User: wolfspider73
These are the most recent forum messages posted by wolfspider73:
Re: Good article on handset pricing.
I think in Australia, the cost of the customer's monthly service is dependant on the rate plan/features they choose + the charge of the phone (retail price divided by months in contract term). So a $240 MSRP phone over 24 months is $10 a month added to your bill. If you cancel before your contract is up, you pay your monthly bill to the remainder of contract (so if you pay $50/month on a 24 month contract, cancel 12 ...
Re: Probably the best stated response in a while!!
I haven't worked for Cingular in a year, I just provided an answer to a question that I knew the answer to. I agree, the responses from Cingular are confusing, and each package needs a better description/justification and a change in price structure. However, since data also happens to be a major spectrum drain, and the cost of providing these services are so high, not likely to see it any time soon.
Re: What's the difference between Media net and PDA connect?
MediaNet = for WAP browser phones (non smart phones and PDAs). They access a web portal designed specifically for mobile phones - a limited internet as it were with content and features designed for cell phones.
PDA connect = for phones with HTML capable browsers such as internet explorer. these types of devices use more data because they have more capable browsers than a typical voice centric cell phone.PDAs are set to automatically sync with email servers and connect ...
Re: Employee Addicted to Pornography, Steals Cingular Customer's ID (Florida Call Center)
The moral of the story, one would hope, is to take notes about interactions over the phone where you may have to give out credit card information. Helps track down and fight back against identity theft and fraud. If the intended moral is Cingular is a big bad company looking to steal your money, I think Plooky has played it to death. Perhaps a name change to Captain Conspiracy would be more appropriate.
Regarding third party vendors, I did CS ...
Re: i guess i'm uneducated
Um, hate to point this out, BUT
http://www.cingular.com/learn/internat ional/roaming/international-roaming.jsp
th e third item is a link regarding adding international roaming to your account. For those too lazy to visit the link it says:
Getting Started
Select your destination country from the list below.
Determine if your wireless device will operate in the
country you are visiting.
Activate international roaming for your account.
the pop up states:
Activating International Roaming or Long Distance
Before leaving the U.S. or Canada, please call 1-866-CINGULAR or visit a retail store to activate ...
Re: is this what cingular is like for civilians?
If we treat everyone like a superhero then we would, in fact, be treating everyone the same. Which was my point. Doesn't matter if I'm speaking to Peter Parker or Spider-man, on the phone, they're the same person.
Second, I'm not mad at the customer. I'm not mad at all. However, as I am no longer working in the industry, my observations can be delivered with more cynicism than before.
Re: is this what cingular is like for civilians?
A couple of thoughts from a former rep in the resolutions/customer escalations department ...
Keep your superhero outfit in the closet, nobody cares who you are or think you are. Our job is to treat everyone the same. I have been threatened by politicians, actors, lawyers, bigtime business people, journalists, you name it. Your name means nothing, your position means nothing. You will be treated the same as me, or Joe Blow, or anyone else. It's your issue that is ...
Re: The Red Empire keeps chuggin
It definately does. But I think as well, it should be acknowledged that for Cingular, the same thing applies. Investing $13 billion in 2 years in network expansion and integration, having over 47,000 cell sites and steady improvements in customer service have resulted in Cingular's postpaid churn to go from 2.5% to 1.5% in a little over a year. Calls to customer service are down 20% according to internal reports. Complaints to outside agencies have dropped off precipitously. ...
Re: Cingular, the new at&t 61.1M and still number 1
Cingular's net profit for the quarter was $782 million, an increase of over $500 million from the same quarter last year. The combination of verizon, verizon wireless and verizon broadband netted 1.7 billion in profit, I saw nothing in the press release stating that Verizon Wireless netted more than $800 million. Even if they did, for the last 2 years Cingular has invested significantly more capital in network enhancement and integration costs. I am happy that everyone takes pride ...
Re: The Red Empire keeps chuggin
Well stated.
It's odd that verizon didn't post in it's release vzw's net profit for the quarter. I wonder if att will report their numbers in a similar fashion once the merger is all sorted out, or if they'll break down how much profit each division was responsible for. How any wireless company can maintain 0.89% postpaid retail churn is positively insane and I think each and every employee has earned the pat on the back they've been giving themselves.
And you guys won't?
All of the hysterical chatter over prepaid customers being death to profitibility and churn inspite of all the evidence to the contrary, about the iphone lacking broadband (I guess Wimax doesn't count), comparing Cingular to Sprint and bending over so far backwards to dismiss anything that does not directly glorify the big red checkmark reeks of hypocracy to me.
Re: The Red Empire keeps chuggin
Another outstanding quarter by Verizon. It's no wonder you all take such great pride in your company's accomplishments. What was the net profit for Verizon in this quarter? I never saw that in the original post or in any of the subsequent celebratory follow ups - with gross revenue through the roof, I am guessing it must have been over $1 billion?
However, the ignorance with regard to Cingular and several other little things is pretty hysterical. While postpaid adds ...
