call up Cingular and ask for more minutes

[udonoogen]

inspired by the other thread about "tweaking" plans from att, i called cingular and complained yet again (hoping to get more out of them) and i got my plan upgraded 150 bonus minutes. i can stay with this for as long as i want (my contract ran up in january) ... im still on month to month basis


for 29.99 + 9.99 (optional mobile to mobile add on)

450 anytime (peak minutes)
3500 nights and weekends (off peak minutes)
Nation wide long distance
1000 mobile to mobile (cuz i actually use this ... its optional extra 9.99)
500 text messages a month (i had called in and complained a month ago that my old plan had unlimited text messagin included, so they added two months of text messaging for free)


it's a good plan if their service was any better. but its not. so theyre going bye bye when i go home this spring break and switch to verizon or att. hope this helps all ya'llz that are still stuck on contract. for 29.99 without the mobile to mobile its a pretty sweet deal.

EDIT:
be sure to call *611 on your phone ... if you straight call 611 it will connect you but use up your minutes. or just call their toll free # from a landline

changed the title. thought complain was kinda harsh. if you're nice to the people that pick up the phone, they'll be nice to you

 

[IgorTs]

they should give whole service for free, terrible connection

 

[solo]

Actually, they have the best coverage in Atlanta, used to be Bellsouth Mobility.

So, udonoogen, what did you complain about??

-Solo

 

[InverseOfNeo]

udognoogen, you should know that the 611 call from your cell phone is completely free, it doesnt use up any of your minutes.

 

[Optical]

The service was so bad that I could even hardly use any of the minutes. Up here in the Bay area, there's virtually no service if you're inside a building. After I complained about this, they gave me 100 more minutes for free, now, what da hell am i suppose do with the minutes when I can't get service most of the time!!!

Cingular sucks.

 

[erub]

Cingular is very good here in Dallas. The only thing I would like to get would be free incoming text messaging/email, but I dont know how I could get that. I have plenty of minutes - I get 400 anytime and unlimited n+w, and free nationwide LD. BTW 611 is free, doesnt use up any of your minutes. This probably worked for you because your not on a contract, I'm signed for another 21 months (and happy).

 

[Sondra]

Do nights start at 8 pm?

 

[NauTiKa128]

<< Do nights start at 8 pm? >>



for the new plans no..




<< Actually, they have the best coverage in Atlanta, used to be Bellsouth Mobility.

So, udonoogen, what did you complain about??

-Solo >>



I don't think Cingular in California is the same as Cingular in other states.. Cuz they took over PacBell Wireless.. which uses the SIM card technology. Do you guys have SIM cards (smartchips) in your phones?

 

[ironlungs]

We also have the sim card in S. Cali. The coverage here in Los Angeles is great! I get more reception than most of my friends do! they are with other companies like att, verizon,sprint, etc. there was a time we were at a house party and everybody was complaining about having no reception. i then looked at my phone and i had full bars. so all through the night people kept asking me to use my phone and what company i was with. in other areas too! i would get better reception than other companies would. i guess its just the position you are to the satellites!? oh, i like having the sim card because i can switch phones whenever i want. i have the star tac and the nokia. so i thought that was nifty!

 

[udonoogen]

<< We also have the sim card in S. Cali. The coverage here in Los Angeles is great! I get more reception than most of my friends do! they are with other companies like att, verizon,sprint, etc. there was a time we were at a house party and everybody was complaining about having no reception. i then looked at my phone and i had full bars. so all through the night people kept asking me to use my phone and what company i was with. in other areas too! i would get better reception than other companies would. i guess its just the position you are to the satellites!? oh, i like having the sim card because i can switch phones whenever i want. i have the star tac and the nokia. so i thought that was nifty! >>



im from socal originally and under pac bell it was a lot better ... right now its only a little bit better than in the east bay ... still pretty poor service. usually if you have cingular it's the other way around ... you dont get reception while other people on verizon or att do. up here in the bay area that's the truth. fo sho. =)

i have a sim card. im in california.

im pretty sure i got charged for 611 minutes before. you might want to check that out. *611 works too ... so i just dial that to be safe cuz that's what they said was free on the bill.




