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Cincinnati Bell to Begin Offering iPhone 5 on August 16

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Earlier this week, The Cincinnati Enquirer took a look at the history and future of Cincinnati Bell, the 140-year-old telecommunications company serving the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Included in that report was a mention that the company's wireless division will begin offering the iPhone for the first time later this month.
Cincinnati Bell plans to start carrying Apple's iPhone 5 this month, which will be the first time the company has offered the popular phone. Why the company's opted against carrying the iPhone until now vividly illustrates its wireless dilemma: Apple can force carriers to buy a certain number of iPhones, and those carriers must eat the cost of any unsold iPhones. Carriers also typically subsidize the cost of the $600 iPhones, which they sell for about $200.

The landlocked local market's size is a challenge for Cincinnati Bell, which must pay other carriers when local customers roam outside its service area, and limits its options. Cincinnati Bell, which does offer a 4G network, continues to evaluate whether upgrading to LTE network speeds that optimize the newest smartphones' performance is worth the investment.
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The Cincinnati Enquirer has now confirmed that the carrier will launch the iPhone 5 on August 16, and a source at Cincinnati Bell has informed MacRumors that staff members are now receiving training materials in advance to prepare them to begin selling the device.

cincinnati_bell_iphone_5_training.jpg
Device pricing does, however, appear to be higher on Cincinnati Bell than with other carriers, an issue that is not limited to the iPhone. According to training materials, the iPhone 5 will typically be priced at $299.99 after a mail-in rebate on a two-year contract, apparently for the 16 GB model that is generally priced at $199 on-contract at other carriers. For the launch weekend of August 17-18, Cincinnati Bell will be offering a trade-in deal worth an additional $100 off of the price of the iPhone 5 on in-store purchases, although details on which devices qualify for the trade-in offer are unclear.

Article Link: Cincinnati Bell to Begin Offering iPhone 5 on August 16
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/08/09/cincinnati-bell-to-begin-offering-iphone-5-on-august-16/
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avanpelt

macrumors 68030
Jun 2, 2010
2,956
3,877
Why would anyone voluntarily use this archaic Bell company for wireless service? It totally sounds like they're stuck in the mid-90's in terms of their network:

The landlocked local market's size is a challenge for Cincinnati Bell, which must pay other carriers when local customers roam outside its service area, and limits its options.

Although, I guess if you never leave Cincinnati, this could be the carrier for you. Hey, outside of their launch special, you also get the privilege of paying $100 more for a 16 GB iPhone 5 than you would on any other carrier. Oh, and the iPhone 5 is last year's technology that will be replaced by the iPhone 5S or 5C or 6 soon. If you want to pay an extra $100 for the hardware, by all means, keep supporting Ma Bell.
 
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erifneerg

macrumors member
Aug 10, 2008
59
0
Every time there is a news about a new a carrier picking up the iPhone, I just sit and wonder when will Ting get the iPhone.
 
Battlefield Fan

Battlefield Fan

macrumors 65816
Mar 9, 2008
1,063
0
lol Cincinnati Bell. Only used by teenagers whose parents don't want to pay to have them on one of the big 3.
 
T

TWSS37

macrumors 65816
Feb 4, 2011
1,107
232
Every time I read about another marginal carrier picking up the iPhone, I chuckle and remember the good times where the threads would just have elitist posts that basically said "only poor people use these, no thanks."
 
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bluegalangal

macrumors newbie
Aug 9, 2013
1
0
avanpelt said:
Why would anyone voluntarily use this archaic Bell company for wireless service? It totally sounds like they're stuck in the mid-90's in terms of their network
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Mainly the customer service, partly the pricing. They're also the only fiber optics option in the area. Very responsive, very polite, and issues get resolved in the store or with one phone call, permanently. I have colleagues with accounts at AT&T and Verizon, and each one has a horror story. I have no idea why anyone would want to voluntarily subject themselves to that kind of abuse as a paying customer.

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vmistery said:
Why does the US have region based carriers? Just shear size of the country?
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It has more to do with the remnants of the Ma Bell breakup in the early 80's. Part of the devolution of Ma Bell was to split the national carrier into regional carriers (Baby Bells) that would supply local service, while other companies (AT&T, for one) would be able to provide long distance service not tied to the local company.

However, Cincinnati Bell was a regional carrier in its own right and only partially owned by Ma Bell, so it went independent at the breakup and was never part of a Baby Bell company.
 
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mckey

macrumors member
Feb 7, 2009
50
0
My local rural cellular service Thumb Cellular now has iPhones of course after I left them back in march for that same reason:).I'm thinking about going back with them, but don't want to be locked into a 2 year contract with an iphone 5 with no option to upgrade the phone.I've asked customer service if they had any idea how long after the new iphone 5s would be released to the carriers but they have no idea.I'm still waiting for AT&T to get 3G in my local area, iphones are no fun on edge/2g....... so I guess it comes down to what come first the long over due AT&T network upgrade that finally provides 3g service or the new iPhone 5s model when it arrives @ the local rural carrier.Has anyone noticed in past iphone upgrades how long before the authorized iphone carries receive the new model phones ? I thought it was a few months after the official release date but not sure ?
 
Coolnat2004

Coolnat2004

macrumors 6502
Jan 12, 2005
479
4
bluegalangal said:
Mainly the customer service, partly the pricing. They're also the only fiber optics option in the area. Very responsive, very polite, and issues get resolved in the store or with one phone call, permanently. I have colleagues with accounts at AT&T and Verizon, and each one has a horror story. I have no idea why anyone would want to voluntarily subject themselves to that kind of abuse as a paying customer.
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Customer service, ha! I spent an hour on the phone last week being bounced around regarding a simple FiOptics issue. Their wireless coverage is pathetic as well.
 
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bearsloft

macrumors newbie
Sep 29, 2012
11
0
Coolnat2004 said:
Customer service, ha! I spent an hour on the phone last week being bounced around regarding a simple FiOptics issue. Their wireless coverage is pathetic as well.
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Agreed. Since they outsourced all support to the Philippines, CS has gone way way way down.

I had them for my wireless service but left 4 years ago because the wife and I really wanted iPhones (then it was only ATT). I needed to get some kind of account number to allow my phone number to transfer and the only way to get this number was to call CS. The automated service told me that it would be a 5 hour wait to speak to someone. I could hold or leave a number and they would call back. I was Actually standing in the ATT store at the time and mad as a wet hen about the wait and wanting to play with my new phone.

As my contract is about to expire with ATT on our 4S we might consider moving back to C Bell if we can save a few bucks doing it.
 
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