Adios! Cingular . . .

I was one of AT&T Wireless' first customers in Philadelphia. I bit the
bullet and tried to ride out the storm when Cingular started tightening the
noose by cutting back on service to TDMA customers, but it finally got to be
unbearable.

Turn on the phone, no service for several minutes, while it searched in
vain. Then it came up as "Roam," and finally displayed "Cingular."

Travel outside my home area, and my phone would automatically shut off. I'd
turn it back on, and it might remain on for 10 minutes, then shut right down
again. As soon as I crossed back into my home area, the problem would
disappear. When I called Cingular Customer Service, the moron said that she
would have a technician check their towers in New Jersey for problems.
Yeah, right. Like Cingular has no service north of Princeton, whenever I
just happen to drive in that direction . . .

Last week I happened to call my long distance provider to make some changes
to my line configuration at my business. The Sprint rep told me that I was
preapproved for up to 6 phones, with no deposit and no activation charge,
and all the phones would be free. I took three lines.

UPS delivered them yesterday. Got five bars of signal strength. Excellent
sound quality. No dropped calls all day today. I rarely travel very far,
so roaming quality is not critical for me, as opposed to local service. Got
free M2M, 7 PM N/W.

We ported my wife's old ATTWS/Cingular number over to one of the new Sprint
lines today. Went smooth as silk. Port took about an hour to complete,
with no hassles at all.

I'm paying $10.00 less to Sprint than I did to Cingular, I have better
service, and Sprint has an excellent web site, where I can manage the
account--better than the cone Cingular has.

My wireless requirements are very simple. No need for data or internet
access or the ability to watch soap operas on my 1.5-inch screen. All I
want to do is to make an occasional call, and for the call to go through
without problems. All I got, since Cingular took over operation of the
ATTWS towers last year, were problems. And whenever I called Customer
Service, all they wanted me to do was to migrate over to a more expensive
Cingular plan. I dug in, out of sheer spite. I was not about to reward
Cingular by giving them more revenue and another two-year term agreement, in
view of their poor performance.

Tomorrow I'm going to call them and cancel the account. I don't expect to
be looking back. What amazes me is the way that Cingular seemed to go out
of their way to arm-twist former ATTWS customers, instead of taking their
cue from Sprint, by trying to EARN their business. It is ironic that a new
carrier would offer me free phones, waive the activation fees, and charge me
less per month than my present carrier would.

So long, Cingular. **** off!

--
Newsgroups are the trailer parks of the internet and are best ignored.
Regular posters often just have mud-slinging contests to show how much
smarter they are by calling the other guys idiots.

---

› See More: Adios! Cingular . . .

Dude,

As soon as you ported you canceled your account, also Cingular is NOT
for everyone, and I went from them to Nextel/Cingular and GOT nothing
but LIES LIES LIES, and I went back to cingular and am very very happy.

The sales rep who sold me my phones the D357's had a shock when I
stopped in and said I was returning them and when asked why I explained.

I just got off the phone with the Regional Corporate Manager who asked
me to stay with Cingular and NOT return the phones, I said sorry I was
lied too on more than one occasion and I am retuning the phones and
going on a month to month contract based on the older contract which is
a very sweet LOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW amount.

I sincerely wish you the best, BUT BEWARE of Billing scams and the
usual Yes Mr Smith that will be on the next bill dont you worry.