Re: 61M customers and counting
Tracfone also uses Verizon, US Cellular, TMobile and other smaller, regional carriers. Tracfone has 6 million customers, not 20 million. So when the big red checkmark talks about resellers, Tracfone is included too. Is it just me or did the IQ just drop about 30 or 40 points?
Re: more bars in more places? More people have VZW on their cell phone than anyone else.
Since when is $782 million in profit not okay? Since when is declining churn rates not ok? Cingular has invested massive amounts of capital on network expansion, integration, 3g rollout, and has aggressively marketed prepaid customers, because they spend more than most postpaid customers and have not had a negative impact on the overall churn. You're taking an outstanding result from your biggest competitor and trying to make it seem like a disaster.It was not. Resellers are pure profit, ...
Re: 61M customers and counting
Verizon's numbers are due on Monday. I would not be shocked to see them around 2.3-2.7 million net adds. But all carriers include resellers in their numbers, because they are selling blocks of airtime to other service providers based on the number of customers who will be accessing the network. In essence, they're Cingular customers with outsourced billing and customer service. We profit either way. Amp'd adds are included in vzw's numbers too. I just think the numbers ...
Re: ACTUALLY CINGY ONLY ADDED 861K
The reseller accounts don't bring in as much revenue, but that money is pure profit. The prepaid customers are major revenue streams, and more loyal than most other prepaid offerings because gophone is an actual honest to goodness viable alternative to those who don't want to be tied to a contract but want almost all the benefits of being on a contracted post paid plan. It's prepaid done right. And your argument about how unprofitable these customers are is ...
Re: ACTUALLY CINGY ONLY ADDED 861K
Yeah, those 750,000 people who bought Cingular handsets without costly subsidies, who pay more per minute for service than post paid customers, whose calls into customer care tend to be shorter and more straightforward, who in spite of all those carrier defecting contractless heathens have not resulted in a significant upswing in churn ... yeah, what a fool's errand. You guys are like Sean Hannity, all hyperbole, no substance or rational thought.
Re: Cingular 4th quarter results
The fact that Cingular is aggressively targeting the prepaid market indicates that massive growth in net gophone sub adds is EXACTLY what the company wanted. Unlike InPulse, Verizon's anemic, pathetic and utterly craptastic prepaid offering, GoPhone is actually a profitable and viable proposal for Cingular and an excellent product for consumers. It is naive and incredibly shortsighted to brag about the fact that 2.4 million people made a conscious effort to NOT sign with your company as a sign ...
Re: Cingular 4th quarter results
Oh, and UMTS + HSDPA deployed in 165 cities, including 73 of the top 100 markets.
Cingular 4th quarter results
2.4 million net adds
1.5% postpaid churn - 1.8% overall churn
$782 million net income
total revenue $9.8 billion
ARPU $49.29
Data ARPU $7.19
Suck on that trolls and haters.
:P
Re: Plooky labels subsidized equipment as individual property.
:roll:
Re: ANXIOVERT ANXIOVERT ANXIOVERT ANXIOVERT
What a long and pointless semantic exercise this has been. Wireless service is optional, period. At issue here is how pay per use text messaging is covered in the service agreement, as well as what constitutes a material change to the terms of service. Plooky seems intent on parsing the meaning of the word subscribe. Because pay per use text messaging is a feature of the calling plan, Plooky feels that the consumer subscribes to this service. Because there ...
Re: Former AT&T Customer - Cigular is BAD
There are very few things in this world that I can think of that get less expensive over time. Cellular service is not one of them. You use a treo 650, which is most typically used by business professionals, which means you are aware that Cingular Wireless, indeed, any company, is not providing you service for their health or out of the goodness of their hearts. They are doing it to make money. And they're not making as much ...
Re: Captainplooky for President?
If I am not mistaken, having worked for AWS customer service for over 2 years, pre-merger, and post merger, right up to a month ago, it was AWS who used primarily 1900 MHz and Cingular has been working to use more 850 band. Really, as Texaswireless has stated, it's a moot point. Blue customers could access the same towers as orange customers and vice versa. One of the bigger challenges of network integration was getting the cell sites to ...
Re: Cingular Wireless Refutes Lawsuit Filed by The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights
There is nothing underhanded going on here. Of course Cingular executives want AWS customers to take advantage of their new products and offerings - it's called capitalism. They are not in this industry for their health, they are trying to turn a profit. TDMA is a limited technology that had long run it's course. GSM has much greater flexibility for both the service provider and the consumer, and there are substantial benefits. Are you going to run out right ...
Re: Cingular Wireless Refutes Lawsuit Filed by The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights
A few facts to toss in the mix:
1. Prior to the merger, AWS charged a $15 "discounted activation fee" (aka upgrade fee) for all equipment upgrades, whether done at a store or through customer service. Cingular charged an $18 fee for the same service. Phone companies are fee based service providers, we provide a service, we charge fees for the services provided. For approximately 10-12 months after the merger, Cingular charged an $18 upgrade fee, it's standard fee, for ...
Re: Hows Cingular service now in Knoxville Tn?
In and around Knoxville, coverage is very good. If you regularly travel 321 between Gatlinburg and Newport, expect some poor reception and spotty coverage. You can always visit a retail store and look at the interactive mapping tool if you have any lingering doubts.
