Cingular screws over AT&T Free2Go customers after merger

"Tush Smells Bush Kills!!!!!!!!!!!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I am SO glad about the merger. Before Cingular, I would rarely get any
> signals near my home or any rural areas with AT&T. With the superior
> Cingular network, signals are plenty strong everywhere.
>
> The best pay-as-you-go service is Tracfone. You can get a free phone
> and a year's worth of service and 250 min for around $100. Switch your
> number and get additional 100 minutes free.
>

I found Tracfone was way to expensive for my needs: I have Beyond Wireless
(http://www.gobeyondwireless.com). I have 4 cell-phones on their service
and average a total of $5 per month on them. And they don't even have a
local area code for me (they don't have them in all markets) and I still
love their customer service and prices.

Russell

---

› See More: Cingular screws over AT&T Free2Go customers after merger

> Complaining to the FTC is simply giving them data. They are in a
> position to amalgamate data from many consumers and decide what
> action, if any, should be taken based on that data. Individual
> consumers are not, so it's perfectly reasonable for individual
> consumers to complain to the FTC and let them decide whether any
> action should be taken.

I filed a complaint at ftc.gov. This is how they responded:

" Thank you for recent correspondence. The Federal Trade Commission
acts in the public interest to stop business practices that violate the
laws it enforces. Letters from consumers and businesses are very
important to the work of the Commission. They are often the first
indication of a problem in the marketplace and may provide the initial
evidence to begin an investigation. The Commission does not resolve
individual complaints. The Commission can, however, act when it sees a
pattern of possible violations developing.

The information you have provided will be recorded in our complaint
retention system. This computerized system enables us to identify
questionable business practices that are generating numerous complaints
and may be in violation of the law.

Thank you for providing information that may be used to develop or
support Commission enforcement initiatives.



Sincerely yours,



Consumer Response Center"

Hey, whatever works for you. I just had good experience buying tracfone
with 14 months of service and free phone for $74. It worked great and
never dropped a single call. Never had to call customer service because
never had a problem.

The Real Bev wrote:
> "Steven M. Scharf" wrote:
>
>>Steve wrote:
>>
>>
>>>[email protected] wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>The best option for prepaid is now CallPlus. You only have to buy $10
>>>>every 90 days ($3.33/month).
>>>>See "http://callpluswireless.com/html/cpw_faqs.html" (they have a
>>>>terrible web site, and it is very difficult to figure out how to
>>>>activate; you have to call them, and it takes just a few minutes).
>>>
>>>Or try http://www.pharosint.com/CallPlus_pins_buy.html
>>
>>You're better off calling directly to the phone number on
>>"http://callpluswireless.com/html/cpw_faqs.html" because
>>there is no fee for activating a phone, and they do it right
>>away, versus Pharos's requirement to do things by snail-mail.
>
>
> Only the first time, and it only took a few days. The guy clearly sent the
> package the same or the next day.

Activation is free if you call Locus directly. You get activated while
you wait, and don't pay anything.

Russell wrote:

> Yes, the original poster should have no trouble (once the ESN is released)
> switching to Beyond Wireless. I have 4 cell-phones on their service and
> average a total of $5 per month on them. And they don't even have a local
> area code for me! Love their customer service and prices.

Do they let you sign up if you're not in one of the states that they
list? If so, when you're in an area that they don't cover, are you
roaming, or are you okay as long as you're on the AT&T/Cingular TDMA
network?

Russell wrote:

> I found Tracfone was way to expensive for my needs: I have Beyond Wireless
> (http://www.gobeyondwireless.com). I have 4 cell-phones on their service
> and average a total of $5 per month on them. And they don't even have a
> local area code for me (they don't have them in all markets) and I still
> love their customer service and prices.
>
> Russell

Tracfone's per minute rates are okay, but the minimum's are way too
high; I'd get a family plan instead of Tracfone.

Stanley Reynolds wrote:

>>Seems strange that the merger would help TDMA signals, since
>>Cingular was all GSM, which is what AT&T was switching to. Now,
>>if you were an AT&T GSM customer, I could see how the addition
>>of Cingular's towers would help.
>>
>
> Guess it depends where you are but both AT&TW and Cingular provide TDMA
> coverage here (centeral Alabama) before and after the merger. GSM coverage
> still lags behind TDMA here. I guess you can assume that AMPS and TDMA
> coverage would suffer as GSM is added but I've seen little evidence of it,
> would expect the problems would be in large markets where spectrum is
> limited and use is high. Note a dual band handset is needed in many
> locations where Cingular and AT&TW use different bands. Note my best
> coverage at home and most used phone is Cingular 800Mhz TDMA, I also have
> other phones I use :

Cingular was all GSM only in the western region where they took over the
Pacific Bell Network, and AT&T was TDMA/AMPS. Elsewhere in the country,
Cingular was all TDMA (though they briefly had a small CDMA section of
network).

