and go GSM)!
"WHEN WILL PEOPLE GET THAT CDMA/EVDO SUXs ALREADY?!
- Can’t use it globally (96% GSM/UMTS/HSDPA).
- What North America and S. Korea has CDMA?
- EVDO is data only (until they update it once again).
- Still using those oooh so old school 1984 ESNs (Electronic Serial Numbers).
- Can’t just pop a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) in a new phone and go.
- Cant just move a SIM from phone to phone (work, home, shiny chick magnate).
- Carriers that are, well, not so, um geek/tech friendly.
- Verizon the phone gimp masters (Bluetooth, WiFi gimping, etc).
- Sprint’s small network supplemented by roaming on AMPS systems, YES AMPS!
- Manufacturers that play to the majority global network (Case in point iPhone)."
Well you used a lot of CAPS so your point must be valid. Really the only valid point you have is that GSM is used globally, and for someone like myself who stays in the United States it's not a big deal. I'm not going to base my phone service choice on the fact that if for some reason I travel to a foreign country I'll be able to buy a local SIM card. I'd rather base my decision on which provider is going to give me the best service where I live, which in my case is the United States. Seeing as how with Verizon I consistently have a good signal and never get dropped calls, I'll stick with them. But oh no, what if I travel to France for a week and need to use my cellphone?! What ever will I do...? Well I'll probably get along just fine with a calling card.
I like more Sprint Netxtel but my opinion about AT&T and Cingular is that Cingular trademark and Cingular logo is more attractive than AT&T.
Sprint is better than other companyes. Has more technology and EVDO, EVDO Rev. A and WiMax are better than EDGE.
better Logo ..WTF? hmm it now makes sense who the target audience was when they had PINK Motorola RAZRs
This biggest mistake in marketing history.
I just simply hat AT&T and will never buy another service from them in my life. They screwed me over and refused to fix the situation. AT&T = Highway Robbery
I know what you mean about AT&T I had cingular for years and years - NEVER a problem. Then I renew my contract at the same time all this AT&T emerges and had nothing but problem after problem. within two months of renewing my contract I had enough!! I called and spoke to them about breaking my contract. I was told repeatively by their reps - yes reps - that I would only have $175 charge for the acct, for all four lines. I broke the contract and now they want $780. THEY LIED TO ME!!!!!! I have been three months trying to get this straightened out. I talk to customer service rep - ooohh wow do they have power to make a decision - they claim someone will call back - they NEVER do. I just got off the phone again and am waiting for the Resolution Dept Manager to call ... I am NOT holdingg my breathe. I don't know where to go next except to my attorney. Any ideas/suggestions? Much appreciated if you do.
Cingular has been leaving text and voice messages on my now extinct Pay as you Go ATT Wireless phone saying that my phone will no longer be supported as of sometime in 2007 (I think January). It's too bad, because that phone now has the incredible battery life of 5 minutes of talk-time! Does this mean that those messages are actually not true? It's a pretty sweet overall. Why buy an iPhone when you can have something like that? Crisp, clear B&W display! Monotones! It also has a highly coveted game of snake on it! I'll sell it to the highest bidder...
Your Pay-as-you-go phone is probably a TDMA handset, and that's why AT&T/Cingular is sending you messages about the phone no longer being supported.
I kinda miss my TDMA Nokia 8260, so I bought a GSM 8290. I just got an 8801, and I downloaded some classic Nokia monophonic ringtones on it for nostalgia.
I'm just one guy, but when I think of AT&T, I think of old/expensive/outdated. When I think of Cingular, I think of new and unencumbered. I don't exactly understand all the reasons behind my thought process there, but I do know that I'll not be looking for new AT&T services/branded devices EVER.
What a stupid move.
Have you ever had verizon service. It is defiantly the best service around. Barely ever dropped calls. If you havent noticed, their service is catered to businesses and business people alike. Yes they do have phones that cater to everyone but they were based on the work force ever since they were bell atlantic before they became verizon. Sprint is just horrible as I have had them before. I have also had cingular/celluar one and I also had T-mobile/Voice Stream. So i think that i know what im talking about.
