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- 08-01-2006, 03:31 PM #16Jack ZwickGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
In article
<[email protected]>,
Joe Versaggi <[email protected]> wrote:
> Bucky wrote:
> > Douglas C. Neidermeyer wrote:
> >
> >>Saw a headline crawler on one of the cable news channels that Cingular was
> >>going to impose a $5 monthly surcharge to non-GSM phone customers starting
> >>in September.
> >
> > Bastards. Anyone know where I can sign up for a free/discount phone
> > without paying the $36 activation charge?
> >
>
> Just do this:
> - go to Sprint PCS Online (like I just did),
> - pick a $29.99 Fair & Flexible plan,
> - they'll have UPS drop it off in 3 business days. $36 fee waived.
> - do indepdendent research on the various free and cheap CDMA/AMPS
> phones. Some are bad, some are good.
> - Forget local number portability to keep it simple and in case Sprint
> doesn't work out.
>
> I just got a Nokia 6016i. Backup plan was a Sanyo RL-4930 brick phone.
> Once you try it out for a week, call up Stinkular, and tell them to
> stick their $39.99 GSM plans up their ass.
Out of the frying pan into the fire with Sprint.
Uses only the inferior 1900 Mhz band (works less well indoors)
Much poorer coverage nationwide
Inferior Sanyo/Samsung phones
Inferior CDMA (worse voice quality)
Strange "Fair and Flexible" plan. Go 1 minute over your plan, get
charged $10.
No such thing as Rollover Minutes with Sprint
Horrible 800# support. Long hold times, CSRs on strict handle time limits
› See More: $5 monthly surcharge
- 08-01-2006, 04:06 PM #17John NavasGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 21:31:22 GMT, Jack Zwick <[email protected]> wrote
in <[email protected]>:
>Out of the frying pan into the fire with Sprint.
>
>Uses only the inferior 1900 Mhz band (works less well indoors)
Not necessarily -- depends on tower locations and other factors. 1900
generally penetrates small openings (e.g., windows) better than 800.
>Much poorer coverage nationwide
Depends on where you are. It's the worst carrier in my area, but I know
of areas where it's the best carrier.
>Inferior Sanyo/Samsung phones
Samsung phones are pretty good.
>Inferior CDMA (worse voice quality)
True in some cases, but it's typically comparable to GSM.
>Strange "Fair and Flexible" plan. Go 1 minute over your plan, get
> charged $10.
Actually $5 for 50 additional minutes (in this area at least), which
I think is a pretty good deal.
>No such thing as Rollover Minutes with Sprint
Or any carrier other than Cingular, but Fair and Flexible is a
worthwhile alternative.
>Horrible 800# support. Long hold times, CSRs on strict handle time limits
My experiences have generally been pretty good.
There is no one best carrier for everyone, and Sprint can be a good fit
for certain people.
--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>
- 08-01-2006, 04:30 PM #18Jack ZwickGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
In article <[email protected]>,
"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article
> <[email protected]>,
> Jack Zwick <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Inferior Sanyo/Samsung phones
>
> My brother has a 5 year old Samsung flip phone from Sprint that shows no
> sign of dying or otherwise being inferior.
Exactly, before Sprint insisted they make them cheaper.
- 08-01-2006, 04:36 PM #19John NavasGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:37:28 -0700, SMS <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:
>They simply don't care if the few million remaining TDMA/AMPS customers
>leave.
On the contrary -- "they" (Cingular) want them to upgrade to GSM.
>They even stated that there will be a hit in regards to churn by
>their action.
What "they" actually stated
<http://www.easybourse.com/Website/dynamic/News.php?NewsID=27229>:
The Atlanta carrier looks to have all of its customers on the same
billing platform, and move most of its customers away from the old
AT&T Wireless technology by early 2007. The company plans to
discontinue the old network by 2008. Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless
in October 2004.
While the improvement in network quality and increased focus in
customer care has been instrumental in reducing the turnover rate,
there will likely be a seasonal increase in cancellations in the
third quarter, Ritcher said during a Thursday conference call to
discuss the company's second-quarter results.
"That will create some pressure, but we're going to try to minimize
that pressure," he said. "At the end of the day, there will be some
that don't want to move over."
--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>
- 08-01-2006, 05:28 PM #20Kevin KGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
If Sprint had decent coverage at my home, I would probably still have
them. Their 3G coverage is, as of today, still better.
- 08-01-2006, 05:55 PM #21Guest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
Douglas C. Neidermeyer wrote:
> Saw a headline crawler on one of the cable news channels that Cingular was
> going to impose a $5 monthly surcharge to non-GSM phone customers starting
> in September.
>
> Doug
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060731/...r_older_phones
I found it first on Phonescoop, which is a good resource for cellular
news-links.
http://www.phonescoop.com/news/
Cingular To Charge Non-GSM Subscribers
Today, 5:03 PM source: Associated Press
"Cingular will soon begin charging subscribers with older phones $5 per
month. In an effort to get subscribers off of older analog and TDMA
handsets, Cingular will begin charging users on the older protocols as
early as September. An FCC ruling declared Cingular and others like
Verizon must continue to provide analog service until 2008...."