Re: Umm.. Hello
JD Power and Consumer Reports are based on consumer opinion and feedback, not instrumented drive testing. The results from both opinion polls took place prior to our network integration having been completed. Now that more markets are fully integrated, now that we have more cellsites, more radios, backup generators, better capacity and a serious commitment of revenue and resources, our network reliability has seen tremendous improvements. That we have overtaken Verizon in some markets - not all - is ...
Re: Cingular Network Achieves 'Most Reliable,' 'Fewest Dropped Calls' Status in More Places
interesting ... I don't recall a single fact or statistic or any kind of actual study released by verizon to back up their claim of best network. Verizon comes out, says, we determined our own network is the best and everyone jumps on board. When Cingular comes out and says someone (Telephia) on their own initiative did instrumented drive testing nationwide covering 80% of the US market and that their uncommissioned findings (they sell the results to interested buyers) ...
Re: The game has changed
You're missing the point Moto. Taking 10-15 escalations a night, I can tell you without fail the vast majority of customers do not read their terms and conditions, do not care about what the t&c's actually state, they know what they want and what they think is fair. If the customer feels they are being forced to get a new plan and new phone, and it winds up costing more and with less return, when for years they could ...
Re: The game has changed
That's all well and good moto, we understand the benefits of the new phones, and the new network, but look at this from the premerger customer's perspective ...all they know is that since the merger, they perceive a decline in coverage as their phones age and the enhancements target "other" people. They have plans they are satisfied with that they have to give up for the sake of "progress", which means paying more for less in many cases. Many ...
Re: The game has changed
I take escalations for premerger customer care, I only ever talk to a customer when they are dissatisfied with the service they have received so far. Right now, premerger customers are probably the least satisfied group of Cingular's entire customer base. If the customer really does rule, I have a few suggestions for Stan and the gang to make all of our lives easier:
Offer the same handset pricing regardless of which channel the customer buys the phone - retail, ...
Re: F*** Consumer Reports. Here's something interesting....
I actually monitored calls for quality, have received the manager's training for call quality, and can say that based on my own personal experience, that our customer service scores are low due to 1. failing to show empathy for the customer's issue 2. poor tone and demeanor (excessive negativity, arguing with the customer, no loyalty statements,etc) 3. not taking ownership of the issue 4. long hold times.
We all have occasion to give bad news to the customer, ...
Re: cingular's 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarter numbers for 2005
How the heck did you take a comment about improvement in customer service scores and network enhancements, and say it's not true because net adds are down? What kind of counter argument is that? That's like me saying my favorite color is blue and you countering that's wrong, because it's 7.
"integration can cause tons of trouble for a customer. that is i think one of the reasons why cingular's quarter 1 through quarter 3 numbers are declining" - ...
Re: Cingular hates former AT&T customers!
1. If you had an unlocked GSM phone, we would have provided you with service. You did not HAVE to purchase a phone to activate service with us. Ignorance of options does not mean you are being denied options.
2. Plans change. What a revelation. It happens. We need to constantly update our offers to remain competitive with everyone else, to make sure we remain profitible so we can continue to provide you with service at all. AWS was not ...
Re: cingular's 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarter numbers for 2005
Subscriber growth is down, but ARPU and profitibility is going up. My own opinion regarding the net sub adds, Cingular is not interested in leading - our rate plans have become carbon copies of verizon, with only rollover as the distinguishing feature. That's disappointing, we aren't leading in that sense, we are following.
Secondly, you keep harping about integration as being this huge issue. It's not. We have 40,000 + cell sites. At the same time we are integrating them ...
Re: horrible cingular support
you are asking an agent to troubleshoot a product that was not designed or intended for Cingular service. You expect an agent to know what protocols to use, which settings the device will accept, and how to manually or automatically configure a device we do not support, endorse, or carry. There are literally thousands of GSM products for sale all over the world, we cannot and will not, be able to expertly troubleshoot all of them. That has NOTHING ...
Re: Have you ever been threatened by a customer???
I've been threatened vaguely ("I'm going to kill you"), I've been threatened specifically ("I'm going to blow all your asses up", "I swear to god I will f@$#&^g shoot you"), been asked to have improper relations with my mother, been invited to become intimate with some rather private areas of one's anatomy, including my own ... customer service is the funniest job I've ever had. In my call centre, one night a customer had become extremely abusive and threatening ...
Re: What is good customer service?
Good customer service is about listening to the customer's concern, acknowledging their frustration and offering the best possible solutions to resolve that concern. If the customer asks you for something that just is not possible - a free phone with no contract extension, waived shipping and no upgrade fee -explain to the customer what you CAN do for them, and keep it positive. If the customer insists on demanding that free whatever, explain to the customer the business reason ...
Re: Cingular Customer Service???
If you only have to wait 9 minutes at any point on a Monday, consider yourself lucky. We refer to Monday as billing hell day, call volume is about 30-40% higher than just about any other day of the week. You are not being hung up on, btw. Calls drop, it happens all the time. Customer care agents can have every single button they have ever pressed on a phone logged, if it is found that an agent is ...
(older messages not shown)