<< So, udonoogen, what did you complain about?? >>



told them service was terrible and that other companies had comparable plans for cheaper

 

[evergreen96]

<< We also have the sim card in S. Cali. The coverage here in Los Angeles is great! I get more reception than most of my friends do! they are with other companies like att, verizon,sprint, etc. there was a time we were at a house party and everybody was complaining about having no reception. i then looked at my phone and i had full bars. so all through the night people kept asking me to use my phone and what company i was with. in other areas too! i would get better reception than other companies would. i guess its just the position you are to the satellites!? oh, i like having the sim card because i can switch phones whenever i want. i have the star tac and the nokia. so i thought that was nifty! >>




Don't be so sure, even if you get full bars, the other end might get every other word, for my experience, and not to mention it just drops my call


I would take ATT, Sprint ...... over Cingular anyday.
Pacbell has s h i t t y service

That why Pacbell "split up it services" (Cingular- mobile, DSL-SBC )

 

[hoomza444]

cingular kind of sucks, but it has gotten a lot better in the last year. i used to have verizon and despite what anyone says, i still like cingular more than verizon. plus i attribute some of it to the fact that i have the 8290...which is basically crap. i am thinking of switching over to at&T...my contract ended last month. this seems like a decent deal though.

 

[edwardhchan]

Yeah, they got good coverage in SoCal, but try making a call between 5:00pm and 8:00pm... You'd be lucky to get a line. They're overloaded in so-cal, and I'd suspect in nor-cal to. I switched to back-water AT&T TDMA technology, and I'm can't tell you how happy I am about them! Change your plan? No problem! Change it back next month? No problem (AND no extension to my contract!). I get excellent reception (and an analog backup service in case digital ain't there), and excellent (read FLEXIBLE) customer service. This is one case where inferior technology (TDMA vs. GSM) wins out due to service.

Ed

<edit>

Just noticed that these forums are sponsored by Cingular!

 

[SunWuKong]

<< Don't be so sure, even if you get full bars, the other end might get every other word, for my experience, and not to mention it just drops my call


I would take ATT, Sprint ...... over Cingular anyday.
Pacbell has s h i t t y service

That why Pacbell "split up it services" (Cingular- mobile, DSL-SBC ) >>




I believe it was cingular that acquired Pacbell, I don't think pac bell "split up." Anyhow, there are several reasons why cingular service is so crappy. Firstly, the sheer amount of people they have on their network, especially in California. I see little kids, no older than like sixth grade, have their own cell phone. It's crazy, not to mention all the people that have jobs, where a lot of tech companies provide their employee's with phones. Cingular is always offering some sort of deal, enticing more people to join, even though the networks might not be able to handle it. SEcondly, many suburbs in Cali are zoned Residential, so they aren't allowed to build commericial antenna's there. They are gonna have to rely on antenna's in cities maybe a few cities away. Lastly, Cingular in California runs on GSM (like Voice Stream around the US), similar to that of the transmission modes in all of Europe (That's a reason why Europe and Asia have so many cool phones, because they all run oN GSM, they don't have to make phones for 3 different modes). In the United States, there's also CDMA (which Verizon Uses), and TDMA (which ATT uses), I think there are a couple of others, but I don't know. These networks have been around a lot longer than GSM, which is purely digital. Many of those (CDMA, TDMA) use both Digital AND Analog signals, thus the better coverage (but the clarity is not as good). Where digital cannot reach them, decade old Analog towers can still get to them almost anywhere. Since GSM is purely digital, it's harder for you to get coverage in isolated places. Anyway, my point is, Cingular in most of the United States uses CDMA I believe, or something else other than GSM, that's why they have better coverage there than in California. My opinion is that all the cell phone companies should use a standard (GSM like the rest of the ENTIRE world), so they can make cell phone quality better for everyone. We might even be able to get some of the cool Asian and Euro phones which are seriously Light Years ahead of 99% of the phones in the United States.

 

[v4mofo]

Atlanta - again, but our Cingular (was BellSouth IIRC) service is stable, steady and I've yet to find any holes in coverage (shit, I even get good reception in my companys data-center.. talk about a black-hole - our in-office pager doesn't even work in there!).

Sorry for all you guys out there in Cali with Cingular... sounds like it's yet another thing that sucks about CA. *jots it at the bottom of an ever growing list as to why I could never live in CA*

 

[amnesiac]

I have not met anyone here in So Cal that has Cingular and likes it. They all complain endlessly about how they're going to switch to ATT or Sprint.
Never met anyone with a Verizon phone at ALL, curiously enough.

