Questions re Cingular
Am porting from ATT and looking at carriers. Mostly Verizon and Cingular now. I don't want to get into the CDMA vs GSM area as I have done my homework there. Both are equally viable for North American mobile phone use and CDMA gets the nod for being ahead of the game in the G3 arena right now. ( A major expense for GSM to upgrade and Edge is not as good as ED-VO)
I have a couple of questions. Las Vegas home area. Im speaking of Cingular today. Not after the Att deal. In fact the ATT deal is what is actually sending me to Verizon.
ATT's TDMA network is very spotty and their GSM is terrible in Las Vegas as well as their CS. I don't want to sign a contract ending up with the service of a company I am leaving after 8 years! The fact that...
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I have a couple of questions. Las Vegas home area. Im speaking of Cingular today. Not after the Att deal. In fact the ATT deal is what is actually sending me to Verizon.
ATT's TDMA network is very spotty and their GSM is terrible in Las Vegas as well as their CS. I don't want to sign a contract ending up with the service of a company I am leaving after 8 years! The fact that...
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my attempt at answering your questions: 😉
The towers are being sold as part of an pre-existing agreement, and it just so happened to coincide with the ATTW buyout. We will still use those same towers for up to 4 years while we enhance our own network. Cingular customers will see NO difference in coverage. the only thing that is changing is whose name is on the lease for those sites. 😎
The Data Connect service uses the GPRS network, not CSD, so it uses NO airtime, you get billed for the amount of data that is transferred, (and there are packages that cover variuos levels of data transfer)
There is a GAIT Nation plan which offers no roaming charges. the prices are slightly higher, and the minutes are somewhat lower. They would...
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The towers are being sold as part of an pre-existing agreement, and it just so happened to coincide with the ATTW buyout. We will still use those same towers for up to 4 years while we enhance our own network. Cingular customers will see NO difference in coverage. the only thing that is changing is whose name is on the lease for those sites. 😎
The Data Connect service uses the GPRS network, not CSD, so it uses NO airtime, you get billed for the amount of data that is transferred, (and there are packages that cover variuos levels of data transfer)
There is a GAIT Nation plan which offers no roaming charges. the prices are slightly higher, and the minutes are somewhat lower. They would...
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jinx7676 said:
- say you obtain a new phone and simply want to move your service from one phone to another - Verizon charges you to do this, Cingular doesn't.
Hold on you are off on this. VZW does not charge you to move your service to a different phone. That is incorrect. Why don't you tell him about the "upgrade fee" that Cingular charges, when you upgrade your phone not only are you buying the phone but Thor is additional charge of $18.00 to do this. Kinda like another activation fee. What about the fact that Cingular has a higher activation fee than VZW?
jinx7676 said:...
- if you were to add a second line on to a Verizon plan, you need to pay an extra $10 for that line t
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jhmlbrgr said:jinx7676 said:
- say you obtain a new phone and simply want to move your service from one phone to another - Verizon charges you to do this, Cingular doesn't.
Hold on you are off on this. VZW does not charge you to move your service to a different phone. That is incorrect. Why don't you tell him about the "upgrade fee" that Cingular charges, when you upgrade your phone not only are you buying the phone but Thor is additional charge of $18.00 to do this. Kinda like another activation fee. What about the fact that Cingular has a higher activation fee than VZW?
i had a customer in my store yesterday that ported to Cingular because they lost their p...
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jhmlbrgr said:
What about the fact that Cingular has a higher activation fee than VZW?
by $1.00..doesnt seem like much to point out to me.
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While we're on the subject of Mobile 2 Mobile, why not point out that VZW's M2M is not truly nationwide, but is limited to a home calling area, even on their national plans, while Cingular's is from anywhere, to anywhere.
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That interesting. Wouldn't the 'Home area" include the entire network as in most carriers? I did not know that. But in all fairness I don't have a huge network of either Cingular or Verizon users to make that a deal breaker. But it does concern me that is not clear on the Verizon site.
Verizon only recently seems to have "added" nationwide "network' calling plans. It used to be ONLY regional or SIngle rate which is very expensive. I used the $99 digital One rate on ATT until I realized I did not roam enough to pay the premium for that plan.
My father uses Cingular in Las Vegas but he's not a big cell user so that advantage of M2M is lost on me!
Verizon only recently seems to have "added" nationwide "network' calling plans. It used to be ONLY regional or SIngle rate which is very expensive. I used the $99 digital One rate on ATT until I realized I did not roam enough to pay the premium for that plan.
My father uses Cingular in Las Vegas but he's not a big cell user so that advantage of M2M is lost on me!
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Im going to reply here before reading on to Jinx on a few comments. First of all thanks for clarifying and not attacking. I don't want tjjis tot turn into a flame war. I was really against Verizon a week or so ago but Im realizing there are only really three carriers worth a look. Cingular , Verizon and Sprint. I will say the the activation is less on Verizon but one of the hings I tripping over is the much larger cost for the Verizon phones when signing for one year which seems like a good idea when switching to a new carrier.
The question about the internet ws not so much about the Xarrier as it will be awhile before the carrier has decent web service on the phones. My question was more about connecting the phone to a laptop and using i...
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The question about the internet ws not so much about the Xarrier as it will be awhile before the carrier has decent web service on the phones. My question was more about connecting the phone to a laptop and using i...
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Cingular has two different cards, the Nokia D311 and the SE GC82, which accept SIM cards and use the data only transfer, which have their own dedicated number. or you can get a data connect cable and use your phone as a modem.
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So you can use the phones with a data cable to connect to a major DSP with a notbook? ATT does not allow for this at all.
