angeltek

Because of my job, and what I do, I can leak out great information.

so here it is.

All of the Former Att Wireless plans are considered old, and expired. What this means to you, is that your grandfathered into the plans, aka stuck. You are allowed to go up and down in price though ie: go from one local plan to another, or one national plan to another. What really sucks though is that if you have Mobile to Mobile, Night and Weekend Minutes, or any Promotion whatsoever including free Long distance on a local plan, you will lose it if you change your plan.

Also, you may have noticed that you can't seem to ge tyour voicemail. I learnt that they sent a reprogamming signal to make all phones change to saying cingular instead of att. What this has done to you is actually make it so it connects to a cingular tower at all times unless one is not available. If you have GSM, this won't really effect you, but if you have the older phones that use Digital aka TDMA this means your phone will be connecting to Cingular TDMA towers, which cingular no longer maintains, nor has any intention on maintaining. This Reprogramming signal also erased some pertinant date for being able to use your one touch connect ot voicemail function on the phone. Basically the part that has your phone enter in a few auses, the # sign and your voicemail password.

Now, Cingulars Official response is that no it'snot the service it;s the phone, and that oops, we didn't mean to wipe out any of your voicemail info like that. However the Unofficial story is that cingular knew this would happen and that it was so people would call in to complain and they could offer the cingular plans and phones to them.

Also, if you call in to get a new phone, outside of warrenty replacements and insurance claims, you will have to change your rate plan too. It's not that they don't hav ethe phones that will owrk with your plans, it's that they don't want to sell them to you. Cingular wants all it's customers on current Cingular plans with Current Cingular phones. they don't want to have maintain different technologies. they would like to have everything unified, and simple. This is the same with wanting to get a better rate plan.

You should also know that the Care reps are driven to "upgrade" or "Migrate" you ot a cingular plan. Between the incentive program they have (which is a point system, where they get x amount of points and then can redeem those points for various goodies) and the heat that comes down from management if they don't, you can be assured you may get some misinformation. My best advice is that you look at the plans online first. Pull up a couple of your bills to see what your past usage is like, you can do this online if you don't keep your invoices. Also, the better prices for the phones are almost always online. very rarelyt will a store or over the phone option give you better prices then online. Cingular will not give you any discounts based on tenure as a policy by the way. Use www.phonescoop.com to research the phones. This is what I and my co-workers use. Most importantly, there is a one time $18 migration fee for every line that you migrate or upgrade. Be aware you will aalmost always be quoted the 2 year contract price on phones.


well, I think that's enough for now. However keep your eyes peeled, beause as I learn stuff, I will post it here and keep you all a little more informed.


Oh and feel free to ask me questions. I'll be mor ethen happy to give you advice if you have any quarrels with the company I work for.

Craven Morehead

I've got AT&T wireless. But that doesn't mean I have to stay with Cingular, and probably won't. Need a new phone, Cingular seems to be more expensive than other providers (Verizon). I'll give Cingular a chance but the chances are slim.

Thanks for the info.

sixate

I had AT&T, but I haven't had a single problem so I won't worry about it for now.
When my contract is up I'll just go somewhere else if Cingular's prices suck.

Hardknock

I was with AT&T but when Cingular bought them out I got out of my contract and told them both to piss off. There's a little clause in there that says that if the provider makes a change to the contract (selling the company apparently counts) then the user has 20 days to object to the change. If they do, then they can get out of the agreement. I exercised this option. It was pretty easy to find, you just have to actually read the contract. Which hardly anyone does anyway.

angeltek

Yeah, it';s a claause we were always told not to inform of, but it is true. It has to be within 20 days of the initial notification of us, meaning you couldn't call in today, and say you just found out.

It also has to be a change that has an imapct on the service, your rate plan, or terms of the contract.

sixate

I didn't even know that. Hell, AT&T never even gave me a copy of my contract. So I couldn't read it if I wanted to. Oh well.....

maleficent

My cell, paid for by my company (thankfully) was AT&T, and is now Cingular. I didn't realize that the service had changed until I actually turned off the phone and turned it back on and it came up with the Cingular logo.

