ATT-to-Cingular Ripoff -- BEWARE
I had a contract with ATT for 2 years that had features I needed -- North American Plan (for use in Canada), ability to freeze my account while I am out of the country for up to 6 months, new phone every year, etc. With the migration to Cingular all of that is gone. Now I am not allowed to put a suspension on my account while out of the country (except a one-time 30-day suspension). Cingular does not have a North American plan so calls within Canada are proibitive and their coverage (at least in the NYC area) is the worst of all the carriers. When my phone broke I was not allowed to change my plan to the Cingular without penalty even though Cingular does not sell the GSM ATT phones to replace the one that died. Just about everything tha...
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I just got off the phone with Cingular customer "service" -- they told me no North American Plan. Or maybe they do not know what they are talking about -- which seems likely.
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It could be that before we put you on a Cingular North American Plan you will have to have a Cingular phone.
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Anxiovert said:
It could be that before we put you on a Cingular North American Plan you will have to have a Cingular phone.
this is probobly the case. they cannot put you on it until you migrate over. We DO offer a north america plan, we just dont advertise it to confuse customers. We have brochures in the stores, just ask a rep for one.
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It's called Cingular North America. Says in big green letters "From Montreal to Mexico City" on the front.
Once again... you DONT need a CINGULAR phone to use Cingular. This is a tool reps use to trick people into thinking you have to fork out more money for a new phone. Just unlock your GSM phone and use it with Cingular. I have an ATTWS V600 I use with Cingular. Just went to a shady hole in the wall cell phone place in vegas and got it unlocked for 10 bucks. The guy originally wanted 25 but I talked him down.
If you subsidy unlock a phone, you can use it with any carrier.
Once again... you DONT need a CINGULAR phone to use Cingular. This is a tool reps use to trick people into thinking you have to fork out more money for a new phone. Just unlock your GSM phone and use it with Cingular. I have an ATTWS V600 I use with Cingular. Just went to a shady hole in the wall cell phone place in vegas and got it unlocked for 10 bucks. The guy originally wanted 25 but I talked him down.
If you subsidy unlock a phone, you can use it with any carrier.
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many of the software loads are not in non cinglar phones. As a store manager i would love not to have to sell a customer a phone at a discounted phone. WE make NOTHING on equipment. We lose on average 90 plus. So I think its more of wanting the customer to have a good experience with their phone vs wanting to sell them a new pone.
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That's fine and dandy, but he has to have a CINGULAR account to use the CINGULAR network. Unlocking his current phone isn't going to help him.
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i will not activate an unlocked phone. I will sell you a phone on a two year contract for free, and then you can do what you will.
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AshDizzle said:
It's called Cingular North America. Says in big green letters "From Montreal to Mexico City" on the front.
Once again... you DONT need a CINGULAR phone to use Cingular. This is a tool reps use to trick people into thinking you have to fork out more money for a new phone. Just unlock your GSM phone and use it with Cingular. I have an ATTWS V600 I use with Cingular. Just went to a shady hole in the wall cell phone place in vegas and got it unlocked for 10 bucks. The guy originally wanted 25 but I talked him down.
If you subsidy unlock a phone, you can use it with any carrier.
lol moron ^
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If you make it say,
then nothing Ash said was wrong. He'll have to migrate, but he wont have to change phones. Not all of the services will work, but the voice certainly will.
If you call other people names you're setting yourself up to look pretty foolish, so if you're going to post something try and be helpful.
AshDizzle said:
If you subsidy unlock a phone, you can use it with any GSM carrier.
then nothing Ash said was wrong. He'll have to migrate, but he wont have to change phones. Not all of the services will work, but the voice certainly will.
If you call other people names you're setting yourself up to look pretty foolish, so if you're going to post something try and be helpful.
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ralph_on_me said:
If you make it say,AshDizzle said:
If you subsidy unlock a phone, you can use it with any GSM carrier.
then nothing Ash said was wrong. He'll have to migrate, but he wont have to change phones. Not all of the services will work, but the voice certainly will.
If you call other people names you're setting yourself up to look pretty foolish, so if you're going to post something try and be helpful.
look another moron ^ 😁
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Anxiovert said:
It could be that before we put you on a Cingular North American Plan you will have to have a Cingular phone.