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The $10.00 extra for free in network covers all lines on the family plan, so if you have 2 or 5 lines you get the free in network for only an extra $10.00/month for all the secondary lines, and it is included for the primary. And if you do not want to pay the extra the secondary lines get free family calling included. That is free calling to the other lines on the family plan.
which means in simple english, that the first additional line on a family is 29.99 and every additional line after that is 19.99
while at cingular the 2nd or 4th line both only cost 9.99
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jinx7676 said:
A few other small points worth mentioning:
-Our roaming profiles and any SIM card updates come Over the air to your phone automatically, where as with Verizon, they say you need to dial a number every few weeks to keep things updated - may seem small, but i'd rather not have to remember to do this
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I know this doesn't make much difference, but the *228 option 2 update that you are talking about is supposed to be done every 3 months.
Another point I'd like to address is the "Home Area" in-networ/mobil2mobil debate.
If your phone says Verizon or Extended Network and you call another Verizon Wireless number, it's free.
The ONLY time mobil to mobil is NOT free is if you are ROAMING. ...
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VZWCustServ said:...jinx7676 said:
A few other small points worth mentioning:
-Our roaming profiles and any SIM card updates come Over the air to your phone automatically, where as with Verizon, they say you need to dial a number every few weeks to keep things updated - may seem small, but i'd rather not have to remember to do this
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I know this doesn't make much difference, but the *228 option 2 update that you are talking about is supposed to be done every 3 months.
Another point I'd like to address is the "Home Area" in-networ/mobil2mobil debate.
If your phone says Verizon or Extended Network and you call another Verizon Wireless number, it's free.
The ONLY time mobil to mob
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simplymarcus said:...VZWCustServ said:jinx7676 said:
A few other small points worth mentioning:
-Our roaming profiles and any SIM card updates come Over the air to your phone automatically, where as with Verizon, they say you need to dial a number every few weeks to keep things updated - may seem small, but i'd rather not have to remember to do this
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I know this doesn't make much difference, but the *228 option 2 update that you are talking about is supposed to be done every 3 months.
Another point I'd like to address is the "Home Area" in-networ/mobil2mobil debate.
If your phone says Verizon or Extended Network and you call another Verizon Wireless number, i
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VZWCustServ said:
I can call another VZW user in Canada from Florida. The person I'm calling may get charged roaming, but the call is free for me.
same here
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I am a current customer of Cingular with a TDMA phone. I am not happy with call quality ie. static, voice clarity, dropped calls etc. Should I switch to Verizon or upgrade to Cingular GSM assuming call quality is the prdominent issue for me. Since you have done your homework on this issue I would appreciate your opinion.
I live in the eastern Pa area
I live in the eastern Pa area
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silver01 said:
I am a current customer of Cingular with a TDMA phone. I am not happy with call quality ie. static, voice clarity, dropped calls etc. Should I switch to Verizon or upgrade to Cingular GSM assuming call quality is the prdominent issue for me. Since you have done your homework on this issue I would appreciate your opinion.
I live in the eastern Pa area
voice clarity is much improved by nature with GSM., and there is no static, because there is no analog signal.
what i would suggest is stop in your locl store and they should have some phones for you to try out.
there is also a 15 day return policy, so if you did try it out and it wasnt any better you could return the phone.
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If he does return the phone AND ported over a number what are the ramifications? Will he lose the ported number.
Does one loose the LNP feature when returning the phone? Thats why Im researching so deeply before I buy. I do NOT want to loose the number so in effect the is NO going back for a year!!! Or pay the piper. I do think Cingular has a Pro rated ETF fee though and that is really good.
Does one loose the LNP feature when returning the phone? Thats why Im researching so deeply before I buy. I do NOT want to loose the number so in effect the is NO going back for a year!!! Or pay the piper. I do think Cingular has a Pro rated ETF fee though and that is really good.
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kingfrog77 said:
If he does return the phone AND ported over a number what are the ramifications? Will he lose the ported number.
at least with us, if someone ports out and wants to port back, we can do that and keep the number within 15 days i believe.
kingfrog77 said:
I do think Cingular has a Pro rated ETF fee though and that is really good.
yes we do prorate our ETF. $10 for every month left on the contract.
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jinx7676 said:
yes we do prorate our ETF. $10 for every month left on the contract.
Check with your local dealer (or read the fine print on the contract) -- that changes on a state-by-state basis, depending on local laws.
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Myth said:jinx7676 said:
yes we do prorate our ETF. $10 for every month left on the contract.
Check with your local dealer (or read the fine print on the contract) -- that changes on a state-by-state basis, depending on local laws.
oh yeah, i forgot that different states are different. that's how it is here.
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silver01 said:
I am a current customer of Cingular with a TDMA phone. I am not happy with call quality ie. static, voice clarity, dropped calls etc. Should I switch to Verizon or upgrade to Cingular GSM assuming call quality is the prdominent issue for me. Since you have done your homework on this issue I would appreciate your opinion.
I live in the eastern Pa area
I live in Western PA and have many relatives located in Eastern PA. All of them have had Cingular GSM since its release. They have had absolutely not problem with Cingular yet, from what they have told me. Verizon however is more substantial in the western part of the state rather than the eastern. So therefore, my advice to you would be...
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ummm Cingular has an 18.00 act fee in some markets now. it's still 36.00 in some. and about the question regarding 3g technology. the reason cingular is waiting to rollout 3g is simple... it isn't needed. less than 2% of cellular customers will benefit from it. look at europe and japan... their 3g technology is great but isn't being utilized. edge technology offers outstanding data capabilities and will run just as well as vzw's 3g technology. i just think its funny that all these companies are in this huge race to bring customers something they don't need or want. does it really matter if you send a picture at 238 kb/s or 350 kb/s ? when cingular decides to launch it's 3g technology(already being tested in some markets) there will be a reas...
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