You know what else Cingular does? It doesn't allow all the features to work for old AT&T customers.. Once you get the unblocked phone, then you have to get the configuration from Nokia (or whatever phone) and there's a 98% chance that the stuff won't work. You won't be able to send pictures, you won't be able to download ringtones.. surf the web. NOTHING. They screw you every where they can to get you to be a Cingular customer and not AT&T - if anyone knows the secret of being able to use all your features on your phone (especially Nokia..) please email me: kimgor@comcast.net - I think that the Razr works but it's very difficult supposedly.. Any geniuses out there or are we all screwed with these fancy phones we can't use?

I run a large pool league in Chicago. I log 4000 to 6000 minutes in a regular month. (Lots of customer service needed and given.) Luckily, I have the AT&T Unlimited GSM plan.

Mixed bag right now. At the switch, I was pushed to get a new phone, and switch to Cingular. I tried a few phones, and found that they really didn't help...until I got an unlocked RAZR. Bliss. Signal bars everywhere and I could keep my AT&T unlimited plan. I dropped the land line in my office because the wireless service was that good.

Until this week. 7-10-06. Starting Monday, I have had NO service in my office, and minimal service until I get clear of my building. I called and found that they were "degrading" the AT&T towers in my area, and "integrating" them into the Cingular service. I know they have accomplished the first objective, but don't believe they have reached the second.

I cannot get ANYONE at Cingular to tell me when this situation will be fixed, or IF it will be fixed. I asked them why I should continue with the service, and got no reply.

Right now, the frustrating part is not knowing when or if the problem will be fixed. If it is near term, I will stay, and continue to sing the praises of Cingular and the RAZR phone. If it is going to be a continuing situation, I'll drop the company, and make sure that I put the message out to every one of my 1500 players that they should steer clear of Cingular.

I was a good customer of att wireless and had good service then along came cingular they canceled my service did'nt even give any warnings then told me that i could switch to cingular ....question is there way I could get my service back?
Thank You

Thanks God someone is actually doing something about this. We have been an AT&T Customer for about ten years now. About two months ago, my son's phone quit working and instead of being able to order a new phone for the AT&T network, Cingular told me they did not support equipment for the AT&T network anymore and we would have to go to their service. I looked on the internet for some "unlocked AT&T cellular phones" and they range from $120 up to $500. This is crazy when most company just about give their phones away to keep you on their plan. We are on a family plan and none of Cingular's plans came close to what we had in service and price. They are ripping off the AT&T customers big time and it's not fair. I have always paid my bill on time and been very happy with my service up until Cingular took over. Hopefully, something can be done about the way they are treating us. Please keep me informed as to what happens from here.

I had At&t for 3 years before the merger happened and had just resigned my contract. I got told I must switch over to Cingular, NO prob for me, ha ha. I was told that my plan would stay the same and not to worry. My plan was 1000 minutes free nights and weekends plus 500 texts on each phone. I ended up having (without my knowledge) 600 shared minutes NO free nights or weekends and NO texts messages! I was never told anything about it, they sent me phones connected them and screw'd me over. I called in to pay my bill cause I hadnt recieved one (still havent), and it was 996.00 I then had them disconnect them (175 each would be $350), it is now on my credit and they say I owe $2300.00!!! That would mean that it cost me $650.00 per contract to disconnect!! I have tried to speak with lawyers here in my own state and they think Im crazy lol Thank the lord Im not the only one!!! Good luck to future Cingular customers!

http://www.cdg.org/technology/3g/migration.asp

This is the "migration routes" from TDMA to other techs (GSM / CDMA)

Note as of right now, as from the site on another page: High-speed data: "Delivers a peak data rate of 1.8 Mbps on the reverse link and 3.1 Mbps on the forward link. The high data rates allow the introduction of richer applications, faster delivery and an improved user experience, better network utilization and lower cost of delivery. ... Revision B will be even better/faster than that. This is on EVDO networks, which Verizon is dutifully converting its network over to. Oh. By the way. Verizon's making it so their NEW network will coincide with the old one ... something that Cingular obviously didn't think about -- since their GSM was formerly TDMA as well. To heck with that pesky "compatability" these AT&T winers are crying about.

From what I read on their site, VoIP will be avaiable and reality in 2008 with your cell provider. You will no longer have to have a separate phone number from your cell phone if you don't want to ... or you can call from your "home" phone number while at the store. ... pricing on internet KB/MB usage, I can't be too sure, but the tech will be there.

I looked up CDMA / GSM from what others told me to do ... and from what I'm reading they're right on the money. CDMA such as Verizon and a few other places have so much more potential as far as speed is concerned, and every inception is backwards compatable with at least the last revision of itself.

