Last Phase of Cingular to AT&T Rebranding

[CaptainCaveMann]

I'm definitely thinking about getting an iPhone. My question is what's AT&T/Cingular service like? I've never had a cell phone so I don't know what it's like. Also, what plans do they have and how are they? I know I could check the AT&T site to see what plans they have, but I want a review if those who have it don't mind.

You have to put in your address on their coverage map. Just go to the website and look for the coverage areas. For some people the coverage is good, for some it's bad. Just depends on where you live.

And one more point I would like to make. I am almost certain cell phone companies are moving heavily toward un locked phones. The days of switching services because you want a phone they have are numbered. It's absolutely more beneficial to a cell phone maker to be able to sell their phones un locked (able to use on any provider). I would say in the next year, maybe less, you WILL be able to buy an iphone un locked. So don't go signing a two year or even a one year contract just yet.

The future of cell phones is a phone that jumps from band to band, gsm to cdma, and vice versa. The way you pick a company in the near future will not be by how their coverage is in your area. In about 5 years time that will not matter because there will be a cell phone tower on every block. Companies will compete for your business by way of features, customer service, and plain old what your getting for your dollar. Which is great for us as consumers.

And yes I know this because I have a time machine in my back yard.

 

[GanleyBurger]

Stupid Stupid Stupid

Cingular is not only a good company name, but - raising the bar - is a good tagline.

Teens could care less about the name AT&T. That was for us 80s kids.

AT&T should just go with the name Cingular and put thier money behind it to make it as reliable as Verizon.

Verizon blew it by not going with Apple. Apple blew it by being so demanding for profits. Cinguar gets terrible reception. Fewest dropped calls my arse. Fewest dropped calls because if you can't get calls, they can't be dropped, thus. fewer dropped!!! Bad logic.

 

[richard4339]

Stupid Stupid Stupid

Cingular is not only a good company name, but - raising the bar - is a good tagline.

Teens could care less about the name AT&T. That was for us 80s kids.

AT&T should just go with the name Cingular and put thier money behind it to make it as reliable as Verizon.

Verizon blew it by not going with Apple. Apple blew it by being so demanding for profits. Cinguar gets terrible reception. Fewest dropped calls my arse. Fewest dropped calls because if you can't get calls, they can't be dropped, thus. fewer dropped!!! Bad logic.

Sweet vindication! I'm so happy I'm not the only one who thinks the only reason Cingular had the "fewest dropped calls" because no calls ever connected in the first place

I am sad that Verizon lost the iPhone. I'd kill for an iPhone, but I can't imagine having to go back to the horrid service that GSM providers have in my area. We're a big city, hell, Cricket (American cellular company) was founded in my city, but as far as Cingular/TMobile are concerned, stay away if you live here.

 

[RichP]

Fewest dropped calls my arse. Fewest dropped calls because if you can't get calls, they can't be dropped, thus. fewer dropped!!! Bad logic.

Haha, I always thought the same thing (I am a cingular customer in a good reception area too)

I dont really care what they call it. Verizon has a very strong coverage network, but they would never give up control to apple and apples interface. All verizon phones have that "attempt" at a standardized interface with crippled feature sets. Cingular (ATT) is the most "open" of the carriers.

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

Sweet vindication! I'm so happy I'm not the only one who thinks the only reason Cingular had the "fewest dropped calls" because no calls ever connected in the first place

I am sad that Verizon lost the iPhone. I'd kill for an iPhone, but I can't imagine having to go back to the horrid service that GSM providers have in my area. We're a big city, hell, Cricket (American cellular company) was founded in my city, but as far as Cingular/TMobile are concerned, stay away if you live here.

Did you guys actually check your coverage area on the their website map? I had cingular for the longest time and always had terrible reception. I couldn't figure out why until I actually checked the map. I get really bad coverage in my house according to cingular's coverage map. Then I checked t mobile's map and it said i get full reception in my house. So i switched and now I'm very happy. No problems with reception whatsoever. I highly recommend you check the coverage map of any carrier before signing a contract. It really works.

 

[3CCD]

My Cingular plan is up at the end of June so I'm in the game for a new phone but 400 bucks for the iPhone. I've given up hope that any phone lasts more than 6 months that works as good as it did the day you get it. Should I use my old phone and go for the iPhone or just get some Cingular deal? I'm all about Apple and not one product has let me down yet so I have some faith that Apple won't put out a substandard product....

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

My Cingular plan is up at the end of June so I'm in the game for a new phone but 400 bucks for the iPhone. I've given up hope that any phone lasts more than 6 months that works as good as it did the day you get it. Should I use my old phone and go for the iPhone or just get some Cingular deal? I'm all about Apple and not one product has let me down yet so I have some faith that Apple won't put out a substandard product....

