Results 1 to 15 of 19
- 12-24-2005, 11:49 AM #1Doug JohnsonGuest
I recognize this is an all too familiar story when it comes to Cingular.
However, if you aren't aware of the company's overall poor performance,
please read on:
I became a Cingular customer in January of 2005. I bought two phones, a
Sony and a Nokia. I have no complaints regarding the phones. I had a
contract with US Cellular that expired in December 2004, so I thought I'd
try something new. The "roll-over" minutes were an insentive for
switching to Cingular. My first mistake was to not do some basic research
on customer satisfaction with cellphone companies (and trust me, there is
a lot of information out there).
During the first few months I had the service, I began to notice a gradual
increase in dropped calls, rapid busy signals, and the recorded message
of: "We're sorry, but all circuits are busy". When I called customer
service in February 2005, I was told, "be patient, we are adding more
towers everyday". By April 2005, 50% of my calls were dropped calls.
Sure, I had roll-over minutes, but I couldn't use them. I again called
customer service and expressed my concerns. Once again I was assured that
if I remain patient that service would improve.
By October 2005, 70% of my calls were dropped, either shortly after the
other party answered or before. I had my phones checked and they were
found to be operating with design specifications. The straw that broke
the camel's back was the one time I needed it for a road emergency. The
phone never did connect me to AAA for roadside service. Fortunately I had
a family member who came to the rescue (who by the way had a Verizon
phone), I might have had to walk 14 miles into town. His Verizon phone
worked just fine.
When I got into town, I called Cingular customer service. The manager I
spoke with said, "You are talking with me now on the Cingular phone, I
don't know what your problem is". I told him I was going to close my
account with Cingular. He reminded me of the contract language that says
you agree to pay a termination fee. I reminded the manager that I could
contact the Better Business Bureau and the FCC.
I have since switched to Verizon. I have had only two (2) dropped calls
in the past 3 months, have never encountered a rapid busy signal, and only
one (1) call where I got the recorded message, "All circuits are busy". I
am very satisfied with Verizon.
The GSM network may be the world standard, but trust me, the US hasn't
figured out how to make it work. AT&T provided a reasonably good cellular
service. Cingular hasn't. According to Consumer Reports, Cingular is at
the bottom for customer satisfaction. After my experience, I certainly
believe that.
--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
› See More: The FCC wants to hear from you
- 12-24-2005, 03:10 PM #2CoilGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
"Doug Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote in message news[email protected]...
>
>
>
> I recognize this is an all too familiar story when it comes to Cingular.
> However, if you aren't aware of the company's overall poor performance,
> please read on:
>
Cingular is trying to build several new towers here in LV and is being blocked
by the city council and every street block assn. known to mankind.
- 12-24-2005, 03:19 PM #3Pete MGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
About a week ago, I switched from Sprint after 5-years to Cingulat, so far I
am happy with cingular service.
I live in Michigan, Sprint service regarding to drop calls was good, until
Sprint took over the Nextel. Since that time, i was getting a lot of drop
calls. In my home for somereason it's signal was fading in and out most of
the time, sometimes no signal for few second.
Customer service got very bad with a lot of waiting time on phone. It has
24/7 customer service, but recently most of the calls answers in India with
heavy Indian accents, and they are not very knowlegable about the Sprint.
One thing I must warn bout Sprint, if you change a plan or add some features
your contract will be extended.
Irenewed my Service contract on 05-17-2003 for 2-years with a free phone. On
12-15-2003 I decided to add that my Night and Weekends starts at 7.00PM, my
contract was extended to 12-17-2005 instead of 05-17-2005.
So far I foun Cingular customer service try to help and polite conterary to
Sprint customer service.
So far I am getting better signal and no drop calls at my location.
"Doug Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
>
>
>
> I recognize this is an all too familiar story when it comes to Cingular.
> However, if you aren't aware of the company's overall poor performance,
> please read on:
>
> I became a Cingular customer in January of 2005. I bought two phones, a
> Sony and a Nokia. I have no complaints regarding the phones. I had a
> contract with US Cellular that expired in December 2004, so I thought I'd
> try something new. The "roll-over" minutes were an insentive for
> switching to Cingular. My first mistake was to not do some basic research
> on customer satisfaction with cellphone companies (and trust me, there is
> a lot of information out there).