The funny thing is CellularOne had the same thing happen when they merged into Alltel (sp?) We had to get new phones and switch over to their service and what-not, but I believe Alltel had better plans and it cost absolutely zilch to get a new phone. I believe when my family switched they used the generic POS phones that just came with the plan for literally nothing so it didn't really affect them, but I'm sure with the way the merger went they would have given you a nicer phone or a discounted nicer phone had you requested it.

From what it sounds like, Cingular either bit off more than they could chew, or they just f***ed up big time and are being jacka**es about the whole thing. I, personally, would be TICKED if they made me PAY for a new phone. I'd definitely play within their lawsuit b/c that's just ridiculous and bad business practice ... Although from what I hear from everybody around here that has Cingular, that's never really been their strong point.

... BUT REMEMBER EVERYBODY THEY HAVE THE LOWEST DROPPED CALL RATIO AROUND AS EVIDENCED BY MULTI-FIRM TESTINGS!!!! (coughbulls**tcough)

i am att customer, i still have my UNLIMITED "incoming" txt messeges!!! hahah beat that cingular! i have unlimited nights/weekends and 600 anytime plus 1000 mobile to mobile..

for only 39 dollars a month!!! NOWWW CINGULAR will charge you 70bucks a month for that...

so i will NOT be switching to cingular

P.s. I have an old expired att plan from b4 they merged (i still have it)

I'm not trying to discredit you, but when we switched from AT&T to Cingular (there aren't any actual AT&T towers in our area, so we were always having to switch to Cingular's network for service anyway), we switched to a $70 plan that is 1000 anytime minutes, unlimited mobile to mobile, and unlimited nights and weekends (which begin at 7 instead of 9)...you're talking out your a**, but I understand the point you're trying to make.

As for other comments about how its BS they made us buy new phones...it wasn't like we were paying full price...my phone was free (Motorola V180...have since upgraded to a RAZR V3...via ebay) and my wife's cost $20 (SonyEriccson Z500A). I could have stayed with AT&T's service, but then I would still have had to manually change my network to Cingular's in order to use the phone at home, I would not have had the benefit of Rollover minutes, and there would have been no phone upgrade/replacement plan if something were to have happened to my old phone. If they can prove that service was intentionally downgraded in order to force the customer to switch, then I'm all for the lawsuit...but simply stating "they made me buy a new phone with the new contract" is ridiculous as you would have more than likely done the same thing if you upgraded your contract through AT&T to obtain a newer phone.

When your phone breaks or goes bad, trying getting a new one for the AT&T network. That's where you'll pay the price.

Cingular is not supporting AT&T customers is the problem. You can't get replacement equipment without having to switch. We're paying $70 for two phones with 1300 minutes, free nights and weekends starting at 7:00pm and free mobile to mobile. Similar plan with Cingular is about $100 a month and free nights start at 9:00pm.

I switched from ATT and cingular, and everything went fine. Its the people that swear by old technology like TDMA, that are whining and complaining about this.

Just an FYI, I switched to GSM before Cingular bought AT&T (when it was still being rolled out). And I STILL had better service before the Cingular takeover, with nothing but dropped calls ever since.

So it's not isolated to TDMA users.

I still have the Unlimited $99.99 and I have to say I havent had any problems so far. I have a unlocked Cingular Razr with my AT&T and I dont see any reason to switch over to there plans. If you are in TDMA you should be switching over to to a GSM phone for better coverage. Anyway, hopefully this law suit will cause Cingualr to have AT&T customers keep there current phones if they are happy with them.

You have the unlimited $99.99 phone and a razr.. can you send pictures via the internet with the razr? If so, how? did you get it unblocked and then did the guy have to input a bunch of stuff to get it to work? kimgor@comcast.net

I had to pay a bill 3 times because i was told that it wasnt paid and they would send it to collections and they did even after i paid it, i merged from at&t to cingular and Ive had so many problems with cingular but im binded by a contract and ive dealt with the headaches because i dont like to swicth around, Ive even asked them why I was getting billed twicw in one month, they corrected that problem but didnt admit any thing wrong......I knew some one would do something about that crooks is what they are.

I had been an AT&T customer for many years before the merger and was very happy with service. After the merger I was told I needed to upgrade in order to receive certain services. I had a few months left on my contract at the time and was told the upgrade would not extend it, but as of yesterday I found out my contract has been extended until March 2008! I have had nothing but problems since the upgrade! I didn't receive my bill in April and called them to find out what was going on. I was told not to worry they were having a "billing problem" in my area. Well, May and June went by with no bill and each month I called! Last week I got 3 bills in one week totaling $220.00!!!!! When I called to inform them not only did they treat me as if I had just not been paying my bill, but they basically told me I had 30 days to pay it or I would began to be charged late fees! And possible service interruption. I could not believe it! That's when I asked when my contract would be over and was slapped in the face with MARCH 2008! Add me to that list of former AT&T customers who have filed suit! Something has got to be done about this!!!!!!!

hate to say it, but they do make other ways availible to get your bill.

