Cingular Yet Again Becomes AT&T
May 03, 2006 | by Nino Marchetti
The newly reborn AT&T, fresh off of digesting BellSouth, plans to turn off the lights on their Cingular Wireless brand by next year and name it AT&T Wireless.
In the never ending saga of the comings and goings of the AT&T brand name and other brands it has either assumed or been absorbed by, Advertising Age reported yesterday that the "new" AT&T is now planning to kill off the Cingular Wireless name by 2007 in favor of...you guessed it, AT&T Wireless. The move, according to the Advertising Age article, could cost AT&T hundreds of millions over the coming years as the slowing reforming corporate giant changes what once was AT&T and then became Cingular back now to AT&T yet again. The previous Cingular parents — SBC and BellSouth — spent reportedly $4 billion to turn the wireless brand, with its well known orange logo, into something of a household name. AT&T, in their defense, seems to feel the strength of their venerable name will carry them through the transition and that, in the end, it will "eliminate customer confusion and make a much more elegant solution", especially in regards to bundled services.
Post Your Comment...Comments
JPatch on May 4th, 2006 at 12:41 PM:
It "eliminates customer confusion" for those who get landline services with AT&T but find that, even when bundled with their landline services, they are with Cingular Wireless for their cell phone service.
With Verizon, for instance, the name of the company for both landline AND wireless is Verizon.
Now the real question is why AT&T didn't chose to turn their landline service to Cingular.
Barry on May 4th, 2006 at 12:55 PM:
When everything rebranded to Cingular, I was harassed a bit through emails and snail mail to "upgrade to a Cingular" plan. Whatever! I kept my AT&T Wireless plan. It was better than anything Cingular offered (more minutes, lower monthly rate). One brand name is better than several names under one umbrella. The new AT&T Wireless will have a better network. That's a plus. Anyone else notice the juxaposition of a Vonage banner ad right next to the text of this story? Too funny.
drummindog on May 4th, 2006 at 12:56 PM:
I want my UN-PLAN back!!!!
Selena on May 4th, 2006 at 12:58 PM:
This is ridiculous. It's a waste of money for the company to change the wireless name. The Cingular name and it's logo are great. AT&T should really rethink renaming the wireless -- if they want synergy from having both divisions with the same name they should rename the wireline to Cingular Home or something. It's a name that is more with the times and does have conotations of yesteryear...
matt on May 4th, 2006 at 1:24 PM:
Two Words: Brand Loyalty. AT&T has been around since the invention of the telegraph, their customer base is better then any other telecom company in the world, simply because, in the rural communities of America, when the baby-boomers and parents of (them) were growing up, AT&T came through with this amazing technology. So more people feel brand loyalty toward AT&T then say, T-Mobile or Verizon. That still doesn't explain why Cingular didn't take the AT&T name in the first place though.
Chris Bennett on May 4th, 2006 at 2:55 PM:
Personally, I will never use AT&T for anything ever again. First, they oversubscribed their cellular service when I was a subscriber, leading to an inability to make or receive calls, and sometimes calls wouldn't even go to voicemail. And second, they are returning to their Ma Bell monopolistic roots, grinning ear to ear the whole time. When they purchased SBC I immediately cancelled my phone service and switched to VoIP (which has worked WONDERFULLY).
AT&T will never see a penny of my money. EVER.
As far as I'm concerned they are deluded if they think their brand image any positive attachments.
David on May 4th, 2006 at 2:56 PM:
Matt:
Cingular originally was unconnected to AT&T; it was a joint venture between SBC and BellSouth.
Subsequently, AT&T sold its wireless assets to Cingular; AT&T proper remained a separate company, and "AT&T Wireless" ceased to exist.
Last year, SBC acquired what was left of AT&T, but they adopted the AT&T corporate name (due to its much stronger brand recognition). This made Cingular a joint venture of AT&T and BellSouth.
Now AT&T intends to acquire BellSouth. Once again, the AT&T brand will survive the takeover, meaning that AT&T will own 100% of Cingular.
