Cingular vs. AT&T

[Funyuns101]

Title says it all...

who bought who or was it a merger?

my real question is that I am looking to get a new phone (maybe new provider)~
the amazon deals...

Would buying the one that got bought out be a bad idea?

and does anybody know:
when are their networks gonna be interconnected?
(or has this already happened)

thanks~!

 

[DaWhim]

cingular bought out attws

 

[Aimster]

All I know is I have to pay $1.00 a txt msg sent when it is switched over to Cingular instead of ATT. My Internet is 10x as much as well. That's my only complaint.. other than that the coverage is excellent. If attws can't find the signal it switches over to cingular.

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: Aimster
All I know is I have to pay $1.00 a txt msg sent when it is switched over to Cingular instead of ATT. My Internet is 10x as much as well. That's my only complaint.. other than that the coverage is excellent. If attws can't find the signal it switches over to cingular.

very expensive, I guess you meant 10 cents right? yea, cingular charges 10 cents for send and receive!

 

[JSang]

atnt bought cing...it looks like they will keep them seperate (merger is finalized in dec)
hopefully they will merge systems to increase reception area so either carrier should be good

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: DaWhim

Originally posted by: Aimster
All I know is I have to pay $1.00 a txt msg sent when it is switched over to Cingular instead of ATT. My Internet is 10x as much as well. That's my only complaint.. other than that the coverage is excellent. If attws can't find the signal it switches over to cingular.

very expensive, I guess you meant 10 cents right? yea, cingular charges 10 cents for send and receive!

no they charge me $1.00 because I signed up with ATT and I am using cingular's service to send a txt message instead of ATT. ATT charges me the regular $.10 if I am on their service.

 

[UNCjigga]

Originally posted by: JSang
atnt bought cing...it looks like they will keep them seperate (merger is finalized in dec)
hopefully they will merge systems to increase reception area so either carrier should be good

Wrong, Cingular bought AT&T Wireless Services. AT&T (parent company) is currently debating whether or not to get back into the wireless business under a new brand name, possibly leasing CDMA bandwidth from Sprint PCS or Verizon Wireless.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: Jigga

Originally posted by: JSang
atnt bought cing...it looks like they will keep them seperate (merger is finalized in dec)
hopefully they will merge systems to increase reception area so either carrier should be good

Wrong, Cingular bought AT&T Wireless Services. AT&T (parent company) is currently debating whether or not to get back into the wireless business under a new brand name, possibly leasing CDMA bandwidth from Sprint PCS or Verizon Wireless.

Alright, no offense, but you're all misinformed to some degree. Here's the deal:

- Cingular bought AT&T.
- AT&T will become PART of Cingular.
- AT&T has already signed a deal to be an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) with Sprint PCS.

An MVNO is basically a reseller. Virgin Mobile, for instance, is an MVNO for Sprint. So, if you buy a Virgin Mobile phone, you're using Sprint's network. From what I understand, they still haven't decided fi they're going to use the AT&T Wireless name again, but that's it. Other than that, it's final.

And before any of you start saying that AT&T is going to get bad network satisfaction ratings when they go with Sprint, realize this:

1) AT&T is the only major carrier to get worse network satisfaction ratings than Sprint right now.
2) Virgin Mobile (who uses ONLY Sprint's network) gets the highest ratings quite consistently.

Edit: Found a link. Text

Edit 2: After looking over that story, it looks like AT&T can still use other networks as well, so they very well might use Sprint's network AND Verizon's network, but it would be rather expensive for them to do such. The reason is, neither carrier (SPCS or VZW) would offer AT&T the same per minute rate if they used both of them, and it would probably not be cost-effective. If they just go with one carrier, they can negotiate better rates because of exclusivity clauses. Just my guess, but I'd say it's likely.

 

[BlueIce]

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: Jigga

Originally posted by: JSang
atnt bought cing...it looks like they will keep them seperate (merger is finalized in dec)
hopefully they will merge systems to increase reception area so either carrier should be good

Wrong, Cingular bought AT&T Wireless Services. AT&T (parent company) is currently debating whether or not to get back into the wireless business under a new brand name, possibly leasing CDMA bandwidth from Sprint PCS or Verizon Wireless.