In California, AT&T (now Cingular) TDMA coverage is superior to GSM
coverage, but GSM coverage is improving. The merger helped Cingular a
lot more in California/Nevada because Cingular was 1900 Mhz only (the
old Pacific Bell Wireless network) and was extremely bad. With the
merger, Cingular got AT&T's valuable 800 Mhz bandwidth (800 Mhz provides
much better coverage, especially indoors), and now offers GSM on 800Mhz,
and is selling their 1900 Mhz bandwidth to T-Mobile. TDMA coverage is
still fine, and better than GSM coverage in many areas. However in dense
areas, which had overlapping TDMA coverage, TDMA is being pared down to
the minimum number of towers to provide full geographic coverage, which
is resulting in more dead spots.

I think that you still get AMPS roaming on CallPlus, which is something
you can't get on GSM networks unless you buy one of two GAIT phones that
support TDMA, GSM, and AMPS, and Cingular in California made you go
through hoops to purchase one (not publicized, and the stores knew
nothing about them). AMPS is a big help in rural areas. I was up on the
north coast of California and could only get AMPS (if you see call
boxes, you know that their is AMPS coverage). In Yosemite, you can often
pick up an AMPS signal from the outside of the park.

Andrew White wrote:

> You sure give FTC a lot of credit. It almost sounds like you believe
> their goal is to protect consumers! You can't be that naive, can you?

Maybe he's thinking that he's not in the Bush era.

On Tue, 10 May 2005 15:13:25 GMT, "Steven M. Scharf"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>In California, AT&T (now Cingular) TDMA coverage is superior to GSM
>coverage, but GSM coverage is improving. The merger helped Cingular a
>lot more in California/Nevada because Cingular was 1900 Mhz only (the
>old Pacific Bell Wireless network) and was extremely bad. With the
>merger, Cingular got AT&T's valuable 800 Mhz bandwidth (800 Mhz provides
>much better coverage, especially indoors), and now offers GSM on 800Mhz,
>and is selling their 1900 Mhz bandwidth to T-Mobile. TDMA coverage is
>still fine, and better than GSM coverage in many areas. However in dense
>areas, which had overlapping TDMA coverage, TDMA is being pared down to
>the minimum number of towers to provide full geographic coverage, which
>is resulting in more dead spots.

Any idea how GSM coverage is now in the Palm Springs area? It used to
be pretty marginal when I would visit and go to areas outside the town
cores like Rancho Mirage.

Steven M. Scharf wrote:
> Russell wrote:

> Do they let you sign up if you're not in one of the states that they
> list? If so, when you're in an area that they don't cover, are you
> roaming, or are you okay as long as you're on the AT&T/Cingular TDMA
> network?

I'll answer my own question. The answer is that you can sign up for
Beyond Wireless, no matter where you live, using one of their area
codes. However you will be roaming for every call, at 4x the cost, so it
will be about 57 cents per minute on the cheapest card. I think that
they are using some other TDMA network other than AT&T, hence the
roaming when you are on AT&T.

You get 35 minutes when you sign up (no credit card needed). So you
actually can have an emergency phone for about 18 months, at no cost, as
long as you make one call every 60 days (2 months/4 minutes * 35
minutes). It's great for an emergency phone, but for an occasional use
phone, CallPlus is a better deal.

Beware that activating your own phone with Beyond Wireless isn't easy.
You call and call, just to get through, then they put you on hold, and
you get disconnected a few times. But I did activate, with a 352 area
code, with no problem.

Beyond Wireless will only activate Nokia TDMA phones. I asked about a
Motorola phone, and they didn't want to do it.

CallPlus will cost you $3.33/month minimum.

What amazes me is just how good the Cingular/AT&T TDMA network still is.
While GSM in the SF Bay Area has a lot of dead spots (including in urban
parts of Silicon Valley), I have experienced no such TDMA problems.
There are lots of TDMA phones available, probably most people have some
laying around, or know someone who changed to GSM (like my mother, who
now has terrible coverage on her GSM phone in Georgia!).

It's true, Beyond Wireless now apparently wants *only* Nokia phones.
Nothing else. So, I am apparently out of luck with BW, too, because I
have an Ericsson phone. I was told this over the weekend and
double-checked this a.m. The BW rep confirmed they won't activate
Ericssons anymore, even the AT&T branded TDMA Ericssons.
"But...but...it worked on AT&T Free2Go network and it's a tri-mode
TDMA," I protested. "Why wouldn't it work on BW?"
"We are using AT&T network but we are switching to Cingular towers,"
she replied.
So, that seems to be that.
Fortunately, I found a stash of old Free2Go $10 phone cards good for
90-day renewal in a rundown drug store in a bad part of town. Cingular
is committed to honor them for until they are all used up. So, I
bought myself another year @ $40. I'll deal with the problem again
then....

----- Original Message -----
From: "SteveT" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,alt.cellular,alt.cellular.cingular
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 1:43 PM
Subject: Re: Cingular screws over AT&T Free2Go customers after merger


> It's true, Beyond Wireless now apparently wants *only* Nokia phones.

Which is strange, since they show a Motorola phone on their web site as an
available phone.

