Frustrated ATT customer wants better coverage
As an att wireless customer, I thought I would see a significant improvement in reception shortly after the cingular acquisition. This has not been the case.
I was told by a cingular telephone customer support rep that I could take my samsung x426 into a cingular store, get it unlocked, and get a new sim put in it and keep my att wireless plan. This should give me better coverage, I was told. Of course, when I called a store and asked if they could do this they thought I was on crack.
Under the network selection menu, my phone used to say: att wireless, cingular, t-mobile. Now it says: cingular, cingular, t-mobile. When will it just say: cingular, t-mobile or just cingular?
I was told by a cingular telephone customer support rep that I could take my samsung x426 into a cingular store, get it unlocked, and get a new sim put in it and keep my att wireless plan. This should give me better coverage, I was told. Of course, when I called a store and asked if they could do this they thought I was on crack.
Under the network selection menu, my phone used to say: att wireless, cingular, t-mobile. Now it says: cingular, cingular, t-mobile. When will it just say: cingular, t-mobile or just cingular?
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clone206 said:
As an att wireless customer, I thought I would see a significant improvement in reception shortly after the cingular acquisition. This has not been the case.
I was told by a cingular telephone customer support rep that I could take my samsung x426 into a cingular store, get it unlocked, and get a new sim put in it and keep my att wireless plan. This should give me better coverage, I was told. Of course, when I called a store and asked if they could do this they thought I was on crack.
Under the network selection menu, my phone used to say: att wireless, cingular, t-mobile. Now it says: cingular, cingular, t-mobile. When will it just say: cingular, t-mobile or just cingular?
Well s...
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Even if you did get your phone unlocked it isn't ENS enabled. What this means is that your phone will still seekout the towers in the way it was programmed to. It will seek the main provider towers out first followed by any roaming towers. ENS phones don't differentiate between the two tower types (Blue or Orange) so you can optimize the network. I know that it should be that the two networks be intergrated but there is always logistical issues. Both Legacy Blue (AT&T) and Legecy orange (Cingular) customers are having to deal with the same issues, the only real difference between the two is that Cingular is allowing Blue customers to migrate and upgrade regardless of eligibility where Orange customers have to wait until they are eligibl...
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Thank you for your reply. I am not familiar with ENS. Just curious, what does it stand for? The part I still don't understand is this: Isn't it really the SIM, and not the phone itself that dictates which towers to seekout and how to seek them out?
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No the ENS is basically a load balancing prograaming built into the phone.
what is does it keeps tracks of both networks and put you on the strongest possible signal, wither ATT,cingular or any othercarrier.Thats only available on the cingular "ORANGE" side.
what is does it keeps tracks of both networks and put you on the strongest possible signal, wither ATT,cingular or any othercarrier.Thats only available on the cingular "ORANGE" side.
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Intersting. When my x426 switches networks, there is a brief moment where there is no signal while the phone searches. Would the same thing happen with an ENS phone and an orange plan? Say I was in the middle of a call and the signal on the orange network dropped to too low of a level. Would it be able to pull from the blue network without dropping the call? Thank you.
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It stands for Enhanced Network Selection. It really has nothing to do with the sim card, the only thing that the sim does is allows the system to differentiate your phone from the rest on the network, it's like your own personal serial number. The phones are programed in a certain way, Legacy Orange and Blue phones are programmed to seek out the primary service provider (which is dictated by the sim). There are curently two networks on the Cingular Network (Legacy Blue and Orange). The old phones will prefer one of the two network whereas ENS Phones will recognize the two networks but not put perferentiate either.
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So there is no kind of SIM out there that I could use to make the orange network of preference? This would help out greatly as I get more bars on this network anyway. In fact, before I make an important call (I have no land line) I manually switch to the orange network. Only problem is that after a seemingly random amount of time, the phone switches back over to the blue network.