Yep they sure do.

Too bad many companies can't get it right and instead make their online formats cluttered and clunky.

Not to mention the fact that some people that have cell phones are older and aren't as computer savvy as you might like to think the rest of the world is.

While I would have been pitching a MAJOR complaint the second month of not getting a bill, I don't really think I'd notice it all that much myself.

Kudos for original poster for keeping up on those things, and good luck with the late fees because they're like the worst company in the world for removing them.

Sorry, but just because you didn't get a paper bill doesn't mean you should suddenly be surprised to have $220 to pay. When you called to complain, did you ever think to ask the service rep "Hey, what's my current bill? $75? Let me go ahead and pay that, even though the paper bill never showed up." Sorry, but this was your fault, not theirs. Sure, they should have gotten the bills out to you in a timely manner, but you know you're receiving a service...just because the bill didn't show up doesn't mean you're not obligated to pay. 3 months of service with no payment IS to be treated as non-payment. No sympathy here.

it may have been her fault, but I had the same thing happen, I have asked for my bill repeatedly and when they told me how much my bill was I had them disconnect my phone, I still asked for a bill, that was a year ago, I have NOT recieved one and they looked over my address and everything was correct!!!

I feel bad for everyone who has to deal with the Cingular/ AT&T merger...I've had Sprint for the past 18 months and have never had a problem. My dad, my sister and myself are on the same plan and it ends up being $150 a month for unlimited calling/texting/internet...Long Distance included. I have no complaints.

The argument of having to buy a new phone and pay the $18 fee is bogus. Even Cingular TDMA customers have to do that to upgrade from the dying technology to the newer GSM technology.

I believe AT&T was also working on upgrading their network, and customers would've had to pay a similar upgrade fee and the cost of a new phone (whether it's a free one or a feature-loaded one that costs $$) eventually.

If the comment about AT&T Wireless on the verge of bankruptcy is true, then those in the class action suit need to start thinking to themselves.. If Cingular didn't buy AT&T Wireless, then they may have been forced to choose another carrier and pay activation fees, new phones, new services, etc. But Cingular kept the company out of the water, and is offering the customers a chance to upgrade and move over to the newer network.

Mergers have consequences and the faster than expected TDMA shutdown is one of them. Cingular was way ahead of AT&T at the time of merger in the upgrade to GSM. But the pro about the merger is a bigger, better, more reliable network. Cingular can now upgrade the AT&T TDMA towers to Cingular GSM towers to provide more coverage without having to seek local municipal approval to construct a tower in so-and-so's backyard.

The only way I see a lawsuit valid is if Cingular actually was charging AT&T customers an early termination fee along with an upgrade fee to switch over to Cingular plans.

I was one of the customers who signed up with AT&T because of their coverage area. Shortly after Cingular took over I found out the hard way that most of the areas that were previously in my area of coverage were now subject to huge roaming fees. When I balked at an unexpected $300 bill for about 30 minutes of calls Cingular did adjust my bill, but told me not to ever expect such an adjustment again. In their words, I had been "educated" and would have to live with reduced service. They refused to tell me what area my service contract covered and said I could not rely on the phone's perception of roaming or not and that I could not rely on my personalized coverage map. But they could upgrade my service for a lot of money. I waited out my contract and switched to Verizon the day it eneded. That wasn't my only problem though,when my local service wasn't working, they wanted ME to drive around town and check on the towers!

Where do I begin with all the problems I have had with this company and I know that the employee is going to try and explain away all of them but they are full of it. First of all five bars dont be crape and i should know. yes i have five bars most of the time (even in the middle of nowhere) but no matter how how many bars either I or my mother (who is also on my plan) have we still have no singnal or we always have droped calls. We shouldnt have to be acrobats dancing around trying not to loose our connection or even get a connection. When I complained to Cingular about this they tried to say first it was our sim cards and that we had to pay 50 dollars for each sim card that was an at&t sim card or we could change our plan to cingular. we get free incoming messages with at&t because of the grandfather clause so why would i want to switch and get charged for recieving and sending messages. when i talked to a cingular rep in the store he said that they are giving us bad service to make us switch over to cingular when we asked the people over the phone while complaining about the service they denied this yet they asked me if i would like to switch my plan to cingular five times in less than 5 minutes everytime i said no. yet they keep telling us that the service sucks because they havent switched the at&t towers over to cingular yet (it has been about two years someone must not be doing there job huh) plainly cingular is screwing all of their customers. because the at&t customers that i know that have switched to cingular also complain about the shotty service they are getting but yet cingular is breaking the law by trying to force their fees on people one way or another whether it be from higher fees on your bills or cancelltion fees because your tired of being screwed. I think that all of us former at&t customers have the right to have the same service that we were promised before the switch. and if this is the only way that we are able to be compencated for this screwing then so be it. ok so here is some of the problems i have had so now what is your cingular rehersed answers goula cause we all know that cingular has you monitoring this to try and cover their butts, but too many of us are really ticked so you should tell cingular that your not helping them any.