Another call to Cingular reveals that they have an unadvertized "Canada plan" which costs rwice what the ATT North American Plan costs, but that really is not my main issue. My main problem is that I will be out of the country for 4 months and have 4 months left on my 2 year plan, so I can either blow off 4 months of payment without getting anything for it (around $350) or else cancel 2 phones and pay a $350 penalty. I got the ATT plan knowing I was going away and knowing that they offered a 6-month suspension privelige -- but they withdrew that provision a week or so ago and are t...
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The vacation option would not have helped you based on your scenario above. Any time in which you would be gone will extend your service agreement.
If you just want to complain and trash Cingular so be it, but you received many solutions here that will help resolve all your issues.
If you just want to complain and trash Cingular so be it, but you received many solutions here that will help resolve all your issues.
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Strange reply. The vacation option is exactly what I need as it would save me paying while not being able to use the service. Extending the service is acceptable too, even though Cingular (unlike ATT) is a poor so-called "service" that I would not have chosen if I had had a choice at all (have you ever tried calling them with a question?). At least if the people at Cingular knew the answers and had some flexibility to make judgment calls it would not feel so bad. It's not just me who feels this way: Cingular is rated as the worse Cell service by far (by Consumer's Reports).
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Like I said,
If all you want to do is bash them fine, but solutions have been given to all your problems.
If you migrated to Cingular even the vacation option would be less since you could lower your plan, keep your minutes and only raise it back when needed, thus saving you more than the ATTWS "vacation" option.
The only other issue I did not address is the coverage in the NYC area. It is EXACTLY the same since they are no longer sharing the T-Mobile network and you can use the ATTWS towers you have enjoyed.
If all you want to do is bash them fine, but solutions have been given to all your problems.
If you migrated to Cingular even the vacation option would be less since you could lower your plan, keep your minutes and only raise it back when needed, thus saving you more than the ATTWS "vacation" option.
The only other issue I did not address is the coverage in the NYC area. It is EXACTLY the same since they are no longer sharing the T-Mobile network and you can use the ATTWS towers you have enjoyed.
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I'm not interested in just bashing Cingular (although I was an ATT fan), but everything I am hearing suggests that Consumer's Union's "worse cell service" award is well deserved. You are wrong about the various ways out of my dilemma. I can't lower my plan because ALL Cingular plans are MUCH more expensive than the ATT plan I am on. The coverage issue I raised is not about the new merged company -- it was always poor and continues to be poor (no coverage in most NYC elevators, tunnels, subway stations, and even parts of the NJ Turnpike, etc). But what really shows how Cingular's Worse Service Award is deserved is what happens when I call their support line. First I get a different story each time I call (e.g. I was told there was a 6 mo...
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May I ask what plan you use now?
The coverage will be exactly the same as what you are using now. Same towers. Merger had nothing to do with it. If you are not happy with what you have (or had) with ATTWS then that is a different story.
As far as the info about the vacation suspension, I JUST did one for a customer and it was allowed (if you have ATTWS). If you migrate, yes it isn't something we do with Cingular, but you can drop to a lower plan and keep your minutes for when you get back. If you still don't understand the logic of my theory please contact me directly. It has been beaten to death here.
You can migrate, and as numerous people have told you, GO TO A STORE.
and last, but not least, there is a North America pla...
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The coverage will be exactly the same as what you are using now. Same towers. Merger had nothing to do with it. If you are not happy with what you have (or had) with ATTWS then that is a different story.
As far as the info about the vacation suspension, I JUST did one for a customer and it was allowed (if you have ATTWS). If you migrate, yes it isn't something we do with Cingular, but you can drop to a lower plan and keep your minutes for when you get back. If you still don't understand the logic of my theory please contact me directly. It has been beaten to death here.
You can migrate, and as numerous people have told you, GO TO A STORE.
and last, but not least, there is a North America pla...
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He may be in one of those weird markets where they're not letting all AT&T customers migrate whenever they choose to. Are there any reps on here from his market? (I'm guessing Northeastern states since NY was discussed.)
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no its a littl different with att gsm servie..they can't migrate unless there so close to the end of there contract or out of it(im a tdma customer care rep so not sure which one it is exactly) and thats every att gsm market
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That's not true. My friend had the TDMA AT&T service, with 1 year of service left. She had to get a new phone since she had an old Motorola TDMA phone. Cingular told her that she could migrate to the GSM Cingular service, but she would have to extend her contract with Cingular for 2 more years from the day she migrates to them. So, she did that and the only problem is that instead of her 600 minutes that she had with AT&T wireless, she now has 450 minutes with 5000 N & W minutes, rollover minutes, and free M2M, while she is paying more money to Cingular for the lower quality plan. I think its not worth that merger crap. Only thing she is gaining from the merger is the rollover and M2M minutes, while losing 150 minutes a month, since she had ...