I got an email from someone in Finance last week, wanting to know what had changed with who I was talking to. My bill for the month was over 3500 dollars. (Luckily the ocmpany pays it) Due to a few customer crisis I went over my usual 2000 minute plan, by quite a bit. That overage sent my phone bill up by thousands of dollars.

I know I've gone over before, AT&T never charged for overages the way that Cingular seems to.. Or atleast I was aware that I was getting close on my minutes and I could switch to landlines.

Hopefully we'll be changing our providers soon...

__________________

punx1325

I was a former AT&T customer, and I switched to Cingular. I haven't been happier, I get a way better deal with cingular than i did with AT&T

__________________
If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is....

Hardknock

Another thing about that 20 day clause in the contract, it took me about an hour on the phone to get customer service to admit that that clause actually existed. At first, some guy in customer service tried to convince me that I was talking about "buyers remorse" regarding canceling the service within 14 days of when you first activated the account. I told him the exact page number and how many paragraphs down that page where it talked about that clause. His response was that he didn’t have a copy of the contract I was looking at in front of him. I found that to be a pretty lame ass excuse. After 15 minutes of going round and round with him about this, I demanded to speak to his supervisor. The sup tried to tell me the same thing. I tell him the same thing I told his subordinate. Another 20 minutes wasted. Then I went through the corporate discount department (I was getting a corporate discount from my job at the time) and told them the same thing. After explaining everything to her for 20 minutes and about a total of 15 minutes on and off hold, they finally agreed to let me out of my contract. This was in mid November.

And to top it off, they are still charging me for stupid shit. One example, I was in Orlando for a week between the first and second hurricanes last August and I got a "hazard discount" which amounted up to $375 of credits posted to my account. This is after my account was cancelled mind you. When I called them up to ask them "what the hell is this?" They told me that I got credits because I was in the area of the hurricanes. My response was that my home calling area wasn't Orlando and I shouldn't be getting these credits. I know, I should have kept my damn mouth shut and took the credit but first, the account was already cancelled and I thought to myself, damm that’s almost a year's worth of free cell phone time. second, I started thinking ahead and wondered, if they were going to cut me a check for this credit because my account was cancelled I'd have to pay it back anyway so I might as well call them to tell them not the send a check in the first place. Coupe months later, I'm still getting statements from AT&T/Cingular saying I still have this $375 credit on my account. I call them again and ask "WTF? Why am I still getting this statement? Are you going to cut me a check or not?" They finally say no because the account is cancelled (duh, dumbasses I say) and they will zero out the account. Now, towards the end of last month, I get another statement saying that I now owe $85 in taxes because they just now found out that they shouldn't have given me those hurricane credits in the first place and I owe back taxes. I call them AGAIN literally pissed off saying that I will not pay this and the guy is saying that "wow I don't get this either" So I'm put on hold while he talks to his sup. He comes back and says that I still owe the taxes. I come back and tall him this. "Ok, so you think that I owe these back taxes on this account for the two months after this account was cancelled for credits that you shouldn't have given me in the first place. Now, since I told your company back in November that I shouldn't have been granted those credits in the first place, you're making me pay for your fuck up?" "Hold please" Another 15 minutes wasted. "Uh, sir, since you've been through so much with our company we just decided to credit your account for the amount of taxes that you owe." I say ok. Knowing that that answer was bullshit since Cingular couldn’t admit their mistake, I just let it go because I didn't have to pay for it. Now, I'm hanging on to that statement until I get the next one showing a zero balance on the account.

Hence, fuck AT&T/Cingular. Too much hassle.

Cynthetiq

I don't see it as "stuck" as you put it.

I see it as "not locked into any contracts".

I pay a fair price and get Nights/Weekends, 700 minutes (I'll never use those up...), no roaming charges all for $39.99.

