ATT allowing connection into Cingular?

Today couple of my friends who are ATTWS
customers in SF bay area, reported that now
they are able to connect using Cingular.
They are local to SF Bay area and before
today (?) they could not use Cingular.

I am on Cingular but as always I am not
able to connect to ATTWS.

Any one else noticed this?

-akm

---

› See More: ATT allowing connection into Cingular?

CIngular and AT&T have been roaming partners for a while now, but would only use each other network only when really nessasary. Everytime a Cingular or an AT&T customer use another carrier cell site. It cost the company money that they have to pay out for the usage. AT&T and Cingular have quitely already ready begun opening up each others cell sites to each other in certian markets to improve coverage and to help prevent customers that may be touted to leave by other carrrier claming that thier will be utter chaos with the merger. This will improve service, not just in areas that they have low coverage. Mostly customer with both carriers will begin to see the coverage locally and Nationally change over the next few months.

"AKM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Today couple of my friends who are ATTWS
> customers in SF bay area, reported that now
> they are able to connect using Cingular.
> They are local to SF Bay area and before
> today (?) they could not use Cingular.
>
> I am on Cingular but as always I am not
> able to connect to ATTWS.
>
> Any one else noticed this?
>
> -akm

Are you sure it just started today, or did they just get 'cingular' on their
handset today? There's a huge difference. I travel all over the U.S. Long
before Cingular considered placing a bid for ATT, I would know that I was ON
ATT (with my cingular handset) as the handset would display "cingular
extend" rather than just "cingular". Oh, and if I dialed 611 while my
cingular handset said "cingular extend", I'd get an ATT recording. I never
got hit with roaming charges for using ATT's towers with a cingular handset.

I guess my point is, why would ATT allow Cingular customers to place calls
(since LONG before the merger), but not the other way around? I very much
doubt if your friends on ATT got access to Cingular TODAY. So probably one
of two things happened:

1) Your friends always had access to cingular where available, but some new
cingular towers went live in their area recently, so now they have more
coverage, and (coincidentally) that extra coverage is cingular OR

2) Maybe ATT changed their firmware to reflect 'cingular' (which makes
sense as ATT is now Cingular!) instead of 'roaming' or 'ATT extend' or
whatever the ATT handset would display while on a cingular tower. Thus,
your friends are now AWARE that the towers they've been using are cingular.

My best guesses, anyway. -Dave

I just forced a manual selection of Cingular with my ATT GSM phone in
Detroit. It worked. ATT covers Detroit and I've never had access to the
Cingular network on GSM before. Back on TDMA, Cingular and ATT had some
backup coverage agreements in Detroit.

I'll let you know at the end of the month whether this gets billed as a
roaming call.

Stu


"Dave C." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "AKM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Today couple of my friends who are ATTWS
> > customers in SF bay area, reported that now
> > they are able to connect using Cingular.
> > They are local to SF Bay area and before
> > today (?) they could not use Cingular.
> >
> > I am on Cingular but as always I am not
> > able to connect to ATTWS.
> >
> > Any one else noticed this?
> >
> > -akm
>
> Are you sure it just started today, or did they just get 'cingular' on
their
> handset today? There's a huge difference. I travel all over the U.S.
Long
> before Cingular considered placing a bid for ATT, I would know that I was
ON
> ATT (with my cingular handset) as the handset would display "cingular
> extend" rather than just "cingular". Oh, and if I dialed 611 while my
> cingular handset said "cingular extend", I'd get an ATT recording. I
never
> got hit with roaming charges for using ATT's towers with a cingular
handset.
>
> I guess my point is, why would ATT allow Cingular customers to place calls
> (since LONG before the merger), but not the other way around? I very much
> doubt if your friends on ATT got access to Cingular TODAY. So probably
one
> of two things happened:
>
> 1) Your friends always had access to cingular where available, but some
new
> cingular towers went live in their area recently, so now they have more
> coverage, and (coincidentally) that extra coverage is cingular OR
>
> 2) Maybe ATT changed their firmware to reflect 'cingular' (which makes
> sense as ATT is now Cingular!) instead of 'roaming' or 'ATT extend' or
> whatever the ATT handset would display while on a cingular tower. Thus,
> your friends are now AWARE that the towers they've been using are
cingular.
>
> My best guesses, anyway. -Dave
>
>

It's been happening to me here in Philly for the past week. Sometimes my
phone says Cingular. ATTWS is now sharing towers here in the Philly area.


