TDMA continued service

Is it true that TDMA will be shut off by 1st qtr 2008 ?
I have heard of ex-ATTWS customers being bullied off their old TDMA
plans onto GSM. Being an original Cingular TDMA customer, can I expect
those tactics at any time in the next year ? So far, I get excellent
digital coverage and never have to interface customer service.

---

› See More: TDMA continued service

On Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:34:29 GMT, Joe Versaggi <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Is it true that TDMA will be shut off by 1st qtr 2008 ?
>I have heard of ex-ATTWS customers being bullied off their old TDMA
>plans onto GSM. Being an original Cingular TDMA customer, can I expect
>those tactics at any time in the next year?

<http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ#How_Long_Will_TDMA_Service_Last.3F>

Joe Versaggi wrote:
> Is it true that TDMA will be shut off by 1st qtr 2008 ?
> I have heard of ex-ATTWS customers being bullied off their old TDMA
> plans onto GSM. Being an original Cingular TDMA customer, can I expect
> those tactics at any time in the next year ? So far, I get excellent
> digital coverage and never have to interface customer service.
>

I don't know what you mean by being "bullied" off your current network,
but yes, the "must carry" mandate (all providers) for TDMA/AMPS
disappears 1Q08. I expect Cingular (and other providers) are salivating
at the prospect of ditching the old network where possible so they can
convert that spectrum into GSM service. Mind you, the 1Q08 sunset is
for the mandated coverage, but some limited TDMA/AMPS service may
continue beyond depending on whether the old network can at least pay
for itself, which seems unlikely.



--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Jer wrote:

>
> I don't know what you mean by being "bullied" off your current network,
> but yes, the "must carry" mandate (all providers) for TDMA/AMPS
> disappears 1Q08.

Ex-AT&TWS customers get a love note in the mail from Cingular saying
they must upgrade to a new GSM contract for continued service. For the
same service, that could be $10, $20, or $30 more a month.

Joe Versaggi wrote:
> Is it true that TDMA will be shut off by 1st qtr 2008 ?

Yes. Actually the mandate for service applies only to AMPS, the carriers
could turn TDMA off anytime they want.

> I have heard of ex-ATTWS customers being bullied off their old TDMA
> plans onto GSM. Being an original Cingular TDMA customer, can I expect
> those tactics at any time in the next year ?

Yes, this could happen. Understand that most subscribers don't
understand the difference, especially the loss of AMPS when they move to
GSM. By the time they start having coverage issues, it's too late to
switch back.

> So far, I get excellent
> digital coverage and never have to interface customer service.

Keep it until the bitter end, then decide if you're going to switch to
CDMA or GSM. The GSM plans on Cingular, are more expensive than the
legacy TDMA plans from ATTWS.

"Joe Versaggi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Is it true that TDMA will be shut off by 1st qtr 2008 ?
> I have heard of ex-ATTWS customers being bullied off their old TDMA plans
> onto GSM. Being an original Cingular TDMA customer, can I expect those
> tactics at any time in the next year ? So far, I get excellent digital
> coverage and never have to interface customer service.
>

In Philadelphia, Cingular began cutting back on TDMA service in February
2005. My ATTWS TDMA service worked just fine until then. I began noticing
that the phones would take a long time before finding service, when they
were first turned on. I'd go about 1.5 minutes with the "No Service"
indicator. Whenever I drove beyond my home area (for me that was going
north from Philadelphia to the Princeton, NJ area, my phones would SHUT OFF
after about ten minutes in the "Roam" area, and I would have to turn them
back on again. It took as much as 3 minutes before they found a signal,
then they would stay on for about ten minutes and shut off again! This
happened over and over, making the phones essentially useless. I could not
receive incoming calls, because my phone would be off. I could not drive
and keep checking my phone at the same time.

Even in my home area, calls began to drop much more often--even calls in
places where I had previously never had a problem before. It got to the
point that 3 out of 4 calls dropped on me.

When I called Cingular, the rep said she would have a tech "check the towers
in New Jersey." Pure bull!