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angeltek

This is one thing I do have to comment on. Cingular would not be charging you for overages any differently then what Att Wireless was. Legally, Cingular has to go by the confines of the plan as described to you originally. So they would not have charged you any differently. That is something I can gaurentee 100%. they really do make sure that part is followed perfectly.

Cycler

I am one of the AT&T customers where yes in fact AT&T was bought by Cingulair but we are not going to move every AT&T region into Cingulair to avoid being hit with the monopoly panalty. So I am stuck in kind of a limbo until my contract is up. Everything still works so I guess I have nothing to complain about yet. I would really like a new phone but I will wait....

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MiSo

i have an att phone and i love it but sadly i'll have to give it up.

the plan is perfect for me. 400 daytime mins, free nights and weekends, $45 after taxes.
the bad thing is that i moved and sometimes i'll be roaming so there's no way i can keep the phone. i checked out cingular plans and they're horrible imo.

looks like i'll have to keep shopping for a better plan.
i always thought nextel phones were cool.
i also hear metro pcs phones can dial long distance now... might be worth looking into.

ubertuber

MiSo - my Nextel service is abominable. I live in NYC, and I've had Sprint, Verizon, and now Nextel. I'm not kidding when I say my reception on my i830 is abominable! I'd break my contract if it wasn't for the fact that my work uses a Nextel phone network.

__________________
Cogito ergo spud -- I think, therefore I yam

MiSo

thanks for the heads up.

i really wish att didnt merge because they were great to me.
only thing was their coverage sux in this area or i'd keep it.

yellowchef

well nextel is merging with sprint.. but Ive never had issue with nextel coverage, just the Customer Service.

ubertuber

Customer service has been less of an issue for me. Now, customer service with Verizon was wonderful. On more than one occassion I had a representative tell me they couldn't fix my problem immediately. They took my name and gave me theirs - and called me back with an answer! I was very impressed.

As far as reception goes, I do wonder if the buildings here in NY affect the different frequencies used by the companies differently. But, for that same reason, I don't really expect that my Nextel phone will benefit from Sprint. I think they are currently a different system. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised by finding out that I'm wrong on that one...

__________________
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Melka

I just recently bought a phone off eBay, assuming (stupidly) that it would work with my Cingular service since it was AT&T and now they are like the same company, right?... Wrong. I was just wondering if there's anything I can do or am I going to have to buy one of those $20+ unlocking programs/send-in things now? Thanks.

irseg

Cingular screwed up my billing as a result of that merger. I found this out because my mom got numerous calls from a collection agency looking for me. Which was odd considering I never gave Cingular her number, and hadn't lived there in 2 years when I got the phone.

I called them up and said "If I owe money, why is my bill showing as paid in full? And it's not like Cingular doesn't have my cell number to contact me, so what gives?" The guy explained that they were getting tons of similar calls, and that my billing info got messed up as the result of the merger. I looked through my records and sure enough I didn't get billed for a month, even though the amount never showed up on subsequent bills. I paid up, and the guy had the nerve to say "Thanks, because of your cooperation we'll keep this off your credit record." Gee thanks for not damaging my credit over your mistake! Morons.

angeltek

Okay, it's all about the technology.....and the programming differences abetween Cingular and ATTWS systems. basically, the phone you bought is no good if your going to use it on a cingular plan. That's straight up...and prolly sucks.

angeltek

The Real Reason that happened. Att and Cingular were using different billing systems and they did not merge the systems. so if you switched the old system has you set to cancelled, and then your left with a balance that shopws up repeteadly on a different set of invoices. It's messed up...but technically you would owe the money. needles to say, your problem would not have happened if they merged a little smarter.

angeltek

Allright, and now for the news update on what's up with what.

The Good News, Anyone who actually switched to Cingular is on the best end of the stick.

The Bad News....