 

[codeyf]

<< I believe it was cingular that acquired Pacbell, I don't think pac bell "split up." Anyhow, there are several reasons why cingular service is so crappy. Firstly, the sheer amount of people they have on their network, especially in California. I see little kids, no older than like sixth grade, have their own cell phone. It's crazy, not to mention all the people that have jobs, where a lot of tech companies provide their employee's with phones. Cingular is always offering some sort of deal, enticing more people to join, even though the networks might not be able to handle it. SEcondly, many suburbs in Cali are zoned Residential, so they aren't allowed to build commericial antenna's there. They are gonna have to rely on antenna's in cities maybe a few cities away. Lastly, Cingular in California runs on GSM (like Voice Stream around the US), similar to that of the transmission modes in all of Europe (That's a reason why Europe and Asia have so many cool phones, because they all run oN GSM, they don't have to make phones for 3 different modes). In the United States, there's also CDMA (which Verizon Uses), and TDMA (which ATT uses), I think there are a couple of others, but I don't know. These networks have been around a lot longer than GSM, which is purely digital. Many of those (CDMA, TDMA) use both Digital AND Analog signals, thus the better coverage (but the clarity is not as good). Where digital cannot reach them, decade old Analog towers can still get to them almost anywhere. Since GSM is purely digital, it's harder for you to get coverage in isolated places. Anyway, my point is, Cingular in most of the United States uses CDMA I believe, or something else other than GSM, that's why they have better coverage there than in California. My opinion is that all the cell phone companies should use a standard (GSM like the rest of the ENTIRE world), so they can make cell phone quality better for everyone. We might even be able to get some of the cool Asian and Euro phones which are seriously Light Years ahead of 99% of the phones in the United States. >>



You're almost right in this bit here. But TDMA and CDMA are fully digital networks. It's just that the phones themselves can handle both a digital and analog signal. I worked at Verizon for 2 years (back when it was airtouch), and have been at ATT for the past 3. TDMA and CDMA are 100% digital networks, but verizon and ATT also maintain an analog network alongside the digital simply because it alows them to have coverage just about anywhere.

As far as which types are used in the US, it's only TDMA, CDMA, and GSM. Different companies just use different frequencies.

On a side note, I just got a cingular phone for my wife (my employee dependant plan sucks) and found out here in Washington, Cingular is running of ATT's GSM network. Thought it was rather interesting. Upon playing with the phone (Nokia 3390) I found that I can manually pick which GSM network I use, be it ATT, "Cingular" or Voicestream.

 

[ksfhhllp]

<< We also have the sim card in S. Cali. The coverage here in Los Angeles is great! I get more reception than most of my friends do! they are with other companies like att, verizon,sprint, etc. there was a time we were at a house party and everybody was complaining about having no reception. i then looked at my phone and i had full bars. so all through the night people kept asking me to use my phone and what company i was with. in other areas too! i would get better reception than other companies would.

i guess its just the position you are to the satellites!?

oh, i like having the sim card because i can switch phones whenever i want. i have the star tac and the nokia. so i thought that was nifty! >>



Satellites? Uhh... what do satellites have to do with it? Am I seriously out of the loop?

 

[bworrell]

<< here in Washington, Cingular is running of ATT's GSM network >>



I bought a Cingular phone around Christmas time and returned it two days later! Absolutely the worst service I have ever had in my life. Even though I complain about ATT's service here in Seattle, I don't know how they can even sell Cingular phones here. When I called to complain all they said was that Seattle was a new area and they are still building service. (They shouldn't sell the service until they can get somewhat reasonable coverage.)

 

[hoomza444]

err.......i don't think europe still uses the gsm technology, that is old and inefficient. and yeah, the reason cingular is so crappy is that when they first came about after the whoel changeover and started offering their promotions like the unlimited nights and weekends, they didn't expect that they would have that many new customers. they have been tryign to accomadate and have gotten much better. but hell, sometimes you get what you pay for. overall it is decent as long as you don't use it for business where you have important calls that cna't be dropped. but if you do, shell out the extra $$ and get nexttel.

oh yeah, i think i read on cnet a while back that both at&T and cingular are in a joint effort to switch their entire networks to gprs. that means all the goodies that some of the voicestream customers can get today. basically a WAY better version of gsm. you can get AIM on your phone! well anyway, i think places like seattle already have it both through cingular and voicestream and probably at&T, but yeah, the full network switch should occur within the next year.

oh yeah, and keep in mind, cingular was able to bring us low prices while trying to upgrade their servers.....so you gotta give them some credit, i think in the end they are going to come out on top.