Michael

Jeremy wrote:
> I was one of AT&T Wireless' first customers in Philadelphia. I bit the
> bullet and tried to ride out the storm when Cingular started tightening the
> noose by cutting back on service to TDMA customers, but it finally got to be
> unbearable.
>
> Turn on the phone, no service for several minutes, while it searched in
> vain. Then it came up as "Roam," and finally displayed "Cingular."
>
> Travel outside my home area, and my phone would automatically shut off. I'd
> turn it back on, and it might remain on for 10 minutes, then shut right down
> again. As soon as I crossed back into my home area, the problem would
> disappear. When I called Cingular Customer Service, the moron said that she
> would have a technician check their towers in New Jersey for problems.
> Yeah, right. Like Cingular has no service north of Princeton, whenever I
> just happen to drive in that direction . . .
>
> Last week I happened to call my long distance provider to make some changes
> to my line configuration at my business. The Sprint rep told me that I was
> preapproved for up to 6 phones, with no deposit and no activation charge,
> and all the phones would be free. I took three lines.
>
> UPS delivered them yesterday. Got five bars of signal strength. Excellent
> sound quality. No dropped calls all day today. I rarely travel very far,
> so roaming quality is not critical for me, as opposed to local service. Got
> free M2M, 7 PM N/W.
>
> We ported my wife's old ATTWS/Cingular number over to one of the new Sprint
> lines today. Went smooth as silk. Port took about an hour to complete,
> with no hassles at all.
>
> I'm paying $10.00 less to Sprint than I did to Cingular, I have better
> service, and Sprint has an excellent web site, where I can manage the
> account--better than the cone Cingular has.
>
> My wireless requirements are very simple. No need for data or internet
> access or the ability to watch soap operas on my 1.5-inch screen. All I
> want to do is to make an occasional call, and for the call to go through
> without problems. All I got, since Cingular took over operation of the
> ATTWS towers last year, were problems. And whenever I called Customer
> Service, all they wanted me to do was to migrate over to a more expensive
> Cingular plan. I dug in, out of sheer spite. I was not about to reward
> Cingular by giving them more revenue and another two-year term agreement, in
> view of their poor performance.
>
> Tomorrow I'm going to call them and cancel the account. I don't expect to
> be looking back. What amazes me is the way that Cingular seemed to go out
> of their way to arm-twist former ATTWS customers, instead of taking their
> cue from Sprint, by trying to EARN their business. It is ironic that a new
> carrier would offer me free phones, waive the activation fees, and charge me
> less per month than my present carrier would.
>
> So long, Cingular. **** off!
>

Just becareful with SprintPCS/Nextel. I was with Sprint for 5-years before I
switching from Sprint to Cingular. I get almost no Droped calls and no rude
customer service yet.

"Jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:0jwGf.10158$Gg1.6087@trnddc03...
>I was one of AT&T Wireless' first customers in Philadelphia. I bit the
>bullet and tried to ride out the storm when Cingular started tightening the
>noose by cutting back on service to TDMA customers, but it finally got to
>be unbearable.
>
> Turn on the phone, no service for several minutes, while it searched in
> vain. Then it came up as "Roam," and finally displayed "Cingular."
>
> Travel outside my home area, and my phone would automatically shut off.
> I'd turn it back on, and it might remain on for 10 minutes, then shut
> right down again. As soon as I crossed back into my home area, the
> problem would disappear. When I called Cingular Customer Service, the
> moron said that she would have a technician check their towers in New
> Jersey for problems. Yeah, right. Like Cingular has no service north of
> Princeton, whenever I just happen to drive in that direction . . .
>
> Last week I happened to call my long distance provider to make some
> changes to my line configuration at my business. The Sprint rep told me
> that I was preapproved for up to 6 phones, with no deposit and no
> activation charge, and all the phones would be free. I took three lines.
>
> UPS delivered them yesterday. Got five bars of signal strength.
> Excellent sound quality. No dropped calls all day today. I rarely travel
> very far, so roaming quality is not critical for me, as opposed to local
> service. Got free M2M, 7 PM N/W.
>
> We ported my wife's old ATTWS/Cingular number over to one of the new
> Sprint lines today. Went smooth as silk. Port took about an hour to
> complete, with no hassles at all.
>
> I'm paying $10.00 less to Sprint than I did to Cingular, I have better
> service, and Sprint has an excellent web site, where I can manage the
> account--better than the cone Cingular has.
>
> My wireless requirements are very simple. No need for data or internet
> access or the ability to watch soap operas on my 1.5-inch screen. All I
> want to do is to make an occasional call, and for the call to go through
> without problems. All I got, since Cingular took over operation of the
> ATTWS towers last year, were problems. And whenever I called Customer
> Service, all they wanted me to do was to migrate over to a more expensive
> Cingular plan. I dug in, out of sheer spite. I was not about to reward
> Cingular by giving them more revenue and another two-year term agreement,
> in view of their poor performance.
>
> Tomorrow I'm going to call them and cancel the account. I don't expect to
> be looking back. What amazes me is the way that Cingular seemed to go out
> of their way to arm-twist former ATTWS customers, instead of taking their
> cue from Sprint, by trying to EARN their business. It is ironic that a
> new carrier would offer me free phones, waive the activation fees, and
> charge me less per month than my present carrier would.
>
> So long, Cingular. **** off!
>
> --
> Newsgroups are the trailer parks of the internet and are best ignored.
> Regular posters often just have mud-slinging contests to show how much
> smarter they are by calling the other guys idiots.
>