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terryjohnson16 said:...
That's not true. My friend had the TDMA AT&T service, with 1 year of service left. She had to get a new phone since she had an old Motorola TDMA phone. Cingular told her that she could migrate to the GSM Cingular service, but she would have to extend her contract with Cingular for 2 more years from the day she migrates to them. So, she did that and the only problem is that instead of her 600 minutes that she had with AT&T wireless, she now has 450 minutes with 5000 N & W minutes, rollover minutes, and free M2M, while she is paying more money to Cingular for the lower quality plan. I think its not worth that merger crap. Only thing she is gaining from the merger is the rollover and M2M minutes, while l
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im in the northeast market. de can switch anytime it just that the phones would cost retail instead of 2 year priceing.
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texaswireless said:
As far as the info about the vacation suspension, I JUST did one for a customer and it was allowed (if you have ATTWS). If you get some help.
Texas, I respect your posts and knowledge but just because it can be physically done please do not just do it. It is how we get so many escalations. You have to check primus on this it is in the new policy as of July 1st we are no longer ALLOWED to do this. They may still have to remove that reason code but this will cause headaches down the road. Yes former attws used allow it and used to do it. but we are no longer permitted to do so.
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No problem. It wasn't escalated when I asked the CSR (or they didn't say it was) so I was not aware of that issue.
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No Problem just was more a heads up. I am done Care now anyway Moving to XBM, training starts Tuesday. But we still got a lot of care reps. in our center.
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xenophile said:...Anxiovert said:
It could be that before we put you on a Cingular North American Plan you will have to have a Cingular phone.
Another call to Cingular reveals that they have an unadvertized "Canada plan" which costs rwice what the ATT North American Plan costs, but that really is not my main issue. My main problem is that I will be out of the country for 4 months and have 4 months left on my 2 year plan, so I can either blow off 4 months of payment without getting anything for it (around $350) or else cancel 2 phones and pay a $350 penalty. I got the ATT plan knowing I was going away and knowing that they offered a 6-month suspension privelige -- but they withdrew that
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A customer once asked me if Cingular was going to have the same high business ethics after the merger. I replied with, "What company ever really has high ethics and isn't out for your money?" He left.
AT&T may have had better ethics than Cingy, but look where it got them. Cingy is holding AT&T customers to the terms of their contracts, so why is that so bad? At least it's ethics are better than Nextel, which is now charging for port outs and wont give account numbers over the phone. I guess that's one way to reduce churn...
AT&T may have had better ethics than Cingy, but look where it got them. Cingy is holding AT&T customers to the terms of their contracts, so why is that so bad? At least it's ethics are better than Nextel, which is now charging for port outs and wont give account numbers over the phone. I guess that's one way to reduce churn...
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If you travel out of the coutry a lot, T-Mobile has the best interntional coverage. Plus T-Mobile has flawless signal in the NY area. T-Mobile has great coverage in large cities/population areas. Plus since T-Mobile is based in Europe, they have the best international coverage. Think about it.
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Read the forum, you're not the only one. Sh*t happens, wireless consolodation... Cingular had more money, they bought out ATT (not the other way around)... I know a lot of the reps who frequent this site will yell at me but the deal you had with ATTWS is done. I'm sorry but I'm one of those people who happen to think that Verizon's sole customer gain is based on people optioning to Verizon vs Cingy, SunCom, Alltel, or whoever else their accounts were handed to... After six years, I ported my wife from Cingy/BellSouth Mobility to another carrier...
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Question?
Did you migrate yet or no?
Seems you are very confused or are getting loads of misinformation.
The only thing above you can't do with Cingular is the long term suspension of service. But what you can do is drop to the lowest plan and rollover all your minutes during that period. Your contract doesn't get extended (as it would with ATTWS) and you keep what you paid for. I just did both of those scenarios for a brother and sister. He went to Norway for 5 months, she was going for only a month. We migrated her to Cingular but he stayed on ATTWS.
If you hypothetically had a $99 plan (you make it sound as if you are a decent size user) you could drop to $39.99 for 6 months and then only go back to $99 once you use up th...
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Did you migrate yet or no?
Seems you are very confused or are getting loads of misinformation.