>
> During the first few months I had the service, I began to notice a gradual
> increase in dropped calls, rapid busy signals, and the recorded message
> of: "We're sorry, but all circuits are busy". When I called customer
> service in February 2005, I was told, "be patient, we are adding more
> towers everyday". By April 2005, 50% of my calls were dropped calls.
> Sure, I had roll-over minutes, but I couldn't use them. I again called
> customer service and expressed my concerns. Once again I was assured that
> if I remain patient that service would improve.
>
> By October 2005, 70% of my calls were dropped, either shortly after the
> other party answered or before. I had my phones checked and they were
> found to be operating with design specifications. The straw that broke
> the camel's back was the one time I needed it for a road emergency. The
> phone never did connect me to AAA for roadside service. Fortunately I had
> a family member who came to the rescue (who by the way had a Verizon
> phone), I might have had to walk 14 miles into town. His Verizon phone
> worked just fine.
>
> When I got into town, I called Cingular customer service. The manager I
> spoke with said, "You are talking with me now on the Cingular phone, I
> don't know what your problem is". I told him I was going to close my
> account with Cingular. He reminded me of the contract language that says
> you agree to pay a termination fee. I reminded the manager that I could
> contact the Better Business Bureau and the FCC.
>
> I have since switched to Verizon. I have had only two (2) dropped calls
> in the past 3 months, have never encountered a rapid busy signal, and only
> one (1) call where I got the recorded message, "All circuits are busy". I
> am very satisfied with Verizon.
>
> The GSM network may be the world standard, but trust me, the US hasn't
> figured out how to make it work. AT&T provided a reasonably good cellular
> service. Cingular hasn't. According to Consumer Reports, Cingular is at
> the bottom for customer satisfaction. After my experience, I certainly
> believe that.
>
>
> --
> Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
- 12-24-2005, 11:44 PM #4John NavasGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]
In <[email protected]> on Sat, 24 Dec 2005
17:49:52 GMT, "Doug Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote:
>The GSM network may be the world standard, but trust me, the US hasn't
>figured out how to make it work.
Actually it has in most areas, your unhappy experience notwithstanding.
>AT&T provided a reasonably good cellular
>service. Cingular hasn't. According to Consumer Reports, Cingular is at
>the bottom for customer satisfaction. After my experience, I certainly
>believe that.
CU (publisher of Consumer Reports) didn't distinguish between GSM and TDMA,
much less handsets with and without ENS, which makes the survey badly flawed.
--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>
- 12-25-2005, 12:16 AM #5ScottGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
"John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> CU (publisher of Consumer Reports) didn't distinguish between GSM and
> TDMA,
> much less handsets with and without ENS, which makes the survey badly
> flawed.
>
No it doesn't- no matter the network or hardware, the experience of Cingular
customers was below that of all other major carriers- the survey captured
that accurately. To make the statement you did, you mirror the attitude
that second class subscribers abound, which is already evident in the
business dealings of this company.
Stop trying to justify your less than realistic view of the cellular world.
- 12-25-2005, 12:33 AM #6AnonymousGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 05:44:59 GMT, John Navas
<[email protected]> wrote:
>CU (publisher of Consumer Reports) didn't distinguish between GSM and TDMA,
>much less handsets with and without ENS, which makes the survey badly flawed.
In other words, it probably reflects the *AVERAGE* Cingular user.
Probably a mix of GSM (some with/without ENS) and TDMA.
Sounds prety valid good to me.
It would be UNFAIR to survey only GSM with ENS users.
- 12-25-2005, 10:31 AM #7Guest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 17:49:52 GMT, "Doug Johnson"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>During the first few months I had the service, I began to notice a gradual
>increase in dropped calls, rapid busy signals, and the recorded message
>of: "We're sorry, but all circuits are busy". When I called customer
>service in February 2005, I was told, "be patient, we are adding more
>towers everyday". By April 2005, 50% of my calls were dropped calls.
>Sure, I had roll-over minutes, but I couldn't use them. I again called
>customer service and expressed my concerns. Once again I was assured that
>if I remain patient that service would improve.
They are trying, but lying at the same time.