This further disincentive is another unpleasant reminder that Cingular
will likely shut down the TDMA network, as soon as they are allowed to
turn off Analog by the FCC
And with a TDMA service shut down, Cingular will also be abandoning
many rural customers who have depended upon AMPS roaming provided by
TDMA/AMPS capable handsets and plans.
When all Cingular customers have a GSM phone, I foresee huge
geographical areas (particularly out west), disappearing from the
Cingular's coverage map.
I suspect many CIngular customers are still using TDMA/AMPS plans
because they would get reduced coverage on GSM, since current GSM
phones are incapable of analog roaming.
Of course, some customers are keeping grandfathered plans for the
price, plan or simplified features.
When the Analog TDMA plans are finally turned off, it will be
interesting to see how many customers switch to another provider.
Either Verizon, or Sprint, and (others?) are going to see a big bump in
activations.
It will be interesting to see how many trimode activations VZW picks
up. That might provide some clues as to the number of people that still
require analog capability.
Any prognostications?
-
Dave
- 08-01-2006, 10:36 PM #22John NavasGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
On 1 Aug 2006 16:55:52 -0700, [email protected] wrote in
<[email protected]>:
>When all Cingular customers have a GSM phone, I foresee huge
>geographical areas (particularly out west), disappearing from the
>Cingular's coverage map.
The Cingular coverage map is already limited to GSM coverage.
<http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/images/maps/nat_gsm.gif>
>I suspect many CIngular customers are still using TDMA/AMPS plans
>because they would get reduced coverage on GSM, since current GSM
>phones are incapable of analog roaming.
I doubt that. According to figures released by Cingular, the remaining
D-AMPS ("TDMA") customers are low volume callers that don't use their
phones very much (8% of subscribers making only 2% of calls).
> Of course, some customers are keeping grandfathered plans for the
>price, plan or simplified features.
I suspect that's the big factor, given the data above. The problem for
these people is that none of the major carriers really want low revenue
accounts. Their best bets may be prepaid plans.
>When the Analog TDMA plans are finally turned off, it will be
>interesting to see how many customers switch to another provider.
>Either Verizon, or Sprint, and (others?) are going to see a big bump in
>activations.
I doubt that too, for reasons stated above.
>It will be interesting to see how many trimode activations VZW picks
>up. That might provide some clues as to the number of people that still
>require analog capability.
With AMPS going away, there's no real benefit to be had.
>Any prognostications?
Cingular will probably keep most of them.
--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>
- 08-02-2006, 04:49 AM #23Joe VersaggiGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
Jack Zwick wrote:
> In article
> <[email protected]>,
> Joe Versaggi <[email protected]> wrote:
> Uses only the inferior 1900 Mhz band (works less well indoors)
> Much poorer coverage nationwide
> Inferior Sanyo/Samsung phones
> Inferior CDMA (worse voice quality)
> Strange "Fair and Flexible" plan. Go 1 minute over your plan, get
> charged $10.
> No such thing as Rollover Minutes with Sprint
> Horrible 800# support. Long hold times, CSRs on strict handle time limits
Nokia CDMA works just fine with 5 of 7 bars about 40 feet in from the
windows of a steel office building. People on the other end said I
sounded as good as land line as slightly better than before with TDMA.
Keep track of your minutes, and peak ends at 7pm, not 9pm.
I had no Rollover with Stinkular.
I need no 800# support other than to set up discounts at start-up.
- 08-02-2006, 07:03 AM #24Jack ZwickGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
In article
<Jq%[email protected]>,
Joe Versaggi <[email protected]> wrote:
> Jack Zwick wrote:
> > In article
> > <[email protected]>,
> > Joe Versaggi <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Uses only the inferior 1900 Mhz band (works less well indoors)
> > Much poorer coverage nationwide
> > Inferior Sanyo/Samsung phones
> > Inferior CDMA (worse voice quality)
> > Strange "Fair and Flexible" plan. Go 1 minute over your plan, get
> > charged $10.
> > No such thing as Rollover Minutes with Sprint
> > Horrible 800# support. Long hold times, CSRs on strict handle time limits
>
> Nokia CDMA works just fine with 5 of 7 bars about 40 feet in from the
> windows of a steel office building. People on the other end said I
> sounded as good as land line as slightly better than before with TDMA.
>
> Keep track of your minutes, and peak ends at 7pm, not 9pm.
> I had no Rollover with Stinkular.
> I need no 800# support other than to set up discounts at start-up.
With any Carrier, likely you can't trust the "bars" on the phone any
more. Carriers figured out they got fewer support calls if phones showed
many bars with even the weakest signal.
- 08-02-2006, 07:39 AM #25Thomas T. VeldhouseGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
Kevin K <[email protected]> wrote:
> If Sprint had decent coverage at my home, I would probably still have
> them. Their 3G coverage is, as of today, still better.