If you want a phone that has a lot of features but rarely gets any service than go to t-mobile and cingular. If you want a phone that gets great service (plans are a little higher tho cause it caters to that clientel) then go to verizon.
Who cares if cingular has the iphone? If you want to spend 600 bucks on a phone that could possibly die in 10 months due to apple's great non replaceable battery then go for it.
I have to disagree. I have Verizon for my work phone and Cingular for my personal phone. Lately, the company has been reimbursing me more than my phone bill each month (I charge my company the over-charge per minute I would pay for the calls if I was over my minutes) for business calls on my Cingular phone, because my Verizon phone is out of service so often. Forget about using a Verizon phone in Mexico!
And the other great "business" feature is that Verizon doesn't seem to relay text and voice messages across towers that aren't there own. It's the only conclusion I can come to when I am on a week long business trip, then get home (or get in an area where I get a Verizon logo) and get 5 days worth of text and voice mail messages. This is just not acceptable. And it is doesn't seem to be our phones either, since I have heard this same problem from many that use Verizon with different phones.
In April, we are switching to Cingular (I guess now AT&T.) We are a small company, but we are global and we need a phone that is also. I have no problem using my Cingular phone in Mexico, or Japan.
But, it must be noted, we ARE keeping our EVDO AirCards. Until there is a more widespread roll-out of broadband by Cingular, EVDO has, by far, the best coverage for high speed data.
Verizon does NOT cater to business. Businesses stick to GSM because they want to be able to use their phone when they travel. Ask ANY multinational company who they use and it isn't CDMA. Verizon/Sprint can have the greatest network in the world, but that is worthless when the phone becomes a brick as soon as you cross the border.
I disagree. I had Verizon and couldn't get service anywhere. Missed and dropped calls all day. I switched to cingular and don't have any problems at all. I have also used tmobile and have also not had any problems with it. I think it just depends on where you live and how many cell towers there are. There are obviously not many near where I live for Verizon.
Because it isn't hard enough to explain things to people already.
Thanks for the new challenge!
I simply hate AT&T and will never buy another service from them in my lifetime.
They screwed me over and refused to fix the situation.
They went from loosing me as a temporary customer to loosing me as a customer for life as well as the many people who ask my advice on phones and other gadgets.
I agree, I also developed a true hate for AT&T for terible customer service and screwing me on oversees calls years before. Screw you AT&T, burn in hell! Same to you Comcast!
I think @Frankenstein was complementing Cingular, but I'm not sure. As for Cingular, they get a bad rap, and they do have some sneaky billing issues (instant messages are text messages and therefore my data plan doesn't cover them), but overall, they consistently get good phones. They have almost everything out there right now (Blackjack instead of the Q) and they don't cripple the phones like Verizon. They have the largest 3G network and I get great call quality almost everywhere (except DC, those people can complain about that all they want, it does suck).
Finally, the At&t logo is so much better than the cingular logo. On almost everyphone a blue logo looks better than an orange logo.
On that note, does anyone know if the sugar rub trick will get the cingular logo off of my blackjack (it isn't on the rubbery part, just the plastic black on the front).
I never switched to Cingular from AT&T, and i feel kind of cool having an at&t sim card in my phones still lol
i have this old nokia with at&t still firmly emblazed on it- with a still working sim card- i think i'll dust it off and go new retro...huh?... honestly, at&t shouldve united behind the cingular name and converged using that name- they took bell south and they have cingular- if theres 3 companies all merged in this one happy cluster f___ (er family) why not use the name cingular to symbolize a united front? the kids who are buying all this technology dont know at&t from a hole in the wall... and its no wonder cingular announced that it wont be putting its brand on the iPhone- if it did youd have a 500 dollar phone with a defunct logo---nice.
Same here. Does this mean I can start adding new lines to my mmode account again (gotta love that $25/month unlimited data tier)? Despite having an EDGE account I'm getting 3G access on my TyTN here in Chicago. Hey AT&T, thanks for (again) diverting company resources away from us loophole exploiters.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to do this before Uncle Steve's big announcement about the iPhone being exclusively cingular?
