Cingular-only iPhone At Launch?

[yg17]

I'm surprised at all the Cingular hate here. At least in the D.C. area, the word is that they have the best coverage available - better than Verizon, who was the previous benchmark before the merger.

When I was in DC, my Cingular service was horrible. Just like it was in New York City, St. Louis and New Orleans (pre Katrina, when cell towers were still standing) and every other large city I've been in.

Yet, it works fine in the middle of nowhere. On my way down to New Orleans, I was on the phone in some tiny little town that couldn't have had more than 500 people. The only thing this place had was a gas station. I'm on my phone and call quality is excellent. An hour later in NO, dropped calls and low signal as usual. Or when I'm on the backroads in Missouri talking, again, perfect signal. Enter the STL city limits? Goodbye service.

Cingular has their priorities wrong. They go for the rural markets, where people don't want to have anything to do with cell phones, and they ignore the big cities. And if you try to call customer service to complain about the piss poor service, or to try to fix a billing error (which are common with Cingular) then you'll be on hold for half an hour, and get nowhere with their customer service rep who's over in India. They are the worst company we have ever dealt with, and will be leaving them the day our contract is up in December. IMO, Apple is making a huge mistake by being exclusive with Cingular.

 

[mi5moav]

Coverage doesn't make products great, people make products and companies great and Cingular is lacking the soul of a great company. I had Cingular for 4 years and thought they were ok... I switched a year ago and I have never been happier. Their are actually real people running some companies not robots, it's a great feeling when you can have a normal conversation with them on the phone and not have to push 3, 5, 8, 9, 8 to get to a robotic voice called Agnes. I don't think Cingular would survive in Europe.

 

[extraextra]

I'm surprised at all the Cingular hate here. At least in the D.C. area, the word is that they have the best coverage available - better than Verizon, who was the previous benchmark before the merger.

Me too. I have Cingular and it works great. I mostly hear complaining from people who live outside of big metropolitan cities though, so maybe that's where all these people are from?

Well, I checked Cingular's map and they seem to have fine coverage. Maybe everyone lives in Alaska.

 

[MonkeyClaw]

Cingular has terrible coverage here in Asheville, especially on campus from my experience. With verizon though, I can be anywhere and have guarunteed at least 3 bars. Cingluar works sometimes on campus but for the most part its a bit sketchy. Haven't tried it in the city though.

 

[Seasought]

I'll have to check and see what Cingular is offering deal-wise at the time, but being T-Mobile currently I won't be getting the phone until it expands after that 6 month period.

Assuming I can tolerate the phone in the first place. I've yet to see a cell phone that's impressed me. If anyone can however, it's Apple.

 

[ccrandall77]

Not interested

Cingular is by far the worst cell carrier in terms of customer service and I will never go back to them (nor will they have me back, I suspect). If true, it's too bad Apple decided to go this route instead of just providing a selection of phone types like Palm with the Treo. With the Treo, you can get a Sprint, Verizon, Cingular or unlocked phone so everyone who wants one can have it.

The worst part about this being for Cingular is that they will NEVER let you unlock the phone and who knows if Apple will do it for you (I HIGHLY doubt it). I tried and they gave me the run around about not unlocking the phone because it could allow malware from other phone networks to get on their phones. That's a load of BS.

This really stinks since I'm tired of having a huge Treo, eventhough it's a great phone, and smaller phones just don't have the features. I was hoping that Apple's offering would be the perfect compromise. I guess instead of getting our underware in a bundle, we might as well sit back and wait until the iPhone is release... if it's ever released.

 

[twoodcc]

well since i already have cingular, then this doens't bother me. bring it on

 

[shadowx]

Wonderful... why would Apple choose the carrier with the worst coverage and customer service (well, besides Sprint)??? T-Mobile or Verizon would be better choices...

You know, if Cingular didn't spend the $$$ to get all of the cool phones first, I think they would be out of business by now... If someone has had a different experience with Cingular, please let me know

I still think Apple should go the Mobile Virtual Network Operator route ala Virgin Mobile, Helio, Amp'd, mobile ESPN, etc.