If you haven't switched over by June 1st your gonna be screwed in every which way. They are changing the plans available...and unless you want a family plan...it's gonna suck. Also, They are gonna be reducing the discount on the phones. Plus for all the peoiple who are still using the att wireless plans and phones, you won't be able to change your plan at all unless it is to a cingular plan. Even if you want to togo from a 29.99 local to a 19.99 local, you won't be able to.

Now here are some ways you can cheat the system.

1. Don't ask for a supervisor, they are pencil pushers who make sure we take our breaks on time. What you want to do instead is say "Okay, then I want to cancel, send me to your cancelations dept.

What the cancellation department is: It's actually called our Save team. They make all the good offers to people to retain them as customers. This is for phones only though. Plans remain standard.

If your trying to get credit for an invoice, good luck. Cingular will credit half if it;'s due to minformation, and only if you haven't received a credit in the last year. The only way they will credit the full amount is if it is a clear error on the part of the company, ie: they put you on the wrong rate plan with the last 60 days.

Cingular is a hard company, and they are very black and white.

So, if anyone using At&T wireless Digital or TDMA wants to get a really nice credit on their account, let me know by then end of this week. This is my olast week here, and I am giving the company a wonderful farewell by giving as many customers as possible what they want.

Cycler

Here is a question for you since you seem to be in the know on this whole deal, What about those of us AT&T customers who did NOT become part of the merger? How screwed are we? I have been told by Alltell (that is who picked up my area's contracts) that there will be an opt out period to get out of our contracts (I have a year left and I do not want to spend it with some podunk company out of Ark.). Any truth to this? I hope start again brand new with Cingulair but I am worried this will not be possible, so angeltek, gimmie some good news.

__________________
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catback

I had AT&T when cingular bought it. Things were fine until cingular started to make things more unpleasant. I had a TDMA which had more coverage area than GSM with AT&T but all the sudden the phone was roaming in places it didn't roam before and it didn't end there, they changed the AT&T on the display to read Cingular. I don't know if cingular employees think customers are morons that don't know anything about cell phones except how pick it up, but I knew what was going on. I knew they were trying to push me to GSM because they didn't wanna support AT&T's TDMA and they also didn't want to lose the money I would pay whoever would take up AT&T's TDMA contracts. Anyway that was months ago and cingular has lost my business simply because I never liked GSM, them, or their hassles. I'm currently with Nextel and although they aren't the AT&T I had before they are good enough.

angeltek

Your in an area that is what Cingular and the FCC call a Divested Market. This means that everyone in that market is going to be transferred to Company X which in your case is alltel. It would be Illegal for Cingular to cell equipment or offer service to you in that market as deemed by the Department of Justice and the FCC. It mainly has to do with the anti Monopoly Laws.

If you manage to get them t odo that for you though, you could report it to the FCC and they would be fined about 5 million dollars per incident. So I don't think you can get Cingular service there.

Sorry I couldn't give you better news.

angeltek

You are somewhat right about that. Cingular hates offering Digital service. The love people who will use their GSM though. GSM is heaper to operate, and allows them to offer more. They have reduced the power output to the towers to save cost, but as a result shortned the range of the signal. They are required to by law to offer digital service to those who are making use of it now. But they have definatley done everything they could to try and get people over to GSM quickly, without breaking any laws to do so.

Cycler

Well Cingulair is supported in my area along with T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Nextell, Sprint, and Alltel. If I am able to get out of my now worhtless At&T contract and not get stuck with Alltel who should I go with?

__________________
"I'm not even supposed to be here today."

"I assure you we're open."

radioguy

so if i am still with at&t, i need to go to a cingular office and change my plan and get a new phone by june 1? i guess i have something to do on tuesday. oh the joy!

yellowchef

My sister cant stop bitching about her shitty Cingular service.. and Metro Pieceofshit phones have had long distance for a while now. In my area at least... everyone who doesnt travel out of south FL has one....... they have unlimited local and long distance with text messaging for like $60/mo after taxes. However even if I never left the area.... I wouldnt get a metro pos phone just because I cant find anyone really "happy" with them. They're more of a convience thing.