History for you guys: AT&T splits, BellSouth & SBC (SouthWestern Bell Corporation) are too of the 'baby bells'. AT&T creats AT&T Wireless. Bellsouth & SBC merge ONLY their wireless departments to create Cingular. AT&T Wireless is not profitable for AT&T, Cingular buys it, rebrands as Cingular. SBC (which is part owner of Cingular) buys AT&T. (Though AT&T is a better brand name to them then SBC) The only thing standing in their way of being one huge communication company is the fact that BellSouth owns part of Cingular. Solution, AT&T (SBC) buys BellSouth. Again, SBC (weither rightly or wrongly) figures the AT&T brand is worth more than Cingular.
GeneMack,
I'm kind of curious about what you said. You said that you were able to use your Cingular phone in Mexico. I have a friend who recently moved to Juarez, Mexico. Is it possible that he can contact me with his Cingular Go Phone with the same rate plan? Or does roaming and international calling crap kick in? Does it stay mobile to mobile?? It'd really help out if you knew any of these answers :)
Thanks have a great Day.
Oh by the way, I've had Cingular for a little over a year now and I think it's fantastic.
Since Juarez is a border town (spend a lot of time there myself), he CAN get a pure Cingular signal without having to pay roaming or international charges. But he will have to call you from near the border. In my experience, calling anywhere along the border highway pulls the signal from the Cingular towers and no roaming or international calls. And I stay in the Lincoln area often (there's actually a statue of President Lincoln in the square, but have yet to find a good answer to why) and am about 50/50 getting a Cingular signal (as opposed to a Telcel signal) there. That is about 3 miles into the border.
Guessing he is an American that moved to Juarez, the places that he may be moving to are a little farther in, so his usage may vary. He'll have to test it out to see what he gets. But Cingular has a good Mexican package that is pretty reasonable, so he might want to go that route.
Well then I guess you already know that you will be keeping your Verizon voice service as well. You may not use it (money wasted, but hey it's the companies so who cares right!) because in order to keep EVDO you MUST have a Verizon voice plan
Good Luck with Cingular oh I mean ATT and God knows what it will be next year - Damn can they make up their minds
Are they that unstable
Look to be fair - I hear everyone on here say this is better than this service and this is why I am right.
I have Verizon it works for me - My family has Cingular it works for them At the end of the day isn't this really all that is important. I don't really care how Verizon, Cigular, T-Mobile or Sprint work for you, as long as you are happy with your service if your not then switch to a different carrier because if you are trully honest with yourself and all of us you WILL be MISERSBLE with any of them at one time or another for some reason.
I like many others have tried different providers (Cell One, Cindular, Sprint and Verizon) and have had midiocre luck with all of them at one time or another.
I am not sure why people on here feel like they have to defend their carrier but I know what I say will certainly not make a difference, so go on toot your horn toot it loud - Cingular is the best and this is why no Verizon is the best and this is why no Cigular no Verizon no Cingular - you get the picture - No one mentions the others much b/c it's all about #1 and #2
Good luck with whatever service you have
:)
The future is Bright the Future is Orange! I wish Orange would come over here to the US from europe. That would be awesome!
Ya, Orange US would be awesome. Their network is good, customer service is awesome, though they sometimes are inclined to over customise their phones.
However, I see a boycott of Orange US (since its french owned) next time the US & France disagree... LOL
We can dream, can't we?