 

[gugy]

wow, That's really bad. Cingular is sucks like pretty much every carrier in the US.
I hope at least they have the iphone to the major carriers. Just cingular is a joke. Verizon, T mobile and Sprint need to be included if they want the iphone to be a success.

 

[settledown]

this shouldn't surprise anyone.

Apple and Cingular go way back.

Who says that Apple WONT be a Mobile Virtual Network Operator like Virgin Mobile, Helio, Amp'd, mobile ESPN

ESPN is Sprint
Helio is Sprint
Amp'd is Verizon
Virgin is Sprint in the US, but T Mobile in the UK

I say Apple iPhone IS MVNO

 

[displaced]

Wonderful... why would Apple choose the carrier with the worst coverage and customer service (well, besides Sprint)??? T-Mobile or Verizon would be better choices...

You know, if Cingular didn't spend the $$$ to get all of the cool phones first, I think they would be out of business by now... If someone has had a different experience with Cingular, please let me know

I still think Apple should go the Mobile Virtual Network Operator route ala Virgin Mobile, Helio, Amp'd, mobile ESPN, etc.

Wow... by the sounds of it, there's no single network in the US that actually works for everyone everywhere. Nasty. So perhaps exclusivity's a strange strategy - I hope it's only a short term plan for you guys' sake.

I take it Verizon = CDMA? There's no way Apple would consider a CDMA model since it'd be a serious disadvantage in the global market.

[edit] Also, setting up as a MVNO in each country in which they want to operate would cost a fortune. Besides, they've also then got to market and sell a network - establish a reputation in the mobile phone market as a carrier, and not just as a brand of phone.

 

[izzle22]

Wonderful... why would Apple choose the carrier with the worst coverage and customer service (well, besides Sprint)??? T-Mobile or Verizon would be better choices...

You know, if Cingular didn't spend the $$$ to get all of the cool phones first, I think they would be out of business by now... If someone has had a different experience with Cingular, please let me know

I still think Apple should go the Mobile Virtual Network Operator route ala Virgin Mobile, Helio, Amp'd, mobile ESPN, etc.

Well, out here Cingular has waaaaaay better coverage than T-Mobile or Verizon, so it's really a matter of where you are located. It really doesn't matter who thinks what about any phone co. Apple will do what Apple wants and there is no reason to sit here and complain about mobile providers all day long when we don't even know if there is an "iPhone". I travel all across the U.S. all year long and I have Cingular with no coverage problems anywhere and customer service has been fine whenever I needed them.

 

[shawnce]

I see, another "we'll start in US and maybe in the future do something for the rest of the world, too" product.

Well, good luck finding an exclusive deal in Belgium, you can't "lock" cell phones here, we believe in choice. Hopefully it will be GSM (100 % coverage)

Apple is likely having to GIVE exclusive rights to carriers to get them to carry the phone (in return for pushing the phone, etc.)... I doubt Apple wants limit the potential market for any phone they come out with. So if carriers in Belgium are not allowed to lock a phone to one carrier then you likely have nothing to worry about.

...and by the way you have CHOICE to not buy something that you don't want to purchase and for whatever reasons.

 

[j_maddison]

Did you even read the link?

Speculation is that O2 will have the exclusive rights to the iPhone in Europe. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think O2 is somehow connected to Orange. So it looks like the iPhone will have a carrier in Europe and the UK.

O2 has nothing to do with Orange. They're completely seperate companies with different parent companies. I believe Orange are owned by France telecom, where as O2 are owned by Telefonica.

Jay

 

[j_maddison]

i REALLLLLLLYYYYYYYYY hope its orange...

as the choice of mobile phones they have at the moment is the poorest i have ever seen in the UK.

ive been waiting on a p990i since march.....still dont have it on orange, was told yesterday it could be end of october now.

i am gauranteed a free upgrade on any handset, so come one apple!!

Do you're self a favour and ask for your pac code when the phon is released. A free upgrade is pretty much to be expected, if you dont ask for the pac code their unlikely to give you any other freebies.

You should always ask for the pac code and then wait for their retention team to give you a call back

Jay

 

[Danksi]

O2 has nothing to do with Orange. They're completely seperate companies with different parent companies. I believe Orange are owned by France telecom, where as O2 are owned by Telefonica.