After about a year of this madness I switched to Sprint PCS, who have me
three free phones, free activation on all three lines, ported over one of my
three numbers and gave me my preferred area code on the other two
(Philadelphia has several area codes, it is on the overlay system),
nationwide roaming, not the regional roaming that ATTWS had, outbound Caller
ID that displayed the name of the respective users on each of my three
phones (not just my name as the "owner" of the account), they shipped the
new phones to me overnight for free, their system offers a dial-up access to
how many minutes have been used, unavailable under my ATTWS service, the
calls are crystal clear with no hollow or echo sound, as was common with
TDMA, and my calls don't drop. In 3 months I've dropped exactly TWO calls.

My calls roam on Verizon, and the call quality there is very good, as is the
roaming coverage. I can set my phone to "Roam Always," "Roam Never," or
"Select Sprint First, and Roam If No Sprint Service." I could not do that
on TDMA.

Also, Cingular refuses to sell replacement phones to TDMA customers whose
phones have malfunctioned or have been lost or stolen. So, once your
handset goes, you'd better find a new phone on eBay if you want to retain
your TDMA account. And no new phones are being produced for TDMA, so your
feature set will never get any better than it is now. My Sprint PCS phones
feature color screens, voice dialing, "Intenna" (no antenna stub to break
off--the antenna is completely within the phone), and outbound caller ID
that displays my name, not just my phone number, at the call recipient's
phone. I got none of this with ATTWS. Once they merged, all new feature
development stopped.

On top of this, I pay about $7.00 less per month than I was paying Cingular.

All that I gave up was free incoming text messaging. SMS now costs $.10
each, and I rarely use it.

The choice you face is whether to continue to give Cingular the benefit of
your patronage, once you eventually give up TDMA. I chose to go with
another carrier, out of sheer spite, and I ended up being extremely happy
with my choice. I did NOT give in to Cingular's demand that I pay more for
less in the way of service. I ended up paying LESS, and getting a lot MORE,
and I expect to remain with Sprint for a very long time. They bent over
backwards to be accommodating, and I appreciate that.

My only regret is that I did kick Cingular out much earlier than I did. I
found out that there actually IS "life after Cingular," and it turned out
that there was indeed a silver lining in the Cingular cloud after all.

Best of luck to you, and don't mourn the passing of TDMA.

Only the amps has the mandate, not tdma. That cingular finds it
convenient to turn them both off at the same time is all up to cingular.
But there is no requirement for any carrier to keep tdma up until any
date.

Jerome Zelinske wrote:
> Only the amps has the mandate, not tdma. That cingular finds it
> convenient to turn them both off at the same time is all up to cingular.
> But there is no requirement for any carrier to keep tdma up until any
> date.


Now that you say that, I seem to remember that detail. I've also heard
that a lot of the equipment used for AMPS is the same for TDMA, so if
AMPS nods off, the financials of keeping TDMA awake doesn't seem to
offer much promise of anything other than a pure GSM network.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

"Jer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Jerome Zelinske wrote:
>> Only the amps has the mandate, not tdma. That cingular finds it
>> convenient to turn them both off at the same time is all up to cingular.
>> But there is no requirement for any carrier to keep tdma up until any
>> date.
>
>
> Now that you say that, I seem to remember that detail. I've also heard
> that a lot of the equipment used for AMPS is the same for TDMA, so if AMPS
> nods off, the financials of keeping TDMA awake doesn't seem to offer much
> promise of anything other than a pure GSM network.
>


AMPS and TDMA are quite different--one is analog and the other digital.

You may be confusing it with TDMA and GSM, which do have some similarities.

Jeremy wrote:
> "Jer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>Jerome Zelinske wrote:
>>
>>> Only the amps has the mandate, not tdma. That cingular finds it
>>>convenient to turn them both off at the same time is all up to cingular.
>>>But there is no requirement for any carrier to keep tdma up until any
>>>date.
>>
>>
>>Now that you say that, I seem to remember that detail. I've also heard
>>that a lot of the equipment used for AMPS is the same for TDMA, so if AMPS
>>nods off, the financials of keeping TDMA awake doesn't seem to offer much
>>promise of anything other than a pure GSM network.
>>
>
>
>
> AMPS and TDMA are quite different--one is analog and the other digital.
>
> You may be confusing it with TDMA and GSM, which do have some similarities.
>

I think the relevant equipment was the switching equipment in the
central office, which handles both AMPS and TDMA service. Yes, the two
are different on the radio side of the network, but the switch for each
is shared.