"Dave C." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "AKM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Today couple of my friends who are ATTWS
> > customers in SF bay area, reported that now
> > they are able to connect using Cingular.
> > They are local to SF Bay area and before
> > today (?) they could not use Cingular.
> >
> > I am on Cingular but as always I am not
> > able to connect to ATTWS.
> >
> > Any one else noticed this?
> >
> > -akm
>
> Are you sure it just started today, or did they just get 'cingular' on
their
> handset today? There's a huge difference. I travel all over the U.S.
Long
> before Cingular considered placing a bid for ATT, I would know that I was
ON
> ATT (with my cingular handset) as the handset would display "cingular
> extend" rather than just "cingular". Oh, and if I dialed 611 while my
> cingular handset said "cingular extend", I'd get an ATT recording. I
never
> got hit with roaming charges for using ATT's towers with a cingular
handset.
>
> I guess my point is, why would ATT allow Cingular customers to place calls
> (since LONG before the merger), but not the other way around? I very much
> doubt if your friends on ATT got access to Cingular TODAY. So probably
one
> of two things happened:
>
> 1) Your friends always had access to cingular where available, but some
new
> cingular towers went live in their area recently, so now they have more
> coverage, and (coincidentally) that extra coverage is cingular OR
>
> 2) Maybe ATT changed their firmware to reflect 'cingular' (which makes
> sense as ATT is now Cingular!) instead of 'roaming' or 'ATT extend' or
> whatever the ATT handset would display while on a cingular tower. Thus,
> your friends are now AWARE that the towers they've been using are
cingular.
>
> My best guesses, anyway. -Dave
>
>

[email protected] (AKM) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Today couple of my friends who are ATTWS
> customers in SF bay area, reported that now
> they are able to connect using Cingular.
> They are local to SF Bay area and before
> today (?) they could not use Cingular.
>
> I am on Cingular but as always I am not
> able to connect to ATTWS.
>
> Any one else noticed this?
>
> -akm

The GSM MAP is quite promptly & elegantly malleable in its controls
over network selection. GSM network-side roaming administration is
largely transparent to the mobile. Via relatively simple updates
pushed down through the network, Location Areas may be added or
subtracted at will from various roaming agreements. In a nutshell,
each GSM network is intelligently informed about whom (i.e. which
other carriers' roamers) may roam where (i.e. in which Location
Areas). Thus, Cingular & AT&TWS could begin - and apparently have
begun - almost immediately to open their respective GSM networks -
for manual network selection at the very least - to all subs of both
carriers w/o requiring any handset intervention. On the other hand,
the integration of two merged IS-41 networks (e.g. CDMA, TDMA, AMPS) -
as will be the case w/ the merged Cingular-AT&TWS TDMA/AMPS footprints
- requires SID transitions &/or dissemination of an entirely new PRL -
the latter most certainly requiring handset intervention for each
affected sub.

Andrew
--
Andrew Shepherd
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://www.ku.edu/home/cinema/

>> Today couple of my friends who are ATTWS
>> customers in SF bay area, reported that now
>> they are able to connect using Cingular.

And as a Cingular customer, I recently used AT&T in northern Indiana.

(I also had to reinitialize my voicemail last night.)

--kyler

"Stuart Friedman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I just forced a manual selection of Cingular with my ATT GSM phone in
> Detroit. It worked. ATT covers Detroit and I've never had access to the
> Cingular network on GSM before. Back on TDMA, Cingular and ATT had some
> backup coverage agreements in Detroit.
>
> I'll let you know at the end of the month whether this gets billed as a
> roaming call.
>
> Stu

It shouldn't, as the opposite wouldn't happen. That is, if you forced your
cingular handset to use ATT, cingular wouldn't charge you for roaming (on
the nation plan, anyway)

But again, I fail to see how this could possibly be a new development, as
cingular/att have had a cooperative agreement since long before the merger
was even considered. -Dave

"ben skversky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> It's been happening to me here in Philly for the past week. Sometimes my
> phone says Cingular. ATTWS is now sharing towers here in the Philly area.
>

Hasn't it always been that way, though? It doesn't make sense, logically,
that ATT would allow cingular users to use their towers, but not the other
way around. I was using ATT with a cingular handset long before the merger
was considered. -Dave

I never had Cingular coverage in the Detroit market before on GSM. On TDMA,
there was a similar arrangement. This makes me happy because ATT has
virtually no coverage at the University of Michigan and Cingular has pretty
good coverage there.