> Nothing else. So, I am apparently out of luck with BW, too, because I
> have an Ericsson phone. I was told this over the weekend and
> double-checked this a.m. The BW rep confirmed they won't activate
> Ericssons anymore, even the AT&T branded TDMA Ericssons.
> "But...but...it worked on AT&T Free2Go network and it's a tri-mode
> TDMA," I protested. "Why wouldn't it work on BW?"
> "We are using AT&T network but we are switching to Cingular towers,"

This is strange. I activated a phone with them today, and even though I am
on the AT&T/Cingular TDMA network, it shows up as "Roaming." I probably will
just let it expire. It didn't cost anything to activate it.

> she replied.
> So, that seems to be that.
> Fortunately, I found a stash of old Free2Go $10 phone cards good for
> 90-day renewal in a rundown drug store in a bad part of town. Cingular
> is committed to honor them for until they are all used up. So, I
> bought myself another year @ $40. I'll deal with the problem again
> then....

CallPlus will still activate other phones, and it will cost you $10 every
ninety days, or $40 per year. Or Nokia TDMA phones are available for
basically nothing.

I wonder when Cingular will decide to force everyone over to GSM, and shut
down the TDMA network. There are no good deals for an occasional use phone
on CDMA or GSM, so it would behoove them to get rid of TDMA.

Steven M. Scharf wrote:
>
> Beyond Wireless,....I think that
> they are using some other TDMA network other than AT&T,

The coverage map shown on the Beyond Wireless website:
http://gobeyond2.chainreactionweb.co.../coverage.html
is rather skimpy compared to the old AT&T TDMA coverage.
>
> Beyond Wireless..It's great for an emergency phone, but for an
occasional use
> phone, CallPlus is a better deal.

I think BW is a better deal than CP if one lives in the area covered by
BW. The minutes are cheaper, and they never expire, so the minimum
cost for BW is about 15 cents every two months vs. $3.33 for CP. With
BW, one can get airtime instantly online, vs. waiting 4 hours or more
for an email from CP or Pharos.

> Beware that activating your own phone with Beyond Wireless isn't
easy.

I've never had a problem getting right through to BW with six phones
that I activated with them (all Nokias). But I've always called around
9 a.m. eastern time.

Lena

"Steven M. Scharf" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Steven M. Scharf wrote:
>> Russell wrote:
>
>> Do they let you sign up if you're not in one of the states that they
>> list? If so, when you're in an area that they don't cover, are you
>> roaming, or are you okay as long as you're on the AT&T/Cingular TDMA
>> network?
>
> I'll answer my own question. The answer is that you can sign up for Beyond
> Wireless, no matter where you live, using one of their area codes. However
> you will be roaming for every call, at 4x the cost, so it will be about 57
> cents per minute on the cheapest card. I think that they are using some
> other TDMA network other than AT&T, hence the roaming when you are on
> AT&T.
>

Not true. I've signed up for their service (which they don't offer in my
area code) and I don't roam as long as I'm on the AT&T network. They use
the AT&T network - now Cingular blue. I've had them for some time using 4
phones - I've no connection with them otherwise.

> You get 35 minutes when you sign up (no credit card needed). So you
> actually can have an emergency phone for about 18 months, at no cost, as
> long as you make one call every 60 days (2 months/4 minutes * 35 minutes).
> It's great for an emergency phone, but for an occasional use phone,
> CallPlus is a better deal.
>

Not true about CallPlus being a better deal.

> Beware that activating your own phone with Beyond Wireless isn't easy. You
> call and call, just to get through, then they put you on hold, and you get
> disconnected a few times. But I did activate, with a 352 area code, with
> no problem.
>

I've never had a problem calling them to activate - I can only speak of my
experience.

> Beyond Wireless will only activate Nokia TDMA phones. I asked about a
> Motorola phone, and they didn't want to do it.
>
> CallPlus will cost you $3.33/month minimum.

BW - same network; pennies a month in cost!

>
> What amazes me is just how good the Cingular/AT&T TDMA network still is.
> While GSM in the SF Bay Area has a lot of dead spots (including in urban
> parts of Silicon Valley), I have experienced no such TDMA problems. There
> are lots of TDMA phones available, probably most people have some laying
> around, or know someone who changed to GSM (like my mother, who now has
> terrible coverage on her GSM phone in Georgia!).
>

"Andrew White" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Does anyone know of a prepaid phone provider that allows you to keep
> minutes from expiring and service from being cancelled for 6 months?

7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless.

20 cents per minute - including domestic, long distance and on-network
roaming.

"7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless refill cards are available in various
dominations ($25, $50, $75 and $100) AND only at participating 7-Eleven
stores. When customers add additional minutes within 365 days, unused
minutes will carry forward to the new balance, another market-leading
feature. The starter package also includes 50 minutes of free nationwide
airtime (a $10 value)."

They have both TDMA and GSM phones. Apparently you MUST buy a phone, they
will not activate an existing GSM or TDMA phone that you may own.