David on May 4th, 2006 at 2:57 PM:
Chris:
SBC purchased AT&T (not the reverse).
Chris Bennett on May 4th, 2006 at 3:17 PM:
David:
Thanks for the correction, you are exactly right.
Keep in mind, though, that AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre worked with Ma Bell long before the AT&T split, and its been a long term dream of that group of people to bring back AT&T to its previous glory as a sort of "nyah nyah" to the trust busters. SBC purchased AT&T, as you say, but if you look at the actual people behind SBC the distinction becomes minimal.
Ian on May 4th, 2006 at 4:21 PM:
"It "eliminates customer confusion" for those who get landline services with AT&T but find that, even when bundled with their landline services, they are with Cingular Wireless for their cell phone service.
With Verizon, for instance, the name of the company for both landline AND wireless is Verizon."
I find that it is sometimes more confusing to have both such similar names. When I want to check on my cell phone bill online, I go to verizon.com only to realize I need to be at Verizonwireless.com. Even if Cingular and AT&T are the same company, it would be nice to have some sort of distinction between my cell and my landline.
inboxnews on May 4th, 2006 at 5:35 PM:
I've been a Cingular customer since before they were Cingular (Pac Bell Cellular). This is crazy. Sure, they don't have the best reputation in the customer service arena, most cell phone services don't. On the other hand, AT&T has its own baggage and much of it isn't good. To spend all of this money to rebrand after spending all of the money to brand Cingular doesn't make any sense to me.
Zero on May 4th, 2006 at 6:07 PM:
"fresh of digesting BellSouth", the deal hasn't even closed yet... a bit premature to say what they'll do with assets they don't own...
ToddZ on May 5th, 2006 at 10:22 AM:
As Verizon has gotten ever larger and more greedy, I've actually considered switching to Cingular, which comes across as a perky, edgy, innovative company. Yes, maybe I'm a sucker for good marketing. I'll be sad to see one of my favorite happy orange corporate identities disappear from TV, magazines, and storefronts. The idea of switching to AT&T does not appeal to me at all. That name connotes nothing but monolithic corporate sluggishness, inept service, and greedy pricing. Their recent inane logo redesign and the colossal waste of money in all this "de-branding" only reinforce that perception.
Suck it, AT&T.
Mike P. on May 7th, 2006 at 11:16 AM:
Okay! so what does this all really mean? Is my cincular contract being thrown out and stuck with having to put up with 2 seperate bills. I've noticed that recently my connections with cingular have not been going throuhg or routed to someone else other than the person I called, what's up with that? Is this because cingular is being phase out and AT&T not only sounds better but connects better to?
Chris on May 21st, 2006 at 1:33 PM:
I am confused now. Is at&t wireless coming back again. I thought that when cingular merged with at&t that cingular would take over? I am very confused now. I hope I will not have to merg again from cingular then to at&t. that is not fare on what cingular is doing. and what the whole company is doing. I am hoping that I will not have to merg again.
RX8 on May 21st, 2006 at 1:38 PM:
Yes AT&T Wireless is coming back and Cingular will be no more. Get ready for more issues regarding the change over!
D on May 30th, 2006 at 8:19 PM:
They should just call it Brand X. This is getting old. I just hope I don't have to get a new account number, settle my old bill with Cingular, and get a new plan. For some reason I don't think it will go too smooth and find it hard to believe there will be any benefits. Iys also laughable that at&t in lower caps will be used as a logo because its "geared towards the internet generation"---LAME (all caps)
2many2bear on Jun 15th, 2006 at 5:45 PM:
I have used Att Altell and SWB (now Cingular) over the past many years. The ONLY great service I had was Cingular.... I vowed NEVER to give Att any money due to the screw ups we had with wireless and home service issues and charges. Should my beloved Cingular become truely Att I will have to check out either Verison or T-Mobile.... and hope they survive the vicious attack of the evil att empire.....