Well since your asking, I'll give you my opinion. I would recommend you sign with the service that works best in your area regardless of what phones they carry. Just make sure it is GSM if you want the iphone soon. Then buy the iphone when it is being sold un locked (and it will). It just depends on how long your willing to wait for the iphone. But please don't sign a contract with a company that gives you bad service just because you want the iphone. The iphone will be outdated in a year of it's release anyway.

 

[LxTxNx]

I guess as long as the coverage is better than my current T-Mobile which sucks in the US I'll be going with them whatever they're called come iPhone time.

ANYTHING is better than T-MOBILE

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

ANYTHING is better than T-MOBILE

I beg to differ. : ) It simply depends on where you live if you are talking about coverage. If you mean anything is better than t mobiles customer service, well then thats an opinion.

 

[jazzkids]

I wonder if the iPhone will be able to connect to a BT keyboard?

That would be sweet

 

[EagerDragon]

I would be willing to bet there will be "special" plans for the iPhone. Whatever rates you see now will bear little resemblance to iPhone plans. But my recollection from the initial announcement is that the cheapest you could manage with a data plan would probably be at least $45 per month, very likely even more than that.

Thats right, regular is 50 but as a special for you ill just take 70.

BTW, My sprint data service (all you can eat) for my Treo 650 is 15 dollars. I like to see Cingulat/AT&T beat that.

 

[bug67]

WooHoo!

I'm actually pretty excited about this. I live in Alaska. I was pretty down about the whole iPhone thing right from the get go. We don't have Cingular coverage up here so, I was pretty much set that I would never see an iPhone. But we do have AT&T! Have had for a long, long time. Now my only problem is how I'm gonna get out of my contract with Cellular One and come up with the price of admission for an iPhone.

First ever post to MR btw.

 

[macnews]

Stupid Stupid Stupid

Cingular is not only a good company name, but - raising the bar - is a good tagline.

Teens could care less about the name AT&T. That was for us 80s kids.

AT&T should just go with the name Cingular and put thier money behind it to make it as reliable as Verizon.

Verizon blew it by not going with Apple. Apple blew it by being so demanding for profits. Cinguar gets terrible reception. Fewest dropped calls my arse. Fewest dropped calls because if you can't get calls, they can't be dropped, thus. fewer dropped!!! Bad logic.

Not so sure Cingular resonates with teens. It might be more familiar but ATT will take hold as well. I'm just sick of the stupid orange guy they used for their logo. And the "raising the bar" tag line can translate easily.

As for the network carrier of the iPhone, I don't care if Apple demanded $$$ from Verizon. I have Verizon but they SOOOO disable their phones. The same phone on any other network has more features activated and not tied up so you have to buy things like ring tones, wall paper, games, etc. from your carrier. Because of this, I really wonder if the reason why Apple went with ATT vs. Verizon was due to Verizon locking up the iPhone features making it not work so smoothly with the mac or any other computer.

 

[EagerDragon]

Not so sure Cingular resonates with teens. It might be more familiar but ATT will take hold as well. I'm just sick of the stupid orange guy they used for their logo. And the "raising the bar" tag line can translate easily.

As for the network carrier of the iPhone, I don't care if Apple demanded $$$ from Verizon. I have Verizon but they SOOOO disable their phones. The same phone on any other network has more features activated and not tied up so you have to buy things like ring tones, wall paper, games, etc. from your carrier. Because of this, I really wonder if the reason why Apple went with ATT vs. Verizon was due to Verizon locking up the iPhone features making it not work so smoothly with the mac or any other computer.

I left Verizon for their practice of disabling features. Neither Cingular not Sprint (I have) do that to their phones.

 

[ckeck]

I'm actually pretty excited about this. I live in Alaska. I was pretty down about the whole iPhone thing right from the get go. We don't have Cingular coverage up here so, I was pretty much set that I would never see an iPhone. But we do have AT&T! Have had for a long, long time. Now my only problem is how I'm gonna get out of my contract with Cellular One and come up with the price of admission for an iPhone.

First ever post to MR btw.

AT&T home phone/dsl/tv service is not the same as AT&T/Cingular Wireless service. If you don't have or didn't have Cingular in your area you still don't have it.

 

[ckeck]

Slightly annoying. First I had an AT&T wireless phone. Then it changed to Cingular, and now its on its way back to being AT&T.

Frankly I'm ok with this (I prefer blue to orange) as long as they don't try to sell off my contract again like with the last name change.

Not so much...