Wow ... paragraphs are a man's/woman's best friend.

My wife stuck it out with ATT after the merger but things went downhill. She had one of those little block nokia phones with the blue backlight, but it really wasn't that horrible. After the merger her phone gradually stopped getting a good signal in our apartment (mind you, this is the place we've been living in for 2 years). She called cingular and was told she was considered 'former ATT' and that she'd need to upgrade her phone for any kind of customer service. Now mind you, I'm understanding and open minded - I know change is good. But boy did they handle it wrong. She stuck it out a while longer because her company had a contract with ATT. Unfortunately after the merger the details of this contract became vague, her bill went up by 30 for no forseeable reason (since she didn't change phones or service). She gave up on them finally and came to the light (Tmobile). Cingular may have allover coverage, but that's not everything when it comes to a product/service. I just feel bad for people who HAVE to use them, for whatever the reason. She's now very happy with Tmobile, as I have been for 4 years.

Here's food for thought. BellSouth owns Cingular. At the end of this year, AT&T is buying BellSouth. Now talk about ya monopoly. So if you went from AT&T to Cingular because of the merger. You get to do it all over again but the other way around.

Actually, BellSouth only owns 40% of Cingular and AT&T/SBC owns the other 60%.

If you want to sue them go here:

http://www.consumerwatch...68&_requestid=14164

I was with ATT mobile before the merger. When I got them, I was never told that the merger was going to happen before the contract was signed. I found out after the paperwork was done. Once the merger happened, one of my phones, the one I have for my parents, stopped working. I wanted to get another phone to replace the nonfunctional one before they left for Florida. The Cingular representatives told me that I must replace all four phones on my account and switch over to Cingular with a new 2 year commitment for each phone paying activation fees and purchasing all new phones. I told the Cingular representative that since Cingular bought ATT I was Cingular. They proceeeded to tell me that I was ATT and I must now switch over to Cingular. They went on to say the bill and the phone displayed the ATT information. It did not, they all displayed the Cingular information and the bill said Cingular as well. They refused to help me. I contacted the maker of the phone to have them service the phone. Needless to say my elderly parents drove to Florida without a phone. Once repaired, I mailed it to my parents in Florida. (they refused to take mine when they left)They have not allowed me to change any plan period. My phone that has insuance on it stopped functioning, first they said I have no insurance. Once that was worked out they said I would see it in two day. It did not show a week has gone by. I called again, they did not process the claim. They tell me the phone will be here next week. I am not holding my breath. I hope those people sueing Cingular screw them to the wall. If I can join the palintiffs I will.

A couple of months ago my two year contract with Cingular (initiated as AT&T)expired. I recently found out that my $29.95 "Nationwide" mobile service (continued on a month-to-month basis) had been very much curtailed and now goes from my home (Florida)only north to NC and east to Texas. I was never told about this change in my service. So it seems that when I visit my kids in California I will have to use a pay phone...or whatever. I found this out in the course of a phone conversation with a Cingular rep.

I was told that in order to regain my former "nationwide" service I would need to sign up for two years (@39.95 a month)and pay for a new phone (the old one would no longer work). I signed up for the new service at $10 a month more than what I had been paying and bought one of their new phones (no freebee offered witgh contract renewal) as my old phone would not work now!

Needless to say I am not a "Happy Camper"! Who do we contact to join the class action??

and did everyone forget AT&T Wireless was on the verge of bankruptcy??? So Cingular buys them and turns it around so that the BUSINESS can make money... Do you all work for a non-profit organization??? Last I checked it was a phone company, not a charity...

A contact is a contract.

Ok, so there are about 10 AT&T customers here saying this is legit and then there's you (an employee) and one other guy who hates life saying Cingular is all-holy. Let's see, that's 5:1. But the # of positive/negative comments is more like 1:1, thanks to your repeated defense of Cingular. You made your point (as invalid as it may be).

Regarding your post, so if they can't be profitable by acting legally and ethically, you are saying that it's ok to be criminal, in the name of profit? You are a true capitalist. You should rise high in the ranks of Cingular.