From a marketing perspective, this is the worst decision the "New AT&T" could have possibly made. Like comments above previously alluded to, when people think of AT&T Wireless they think of outdated, old, poor coverage, etc. Now I am in NO WAY a Cingular fan, I have Verizon and so should you, but Cingular most definitely has a better rap sheet when compared to AT&T Wireless. I don't know how much this switch over is going to hurt them, but in the short term I'd say its a bad call on SBC/AT&T's part
I think everyone's opinion on Cingular vs. Verizon depends on where you live. I hear constantly that Cingular's service sucks on here, but in my area, I don't remember the last time I haven't had service. When I switched from AT&T Wireless to Cingular, I remember being amazed at the service. I get it in basements and even 100% of the way through the Holland Tunnel (NYC). Everyone I know complains about Verizon's service. Personally, Verizon has screwed me and my family over plenty of times. Actually, they do it evefry month for the past year or two. They made multiple accounts for our landline, so when we pay the bill they apply it to some other account and then they send us a late payment. EVERY MONTH! and every month we call and get it "fixed". They also screwed us over with out DSL service. We now have Earthlink DSL. Not one problem with them.
I'll consider an AT&T package, but for now, Earthlink is fine with 8mbps DSL + Unliminted local and long distance to US Canada and Puerto Rico for $70/month.
This is stupid. I'm stuck in a Cingular contract now and this is just icing on the shit cake.
Some Cingular using friends have told me they were pressured by AT&T to move off the old AT&T network over to "Cingular's" network.
Perhaps AT&T used the Cingular branding to sell more handsets/contracts, and now is using the ill-gotten capital to squash a former competitor. All the while, AT&T is showing very little concern for their consumers.
Maybe its just my personal experience with AT&T, but that sounds about right to me.
does this move mean that i can get out of my contract somehow?
Everyone and their mother hates on Cingular as far as service in comparison to Verizon. I don't know what they're talking about at all. I have never had a dropped call that wasn't either my fault for letting the battery die or my phone's fault for some hardware malfunction. I live in the Southeast US and I have never seen below 4 bars on any phone I have ever had. The closest Verizon store in my area that I have seen, but I don't go looking for, is Evansville, IN, over 75 miles away from my current location in Bowling green, KY. I haven't even seen any kiosks in the mall for them. T-Mobile has little shops everywhere, but no one around here that I know uses T-Mobile, so I have no use for a Favorite 5 or whatever, all of my calls are free since everyone uses Cingular.
And then everyone hates on Cingular for stealing the "exclusive Apple phone" deal from other companies. I never really saw that as a problem, but you also won't see me buying one either.
I was going to wait until the N95 came to the US before upgrading my phone, contracts don't bother me like it does to anal-retentive momma's boys I have seen around here, but my previous phone, the z525a from SonyEricsson decided that none of the keys would respond anymore even after I replaced the battery in it. Lucky me I had an upgrade option waiting. So I am riding out my month on the Cingular SYNC, (the Samsung SGH-a707 for the Cingular haters) and so far, it is everything I need in a phone: clear calls, 3G support should I want to add that in to my plan, amazing screen and speaker quality, and it's thin enough I can keep it in my pocket and not look like a Mac fan who just saw the iPhone in a picture and caught a woody.
...and I still think the comapny should be called SBC. I would have loved to have see SBC Wireless be the biggest wireless network in the nation. Cingular/AT&T's next target = T-Mobile. SEE YA! My guess is $14B
my wife and I had a horrible experience with AT&T switching to Cingular. Now we are quite apprehensive about this switch. Unfortunately, Cingular is the only carrier with decent service where I live. We are going to move in a few months and we might jump ship. I do want the iPhone, but.... I might have to wait for the 2nd gen. for it to be really functional (i.e. add on apps and 3G, etc.)
GSM is inherently better, as well as its 3G derivitive UMTS. Where as with Verizon/Sprint who use CDMA, they add on services to its (sorta like EDGE/GPRS are addons ontop of GSM). UMTS is a brand new service that utilizes one connection for the entire mobile service. Places like the UK & Norway where I have used 3G/UMTS have superb coverage, and extremely high speeds. The downfall of T-Mobile and the New AT&T Wireless is the late entry into GSM, where as GSM became the norm in Europe in 1994.
The funny thing with Verizon/Sprint phones, as you would have to use a payphone international, as your phone doesn't even have coverage outside the US, Canada, & Korea.