You are referring to when AT&T Wireless (separate company from AT&T) merged with Cingular a few years back. Customers were on two different systems because two companies merged and if you wanted to upgrade you had to migrate to Cingular.

All thats happening now is Cingular is changing its name to AT&T since SBC bought out AT&T and Bell South and wanted a more global presence. There is no back-end systems changing this time so it will not be like the AT&T Wireless/Cingular merger...simple a name change...don't get your panties in a wad

Disclaimer: I worked for AT&T Wireless, then for Cingular during all of this.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Apple's iPhone images still say "Cingular" on them.

Ceci n’est pas une iPhone.

 

[balticgreen]

Cinguar gets terrible reception. Fewest dropped calls my arse. Fewest dropped calls because if you can't get calls, they can't be dropped, thus. fewer dropped!!! Bad logic.

Cingular is awful in my area as well. The independents who do these studies count a dropped call as one that ended and then was followed by a reconnection of the same two numbers within 30 seconds of when the previous call ended. If the call drops and you don't regain a signal for 31 seconds then that doesn't show up as a dropped call in these statistics.

Longer reconnection time = fewer dropped call statistics, which is very misleading because longer reconnection times are an indicator of weak coverage while fewer dropped calls is supposed to suggest better coverage.

By the way for those who complain about T-Mobile, they aren't awful everywhere. They have very good coverage everywhere I need to be and their rate plans are some of the cheapest around, especially for data. If I took my voice and Blackberry service anywhere else, I'd pay at least $30/month more than I am now for equal usage. I won't even consider the iPhone until I can use it with my existing T-Mobile service.

 

[cloudnine]

Every time I hear "AT&T" mentioned together with "Apple," I shudder and remember the keynote, when the AT&T CEO came out and gave his robotic, soulless presentation. It was so jarring compared to the dynamic and inspired speeches by Jobs, Google's Schmidt, and Yahoo's Yang.

No matter how much AT&T tries to associate itself with the coolness of Apple's iPhone, I don't think it's going to change my perception of their corporate image/culture.

I agree... that guy is a total tool, and basically reinforces AT&T's reputation. They're just sort of soulless and boring.

On the other hand, as long as they have better reception than TMobile, they can be as boring as humanly possible... I'm sick and tired of TMobile's coverage issues... however, their customer service is astoundingly good, so I hope AT&T's CS is just as good, if not better, but something tells me that won't be the case :/

 

[justaddwater]

UK Distribution

All good the news about the american deals!!!! When apple going to choose the europeon distributor(s), hopefullf vodafone will get the rights as thtey have the bigger client base and they have far more subsiduary companies over the world. keep the fingers crossed!!!! does anyone no the release date for UK or will that be given later???

 

[notsofatjames]

I've been with Cingular for 7 years, near their very beginning, and am so sad to see the name go. I've been in denial every since I found out about the name change at a career fair in the Fall. However, if AT&T doesn't repeat the way they ran their last wireless business, I will be fine. I'm excited to see how the iPhone pans out and will hopefully get my hands on one after it's gone through a revision or two.

Anyone else been with Cingular since the 90s?

wouldnt 7 years mean you would have been with Cingular since 2000. Not the nineties? not that im nit-picking

im not from the states, but surely a name change makes no difference to coverage/suppport etc. Just the guy at the end of the phone will say 'hello at+t' instaed of 'hello cingular'
Corporate brand and reputation can change so rapidly, especially in a fast moving industry like mobile phones. Over in the UK, the network 3 used to have useless coverage, and facilities that no-one wanted, and the biggest chunkiest phones in the country. But now they're up in the big names. Thats in about 2 years.

 

[bigandy]

dunno why, but i just like the cingular name more than at&t.

 

[Shanesan]

I agree that carriers can be evil. I think that's why Apple has paired up with only one. That way they can innovate and give consumers more for their money and taken away the evilness that surrounds cell phone providers.

Or AT&T will use it as the monopoly they love to have and exploit the userbase to their full ability.

One company leading the way of innovation isn't exactly the best idea. They're monopolizing on the iPhone subscriber base and have free reign on them.

 

[Performa]

Why are most people rating this as a negative announcement?

Well over 50% have rated this a negative announcement.

Is this a surprise? Did people not know that ATT had bought Cingular?
Do people just like the sound of the Cingular name over ATT?
Is there some other reason?

 

[EagerDragon]

Does the name make a difference?
There are all sorts of negative votes, I don't get it.
We knew it was going to be one or the other and that other carriers were out the door.

This is not much of a news and I do not care how Cingular or for that mater AT&T adorn their shops.

What is all the bellyaching about?