Making money is good and fine, but you must live up to the law and moral standards. Most people don't understand this, you aren't the only one.

goul-a will tell you a contract is a contract, unless its not profitable enough, then it doesn't mean s***.

You're a bit of a d1ck, aren't you.
The customers PAID for a service they expected to get, which they did, until the changover. Then they paid the same for a worse service and then were basically forced to pay a sh1tload more to get back the same service they had at the start.

So shut the hell up and find some freakin' scruples you sh1te.

simple marketing. have a good experience tell 2 people, have a bad experience tell 10!!! i'm not only sticking up for the company but the millions upon millions of happy customers.

you guys have a great night :-)

I normally come to beta news just to get software and lurk the forums. I just find your statement about millions happy customers very laughable. These customers would disagree with you http://www.consumeraffai...cingular_contracts.html I am a Cingular user and I guarantee you they aren't a great company. The customer service is horrible and recently the reception has been . I don't think Cingular wants to admit they have an overloaded cell tower around where I live. I know a former technical support representative for Cingular and he tells me about all the little wonderful policy's of Cingular and all the dirt. He is a very happy T mobile customer. It is nice to see this company gets what it deserves. I can't wait till Sprint teams up with our cable provider. I will kick Cingular to the curb. Simple marketing won't fix Cingulars problem.

nah. He'll tell you it's binding, even when it's null, void, and promises are broken on service areas/quality of service, etc.

My sister worked for AT&T wireless during the time they merged with Cingular. From what she tells me, this lawsuit has total merit. AT&T Wireless customers were totally shafted.

All the cell phone companies are indeed terrible. From the start the whole system is engineered to extort as much money from you as possible. And it's not up-front extortion, it's a series of 'gotcha's' no matter what carrier or plan you have. Expect to pay big bucks to have a cell phone, don't fall for any claims of cheap service. It doesn't exist.

I was never given the $18 option. I complained in a Cingular store and they offered to upgrade me to Cingular after paying the $175 termination fee, paying a new hook-up fee, and buying a new phone. I'll register asap.

nightops were you even a AT&T customer???

I was for 4 years and at the time after the merger my choice was either buy a new phone (THERE WAS NO OPTION TO GET ANY FREE PHONE)with plans that were less comparable than what I had before and pay the $18 fee OR pay my $175 cancel fee. That was it. Stupid company and I refuse to do anymore business with them. At the very least they could of given me a plan that was comparable.

and did you get a free phone with the company you left for? did they charge you an activation fee? when it comes time to get a new phone, are you expecting a free one??? JUST LIKE ANYTHING ELSE, YOU SHOULD PAY FOR IT!!! DOES YOUR CABLE COMPANY GIVE YOU A FREE TV??? DOES YOUR MORTAGE COMPANY GIVE YOU A FREE HOUSE??? DOES YOUR ELECTRIC COMPANY GIVE YOU FREE MICROWAVES????

Shut-up guola. Are you going to troll every post? I can't believe anyone would be so naive to have an opinion like yours.

Someday, when you grow up, you will learn the truth about corporate America. Perhaps after they've ripped you a new one over and over.

actually, read what he said (no option for a free phone)

Go to here to add your name.

http://www.consumerwatch...rate/cingularcomplaints/

Thanks for the link. I'm submitting my complaint as soon as I get home.

why? because you were to stupid to read your contract and terms of service???

That's ridiculous. You shouldn't have to worry about being tricked to the point that you have to read every little small line of fine print and ask 10,000 questions to make sure this or that isn't going to happen. Is it too much to ask for and up-front an honest company?

Sure, there are rationale for making consumers pay this or that. Why have you got such a personal love for a huge corporation that cleraly is acting unethically, even in areas unrelated to this lawsuit. You must be a Cingular employee, but even then, you are naive to have that point of view.

Have *YOU* read the service agreements though and considered if Cingular is living up to them, or are you just b****ing and moaning because people are upset about being extorted?
That said, you've made your point, so how about you quit with your repeated comments.

Well, actually what am I thinking.. people like guola will perpetually troll places like this. Gotta ignore them I guess.

yes I am an employee and before that i was a T-Mobile customer and could not use my phone where i lived and they told me i could buy out of the contract...
also after going through katrina and seeing what the other carriers and cingular did, cingular did a much better job... with restoring their network and helping it's employees and customers... so yes i am a loyal employee and not a troll... why is it when someone stands against a thread they are a troll???

Ha, *KNEW* you were an employee. You are a troll because you've posted your opinion 20 times.

sorry. you keep me busy. :-)

Not at all. I also have the brain-power necessary to differentiate between "to" and "too."

He went too far.

I had to explain it to him.