 

[OSUdrunk]

<< oh yeah, i think i read on cnet a while back that both at&T and cingular are in a joint effort to switch their entire networks to gprs. that means all the goodies that some of the voicestream customers can get today. basically a WAY better version of gsm. you can get AIM on your phone! >>



That's no big deal, us Sprint PCS users already have AIM on our phones. Not that big a deal. And we're not using GPRS or GSM.

 

[Gene046]

<<

<< We also have the sim card in S. Cali. The coverage here in Los Angeles is great! I get more reception than most of my friends do! they are with other companies like att, verizon,sprint, etc. there was a time we were at a house party and everybody was complaining about having no reception. i then looked at my phone and i had full bars. so all through the night people kept asking me to use my phone and what company i was with. in other areas too! i would get better reception than other companies would.

i guess its just the position you are to the satellites!?

oh, i like having the sim card because i can switch phones whenever i want. i have the star tac and the nokia. so i thought that was nifty! >>



Satellites? Uhh... what do satellites have to do with it? Am I seriously out of the loop? >>



I believe its the cellphone towers doing the transmitting.. some areas have more and some less, thats why reception varies so much. If you have a phone that emiits strong enough signals to be recieved by a satellite then it'll probably give you brain tumor in a week.

I'm in LA, and the reception sucks. I can get a full bar but sometimes I can hear them and they can't hear me or vise versa.

 

[fooshkee]

cingular seems very touch and go.... i have it in delaware, and it is awesome. I've had about 2 dropped calls since I got my phone in Nov.

 

[deejayshakur]

<< err.......i don't think europe still uses the gsm technology, that is old and inefficient. >>



yeah they do. gsm was born in 1982--it's the most recent cellular technology that phone service is based on. it is technically an improvement over older tdma technology, but for the most part, it has evolved into a separate entity. the 3G networks like 3GSM and W-CDMA are simply third generation advances. the gsm frequency in europe and asia is still gsm 900/1800. gsm in the usa operates at the 1900 mhz frequency.



<< and yeah, the reason cingular is so crappy is that when they first came about after the whoel changeover and started offering their promotions like the unlimited nights and weekends, they didn't expect that they would have that many new customers. they have been tryign to accomadate and have gotten much better. but hell, sometimes you get what you pay for. overall it is decent as long as you don't use it for business where you have important calls that cna't be dropped. but if you do, shell out the extra $$ and get nexttel. >>



i agree with you that cingular oversold their service in some places, especially california, where their networks can't handle the call volumes. however, nextel does not necessarily have better service. it all depends on your location from a cell site and the number of incoming and outgoing calls.



<< oh yeah, i think i read on cnet a while back that both at&T and cingular are in a joint effort to switch their entire networks to gprs. that means all the goodies that some of the voicestream customers can get today. basically a WAY better version of gsm. >>



you probably did read that. but gprs is not a replacement for gsm. gsm is offered in addition to gprs because gprs is a data service. you would use gprs on a gprs enabled phone, ie the 8390, to surf the internet or exchance instant messages. att is also developing their gsm/gprs networks. there is limited service in arizona already. however, don't expect a full launch until the end of 2002.



<< oh yeah, and keep in mind, cingular was able to bring us low prices while trying to upgrade their servers.....so you gotta give them some credit, i think in the end they are going to come out on top. >>



nice prediction. but cell phones have a high turnover rate in general. while cingular does offer relatively the best per minute rate compared to the other companies, their customer retention is horrible. and since changing from pac bell to cingular, they CUT sunday customer service, and reduced saturday hours to 6pm. that is NOT dependable customer service. what if i have a problem with my phone on saturday at 7pm? i'd have to wait until monday to have it resolved. they should follow att and have 24 hour customer support--a cell phone is not a 9-5 investment. i, for one, am not going to be cingular customer for long. see what others are doing: http://www.petitiononline.com/Cingular/petition.html

 

[ddaimonji]

Pac Bell in southern california was the best until it changed over to cingular wireless. They keep double charging me because of their screwed up automatic paying computer system. Too many mistakes with overcharging. Too many system busy when making calls. The sad thing is I have complained but there was no manager to field my complaint, so I guess I don't get any extra minutes. I have called them about 15 times to make corrections on bills and complaints. The only thing good about this crappy carrier is you pretty much get full bars when driving to Las Vegas.