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Cingular Aquire's AT&T Wireless

jiggie2g

jiggie2g

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 12, 2003
491
0
Brooklyn,NY
Well I know this Topic is a few day's old but i was hoping that someone whould make a post about this. well i guess if u want something done u have to do it yourself.

Now We Will Finally see some Real Progress in the US markets Nation Wide EDGE by summer and maybe UMTS(Real 3G) by Fall '05. Not to mention the largest selection of Phones that will Finally be Compareable to the Stuff NTT DoCoMo. Forget about The Much Delayed Motorola V600 and Sony Ericsson Z600. Check out the Sony Ericsson T650(1.3MP cam, Memory Stick Duo slot, 8MB ram, 65k TFT, EDGE) or the Sharp GX-30 Flip(1.1MP cam, 262K TFT/65k STN extenal, EDGE,8MB ram, SD Card Slot) on Mobileburn.com

Now That Cingular will be the Largest Wireless Provider with 46million customer compared to Verizons 37million. as a GSM provider they almost make T-Mobile's 12million customers seem insignificant. don't even mention Sprint's 11million I will bet they will be the next to be swallowed up most likely by Verizon since they are both CDMA based services intergration would be alot less painful. which is why the Cingular ATT merger made sense.

The best thing about this is that customers will benifit since now they are doubling their network coverage area.
 
I just hope the Cingular (my current carrier) doesn't try to charge me the hundreds of dollars that I still owe AT&T Wireless (my old carrier) because I ain't paying!
 
SE T608 is the only Bluetooth phone you're going to find now for Sprint PCS...

It is quite ugly, but so is Sprint as a company.

SE makes the most beautiful GSM phones, though.
 
I've been thinking of eating the penalty fee and switching to AT&T or some other GSM service, so would this effect anything if I were to go to AT&T or Cingular?
 
Re: Cingular Aquire's AT&T Wireless

Originally posted by jiggie2g
The best thing about this is that customers will benifit since now they are doubling their network coverage area.
Click to expand...

Not at all. Since the separate companies previously had A LOT of overlapping coverage (most of their coverage overlapped, probably) there will be little to no improvement in coverage until they put more towers up.
 
They still don't have as much coverage as Sprint or Verizon since the last time I checked and yet Sprint has the smallest user base of all the big companies.
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
They still don't have as much coverage as Sprint or Verizon since the last time I checked and yet Sprint has the smallest user base of all the big companies.
Click to expand...
its because cdma phones use analog networks..and gsm phones do not..thats the only reason cdma phones have greated coverage..anyways...cdma is only gonna shrink...vodafone has a lot of share in verizon..and now thats it has lost the bid on att, it wd definitely pressurize verizon to change standards...
 
I've always found Sprint's service to be amazing, it's just this lack of bluetooth or a halfway decent phone selection that is killing me. My LG phone died and it was discontinued so it got replaced by this really terrible Samsung that just never wants to work right and everytime I check out the new phones I am disappointed. I love the phones that AT&T has, but their coverage is terrible and they don't offer the unlimited internet, text messaging, and mobile calling that Sprint offers me for my $40 a month plan. The only time any of my friends with AT&T were able to beat me out as far as service range was when we went to the Bahamas since their GSM phones work internationally and all my phone was good for was telling me what time it was and waking me up with its built in alarm clock. My dad had Cingular and it was terrible, so hopefully this merger won't bring down AT&T's standards since I always thought they had a pretty solid and clear network compared to the rest of the GSM competition.
 
Can't you guy's in the US get hold of de-restricted phones? Over here you can, quite legally for $20 get your phone modified so that it will work on any network. All the latest phones are free after a few months if you are a new customer, and if you are upgrading which you can usually do for free at least once a year, you can get the latest phones for a free upgrade after 6-9 months. Or if you ring your provider and tell them you are switching unless you get the phone you want, which I do every 6 months anyway. :p

http://www.phones4u.co.uk/
http://www.carphonewarehouse.co.uk/commerce/servlet/gben-Home

These are 2 of the bigger UK phone stores, both sell all networks. Also, all networks work and are available pretty much anywhere.

I regularly hear you guys say you wish you could buy a bluetooth phone or the latest model. If they would work, we can buy them 'handset only' quite reasonably over here, and a lot of secondhand ones available too. If they would work, I can start supplying you all. ;)

Marc
 
In the US you are locked in for a year, or sometimes two years. You can get the phone unlocked, but you still have to pay your bill or get an outrageous "early termination fee". The US has some competition, but everything else about cellphone service is almost completely anti-consumer.

SMS doesn't work between carriers, for example.

Consolidation of this type never brings any benefit to the consumer, and you can be sure it won't this time either. Prices will go up, and service will still stink.

The funny thing is, it doesn't bring any benefit to the companies either. Lots of people get laid off, they have to interoperate incompatible equipment, huge amounts of money get wasted. Technological improvements get pushed back as energy goes into merging systems, procedures and policies. Executives babble about "exploiting synergies" but in most cases, there aren't any.
 
My point was if you are reasonably happy with the service, but want a decent phone as seems to be peoples complaints, couldn't you guys get an unlocked phone? I read someone say tat there was only 1 blutooth phone available on their network, which is crazy.
 
Sprint uses a completely imcompatible technology as AT&T and the GSM networks that carry all those higher tech phones and I heard the reasoning behind not selling BT phones with Sprint is because they are afraid people would take advantage of their unlimited internet by using them as BT modems on their laptops. You can't just get free phones, either, if you want a phone for Sprint, for example, the cheapest phone they offer with their Vision plan is a really crappy $180 Nokia and if you want a decent one, it will cost at least $230 and they still aren't the most impressive anymore compared to everywhere else. Add the $35 activation fee and whatever it costs for accessories such as cases for your phone, and it is nearly impossible to upgrade without losing a good portion of your checking account. If you were to terminate out of contract, you would also have to be upwards of $350 in some places as a penalty.
 
Originally posted by cubist


SMS doesn't work between carriers, for example.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? I've had T-Mobile and Cingular sevice at various times, and have never had trouble SMS-ing people on other networks (e.g., Verizon, Sprint, AT&T...)
 
I can message my girlfriend on T-Mobile from my Sprint PCS phone but I think he meant that you cannot use a phone from one service and activate it on another carrier and expect it to work because with Sprint, you need to do SMS through their mobile web browser so using it with Verizon would not be possible.
 
Originally posted by wordmunger
This is a merger of the two companies with the worst service records (according to Consumer Reports). I doubt it will make things any better.
Click to expand...

I know it first-hand!
 
Im currently on Sprint PCS but am thinking of switching to Nextel. Anybody use Nextel and what are your thoughts. I know that Nextel's coverage areas are not as broad as Sprint but half the time i cant get my phone to work anyways so no big deal.
 
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