When Cingular bought out AT&T in my area, we were switched over to CellularOne because it was said Cingular would have a monopoly. CellularOne's treatment of the transfered customers was so bad, that I left for Cingular where I have been overly happy. I even received a discount for being a former AT&T customer and they matched my former plan.

Wish I lived in your area (maybe?) because that is not even *close* to how AT&T customers were treated where I live.

We're paying $20 more per month for the exact same service we had with AT&T, and we had to buy all new phones. BS.

Well, that's the way CellularOne tried to treat me. Which is another issue because I know for a fact that it was not just Cingular pulling this on people. Seems to be standard practice. May not be right, but why sue one when others are doing the same?

Bah...another sue-happy filing that will only increase your costs for your cell plans. There are at least 4 phones that are free with the upgrade, at $18 for the upgrade fee. No other fees apply. Quit whining and upgrade. You were going to have to with AT&T anyway...and their upgrade fees were actually $25...so it would have costed more and taken longer with AT&T. GSM is far superior to TDMA, so why wait? Of course Cingular dropped TDMA, it's horrible to maintain in comparison to GSM. Grow up and get over it.

thank you!!!

Count me in too - if they didn't break the agreement they had with the merger commision, they certainly broke it in spirit; I was amazed that they required ATT members to have to pay for a new phone in order to get upgraded service. Quite disgusting, but hardly surprising from a company that has one of the worst customer serice setups I've ever had to endure.

they did that anyway. it's called an upgrade fee... unless you are talking about actually having to PURCHASE a phone... no free phone??? what is this world coming to???

haha obviously a place that NORMAL people find horrible/offensive.

It says something when a 'class action' law suit is placed. Especially with all the hub-bub I've heard about this one, it's going to be a doosie and from what I'm seeing/hearing from some of these websites, Cingular's going to be either paying out the a** in fines or losing a whole bunch of customers in the deal with no pesky $150 charge.

At least other, more responsible carriers (Alltel just to name one) will allow you to cancel your service if you didn't agree with their business/business practices. From what I hear Cingular's going down the tubes. They're lucky they get new flashy phones faster than some other companies, or they'd be in the sh**er.

... I'm just waiting for the day that Verizon/Alltel/some other huge company buys Cingular out for some outrageous price, only to have their customers come to experience and appreciate what they deserve -- some freaking respect from technical support, sincere apologies from the billing departments for honest mistakes, and no more bumbling around like oafs like it seams many of your colleagues and, perhaps, yourself seem to be doing all-too-often.

I happen to be in London right now on business, and let me tell you what a difference in the cell technology over here (I'm a cingular customer). I have yet to go below 5 bars on my cell, even indoors, the call quality is better, and the phones I see over here make our "hot new camera phones" look pathetic....

LOL, men on the moon and cant even crack the old cell phone :P

Keep dunking those dohnuts :)

Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say all we do is eat donuts, however, I have to give credit where credit is due. The Europeans did a great job with their cell network. In the US we have 2 different technologies, and instead of improving networks and call quality, the cell companies shove MP3 playing phones down our throats like its a breakthrough. I think this is the only technology we lag behind the rest of the world.

honestly, it's more due to federal, state and local regulations than anything. in europe they can't have a town meeting about where the next cell tower would be, but here we do and then the people of said town complain about coverage... so many hurdles have to be crossed here to put up a decent network. look at every carriers prepaid coverage, that is their NATIVE coverage.......... why don't they have more?????? RURAL carriers and the GOVERNMENT............................. we are such tight wads in the US and against monopolies that it hurts the average joe consumer............ if we were europe, we wouldn't have coverage problems anywhere............ but we live in a double standard society... angry customers want to use their phone everywhere, but don't want to look a t a cell tower a few hundred yards from their house....... boo hoo.

thats the one thing i agree with that youve said so far.

I agree ... I think that's the only solid fact-filled comment I've read from you all night!

I was an AT&T Wireless customer with no problems since 2001. Since Cingular bought them out, I've been counting the days until my 2year contract expired so I could get away from the HORRIBLE service (both cell service and customer service) I've received.

Glad to see someone is taking them to court about it... where do I sign up?

Here's how bad it was to me, and how apparant that Cingular did not want to make things smooth for the AT&T Wireless customers. My contract had expired almost a year before Cingular bought AT&T. I had an Audiovox SMT5600 phone. Cingular has that same model phone. My phone went bad and I had to get warranty service done to us through Cingular. I asked them if I could just switch to Cingular and they send me a Cingular branded SMT5600 phone in exchange for the one I was sending in. They said NO! I even escalated it to a manager and that person said NO too. They said that they would send me an AT&T Wireless branded SMT5600 phone, and that if I wanted to switch to cingular that I would have to purchase a new phone (this was a $200 phone at the time) even though it was the exact same phone, just branded differently, and that I would have to pay the service fees associated with a new account.