"Pete M" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Just becareful with SprintPCS/Nextel. I was with Sprint for 5-years before
> I switching from Sprint to Cingular. I get almost no Droped calls and no
> rude customer service yet.
>

No carrier is perfect. But my needs are simple, and I was quite happy with
ATTWS. Cingular ruined everything. I believe that their slowly reducing
the TDMA service is no accident. Numerous posters have been complaining
about it, all across the country.

For me, the service became unbearable. I just HAD to leave (or migrate to a
more expensive plan and buy new phones and accessories). I've been a Sprint
long distance customer for years, and they have always treated be with
fairness and competence. Let's hope that this will be the case with the PCS
division as well.

It couldn't be any worse than what I gave up . . .

"Your Name Here" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Dude,
>
> As soon as you ported you canceled your account

I had three lines. We ported one Cingular number. The other two phones
still work. Not that it matters--I'll just call them and tell them we're
parting company. I'm long out-of-contract.

They won't miss me, and the world won't stop turning because we went our
separate ways, either.

But it seems so very stupid, in my view, for Cingular to be so cavalier
about their ATTWS TDMA customers. I was with ATTWS for YEARS--and I gave
them a steady cash flow each month. One would think that Cingular would
want to retain good customers, rather than tighten the noose around their
necks to coerce them into signing up for more expensive plans.

It appears to me that, while Cingular may be abiding by their promise to
honor the old ATTWS contracts, they are deliberately withdrawing service,
making their customers endure dropped calls and periods of no service
availability, in an attempt to squeeze them.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but how else can one explain how the service was fine
when ATTWS had it, and then became virtually unusable once Cingular took
over? I am one of those people that dislikes being coerced and manipulated,
and I won't reward Cingular by favoring them with my continued business. As
I said, the world won't stop turning because of this, but I will get some
little bit of gratification from the knowledge that none of MY money has
trickled onto THEIR bottom line.

Some may think this to be rather juvenile, but that is the only recourse
that the customer has. If enough of us vote with our pocketbooks, the
fatcats would be less contemptuous of us.

So, "ADIOS!" to Cingular, and I do hope that their senior management one day
realizes the error of some of their ways. I won't be looking back. Time
to move on.

Jeremy wrote:

> But it seems so very stupid, in my view, for Cingular to be so cavalier
> about their ATTWS TDMA customers. I was with ATTWS for YEARS--and I gave
> them a steady cash flow each month. One would think that Cingular would
> want to retain good customers, rather than tighten the noose around their
> necks to coerce them into signing up for more expensive plans.

I would not think that. One of the key metrics that a carrier wants to
improve is ARPU. Taking a one-time hit on churn, in order to get rid of
subscribers that are impacting ARPU every quarter, is obviously worth it
to them. Since most people willingly sign up for the more expensive GSM
plan, they have to be willing to let some customers go since everyone
would find out if they offered a sweet deal to subscribers that complained.

> It appears to me that, while Cingular may be abiding by their promise to
> honor the old ATTWS contracts, they are deliberately withdrawing service,
> making their customers endure dropped calls and periods of no service
> availability, in an attempt to squeeze them.

This is true, at least for TDMA.

> Some may think this to be rather juvenile, but that is the only recourse
> that the customer has. If enough of us vote with our pocketbooks, the
> fatcats would be less contemptuous of us.

If you look at Cingular's very poor 4th quarter 2005 results, you'll see
that many people are voting with their wallets.

> So, "ADIOS!" to Cingular, and I do hope that their senior management one day
> realizes the error of some of their ways.

In the view of senior management, it isn't good business to offer sweet
deals to AT&T subscribers converting to Cingular GSM. Some subscribers
will leave, but most will simply pay the higher prices. Losing 100
$30/month customers, but being able to increase the prices by $10 for
900 other $30/month customers results in more revenue, but less
customers. It's a no-brainer. Cingular appears to not really care that
much about raw subscriber numbers, they want high-ARPU subscribers.