My experience with comparing Sprint and Cingular is that they are very
comparable in coverage with the advantage going to Sprint because of their
AMPS roaming ability. There are exceptions though. I get better Cingular
coverage on the top floor with my current client (Cingular 800MHz), but I get
better coverage on the bottom floor with Sprint PCS ... and inside room, I
roam onto Verizon 800Mhz ... on Cingular I get nothing (Go Phone ... there is
a T-Mobile antenna on top of the building, so perhaps it would roam on a
regular plan). In any event, it is nearly a wash. However, in some locations
that I am aware of (like a previous employer), Cingular has a little better
coverage. In all cases, I see that Verizon has better coverage with digital
than either SPrint or Cingular. In short, because I work with a diverse
client base, I am often in trouble areas for all carriers, and Verizon seems
to top the heap with ability to function in trouble areas with Cingular and
Sprint being a near wash.
If it wasn't for the fact that changing plans reinstitutes a new 2-year
contract AND changing ESNs starts your two year timer over to get a discount
on a new phone, I would probably consider Sprint for the future, but these
issues really irk me. Plans and extras with Sprint are pretty good (free long
distance on my home phone for 50 minutes / month and free calls to my home
phone from my cellular phones ... no minutes used).
--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1
- 08-02-2006, 07:43 AM #26Thomas T. VeldhouseGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
>>It will be interesting to see how many trimode activations VZW picks
>>up. That might provide some clues as to the number of people that still
>>require analog capability.
>
> With AMPS going away, there's no real benefit to be had.
>
For two years AMPS will be around ... by mandate, and I suspect it will be
around much longer in remote areas [where most users are likely to need it].
Since most contracts with a carrier are two-years in length and often phones
are replace every two years, I see absolutely no detriment to signing up with
a tri-mode phone if it is what you are looking for.
>>Any prognostications?
>
> Cingular will probably keep most of them.
>
Most likely, as those people have already shown resistance to change, and thus
an implied brand loyalty.
--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1
- 08-02-2006, 09:37 AM #27Jud HardcastleGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
In article <[email protected]>, spamfilter0
@navasgroup.com says...
>
> The Cingular coverage map is already limited to GSM coverage.
> <http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/images/maps/nat_gsm.gif>
>
Which should carry a warning "Wear high boots when viewing" since it is
still very inaccurate. It reflects TDMA carriers that have NOT finished
their conversion and some that are going CDMA. TX doesn't have anywhere
near that GSM coverage and probably never will.
--
Jud
Dallas TX USA
- 08-02-2006, 12:46 PM #28John NavasGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
On Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:43:40 GMT, "Thomas T. Veldhouse"
<[email protected]> wrote in <[email protected]>:
>John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>It will be interesting to see how many trimode activations VZW picks
>>>up. That might provide some clues as to the number of people that still
>>>require analog capability.
>>
>> With AMPS going away, there's no real benefit to be had.
>
>For two years AMPS will be around ... by mandate,
Actually just 18 months.
>and I suspect it will be
>around much longer in remote areas [where most users are likely to need it].
>...
I think it will go away much faster than you expect. It's expensive to
maintain, and demand is falling.
--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>
- 08-02-2006, 12:49 PM #29John NavasGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
On Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:39:53 GMT, "Thomas T. Veldhouse"
<[email protected]> wrote in <[email protected]>:
>Kevin K <[email protected]> wrote:
>> If Sprint had decent coverage at my home, I would probably still have
>> them. Their 3G coverage is, as of today, still better.
>
>My experience with comparing Sprint and Cingular is that they are very
>comparable in coverage with the advantage going to Sprint because of their
>AMPS roaming ability. There are exceptions though. I get better Cingular
>coverage on the top floor with my current client (Cingular 800MHz), but I get
>better coverage on the bottom floor with Sprint PCS ... and inside room, I
>roam onto Verizon 800Mhz ... on Cingular I get nothing (Go Phone ... there is
>a T-Mobile antenna on top of the building, so perhaps it would roam on a
>regular plan). In any event, it is nearly a wash. However, in some locations
>that I am aware of (like a previous employer), Cingular has a little better
>coverage. In all cases, I see that Verizon has better coverage with digital
>than either SPrint or Cingular. In short, because I work with a diverse
>client base, I am often in trouble areas for all carriers, and Verizon seems
>to top the heap with ability to function in trouble areas with Cingular and
>Sprint being a near wash.
Around here (Tri-Valley part of the San Francisco Bay Area), Cingular
has the best coverage overall, followed by Verizon and T-Mobile, with
Sprint-Nextel last.
--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>
- 08-02-2006, 12:55 PM #30John NavasGuest
Re: $5 monthly surcharge
On Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:03:16 GMT, Jack Zwick <[email protected]> wrote
in <[email protected]>:
>With any Carrier, likely you can't trust the "bars" on the phone any
>more. Carriers figured out they got fewer support calls if phones showed
>many bars with even the weakest signal.
There's no evidence of phones have been changed that way.
What is true is that you can't compare bars of signal between different
brands, or even different models of the same brand, because there's no
generally accepted standard for what bars mean.
--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>
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