Jay

Correct. My ex-colleagues are learning Spanish!

 

[Durendal]

I hate to say this folks, but even an iPhone wouldn't be worth having to deal with Cingular's godawful service. Reception is poor in areas where it's supposed to be good and even when you have good reception, you get dropped calls due to network error/rejected/dropped. I've had Cingular for a while now, and I am preparing to drop it with eagerness, even if that means a $200 contract termination fee. I want to slug that **** who says Cingular has the least dropped calls, because it's a f**king LIE.

 

[j_maddison]

I hope it isn't O2, that would be a shame. To be honest, any network lockins would be bad.
My vote would be Orange if I had the choice.

Not sure if you've had a bad experience on O2, but Orange customer service is by far the worst in the UK out of the four main providers. Their business customer service is diabolical at best.

Jay

 

[OdduWon]

i'm sure glad i didn't renew my contract with cingular yet now i can use my upgrade to get the new telepod!

 

[richard4339]

I hate to say this folks, but even an iPhone wouldn't be worth having to deal with Cingular's godawful service. Reception is poor in areas where it's supposed to be good and even when you have good reception, you get dropped calls due to network error/rejected/dropped. I've had Cingular for a while now, and I am preparing to drop it with eagerness, even if that means a $200 contract termination fee. I want to slug that **** who says Cingular has the least dropped calls, because it's a f**king LIE.

Verizon isn't much better. I'm wanting to switch to Sprint; their plans make the most sense. Unfortunately, their coverage areas are small.

 

[donlphi]

Oh man. Verizon early termination fee, here I come.

Why would anybody stop their Verizon or Sprint service for an iPHONE? Does cingular even carry a broadband wireless service? EV-DO is only getting better and Cingular can't even come close to the same offerings.

I'm sure it will be a nice phone, but don't be disappointed when you can't call anybody without being in roaming. Also don't be disappointed when your bluetooth tethering for internet is slower than a 300 baud modem on a commodore 64.

Once again... Apple teams up with a loser. Misery loves company. I pray this contract only lasts a year or LESS. CINGULAR... jeeze

 

[relimw]

Nokia Announces Super Music Phone For US

PC Mag

At an event in New York on Tuesday, Nokia announced the new Nokia N75, a flip phone that syncs with Windows Media Player, plays MPEG-4 videos in full screen mode, and connects to Cingular's high-speed network. Targeted straight at the North American market, it's a shoo-in to be a high end media phone on Cingular for Christmas.

 

[cuestakid]

I told you all so

ThinkSecret claims that Apple and Cingular have signed an agreement that will make Cingular the exclusive carrier for Apple's upcoming phone, reportedly due in early 2007. The contract is said to last 6 months, after which Apple would be free to expand its offerings to other providers. According to the site, Apple is still in talks with providers in other parts of the world on other exclusive deals.

The site has previously claimed that Apple's phone will feature a candy-bar design with a 2.2" display and 3 megapixel camera, with "robust iTunes and iSync" support. MacRumors has posted an artist's rendering of how our sources have depicted the phone.

I would just like to say that i had said this exact same thing a couple weeks ago-apple would probably initally only sign on with one carrier and everyone else would be left out in the cold-so to al those who said it wouldn't happen it appears that it will be happening

 

[OdduWon]

I would just like to say that i had said this exact same thing a couple weeks ago-apple would probably initally only sign on with one carrier and everyone else would be left out in the cold-so to al those who said it wouldn't happen it appears that it will be happening

well, also it makes perfect sense since cingular is the only provider that i know of that has itunes capable phones. really no suprise here. this is why when my dog ate my ericson t637 i just got a $50 referb and held off on buying a new phone. telepod is going to be great!

 

[nemaslov]

sounds cool

Hey the Cingular deal is only six months exclusive, like the RAZR was. So you can all get it probably many more places afterwards and all of the bugs will be worked out by then.. I use Cingular and LOVE it due to the coverage in San Francisco which is difficult due to the seven hills. May other carriers I tried before including verizon and t mobile were much worse here.

Buy I have an 80GB iPod with 18,ooo songs so this thing will me useless to me. But it sure sounds cool!!