The only thing above you can't do with Cingular is the long term suspension of service. But what you can do is drop to the lowest plan and rollover all your minutes during that period. Your contract doesn't get extended (as it would with ATTWS) and you keep what you paid for. I just did both of those scenarios for a brother and sister. He went to Norway for 5 months, she was going for only a month. We migrated her to Cingular but he stayed on ATTWS.
If you hypothetically had a $99 plan (you make it sound as if you are a decent size user) you could drop to $39.99 for 6 months and then only go back to $99 once you use up th...
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ATTW offers vactional suspension for 9.99 and the days your account is suspended for will be added onto the end of the contract
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Once again... you DONT need a CINGULAR phone to use Cingular. This is a tool reps use to trick people into thinking you have to fork out more money for a new phone. Just unlock your GSM phone and use it with Cingular. I have an ATTWS V600 I use with Cingular. Just went to a shady hole in the wall cell phone place in vegas and got it unlocked for 10 bucks. The guy originally wanted 25 but I talked him down.
If you subsidy unlock a phone, you can use it with any carrier.
AMEN. You reps who are spouting the company line need to get your heads out of your butts.
But customer beware; if you need help configuring the phone, you are on your own. So if you are a moron, do NOT buy a phone from anyplace other than a retail store. If you ar...
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If you subsidy unlock a phone, you can use it with any carrier.
AMEN. You reps who are spouting the company line need to get your heads out of your butts.
But customer beware; if you need help configuring the phone, you are on your own. So if you are a moron, do NOT buy a phone from anyplace other than a retail store. If you ar...
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jerrydock said:
Once again... you DONT need a CINGULAR phone to use Cingular. This is a tool reps use to trick people into thinking you have to fork out more money for a new phone. Just unlock your GSM phone and use it with Cingular.
You do need a Cingular contract to use Cingular, though.
With what he wrote, I'm not sure that he actually migrated to Cingular - he wasn't very specific. He referred to 'the migration to Cingular' which could be the merger, and not an actual contractual migration.
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Very true. There is enough confusion to go around these days.
Just had a customer who was lost in AT&T hell. Could NOT migrate as a TDMA...we had to switch her to GSM before the port would go through.
Just had a customer who was lost in AT&T hell. Could NOT migrate as a TDMA...we had to switch her to GSM before the port would go through.
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mysystemsareupdating said:
ATTW offers vactional suspension for 9.99 and the days your account is suspended for will be added onto the end of the contract
Not anymore. That program has been discontinued as of July 1st.
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xenophile said:...
I had a contract with ATT for 2 years that had features I needed -- North American Plan (for use in Canada), ability to freeze my account while I am out of the country for up to 6 months, new phone every year, etc. With the migration to Cingular all of that is gone. Now I am not allowed to put a suspension on my account while out of the country (except a one-time 30-day suspension). Cingular does not have a North American plan so calls within Canada are proibitive and their coverage (at least in the NYC area) is the worst of all the carriers. When my phone broke I was not allowed to change my plan to the Cingular without penalty even though Cingular does not sell the GSM ATT phones to replace the one t
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I may correct myself.... AT&T used to offer 9.99 seasonal suspension for up to 6 months...must have been phased out
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mysystemsareupdating said:
I may correct myself.... AT&T used to offer 9.99 seasonal suspension for up to 6 months...must have been phased out
Yep as the the First of July it was.
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U.S. Cellular does but does not provide coverage in canada or anywhere else in the world for free as they are not a big company.
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Can anyone confirm if the NYC market completely disallows any migration until the agreement is over?
Most markets allow migration at any time although you aren't eligible for equipment discounts unless you have completed your agreement or fit standard upgrade policy guidelines.
Thanks
Most markets allow migration at any time although you aren't eligible for equipment discounts unless you have completed your agreement or fit standard upgrade policy guidelines.
Thanks
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im in northeast and thats right you can switch anytime you like it's just the phone priceing is not discounted unless your almost out of your contract.
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The same thing pretty much applies to the west coast as well.
In certain markets you have to pay higher prices for phones (no commitment) to migrate.
raw deal maybe, but if it is too good to be true, (like ATT rate plans) then you should be ready to jump ship when you have the chance.
In certain markets you have to pay higher prices for phones (no commitment) to migrate.
raw deal maybe, but if it is too good to be true, (like ATT rate plans) then you should be ready to jump ship when you have the chance.
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You can get equipment unlocked very easily these days. No new equipment needed.
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