One thing that everyone seems to forget or ignore is that before any of this
Cingular business started AWS had begun switching from TDMA to GSM. The
same situation would probably still be here if Cingular had never come on
the scene.

Fred

"Jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:s9xGf.10571$In4.3724@trnddc06...
>
> "Pete M" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>> Just becareful with SprintPCS/Nextel. I was with Sprint for 5-years
>> before I switching from Sprint to Cingular. I get almost no Droped calls
>> and no rude customer service yet.
>>
>
> No carrier is perfect. But my needs are simple, and I was quite happy
> with ATTWS. Cingular ruined everything. I believe that their slowly
> reducing the TDMA service is no accident. Numerous posters have been
> complaining about it, all across the country.
>
> For me, the service became unbearable. I just HAD to leave (or migrate to
> a more expensive plan and buy new phones and accessories). I've been a
> Sprint long distance customer for years, and they have always treated be
> with fairness and competence. Let's hope that this will be the case with
> the PCS division as well.
>
> It couldn't be any worse than what I gave up . . .
>
>

Not that it makes much of a difference NOW, but if you do call Cingular
ask to speak to the retention / Customer Care supervisor and tell them
exactly why you left and have it noted on the account, cause you just
never know, they may have an offer you can NOT refuse.

Friend of mine just switched to Sprint last week and he called last
night and said more or less they gave him the world. Sounds good and is
good till later down the road.

Here where I am in Albany NY, Cingular provides Excellent service and
coverage, till about 60 or 90 days than SOME and I mean SOME people
start having dropped calls and this and that and after calling and
screaming and yelling things start to improve. I wonder why?

All I know is I came back from Nextel I wish that I could use a nextel
phone on GSM, Because of the phones being much nicer and more features
IMHO and the screens are big and I can read them with bifocals on.

But I have a less minute plan but also have a plan that fits my BUDGET
which is more important to me.

Seriously wish you the best of luck, BUT the grass isnt always greener
on the other side of the fence.

Let us all know in 6 months how SPRINT/NEXT EL is treating you.

Michael

Jeremy wrote:
> I was one of AT&T Wireless' first customers in Philadelphia. I bit the
> bullet and tried to ride out the storm when Cingular started tightening the
> noose by cutting back on service to TDMA customers, but it finally got to be
> unbearable.
>
> Turn on the phone, no service for several minutes, while it searched in
> vain. Then it came up as "Roam," and finally displayed "Cingular."
>
> Travel outside my home area, and my phone would automatically shut off. I'd
> turn it back on, and it might remain on for 10 minutes, then shut right down
> again. As soon as I crossed back into my home area, the problem would
> disappear. When I called Cingular Customer Service, the moron said that she
> would have a technician check their towers in New Jersey for problems.
> Yeah, right. Like Cingular has no service north of Princeton, whenever I
> just happen to drive in that direction . . .
>
> Last week I happened to call my long distance provider to make some changes
> to my line configuration at my business. The Sprint rep told me that I was
> preapproved for up to 6 phones, with no deposit and no activation charge,
> and all the phones would be free. I took three lines.
>
> UPS delivered them yesterday. Got five bars of signal strength. Excellent
> sound quality. No dropped calls all day today. I rarely travel very far,
> so roaming quality is not critical for me, as opposed to local service. Got
> free M2M, 7 PM N/W.
>
> We ported my wife's old ATTWS/Cingular number over to one of the new Sprint
> lines today. Went smooth as silk. Port took about an hour to complete,
> with no hassles at all.
>
> I'm paying $10.00 less to Sprint than I did to Cingular, I have better
> service, and Sprint has an excellent web site, where I can manage the
> account--better than the cone Cingular has.
>
> My wireless requirements are very simple. No need for data or internet
> access or the ability to watch soap operas on my 1.5-inch screen. All I
> want to do is to make an occasional call, and for the call to go through
> without problems. All I got, since Cingular took over operation of the
> ATTWS towers last year, were problems. And whenever I called Customer
> Service, all they wanted me to do was to migrate over to a more expensive
> Cingular plan. I dug in, out of sheer spite. I was not about to reward
> Cingular by giving them more revenue and another two-year term agreement, in
> view of their poor performance.
>
> Tomorrow I'm going to call them and cancel the account. I don't expect to
> be looking back. What amazes me is the way that Cingular seemed to go out
> of their way to arm-twist former ATTWS customers, instead of taking their
> cue from Sprint, by trying to EARN their business. It is ironic that a new
> carrier would offer me free phones, waive the activation fees, and charge me
> less per month than my present carrier would.
>
> So long, Cingular. **** off!
>

