Cingular haters...

JFH wrote:
> Yesterday I was reading comments on a poll taken by Cnet about the new
> iPhone. Many of the respondants to the poll made comments along the line of
> "I will never own an iPhone if it's only available through Cingular" and
> other slurs, actual and implied, against Cingular.
>
> I've been with Cingular for about ten years and except for their misleading
> advertisements about how great their coverage is, I haven't had any real
> problems with them.

The crux of the problem is their misleading advertisements about how
great their coverage is. Every independent survey has contradicted their
claims, and even the survey company that they paid to do the "fewest
dropped calls" survey disputed the conclusion that Cingular claimed.
Some people that came from the former AT&T Wireless are upset that they
lost their sweetheart rate plans when they had to switch to GSM.

In terms of the iPhone, the disappointment is obviously the painfully
slow data speed over EDGE. However you can't really blame Cingular for
Apple's decision to go with 2G rather than 3G _unless_ the reason they
decided to not go with HSDPA was because the HSDPA network is not yet
fully deployed across the U.S. and they were worried about complaints
from buyers that expected 3G but that were not in a 3G area.

In a couple of years, the GSM network will have caught up with the CDMA
network, in both voice and data, and the newer revs of the iPhone will
support the 3G network, and you'll see a lot less complaints.

In the meantime, for those of us that need a phone that works in as many
places as possible, including in rural areas, Cingular just isn't a
viable option as a carrier.

I'm disappointed that the iPhone can't be used with a prepaid SIM when
traveling outside the U.S., but hopefully this limitation will be
short-lived.



[Copied to alt.cellular.attws. Please post all alt.cellular.cingular
non-spam posts to alt.cellular.attws as well. The Cingular name has gone
away, and alt.cellular.attws is the proper venue for posts regarding
AT&T's Wireless Service.]

---

› See More: Cingular haters...

SMS said it good. I couldn't have said it better! Cingular really should
drop the TV ads about the dropped calls. Cingular has a large number of
dropped calls and their claim has never been substantiated. Actually,
Verizon has the fewest dropped calls and could possibly sue Cingular for
stealing their thunder with a false claim.


"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> JFH wrote:
>> Yesterday I was reading comments on a poll taken by Cnet about the new
>> iPhone. Many of the respondants to the poll made comments along the line
>> of "I will never own an iPhone if it's only available through Cingular"
>> and other slurs, actual and implied, against Cingular.
>>
>> I've been with Cingular for about ten years and except for their
>> misleading advertisements about how great their coverage is, I haven't
>> had any real problems with them.
>
> The crux of the problem is their misleading advertisements about how great
> their coverage is. Every independent survey has contradicted their claims,
> and even the survey company that they paid to do the "fewest dropped
> calls" survey disputed the conclusion that Cingular claimed. Some people
> that came from the former AT&T Wireless are upset that they lost their
> sweetheart rate plans when they had to switch to GSM.
>
> In terms of the iPhone, the disappointment is obviously the painfully slow
> data speed over EDGE. However you can't really blame Cingular for Apple's
> decision to go with 2G rather than 3G _unless_ the reason they decided to
> not go with HSDPA was because the HSDPA network is not yet fully deployed
> across the U.S. and they were worried about complaints from buyers that
> expected 3G but that were not in a 3G area.
>
> In a couple of years, the GSM network will have caught up with the CDMA
> network, in both voice and data, and the newer revs of the iPhone will
> support the 3G network, and you'll see a lot less complaints.
>
> In the meantime, for those of us that need a phone that works in as many
> places as possible, including in rural areas, Cingular just isn't a viable
> option as a carrier.
>
> I'm disappointed that the iPhone can't be used with a prepaid SIM when
> traveling outside the U.S., but hopefully this limitation will be
> short-lived.
>
>
>
> [Copied to alt.cellular.attws. Please post all alt.cellular.cingular
> non-spam posts to alt.cellular.attws as well. The Cingular name has gone
> away, and alt.cellular.attws is the proper venue for posts regarding
> AT&T's Wireless Service.]

Jim Dubya wrote:
> SMS said it good. I couldn't have said it better! Cingular really should
> drop the TV ads about the dropped calls. Cingular has a large number of
> dropped calls and their claim has never been substantiated. Actually,
> Verizon has the fewest dropped calls and could possibly sue Cingular for
> stealing their thunder with a false claim.

It's actually Sprint and Cingular that are suing each other; Sprint over
the fewest dropped call claim, and Cingular over Sprint's "Most Powerful
Network" claim. I think Verizon just laughs all the way to the bank, as
they have far more net additions and far less churn than AT&T, and have
regained the lead in the most subscribers (AT&T has more network users
by virtue of their MVNO reseller agreements, but Verizon has more
subscribers than AT&T has subscribers).

I like the iPhone, a good portable web browser for Wi-Fi would be nice
to have. I don't really care about the iPod part of it, and the phone
part would appeal to me if I could use a prepaid SIM when traveling. I
could live with GSM coverage most of the time, and use a prepaid phone
on CDMA/AMPS for the times I go out of the urban areas. I had a good
opportunity last week on vacation to compare the GSM and CDMA coverage
when I was at two national parks/monuments, as well as out of the urban
area. I had CDMA or AMPS coverage just about everywhere, but the GSM
coverage sucked big time.

When the next version of the iPhone, with HSDPA comes out, I might
consider switching to AT&T. By that time they'll have improved their
network sufficiently that it'll be easier to live with it.