In GSM countries, Mobile phone comapanies are messured by merit and extra features, not throwing terms around like its done here in the US. Consumers don't know the difference! For example, in Norway both Telenor & Netcom have about 98% coverage of the population and 3G coverage in most well populated areas (by law atleast all towns with 30,000+). You would probably choose a company based on price, customer service, and personal coverage (though that is almost obsolete arguement).
Sprints/Verizons networks will always be inferior unless they addopt a unified network with no addons. Throwing terms around doesn't fool me, and EDGE (which has speeds upto 256kbps) is still almost 5x faster than dialup and will keep me till 3G comes locally.
As a former Customer Service Represenative for Cingular, I can tell you that even if you have an old at&t wireless handset you will still have to switch to a cingular/ new at&t handset because we are moving away from the old at&t billing systems and network diagnosis tools. Even though we said the old At&t customers were cingular customers, we were still essentially operating 2 separate networks under the same name. Cingular Blue and Cingular Orange. We had Separate Tech support teams. Seperate Call Centers. Separate everything except for stores. I could Service an old AT&T phone but it was difficult, cumbersome , and generally a real pain in the ass to do so. . We just recently finished integrating all the cell sites (towers). Plus almost all the old AT&T phones are outdated and obsolete by now anyway.
Since I first heard about this, I couldn't help but think, "Who could possibly think this is a good idea?!?" Seems to me like groupthink at it's worst. Not one person in any of these meetings stood up and said, "Excuse me, but all of the marketing we have been doing actually costs a lot of money. Was it for nothing?"
All of that money was spent creating a comfort level in people's minds about Cingular. They were creating an image. They were becoming familiar. There was a very strong effort to create a brand, and now they are going to throw it away. What is the benefit? Logically the only thing that makes sense is that they thought they failed at marketing the Cingular name and figured AT&T would bring back fond thoughts for people. What demographic are we looking at here? Young people have no sort of connection to AT&T, and will probably actually see it as uncool, and older people are never the core demographic for companies, so where's the win? I mean... on the surface it's just a name change, and I could be wrong, but I really think this might end up being a huge mistake for the company. It makes literally no sense to me.
well... I have not had Verizon in years ... yet... I regularly receive bills from Verizon and have to call them to dispute. They will put on a charge of say $2.50 and then add a late charge immediately to it and continue to add a $5 late charge.
When you call, they will say, "You don't have an account"... CORRECT! and then I'll get another bill with another late charge.
THAT IS... IF you can actually get through to a live human being. Many times, you don't.
This has happened enough times for me to question their methods. How many millions of dollars are made this way because people just get fed up and pay it???
Welcome to Ma Bell ver. 2.0: Twice the suck, but at least we have the iPhone!
We had T-Mobile about 3-4 years ago, and we cancelled that contract because they had horrible customer service and billed us with overcharges several times. We then switched to AT&T Wireless, which was MUCH better than T-Mobile. Then about 6 months after we switched we found out that Cingular bought AT&T Wireless and was rebranding it. We were a bit angry, but we had no issues with Cingular. Then we had to get a new contract and phones because my mother lost her old phone, and we were frustrated that we couldn't just use our old SIM cards. We've had the "real" Cingular since Thanksgiving and the service is even better than when we were under AT&T Wireless. We're again mad that they're switching back to AT&T.
http://www.canyouhearusnow.net/v710/v710story.php
Verizon is not customer friendly. They make many decision and implement many policies intended entirely to force the customer to pay Verizon for things that AT&T (nee Cingular) customers do not pay for.
I can move pictures off my Razr phone simply by copying them over Bluetooth. You cannot do that with Verizon because they have turned that part of Bluetooth off. Ditto ringtones.
Also note that Verizon routinely competes with Sprint to be the LAST cell phone provided to make new cell phones available. Verizon finally started offering the RAZR about 9 months ago. Cingular had it two or three YEARS ago.
Yep, you folks have fun with Verizon. Enjoy. But don't delude yourselves into believing that they want to save you money any more than any other company.
Smittie
LJKelley - can you learn to use the English language?
heh it would be funny to see that cingular character with a striped ball as a head.