Stu

"Dave C." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Stuart Friedman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I just forced a manual selection of Cingular with my ATT GSM phone in
> > Detroit. It worked. ATT covers Detroit and I've never had access to the
> > Cingular network on GSM before. Back on TDMA, Cingular and ATT had some
> > backup coverage agreements in Detroit.
> >
> > I'll let you know at the end of the month whether this gets billed as a
> > roaming call.
> >
> > Stu
>
> It shouldn't, as the opposite wouldn't happen. That is, if you forced
your
> cingular handset to use ATT, cingular wouldn't charge you for roaming (on
> the nation plan, anyway)
>
> But again, I fail to see how this could possibly be a new development, as
> cingular/att have had a cooperative agreement since long before the merger
> was even considered. -Dave
>
>

confirmed with customer service, for customers with certain plans,
now we are on "expanded home area". it basically covers the central
california for the bay area customer. we can use cingular network
without roaming charges. this means better signal in my office and in
my apartment. please confirm that your plan has this feature with attws.

AKM wrote:
> Today couple of my friends who are ATTWS
> customers in SF bay area, reported that now
> they are able to connect using Cingular.
> They are local to SF Bay area and before
> today (?) they could not use Cingular.
>
> I am on Cingular but as always I am not
> able to connect to ATTWS.
>
> Any one else noticed this?
>
> -akm

"AKM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Today couple of my friends who are ATTWS
> customers in SF bay area, reported that now
> they are able to connect using Cingular.
> They are local to SF Bay area and before
> today (?) they could not use Cingular.
>
> I am on Cingular but as always I am not
> able to connect to ATTWS.
>
> Any one else noticed this?
>
> -akm

Back in the fall of last year, AT&T Wireless instituted Best in
Class service. With this service in certain markets, if AT&T has
a weak signal, AT&T will let you roam on Cingular or T-Mobile
without roaming charges. This has nothing to do with the
unaccomplished merger. AT&T had that in North and South Carolina
for a long while. Although you might be on Cingular towers, the
phone might still show AT&T Wireless.

--
Earl F. Parrish

"Dave C." wrote:
>
> It shouldn't, as the opposite wouldn't happen. That is, if you forced your
> cingular handset to use ATT, cingular wouldn't charge you for roaming (on
> the nation plan, anyway)
>
> But again, I fail to see how this could possibly be a new development, as
> cingular/att have had a cooperative agreement since long before the merger
> was even considered. -Dave

While the two companies have had a reciprocal roaming agreement for some
time, they didn't offer the same level of service to their respective
customers. While Cingular customers have always (well, for a long time
anyway) been able to roam on all (or most) of ATTWS' system for free,
ATTWS has charged its customers to roam on Cingular's (and anyone
else's) network unless they had subscribed to a Digital One Rate plan.

A roaming agreement between two companies does not guarantee that one
company will include the other company's network into their preferred
provider plan for no extra charge, and while Cingular has opted to do
so, ATTWS has not (until now apparently).

In general, ATTWS' nation plans have been pure on-network plans for a
while and didn't offer any free off-network roaming whatsoever. This
has been true for both the Digital Nation and the Next Generation Nation
plans. I hear that ATTWS will start offering new nation plans with free
roaming on preferred partner networks starting 04/18/04 (see
http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.as...ance&industry=).

>
> While the two companies have had a reciprocal roaming agreement for some
> time, they didn't offer the same level of service to their respective
> customers. While Cingular customers have always (well, for a long time
> anyway) been able to roam on all (or most) of ATTWS' system for free,
> ATTWS has charged its customers to roam on Cingular's (and anyone
> else's) network unless they had subscribed to a Digital One Rate plan.

Awww . . . that explains my confusion. So it seems some ATT customers did
get more coverage recently, but Cingular customers always had the expanded
coverage. -Dave

Kyler Laird wrote:

>>> Today couple of my friends who are ATTWS
>>> customers in SF bay area, reported that now
>>> they are able to connect using Cingular.
>
> And as a Cingular customer, I recently used AT&T in northern Indiana.
>

Likewise in Maui, HI with my 8390.