--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

In article <OnBgg.7914$3i3.4426@trnddc08>, [email protected] says...
> >
>
> In Philadelphia, Cingular began cutting back on TDMA service in February
> 2005. My ATTWS TDMA service worked just fine until then. I began noticing
> that the phones would take a long time before finding service, when they
> were first turned on. I'd go about 1.5 minutes with the "No Service"
> indicator. Whenever I drove beyond my home area (for me that was going
> north from Philadelphia to the Princeton, NJ area, my phones would SHUT OFF
> after about ten minutes in the "Roam" area, and I would have to turn them
> back on again. It took as much as 3 minutes before they found a signal,
> then they would stay on for about ten minutes and shut off again! This
> happened over and over, making the phones essentially useless. I could not
> receive incoming calls, because my phone would be off. I could not drive
> and keep checking my phone at the same time.
>
I saw the same problems on TDMA on my Nokia GAIT phone during the period
when GSM was being tested--but NOT on a friends same model but different
firmware. I had the phone flashed to the latest software and the
problems vanished. Apparently something was changed that wasn't fully
supported by the old firmware. I bet a firmware upgrade would have
solved your problems also.
--
Jud
Dallas TX USA

"Jud Hardcastle" <[email protected]> wrote in message

>>
> I saw the same problems on TDMA on my Nokia GAIT phone during the period
> when GSM was being tested--but NOT on a friends same model but different
> firmware. I had the phone flashed to the latest software and the
> problems vanished. Apparently something was changed that wasn't fully
> supported by the old firmware. I bet a firmware upgrade would have
> solved your problems also.
> --


It happened on Panasonic Versios and Ericsson Flip phones.

Nobody at Cingular said anything about firmware upgrades. All they wanted
to do was to switch me out of my ATTWS plan into a more expensive one.

I am happy to have parted company with Cingular. All the frustration I
experienced turned into something good. I now have better service, clearer
calls, newer equipment and a lower monthly price.

I note that my leaving Cingular has not resulted in their declaring
bankruptcy. The world continues to turn. Life goes on for both Cingular
and me. What I have now is a much better fit.

Jeremy wrote:

Now found at

alt.jermey.I-now-have-better-service_clearer-
calls_newer-equipment_and-a-lower-monthly-price

newsgroup.

"Karen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> On Sat, 03 Jun 2006 13:22:48 -0500, Jer wrote:
>
>> I don't know what you mean by being "bullied" off your current network,
>
> My definition of bullying is that Cingular wants me to sign a new 2 year
> contract if I migrate from TDMA to GSM. I've been off contract for many
> years and it would be more reasonable, IMO, that they let me continue
> month to month on GSM.
>
> Karen

Cingular is playing the odds. Foe everyone like you, that balks at the
prospect of paying more and accepting new minimum contract term agreements,
there must be 20 other sheep that do what they're told and sign where the
"X" is.

If Cingular loses your monthly revenue, they'll still come out ahead because
of all the others that re-upped.

What's it going to be? Are you going to take it, or are you going to thumb
your nose at 'em and take your business elsewhere?

Karen wrote:
> On Sat, 03 Jun 2006 13:22:48 -0500, Jer wrote:
>
>
>>I don't know what you mean by being "bullied" off your current network,
>
>
> My definition of bullying is that Cingular wants me to sign a new 2 year
> contract if I migrate from TDMA to GSM. I've been off contract for many
> years and it would be more reasonable, IMO, that they let me continue
> month to month on GSM.
>
> Karen


Karen, nobody can bully you without your permission. The contract offer
would include a phone subsidy, but you're welcome to pursue some other
equipment source and stay off contract. You still have other options
and I'd recommend exercising one. Or maybe the Jeremy option would work
out better.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'