"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Losing 100 $30/month customers, but being able to increase the prices by
> $10 for 900 other $30/month customers results in more revenue, but less
> customers. It's a no-brainer. Cingular appears to not really care that
> much about raw subscriber numbers, they want high-ARPU subscribers.

Your sentiments typify what has caused so many American businesses to lose
their positions of prominence, and allow third-world competitors to dominate
our markets.

Cingular is in the service business, and they and their parent, the former
SBC Communications, have a well-earned reputation for arm-twisting their
customers.

I must be old-fashioned. My concept of a successful business is one that
serves its customers, not one that goes out of its way to encourage a
culture where customers are seen merely as (replaceable) sources of revenue,
whether or not they receive any value for the money that they pay out.

Anyway, I'm happy to be out of their clutches. Life goes on for everyone.
God bless Sprint!

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <0jwGf.10158$Gg1.6087@trnddc03>,
> "Jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Tomorrow I'm going to call them and cancel the account.
>
> When you ported and your numbers activated on the Sprint phones, that
> was done automatically. No need to call Cingular.
>

Then why do my two "unported" phones still work on Cingular?

Per Jeremy:
>ATTWS. Cingular ruined everything. I believe that their slowly reducing
>the TDMA service is no accident. Numerous posters have been complaining
>about it, all across the country.
>
>For me, the service became unbearable. I just HAD to leave (or migrate to a
>more expensive plan and buy new phones and accessories).

In a kind of perverse way, I enjoyed hearing your story. I bailed on Cingular
because, for various reasons, I wanted to move to a GSM phone but didn't care
for the extra $20 per month - but before they put the squeeze on TDMA.

I moved to tMobile - mainly because of their vastly superior customer interface.

After being on tMobile awhile, I started to regret it because their coverage was
clearly not as good as Cingular's (based on my recollections of my Cinguar TDMA
service). Now, however, tMobile's coverage in the areas I frequent has clearly
improved and it sounds like it's head-and-shoulders above what I would have had
if I stayed with Cingular's TDMA.
--
PeteCresswell

"Your Name Here" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Not that it makes much of a difference NOW, but if you do call Cingular
> ask to speak to the retention / Customer Care supervisor and tell them
> exactly why you left and have it noted on the account, cause you just
> never know, they may have an offer you can NOT refuse.
>
> Friend of mine just switched to Sprint last week and he called last night
> and said more or less they gave him the world. Sounds good and is good
> till later down the road.
>
> Here where I am in Albany NY, Cingular provides Excellent service and
> coverage, till about 60 or 90 days than SOME and I mean SOME people start
> having dropped calls and this and that and after calling and screaming and
> yelling things start to improve. I wonder why?
>
> All I know is I came back from Nextel I wish that I could use a nextel
> phone on GSM, Because of the phones being much nicer and more features
> IMHO and the screens are big and I can read them with bifocals on.
>
> But I have a less minute plan but also have a plan that fits my BUDGET
> which is more important to me.
>
> Seriously wish you the best of luck, BUT the grass isnt always greener on
> the other side of the fence.
>
> Let us all know in 6 months how SPRINT/NEXT EL is treating you.
>
> Michael
>


All I ever wanted from Cingular was a fair shake. I never used even a third
of my anytime minutes, I never abused their unlimited N/W minutes, I never
was late paying them and only once did I ever ask for a credit for a few
calls that were forwarded because their rep gave me incorrect instruction
about how to shut forwarding off. It came to, maybe, $9.00.

I believe that I represent the ideal type of customer--the kind that can be
relied upon to cover the overhead. Cingular spends what must be millions of
dollars to attract customers, and we former ATTWS customers are subjected to
underhanded tactics, like slowly reducing the towers that will handle our
calls, all the time while paying Cingular full price for the service.