I honestly don't have a problem with Cingular switching the name back (Cingular is a better name though)., although the original AT&T Wireless screwed me over with my bill seven years back. It's only the name switching, not the service.
Here in Portland, Verizon is hit or miss. There are a lot of people who have Verizon, but service is spotty in some areas. I have friends on Verizon at school (PCC) and their phones switch to analog (!!!) constantly with barely one bar of reception, while my Cingular/AT&T phone has full service. It all depends on where you're using your phone.
Hopefully Cingular will not switch to the same business practices AT&T Wireless did. I mean c'mon, that's the reason WHY AT&T Wireless failed and had to get bought out in the first place.
AT&T = Last Century ... pathetic decision to change Cingular to AT&T. No cache.
To me this is a great move...I had AT&T wireless From 1997-2006 and even refused to move to a Cingular phone and plan even after they purchased AT&T.
I always felt the AT&T name holds a lot of weight, means legendary innovation (remember Bell Labs), and is recognized worldwide. Try mentioning Verizon or Sprint in another country and people will look at you like "What's that"
Never had a problem with AT&T wireless, or cingular, but now I am on Verizon Wireless here in NYC. I changed because most of my family and friends were on Verizon and I was losing on free mobile to mobile. Verizon is good too, but it's not any better or worse in my opinion from AT&T/Cingular, only slightly more expensive per month for me from my old contract (but I make up for that in in network calling)
I wonder since at&t is the new name if I'll be able to buy a telegraph machine now.
If they really wanted to be "hip", they shoulda renamed it to just "at" and changed the logo to "@".
The name at&t conjurs visions of old men in blue suits with no idea of what the market needs, let alone what it wants.
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Does this mean Apple can get out of their contract?
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gotta agree with you- i have cingular... er... at&t... and my friend gets ringtones off a website free sends them to his phone and bluetooths them to me and we havent spent a cent! try that verizon or alltel!
Smittie....first, you don't know what you are talking about. Verizon has had the RAZR for much longer than 9 months. Furthermore, the reason they did not have one is because Moto hadn't made a CDMA version. It has been shown in the past that GSM gets nice, nifty phones, but in the past six months the offerings at Verizon have gone way up. EnV, Chocolate, Chocolate Flip, upcoming Shine, a990, KRZR, etc.
I still have an AT&T-branded SMT5600, brand new in the box, that Cingular refused to replace or unlock after they acquired AT&T Wireless. What are the odds I can convince them to unlock or replace it now? I would imagine they're about as good as the odds that Uma Thruman is going to spend a week in Bora Bora with me.
I know in my area people so hated SBC Wireless that we assumed that was reason it was rebranded to Cingular.
I've got another year on my T-Mobile contract, and I'll have to see where the iPhone is at by that time.
GOOD LORD!
Stop with all the "Cingular is better. No, Verizon is better" bullshit! In some areas Cingular service is better. In some areas Verizon service is better. If you live in an area with better Verizon service, then get Verizon. If you live in an area with better Cingular service, get Cingular. If you want a decent phone, get Cingular. End of story.
@Kurtis -- actually, if you want decent (and affordable) service, buy a decent phone from ebay and get T-Mobile. Their monthly plans are better, they only have a one-year commitment, instead of two, and they don't nickel'n dime you to death on text-messaging or wireless data.
Customer service is better, too, and the service quality in my experience is much better for T-Mo -- I have a personal T-Mo phone and a Cingular for work, and one in three calls on Cingular doesn't go through. Never a problem with T-Mo.
That said, T-Mo isn't available in some (very) rural areas, but if Cingular is there, the mutual roaming agreement help that.
iPhone won`t gain any traction on Crapular network.LG invented that form-factor anyway as anyone who reads Endgadget knows.Locking in with Crapular for SO LONG will allow LG , Samsung and others to emulate it`s features at a lower price and at least give the consumer 3`rd party apps. and a user-replaceable battery.I`m glad Jobs was forced into an exclusive with Crapular as users of CDMA know it`s a better technology.I`m more interested in the EVDO REV.A data network AND the awesome live TV service on Verizon than a locked-down expensive and huge face-oil prone device that has to be used two-handed to use it ;)On Samsung phones we have this thing called real voice recognition and speech-to-text(for SMS) by VoiceSignal Technologies ...and it works great.