Alright, no offense, but you're all misinformed to some degree. Here's the deal:

- Cingular bought AT&T Wireless.
- AT&T Wireless will become PART of Cingular.
- AT&T has already signed a deal to be an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) with Sprint PCS.

An MVNO is basically a reseller. Virgin Mobile, for instance, is an MVNO for Sprint. So, if you buy a Virgin Mobile phone, you're using Sprint's network. From what I understand, they still haven't decided fi they're going to use the AT&T Wireless name again, but that's it. Other than that, it's final.

And before any of you start saying that AT&T is going to get bad network satisfaction ratings when they go with Sprint, realize this:

1) AT&T Wireless is the only major carrier to get worse network satisfaction ratings than Sprint right now.
2) Virgin Mobile (who uses ONLY Sprint's network) gets the highest ratings quite consistently.

Edit: Found a link. Text

Edit 2: After looking over that story, it looks like AT&T can still use other networks as well, so they very well might use Sprint's network AND Verizon's network, but it would be rather expensive for them to do such. The reason is, neither carrier (SPCS or VZW) would offer AT&T the same per minute rate if they used both of them, and it would probably not be cost-effective. If they just go with one carrier, they can negotiate better rates because of exclusivity clauses. Just my guess, but I'd say it's likely.

There, I corrected it for you. Currently AT&T Wireless and AT&T are two totally different companies. One does not own the other. Only relation is that they have similar names. Coverage varies alot from area to area and in my neck of the woods, AT&T Wireless is the best.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: BlueIce

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: Jigga

Originally posted by: JSang
atnt bought cing...it looks like they will keep them seperate (merger is finalized in dec)
hopefully they will merge systems to increase reception area so either carrier should be good

Wrong, Cingular bought AT&T Wireless Services. AT&T (parent company) is currently debating whether or not to get back into the wireless business under a new brand name, possibly leasing CDMA bandwidth from Sprint PCS or Verizon Wireless.

Alright, no offense, but you're all misinformed to some degree. Here's the deal:

- Cingular bought AT&T Wireless.
- AT&T Wireless will become PART of Cingular.
- AT&T has already signed a deal to be an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) with Sprint PCS.

An MVNO is basically a reseller. Virgin Mobile, for instance, is an MVNO for Sprint. So, if you buy a Virgin Mobile phone, you're using Sprint's network. From what I understand, they still haven't decided fi they're going to use the AT&T Wireless name again, but that's it. Other than that, it's final.

And before any of you start saying that AT&T is going to get bad network satisfaction ratings when they go with Sprint, realize this:

1) AT&T Wireless is the only major carrier to get worse network satisfaction ratings than Sprint right now.
2) Virgin Mobile (who uses ONLY Sprint's network) gets the highest ratings quite consistently.

Edit: Found a link. Text

Edit 2: After looking over that story, it looks like AT&T can still use other networks as well, so they very well might use Sprint's network AND Verizon's network, but it would be rather expensive for them to do such. The reason is, neither carrier (SPCS or VZW) would offer AT&T the same per minute rate if they used both of them, and it would probably not be cost-effective. If they just go with one carrier, they can negotiate better rates because of exclusivity clauses. Just my guess, but I'd say it's likely.

There, I corrected it for you. Currently AT&T Wireless and AT&T are two totally different companies. One does not own the other. Only relation is that they have similar names. Coverage varies alot from area to area and in my neck of the woods, AT&T Wireless is the best.

WHOOPS! Yes, that's correct sort of. AT&T has the same relationship with AT&T Wireless as Sprint had with Sprint PCS awhile back. It was a way to protect the original company in case the wireless industry shut down or didn't turn out well. Back when they were formed, nobody knew how it would turn out.

As for service/network performance, it's all about YOUR experience. I love my Sprint phone in my area, but in the places that my friend goes he gets better T-Mobile service. The only place he gets better Sprint coverage is in his house....? I don't understand either.

Anyway, I'm referring to national surveys, not your or my experience. If it were MY experience, I'd say Sprint is the best because they have coverage everywhere I go, but I know that's not true everywhere.

 

[KhoiFather]

AT&T blows, I had them first then switched to Cingular and it's better.

 

[Deeko]

Here's what I've heard.