I know that there are a lot of people that had issues with the former ATTWS.
Not me. They never did anything like that to me.

If I have to threaten to pull my business, just to get around the obstacles
and speak to one of their retention people, I don't need them as a vendor.
I've been a Sprint business customer for a decade, and they've never given
me anything but polite answers to my inquiries, and rates that were quite
competitive, coupled with excellent network and audio quality. I didn't see
any other wireless carriers step up to the plate and offer me free phones,
no activation fees, overnight shipping free, and a price less than what I
paid under my old ATTWS plan.

So, no, I won't reward Cingular with another cent of my money. If they
offer me an unbeatable deal, I'll say "No, thank you," and we will part
company. I wish them well, and I will get on with life with my new carrier.
There is just something about Cingular's contemptuous attitude that I find
disturbing. I'm sure that I'm overreacting, but I am the customer and I,
and only I, have the choice of how much abuse I will accept before I walk.

I walked. And I won't look back. And I'm now going to clear this
unfortunate Cingular experience from my mind and think positive thoughts
instead. Life goes on. Cingular won't list my name in their next annual
report, as a source of declining revenue.

By the way, I've called Sprint three times with questions about my service,
including one call to port one of my old numbers and another call to ask for
a change in area codes, and the reps were very pleasant and accommodating.
I saw on their website that my first bill was issued (apparently on the day
I got my phones) and I already paid it via their web site. All is well.
The sound quality is much superior to what I got on the TDMA system, the
phones are brand new and have features I never had before, and I have
experienced not one dropped call. Since I don't roam much, I believe that
the current level of Sprint network performance will satisfy me just fine!

So long, Cingular! See ya' in the funny papers!

"(PeteCresswell)" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Per Jeremy:
>>ATTWS. Cingular ruined everything. I believe that their slowly reducing
>>the TDMA service is no accident. Numerous posters have been complaining
>>about it, all across the country.
>>
>>For me, the service became unbearable. I just HAD to leave (or migrate to
>>a
>>more expensive plan and buy new phones and accessories).
>
> In a kind of perverse way, I enjoyed hearing your story. I bailed on
> Cingular
> because, for various reasons, I wanted to move to a GSM phone but didn't
> care
> for the extra $20 per month - but before they put the squeeze on TDMA.
>
> I moved to tMobile - mainly because of their vastly superior customer
> interface.
>
> After being on tMobile awhile, I started to regret it because their
> coverage was
> clearly not as good as Cingular's (based on my recollections of my Cinguar
> TDMA
> service). Now, however, tMobile's coverage in the areas I frequent has
> clearly
> improved and it sounds like it's head-and-shoulders above what I would
> have had
> if I stayed with Cingular's TDMA.
> --
> PeteCresswell

Well, my particular situation has very little in the way of coverage
requirements. I rarely roam more than 75 miles from home, so the national
network coverage is of no importance to me. I do not expect 100%
reliability, and I accept the fact that radio signals by their nature may
not always connect. All I want is a phone that generally works. My ATTWS
service worked fine, until about a year ago, when my phones began displaying
Cingular rather than AT&T. I expected better coverage, with the
availability of more towers. Instead I got saw nothing but no service or
dropped calls. My bill did not go down, but the level of service did. I
live in Philadelphia, not some backwater area. Cingular GSM customers were
having no problem. And I was reading about this same problem happening all
across the country.

But you hit on an important point--the fact that other carriers are beefing
up their own networks. Cingular may not be the dominant carrier in the
future. Remember when AT&T had the best long distance service, back when it
divested its Bell Operating Companies in 1984? But, over time, MCI, Sprint
and a host of resellers offered fiber optic quality and the margin of
superiority of AT&T narrowed. At one point, AT&T was doing a tv ad campaign
that touted the fact that their connection time was half that of their
competitors. Calls dialed on AT&T connected in 1.5 seconds, rather than the
3 seconds that was typical of their competitors.

That was really taking it to the extreme. Who cared about 1.5 seconds?
What AT&T was really saying was that there was virtually no difference
between them and the other carriers. And, two decades later, the once-proud
AT&T was sold off, virtually on the auction block, for pennies on the
dollar. Some end, for a stock that was known as a "widows and orphans
stock" for many decades!