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clone206 said:
So there is no kind of SIM out there that I could use to make the orange network of preference? This would help out greatly as I get more bars on this network anyway. In fact, before I make an important call (I have no land line) I manually switch to the orange network. Only problem is that after a seemingly random amount of time, the phone switches back over to the blue network.
As long as you remain on the blue side thats always going to happen, getting booted off, the blue phones were designed to be on the blue network only, so if you manually switch your phone will get booted off back onto the blue network as for your previous question, no the phone will switch between networks, and y...
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Another question: How can I tell if a phone is ENS capable when shopping for a cingular handset? I'm interested in the x427m, but can't seem to locate any info about ENS for this phone.
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clone206 said:
Another question: How can I tell if a phone is ENS capable when shopping for a cingular handset? I'm interested in the x427m, but can't seem to locate any info about ENS for this phone.
Two ways, you can call into care, cingular's "orange" is 866-246-4852 or "blue" care is 866-293-4634 or dropping into the cingular corporate stores, and ask a sales rep, BTW the x-427 is NOT ENS capable phone.
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Thx, but I'm talking about the x427m, not just the x427. I was hoping the "m" might include an upgrade to ENS capabilities.
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clone206 said:
Thx, but I'm talking about the x427m, not just the x427. I was hoping the "m" might include an upgrade to ENS capabilities.
No i know what you mean, but the X-427m is not ENS capable.you are looking for the newer phones, like Sony Ericson, Motorola, LG and Nokia.
Samsung is not producing ENS capable phones yet.
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Well, I just had fun trying to get ahold of anybody at cingular who'd even heard of "ENS". It seems that there is a lot of information about it on the net, but not a single person I spoke to at cingular today had heard of it. Nobody, including those in the sales department could tell me which handsets are ENS capable, and phonescoop does not seem to list this feature under the phones section. I'm at a loss.
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All handsets excluding the Samsung x427 (and x427m) are ENS Enabled. I wouldn't recomend the Samsung phones at this point anyway. You are going to get better reception w/ a nokia, Sony Ericsson, or a Motorola.
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Dont the customers always blame the acquisition for the reason why they have crappy service? I have heard that one soooo many times.
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Funny, I don't recall blaming the acquisition, but I guess people hear what they want to.
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clone206 said:
Funny, I don't recall blaming the acquisition, but I guess people hear what they want to.
You personally may not, but the majority of customers who call in having any issues that affects them negatively blame it on the the aquisition.
We have had customer call in suspended for non pay, say that this never happended before the merger, my phone has no signal anyhwhere, this the result of the merger.Everthing like not giving them credit to help them pay their bill, to wanting a free phone without renewing a contract to want more minutes, without paying more or getting another contract, all get said by the same people "It was never like this before the merger"
It's a crutch that people use t...
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I can certainly understand how that would get annoying. That is one reason I have vowed not to work in customer service anymore. I find American consumer culture and its sense of entitlement to be unfortunate. It's just too bad some people jump the gun and flame innocent bystanders like myself online 🙂 Anyway, I really appreciate all your help. I will probably be migrating to cingular and getting a moto v180 as long as it truly is ENS capable and has good reception. (And as long as you're positive they x427m is not ENS capable since I love my 426)
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clone206 said:
I can certainly understand how that would get annoying. That is one reason I have vowed not to work in customer service anymore. I find American consumer culture and its sense of entitlement to be unfortunate. It's just too bad some people jump the gun and flame innocent bystanders like myself online 🙂 Anyway, I really appreciate all your help. I will probably be migrating to cingular and getting a moto v180 as long as it truly is ENS capable and has good reception. (And as long as you're positive they x427m is not ENS capable since I love my 426)
Samsung is kinda getting out of GSM phones, same way panasonic did last year.Best bet is to get the v-220, ,its $10.00 more then the v-180...
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A1 wireless has a really good deal on the v220, but I'm not sure I could go through them since I'm still on an attw contract and need to switch over to cingular.