Hey applesucksLeo, the iPhone will probably never come out on CDMA networks because it's not worth it for Apple to re-manufacture the phone for the handful of consumers that are on CDMA networks when over a billion people worldwide are on GSM networks. Once the Cingular exclusive contract is over, the only other US carrier that will get the iPhone will probably be T-Mobile.
And as far as people with AT&T Wireless phones, you will not be able to use them on New AT&T. They are two completely different companies. When the AT&T Wireless and Cingular merger happened a few years back, their was alot of confusion because they were trying to merge two different wireless companies. The switch though this time will be seamless since Cingular is just rebranding itself.
Need4Speed -- what does Wimax have to do with EVDO? Wimax is better than EDGE, yes... and better than EVDO, too, because it's a different animal alltogether.
I switched to AT&T Wireless from US Cellular a couple of years ago after US screwed me. I loved AT&T wireless after US Cellular. And I haven't had any issues with Cingular. Verizon doesn't even offer service in my state.
This is the same thing that happened when Macy's replaced the Marshall Fields stores. The reason AT&T is rebranding is for a more affordable approach to national marketing. They want to sell you a unified package of landline, wireless, internet, and television options. So, yes, it will cost money to switch logos but in the long run it will be more affordable for AT&T.
lol, the big blue globe on the iPhone. what an oxymoron. i dont mind though, i prefer the globe over the jack anyday.
so i expect the transition will be like the American/TWA airlines merger, when the planes said both names for a while.
I loved that little orange thing. I tried to have sex with it. Im gonna miss you.
SBC was the company that purchased AT&T, so it's the AT&T name, but it's run by SBC. I live in the Bay Area and the Giants Stadium has gone under three different names since it opened in around 2000. First it was Pacific Bell who was purchased by SBC. So then it was renamed SBC Park, but then SBC bought AT&T and used their name, because it's more globally recognized.
Love it or hate it, Cingular/ATT is now the largest US Carrier, largest US Network and only going to get bigger in the end, if they lose a few consumers along the way, you know the ones who say ''I'll never have att again'' guess what it means nothing because for every one of those ppl theirs 10 more in the wings signing their contracts
Every that had and AT&T phone hated it and either left them for another carrier or waited out the take your number with you law to pass and then said goodbye. So why would you ever want to take the huge money making always on without any lights ORANGE Cingular logo and replace it with a boring and lame AT&T logo. I mean whats the point Cingular is selling isn't it. Didn't Apple just sign the exclusivity deal for the iPhone.
The name tanked once before and I am sure it will tank again
At&t will regarte if they want to kill cingular's name and logo. Since young generation know Cingular better then at&t
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/
That is what I think of when I think of at&t.
And it will be, for a very, very long time.
I'm still using an (AT&T Wireless) LG 1150 phone that I got in Oct 2004. After the merger, Cingular wouldn't allow me to add any services to it. It would be great to be able to send a text message or photos. I'm not holding my breathe for AT&T to save me either.
I WAS AN AT&T CUSTOMER B4 IT WENT TO CINGULAR I HAD GREAT PHONE SERVICE NO BACKGROUND NOISE OR DROPPED CALLS THEN I WAS TOLD I HAD TO SWITCH TO CINGULAR SERVICE WENT DOWN HILL ALOT OF BACKGROUND NOISE LIKE WATERFALLS DROPPED CALLS AS MANY AS 5 IN 30 MIN I HOPE AT&T GIVES ME THE SAME SERVICE I HAD B4
You know, I used to be an at&t wireless customer and I was so burned by them that this announcement has be considering cancelling my account with Cingular.
Everyone hating on the at&t brand is with another carrier anyway so whats the point? Nobody chooses the carrier by name anyway. I do find the whole around in circles (at&t -> sbc -> cingular -> at&t) thing funny. Cingular has great coverage here in seattle area!