A time will come when these wireless carriers will all be virtually
identical, and the only means of differentiating themselves will be by the
level of service that they offer. I predict that Cingular will be in big
trouble when that day comes.

One thing I can say about Sprint--since I do not roam and I do not require
data/internet/television/downloadable ringtones/camera phones, I am already
receiving everything I want, and there is really no reason for me to "wait"
for better features or service to come. I already have it.

And I must confess that my reason for posting these epistles blasting
Cingular is to vent my frustration, to give a "heads-up" to others that may
be in similar situations, and to ensure that Google archives these posts so
they can be seen in the future. Maybe in 20 years, when Cingular goes on
the auction block, I'll be able to find these posts and say (proudly) "I
told you so . . ."

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <NlxGf.16496$0i1.9566@trnddc04> on Thu, 09 Feb 2006 01:59:09 GMT, "Jeremy"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>But it seems so very stupid, in my view, for Cingular to be so cavalier
>about their ATTWS TDMA customers. I was with ATTWS for YEARS--and I gave
>them a steady cash flow each month. One would think that Cingular would
>want to retain good customers, rather than tighten the noose around their
>necks to coerce them into signing up for more expensive plans.

It takes more than "cash flow" to stay in business -- it takes profit. Part
of why ATTWS lost its independence is that it gave away the store too much, a
serious problem that Cingular needed to fix. To its credit, Cingular
nonetheless honors those old deals indefinitely, but it's unrealistic to
expect it to offer new deals just as good. Affected customers are free to
shop for the best current deal from any carrier, and if pressed Cingular will
often sweeten its current offerings in order to retain subscribers.

>It appears to me that, while Cingular may be abiding by their promise to
>honor the old ATTWS contracts, they are deliberately withdrawing service,
>making their customers endure dropped calls and periods of no service
>availability, in an attempt to squeeze them.

What Cingular is really doing, for its own old customers as well as old ATTWS
customers, is phase out obsolete D-AMPS ("TDMA") in favor of more advanced and
efficient GSM, a win-win in general for customers and carrier. Old ATTWS
customers on GSM are actually getting better service than with ATTWS (better
network coverage, more mobile-to-mobile opportunities) and have no need to
migrate. It's the D-AMPS customers (Cingular as well as ATTWS) that must
eventually face up to upgrading, just as AMPS customers had to do before them.

>Perhaps I'm wrong, but how else can one explain how the service was fine
>when ATTWS had it, and then became virtually unusable once Cingular took
>over?

That's because D-AMPS is going away, but that's something that would have
happened even if ATTWS had remained independent.

>Some may think this to be rather juvenile, but that is the only recourse
>that the customer has. If enough of us vote with our pocketbooks, the
>fatcats would be less contemptuous of us.

I'm afraid I think that is pretty juvenile.

>So, "ADIOS!" to Cingular, and I do hope that their senior management one day
>realizes the error of some of their ways. I won't be looking back. Time
>to move on.

You may well find that the grass isn't greener.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Wed, 08 Feb 2006 19:53:52
-0800, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:

>Jeremy wrote:

>> Some may think this to be rather juvenile, but that is the only recourse
>> that the customer has. If enough of us vote with our pocketbooks, the
>> fatcats would be less contemptuous of us.
>
>If you look at Cingular's very poor 4th quarter 2005 results, you'll see
>that many people are voting with their wallets.

The results were actually quite good. Under the circumstances Cingular is
doing a remarkably good job of retaining and migrating customers.

>> So, "ADIOS!" to Cingular, and I do hope that their senior management one day
>> realizes the error of some of their ways.
>
>In the view of senior management, it isn't good business to offer sweet
>deals to AT&T subscribers converting to Cingular GSM. Some subscribers
>will leave, but most will simply pay the higher prices. Losing 100
>$30/month customers, but being able to increase the prices by $10 for
>900 other $30/month customers results in more revenue, but less
>customers. It's a no-brainer. Cingular appears to not really care that
>much about raw subscriber numbers,

Nonsense.

>they want high-ARPU subscribers.

Of course.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>