What??? I told them that they were making it really hard on the AT&T Wireless customers to switch to Cingular. I was throwing myself at them to take me in as a customer whose contract had expired about a year previously, and I told them that they would lose me as a customer if they would not work with me. I was even willing to sign into a contract if they would just replace my defective AT&T SMT5600 with a Cingular SMT5600. They wouldn't do it.

I have since switched to Verizon once the Motorola Q phone came out.

So you went from bad customer service to the worst customer service on the market? Why would you want to go with a company that uses an inferior CDMA network and charges you more for service? Verizon is one of the most expensive nationwide mobile phone companies right next to Sprint. At least GSM technology doesn't sacrifice call quality to get you more bars in more places.

You're joking right? "Inferior CDMA network". Do you even know what the differences are between a GSM and CDMA network? First of, CDMA is a FAR superior technology to GSM with so many advantages over GSM it's really not even funny. Sufficed to say, with CDMA your chances of a dropped call are a lot less (especially when cruising down the freeway) and you get the same service when you're phone's showing 1 bar as you do when your phone shows 6. Call quality is really chalked up to how you define it. If you mean the reliability of the call (without random silences because packets aren't being received by the phone), then CDMA has far better call quality as it does so much more to ensure better communication between the tower and cell. If you mean what you hear, well I hate calling some of my friends on GSM sometimes because ALL I HEAR is whatever loud background noise happens to be where they are. The voice codecs for CDMA actually will filter out most of this allowing you to hear the person you're talking to much better. GSM technology is old, very old by technological standards. It's*** its limit and CDMA has surpassed it as a wireless voice and data technology. In fact, it's just a variant of TDMA, which is an old old way of doing things. Why do you think they're converting their networks over to W-CDMA?

And by the way, I know VZW will try to nickel and dime you (much like Cingular), but Sprint is most definitely not one of the most expensive companies. I challenge you to find a company who can beat my plan (2 lines, 2000 anytime, 7pm nights, unlimited roaming/SMS/MMS/data and a $5 credit toward Vision purchases every month, insurance on both phones all for $90 a month). To top it off, take a look at how Sprint and Nextel are handling their merger. Customers are pretty free to move between the two companies (unlike Cingular/ATT). Also if you ever want to cancel with Sprint, they will offer up a storm of great deals to retain you as a customer because they know how valuable their customers are to them.

Point being, everything about what you said is pretty much incorrect, and don't argue with me on the CDMA versus GSM issue, I have so much evidence to the contrary that by the time I'd finish saying it it'd be impossible to remove your foot from your mouth.

That's hysterical because I have VZW is it's the best customer service I think I've ever seen.

Their "nationwide" is ... (oh my god I don't believe I'm SAYING this) actually freaking nationwide. I've never EVER had problems dropping calls, unlike every single friend I talk to on Cingular's crap network. Every ten or so minutes I get a message that the call has ended, and when I get a call back they tell me their phone informed them that they dropped a call. SURPISE!

Also, minus a few people that have crappy cell phones that need to be replaced, nearly every single person I talk to is crystal clear on every single voice call I make or receive, and I get a notification of when a person's calling ... sometimes lacking from what I hear in Cingular land.

My *only* qualms about VZW is that they disable a few features on phones that I'm not wild about them doing, and I'm sure other providers DON'T do, but that's literally it.

Way to be completely off-base with THAT comment.

Oh PS -- my phone will tell me if it's roaming ... and even then it doesn't cost me anything, because they keep their promises and allow access to other carrier towers without charging you for it, unlike Cingular. ... the only reason for VZW to tell you you're roaming is JUST in case you wanted to send a fancy picture/video message, because other providers may not have the technology or have different ways of transmitting the data.

Verizon's tech support is, quite possibly, the best I've ever seen. They bend over backwards, make sure you know information that you didn't even ask for but is important, and finally if you're confused with a phone function / accessibility of your plan and what-not, it's no problem. They're the most patient and courtious people I've ever talked to...now from what I hear and my personal experience with Cingular, THEY are the people that have horrible customer service.

If you want to talk to a manager, let the person. If you want to complain, listen. If you care at all, attempt to remedy the problem. Since I've been reading all night about how Cingular flat out tells you "No", or just laughs hysterically at you when you suggest something logical, I'm inclined to say that Cingular may have possibly the worst customer service around.

Count me in this lawsuit. I went from excellent to terrible service. So bad, in fact, that in the middle of Seattle I had to switch carriers. They shut down the tower that gave excellent service, and said they didn't know why I would have service problems. I paid the early termination on that account, and anything I can do to get some of that back, count me in.