AT&T Wireless is, as it has been, a completely seperate company from AT&T. They just use AT&T's name. AT&T Wireless was bought by Cingular. Once the merger is complete and AT&T becomes Cingular, the actual company AT&T is contemplating coming back as AT&T Mobile, possibly on Sprint's network.

 

[GoSharks]

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
AT&T blows, I had them first then switched to Cingular and it's better.

reception really isnt as large a problem as before, as others have pointed out -> if your attws phone cannot find an attws signal, it will switch over to cingular's service. no roaming fees.

 

[PKPunk]

Ok I think the most important question is if the ATTws switches over and becomes cingular later this year then will I be able to cancel my contract with ATTws because the terms and conditions of the cingular contract is different than ATTws's?

A friend of my just signed a 2 year agreement with ATTws banking on the idea that when they rebrand over to cingular he'll be able to cancel out of his 2 year agreement with ATT because cingular's service terms are different than ATTws's.

I used to be a ATTws user under a 1 year contract and 3 months into my contract att raised the price of 411 calls from 99 cents to 1.29 per call. So Attws sent me a notice in my bill that said if I didn't agree with the price increase I could cancel my contract without a penalty. This is the idea my friend is basing his idea off of. he's hoping he can dodge out of the 175 dollar cancelation fee later this year.

His goal in doing this is to get a new phone at huge discount by signing up to a long contract and then canceling out his service with no fee when the merger finalizes.

 

[villager]

Originally posted by: DaWhim
cingular bought out attws

Att wireless if offering some really good deals. Will cingular be obligated to continue the deals?

 

[polm]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Here's what I've heard.

AT&T Wireless is, as it has been, a completely seperate company from AT&T. They just use AT&T's name. AT&T Wireless was bought by Cingular. Once the merger is complete and AT&T becomes Cingular, the actual company AT&T is contemplating coming back as AT&T Mobile, possibly on Sprint's network.

I work for AT&T Wireless...and this post is correct.

 

[earthling30]

I've always wondered that myself. I'm a AT&T Wireless user but when my contract is up I'm moving on.

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: polm

Originally posted by: Deeko
Here's what I've heard.

AT&T Wireless is, as it has been, a completely seperate company from AT&T. They just use AT&T's name. AT&T Wireless was bought by Cingular. Once the merger is complete and AT&T becomes Cingular, the actual company AT&T is contemplating coming back as AT&T Mobile, possibly on Sprint's network.

I work for AT&T Wireless...and this post is correct.

I work for AT&T...and this post is correct.

KK

 

[Funyuns101]

so does at&t wireless and cingular already use the same network?

does anyone know what's gonna happen to attws customesr when the merger is complete?

 

[MikeMike]

I:heart:Verizon

MIKE

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1
I:heart:Verizon

MIKE

 

[BlueIce]

Originally posted by: PKPunk
Ok I think the most important question is if the ATTws switches over and becomes cingular later this year then will I be able to cancel my contract with ATTws because the terms and conditions of the cingular contract is different than ATTws's?

A friend of my just signed a 2 year agreement with ATTws banking on the idea that when they rebrand over to cingular he'll be able to cancel out of his 2 year agreement with ATT because cingular's service terms are different than ATTws's.

I used to be a ATTws user under a 1 year contract and 3 months into my contract att raised the price of 411 calls from 99 cents to 1.29 per call. So Attws sent me a notice in my bill that said if I didn't agree with the price increase I could cancel my contract without a penalty. This is the idea my friend is basing his idea off of. he's hoping he can dodge out of the 175 dollar cancelation fee later this year.

His goal in doing this is to get a new phone at huge discount by signing up to a long contract and then canceling out his service with no fee when the merger finalizes.

I wouldn't bank on this. Do you really think they would release all these millions of AT&T Wireless customers out of contract just like that?

When SERVICE companies buy out another, all terms usually remain the same under the original contract. They are not stupid.

 

[duke]

Originally posted by: villager

Originally posted by: DaWhim
cingular bought out attws

Att wireless if offering some really good deals. Will cingular be obligated to continue the deals?

I am wondering about this too. I am considering signing up for AT&T Wireless's Free2Go prepaid service. Would users of Free2Go be forced to switch over to Cingular's KIC when the merger is complete?