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You know, I work in the call center and I never heard of ENS either....from my understanding of the phones, ALL of the new Cingular phones are built to work off of blue and orange cell towers...I have never heard of what the other 2 guys are talking about. Besides, in our hot topics, it explains the difference about the phones (between ATT and Cingular) and the benefits of the new Cingular phones...not ONCE did it ever mention anything about different "roaming" capabilities of the new phones...unless I am missing something...let me know.
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jcamcardo said:
You know, I work in the call center and I never heard of ENS either....from my understanding of the phones, ALL of the new Cingular phones are built to work off of blue and orange cell towers...I have never heard of what the other 2 guys are talking about. Besides, in our hot topics, it explains the difference about the phones (between ATT and Cingular) and the benefits of the new Cingular phones...not ONCE did it ever mention anything about different "roaming" capabilities of the new phones...unless I am missing something...let me know.
Well its easy to explain.Before the buyout, Cingular and att phones were built to pick up their carriers network only as its primary network, you could manua...
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This sure sounds like a load of crap.The cingular people love sticking it to the att customer who ended up shafted you can read it in you writings your all like that screwed up head trip blue guy.Every att customer should jump of the family tree and chop it down what a bunch of b.s..I'm should t mobile or verizon would like our business and quit all the beckering,excuses,head trips,etc etc. And treat us like real customers
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blazin2261 said:
This sure sounds like a load of crap.The cingular people love sticking it to the att customer who ended up shafted you can read it in you writings your all like that screwed up head trip blue guy.Every att customer should jump of the family tree and chop it down what a bunch of b.s..I'm should t mobile or verizon would like our business and quit all the beckering,excuses,head trips,etc etc. And treat us like real customers
First of all, if you expect a cingular rep to feel bad for you, thats not gonna happen, you hitched your wagon to a loser (ATTWS) and that horse is dead, with a bullett between its eyes.
With that said, what right do you have to expect to be treated any better then ...
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Another thing if your going to bind us you should at least had a plan to take care of us
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blazin2261 said:
Another thing if your going to bind us you should at least had a plan to take care of us
Hey you got your plan you had when the company got bought out.
I mean thats like saying well "you bought us out, i'm a att nationa plan user, so i should have rollover too!" the fact is you havew EXACTLY what you had with ATTWS, if you want anything knew like better signal, better reception, the new "ALLOVER network" then its real simple- migrate onto the new plans and service, otherswise nothing will change, thats the point, everything- and i mean everything will remain the same.
Just don't call in and complain, but it won't help you get axactly what you signed up for, no more no less, it just so ...
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Ha. Now I finally talked to a Cingular rep at a store who claims to know all about ENS. He claims the x427m is ENS capable, whereas the x427 is not. He also claims that the e317 is not ENS capable, which I've heard otherwise about on a forum run by a tier2 Cingular tech. He could show me no handset boxes that had ENS anywhere on them (I'd heard on another forum that customers with ENS phones were claiming the letters ENS were printed on their boxes). I just don't know what to believe anymore. It's not that I think Cingular's customer service reps are bad, it's just that I always feel like I get 10 different stories about this stuff.
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clone206 said:
Ha. Now I finally talked to a Cingular rep at a store who claims to know all about ENS. He claims the x427m is ENS capable, whereas the x427 is not. He also claims that the e317 is not ENS capable, which I've heard otherwise about on a forum run by a tier2 Cingular tech. He could show me no handset boxes that had ENS anywhere on them (I'd heard on another forum that customers with ENS phones were claiming the letters ENS were printed on their boxes). I just don't know what to believe anymore. It's not that I think Cingular's customer service reps are bad, it's just that I always feel like I get 10 different stories about this stuff.
well, samsung phones are not ENS capable phones.
The ...
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Yeah, I believe you over him for sure. It's just that I'm bummed cause I finnally got to see the moto v180 and I wasn't all that thrilled. Guess that's why it's a free phone! The v220 was about the same for me. But I guess I'll have to get used to one of them.
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