Hey everyone! I am the new face of AT&T/SBC/Cingular Wireless. Come check me out as Malibu (girl in pink) through the website link below:
http://www.attyourworld.com/moments/home.aspx?stp=1
i really dont understand all you people who got "burned" by the "old" AT&T Wireless, and want to leave Cingular since the name is changing.
1. AT&T Wireless was a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT COMPANY than the "old" AT&T (pre-sbc buyout.)since like 1998.
2. The old AT&T got completely bought out by SBC, SBC just decided to keep and rebrand as AT&T. so really the people who have always ran cingular are the ones running it now. you must not have hard feelings toward the AT&T brand as it is now.
3. Cingular is better than verizon/sprint/nextel/altell/uscellular any day, its simple, you cannot use cdma based phones but in very very very few locations, forget about world traveling.
No, but heres the thing.
Sprint, Verizon, Alltel, and US Cellular are all CDMA or D-AMPS networks.
They kill their phones (have you seen a verizon phone with a unique menu and layout?)
they trap you in a 2 year agreement, so even if you do pay the early termination fee, you now have a useles $200 LG fusic, for example. Now, if Sprint was a GSM service, i would gladly pay the 100 bucks for the fusic to be mine, so if i dont like sprints service, voice quality, whatever, i can go to Cingular, or whatever and save some money on the phone, and get decent phone service.
In the early 90s, back when AT&T was still a giant, I worked a temp job for them. I could see back then that they were very poorly managed and thought back then that they would sink into oblivion.
I recently had a bad experience with them with long distance, which give s me no confidence in their ability to serve the customer.
I know from these comments that this is only a name change thing, but has SBC figured out that the name AT&T no longer has the blue chip appeal it used to? I am about to send them a nasty note telling them I will never do business with them ever, and now my cell service (which is very good) will change their name to this pariah?
AT & T has done one thing in the last 15 or so years. Everything they have touched has turned to garbage because of their incompetent management. I have to now consider my options when it comes to who my personal and business cell carrier will be. Can someone please put the AT&T name out of its misery?
What difference does a logo or company name really make anyway? Reliability of service and fair billing are the only things that matter. Where I live, Maryland, I have used Sprint in the past and hated the lousy coverage area. I used Verizon in the past and only switched to Cingular in order to get the newer phones faster. In my experiance the Verizon service and the Cingular service all over Md. is excellent. I really noticed no difference between the two. I've never had billing problems with either company and only switched because Verizon historically had only ugly phones. Now Verizon is finally stepping up and getting innovative new phones, so to me there is not much difference between Cingular and Verizon. I have to use Nextel for work, but that train wreck is for a different topic here. Long story short - I wouldn't jump off the Cingular/ATT boat just yet. They are still going to have good phones and the service areas will no doubt remain the same. As far as billing issues go, if they screw you then dump them - same as any other company. Has anyone considered that this combination of resources may result in something better?
AT&T WHAT A JOKE!!! I had cingular for years and never a problem. I renew my contract around the same time as the cingular/att switch and have had nothing but problems. The problems went on for months then I called very upset and frustrated - after speaking to several customer service (use term loosely) reps I was told I would be charged $175 to break my contract. I specifically asked about ALL phone lines and was again told ONLY $175. I then rec'd bill for $780. What liars. I have been three months and can't get resolution. I bounce from rep to rep and surprise suprise - no manager is ever availale and I leave voice mail and do not rec call backs. I guess my next step is my lawyer. Should NOT have to resort to this.
If you are looking for cell service - Look elsewhere. If you had cingular and need to renew - DON'T look elsewhere.
I know the feeling sas being old AT&T Wireless customers we finally made the switch to the new network and had nothing but trouble in the process. The stores are royally incompetant especially they moved us over only to inform us that they cannot setup the plan that we wanted because we are not all NBI lines, WTF!?!?!?, but we found calling on weekends in the middle of the day gets you to a really friend;y seattle call center that fixed all our problems. hope that helps you good luck DIE CINGY live free AT&T