Where does it say in your contract that Cingular guarantees service at all anywhere? I'll bet your terms of service that you agreed to state the opposite.

as part of the terms and conditions of any wireless carrier it states that changes may occur. as an employee of cingular at the time of the merger former att customers complained about an 18.00 fee to transfer over, but cingular already had that in place for existing customers, it's an upgrade fee, not a fee to switch over from att to cingular, but the whining babies that att wireless customers had come to be complained about it enough and they dropped it. and why is it so difficult for people to understand it's a new company, new rules. play along... and as it states, it's nothing new that they are trying to get customers off the tdma network, they have been for years... the 10% of customers that are still on it are costing the company millions and degrading service for the rest of the 90%... i know Cingular will come out on top on this one because all the people complaining are the ones that are to dumb to read the fine print...

Contracts, no matter how slick, cannot violate consumer protection laws. Laws supercede contracts that violate the law.

I desagree, i was with ATT when the merver took place and 6 months after the merger went thru my service started going down down down, droped calls and bad receptiong started happening all the time. I did not upgrade or pay anything extra, and eventually got a new phone they game me. But over all, Cingular ****ed up my service really bad and added all these fees that i did not have before...

Cingular sucks, but not as much as Virizon, that is the ONE reason why i stay. The less of two evils!

but no laws were violated!!! it's just a way for people to cry about phone service...

How do you know? Are you a lawyer? have you even looked closely into this? No, you are a troll and I'm sick of people like you.

actually, at one time my job was contractual disputes and executive escalations. i know what the terms of service said and every carrier has it...
'coverage not avalible everywhere'
'service cannot be guaranteed at all times'
'there may be changes in your coverage and or service area'

so yes, i know the legalities of it very well.

Cell phone companies suck pure and simple.

They screw over their customers so bad it's not even funny. They are getting just what they deserve with this.

Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cingular, Nextel, all suck.

is this a class action law suit? If so can someone provide contact info to join it? My wife signed a AT&T contract literally 2 weeks before the merger and was forced to endure exponentially reduced service because she refused to pay to convert her phone over to Cingular and sign a new contract with them. This continued until finally her old AT&T phone quit working totally and she was forced to have to purchase a new phone from Cingular. By then her 1 year contract had expired and they tried to force her to sign a new contract and would not sell her a phone at full price without signing a contract. She finally had to complain to the store manager who had to call cingular headquarters to be told that she had the right to not sign a contract and could purchase a new phone for full price without renewing her contract.

I remember the switch. I was told to upgrade my phone (something about the Cingular and AT&T SIMs being incompatible), or live with a degraded service. Luckily my contract ended not a couple of months later, so I didn't have the trouble that others had. I know some people who still wanted to stay with their AT&T plan but Cingular would not let them transfer it if they got a new phone. Ugh...Cingular has become anti-consumer lately.

It's common knowledge that all cellular phones bought directly from a mobile phone company are locked. This is done for two main reasons. First, it's to help mobile phone companies regain money they lost by selling the phone at a discounted price to you. Second, it reduces the possibility that Cingular might have to provide technical support for an unsupported phone bought from another carrier, such as a T-Mobile Motorola Razr phone.

yes, i am a cingular customer and what do i say to this ??

HA !!! take that cingular

Interesting to read this. In the USA you have multiple vendors using various technologies all trying to get nationwide coverage.

Have a read of the www.gsmworld.com site, most of the planet uses the GSM system, yet the USA decides to go "its own way".

This is one reason why AT&T sold up, and cingular purchased. At least Cingular uses the GSM system, but due to the FCC, limited to the two frequences the rest of the planet doesn't use.

Therefore you can't get the same phones as 20billon other countries, without modifications.

Why not complain to the FCC that the mix of technologies causes a problem? Verizon, Sprint and Cingular all using different technologies.

In the UK we have 4 major networks, and 2 sub-brands, and they are all the same technology. The same phones mostly available on all networks with phones available to buy without network subsidy, just plug in your SIM card. Amazing really...

standards work - imagine PCs without the ANSI character set !

I agree! As I mentioned above, I am on a business trip in London, and since I am on cingular with a "World Phone" (The Motorola V3), I am the only one of the three co-workers who can use their cell phone. In this aspect, I thanks Cingular for choosing GSM over CDMA.

Because when you have a government mandate what technology to use (as you do in Europe), there's no room for innovation whatsoever, and anyone who knows anything about wireless technology knows that CDMA is a far more complex and far more superior technology to GSM. If the US had done the same thing as Europe, we would have never seen CDMA and innovation wouldn't be rampant like it is in this country.