I was at a Cingular cellsite a couple months ago, new equipment being
installed. You won't believe it, the technician that was working on
it didn't believe it either.
This particular cellsite was all Ericsson equipment, two cabinets
full. 12 radios. It was all edge stuff too.
They took out perfectly good functional Nokia Edge equipment, two
cabinets full. Same capacity. Same speed. Same capabilities.
So Cingular, at least in this area, is removing one brand to change to
another brand, using their techs to spend days doing this rather than
installing new equipment or increasing capacity. The tech said "this
is so stupid, someone must have paid someone off."
BTW, there were several truckloads of contractors there, changing out
the cell tower for a new one, about the same.
Unbelievable.
- 12-25-2005, 10:36 AM #8Stephen R. ConradGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
Doug Johnson wrote:
> I recognize this is an all too familiar story when it comes to
> Cingular. However, if you aren't aware of the company's overall poor
> performance, please read on:
I have been a Cingular customer four four years with two separate
accounts, one is a family share plan. I migrated from a gait account to
GSM about 18 months ago. I have minimal complaints about the coverage in
NE Ohio and all my many encounters with customer service have been very
positive. I find that being respectful and polite with CS gets much
better results than does being pugnacious.
Stephen R. Conrad
- 12-25-2005, 10:41 AM #9John NavasGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]
In <[email protected]> on Sun, 25 Dec 2005 16:31:35
GMT, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 17:49:52 GMT, "Doug Johnson"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>During the first few months I had the service, I began to notice a gradual
>>increase in dropped calls, rapid busy signals, and the recorded message
>>of: "We're sorry, but all circuits are busy". When I called customer
>>service in February 2005, I was told, "be patient, we are adding more
>>towers everyday". By April 2005, 50% of my calls were dropped calls.
>>Sure, I had roll-over minutes, but I couldn't use them. I again called
>>customer service and expressed my concerns. Once again I was assured that
>>if I remain patient that service would improve.
>
>They are trying, but lying at the same time.
>I was at a Cingular cellsite a couple months ago, new equipment being
>installed. You won't believe it, the technician that was working on
>it didn't believe it either.
>
>This particular cellsite was all Ericsson equipment, two cabinets
>full. 12 radios. It was all edge stuff too.
>
>They took out perfectly good functional Nokia Edge equipment, two
>cabinets full. Same capacity. Same speed. Same capabilities.
>
>So Cingular, at least in this area, is removing one brand to change to
>another brand, using their techs to spend days doing this rather than
>installing new equipment or increasing capacity. The tech said "this
>is so stupid, someone must have paid someone off."
>
>BTW, there were several truckloads of contractors there, changing out
>the cell tower for a new one, about the same.
>
>Unbelievable.
It's never that simple -- decisions on hardware are affected not just by what
works now, but support, maintainability, stability, upgradability,
infrastructure integration, and a host of other factors. In particular, this
may be related to aggressive upgrade to HSDPA, for which Ericsson and Lucent
have been selected, and to IMS.
--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>
- 12-25-2005, 02:17 PM #10Guest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 16:41:09 GMT, John Navas
<[email protected]> wrote:
>"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>So Cingular, at least in this area, is removing one brand to change to
>>another brand, using their techs to spend days doing this rather than
>>installing new equipment or increasing capacity. The tech said "this
>>is so stupid, someone must have paid someone off."
>>
>>BTW, there were several truckloads of contractors there, changing out
>>the cell tower for a new one, about the same.
>>
>>Unbelievable.
>
>It's never that simple -- decisions on hardware are affected not just by what
>works now, but support, maintainability, stability, upgradability,
>infrastructure integration, and a host of other factors. In particular, this
>may be related to aggressive upgrade to HSDPA, for which Ericsson and Lucent
>have been selected, and to IMS.
Uh, yeah.
John Navas, Cingular apologist. John, they are a big company, they
don't need anyone to apologize for them.
I can't think of a valid reason to devote company resources to
changing out one type of equipment for another unless you just have
nothing else to do or resources are unlimited. Unless the lease was
up, and there was a decision to be made. That could be a valid
reason.
Maybe the Ericsson equipment is actually better, and it may be. But
the resources expended to change it out could have been used to fix
dead spots, expand capacity, etc. Nope. They apparently have
different priorities, at least in Southern California.
Anyway, I don't care. I am not currently a Cingular customer. But I am
sharing that with the world as verbatim information gleaned directly.
I saw this happening with my own eyes, and I got the opinions of the
technician who was there doing the work. Firsthand. Not hearsay as
far as I am concerned.
It may still be hearsay as far as you are but I have no axe to grind,
I don't pay Cingular a cent and have no interest in their system
performance.
- 12-28-2005, 04:58 AM #11Bill KearneyGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> Anyway, I don't care. I am not currently a Cingular customer.
So why are you posting in a cingular newsgroup?
- 12-28-2005, 09:05 AM #12Originally Posted by Bill Kearney
- 12-28-2005, 11:46 AM #13Guest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 05:58:18 -0500, "Bill Kearney"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> Anyway, I don't care. I am not currently a Cingular customer.
>
>So why are you posting in a cingular newsgroup?
I read it because there is good information on GSM phones. I have
some issues with my V3, and there is a lot of knowledge shared here.
I posted that piece because it was firsthand knowledge I saw with my
own eyes. It concerned Cingular, I was standing there in a parking
lot talking to a Cingular employee. Where would you share such
information if you had it?
Remember the purpose of USENET? "Share what you know, ask what you
don't."
- 01-02-2006, 09:28 AM #14eatorangesGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
[email protected] Wrote:
> On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 17:49:52 GMT, "Doug Johnson"
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> During the first few months I had the service, I began to notice a
> gradual
> increase in dropped calls, rapid busy signals, and the recorded
> message
> of: "We're sorry, but all circuits are busy". When I called customer
> service in February 2005, I was told, "be patient, we are adding more
> towers everyday". By April 2005, 50% of my calls were dropped calls.
> Sure, I had roll-over minutes, but I couldn't use them. I again
> called
> customer service and expressed my concerns. Once again I was assured
> that
> if I remain patient that service would improve.
>
> They are trying, but lying at the same time.
> I was at a Cingular cellsite a couple months ago, new equipment being
> installed. You won't believe it, the technician that was working on
> it didn't believe it either.
>
> This particular cellsite was all Ericsson equipment, two cabinets
> full. 12 radios. It was all edge stuff too.
>
> They took out perfectly good functional Nokia Edge equipment, two
> cabinets full. Same capacity. Same speed. Same capabilities.
>
> So Cingular, at least in this area, is removing one brand to change to
> another brand, using their techs to spend days doing this rather than
> installing new equipment or increasing capacity. The tech said "this
> is so stupid, someone must have paid someone off."
>
> BTW, there were several truckloads of contractors there, changing out
> the cell tower for a new one, about the same.
>
> Unbelievable.
I love the "be patient" line.
cingular is turning off towers in my state, TDMA which the old Blue
customers loved. Why? coverage? no.. by turning off the towers
customers are forced in to buying orange.. that won't work with the
promise.. oh we'll build a tower <grin>.
so it is cheaper for Cingualar to replace equipment or just turn off
the tower/radios. forcing customers to "orange contracts on GSM". it is
no secret.
The integration of GSM blue sims to GSM orange sims is the issue. They
can not see each others towers without dropping the call, meaing no
handoff which causes the "dropped call".
network congestion is caused by the company not wanting to invest in
more channels and real issue is spectrum.. they don't have any.
so what do you get when you take the number 2 company and the number 3
company and merge them together? number 5. Each had the lowest customer
service scores before the merger. Now it is worst, internally they have
no idea after a year of how to make the networks see each other.
i have 2 suggestions.. for price go tmobile, they are GSM and rated
number 1 by J.D.Power in business class customer service in 2004 and
2005
the other suggestion, get the best network which is Verizon.
--
eatoranges
- 01-03-2006, 07:08 AM #15Bob FryGuest
Re: The FCC wants to hear from you
I've had Cingular since 1999, and started with GSM. I've never had
significant problems, and when I did have some glitch to get
straightened out it always was. My wife and I got on a family plan
they offered for a few months in 2000, we both have phones on a single
shared bill for only $30/month. Sure, we also get only 100 any-time
minutes per month, no rollover, but we're not teenagers that gab all
day on the phones.
I just got back from Mexico City and it was great to have my same
phone work down there. GSM is fine.
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