Fred on Jun 21st, 2006 at 9:55 AM:
This to me is great news, I will embrace the switch back to AT&T Wireless from Cingular. I unlike other long term AT&T customers did not allow Cingular to pressure me into switching. My existing AT&T plan is the best and cannot be matched by any other wireless service provider. I have always received the highest level of service from AT&T. It is all about service and being treated like a valuable customer. For me, AT&T has always delivered.
Avi on Jun 28th, 2006 at 3:57 PM:
CINGULAR already has so many issues, dropped calls, v-mail retrieval time, saving v-mails, forwarding calls, billing issues...the list goes on and on...I've been recieving calls from numbers that I did NOT call and people insist that I just phoned them. AND other times I make a call - dial the number CORRECTLY and someone else's phone rings...I've done it many times...Not able to reach the intended party.
I hate CINGULAR VERIZON WAS THE BEST...
Kevin on Jul 27th, 2006 at 3:32 PM:
Most important to me is.... can I get out my contract when the company name changes? I made a contract with Cingular, which they will no longer be. I'm hoping this will be the case so I can get out!!!
Kevin on Jul 27th, 2006 at 3:32 PM:
Most important to me is.... can I get out my contract when the company name changes? I made a contract with Cingular, which they will no longer be. I'm hoping this will be the case so I can get out!!!
Dennis S on Aug 21st, 2006 at 1:37 PM:
Thanks that AT&T wireless is back, I kept my AT&T plan, because Cingular wants more money for the features I have, incoming text free and the 7pm early nights is fantastic. Although, I'm on a Federal corporate account. Cingular took away all what AT&T's contract with the Fed's, like I only have to sign up for 1 year contract instead of 2 which Cingular wants if I want a new phone (just buy my phones from Ebay and unlock it) it works, don't believe what Orange says about your old AT&T phone would not work with Cingular. Also I don't have any problems with VoiceMail or drop call issues, everything else went smoothly, But they are not going to get me to sign a Cingular contract. So, it would be nice if AT&T wireless comes back and give me back what Cingular took away from my corporate plan. I used to get 2 extra phones per year from AT&T which Cingular took away, (cheapskate) all that does it add a few months to your contract. I could care less about the "ROLLOVER" minutes. I don't stay on the phone forever anyway. I hope they change the plans back to the old AT&T wireless plans, because they are actually better. That is why I jumped on AT&T GSM before they merged, cause I know how bad Cingular's plans are. Good riddance of the Orange plan.
elaine on Aug 21st, 2006 at 2:46 PM:
I have spent the last 10 years getting rid of all of the at&t services that I was getting charged for, even though I did not want the service, i.e. long distance. Finally, thought I had succeded, and what happens? This month I have a long distance service charge on my bill, again, and I do not use long distance on my home phone. That is what cellular phones are for, in my opinion. You can bet they are going to hear about this, and if I have to give up my home phone to get rid of them, so be it. It will mean giving up home internet, since I live in a rural location, and nothing but dial-up is available, but at this point, I don't care. I am mad enough to "chew nails" as the old saying goes. Sure wish they had a "local office" so I could really let them know how I feel.
Charlie Stanley on Sep 22nd, 2006 at 3:54 PM:
Clarification —
AT&T Corporation (originally American Telephone & Telegraph Company) provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. During its long history, AT&T has at times been the world's largest telephone company, the world's largest cable television operator, and a regulated monopoly.
At its peak, it employed one million people and its revenue was roughly $300 billion annually in today's dollars (for comparison, Exxon's 2005 annual revenue was $371 billion).
On January 8, 1982, AT&T settled the suit and agreed to divest ("spin off") its local exchange service operating companies in return for a chance to go into the Internet services industry. Effective January 1, 1984, AT&T's local operations were split into seven independent Regional Bell Operating Companies known as "Baby Bells." RBOCs were originally known as Regional Holding Companies, or RHCs [1].
After the Modification of Final Judgment, the resulting Baby Bells were originally:
- Ameritech ... (now part of AT&T)
- Bell Atlantic ... (now part of Verizon)
- BellSouth Corporation ... (Merging with AT&T pending regulatory approval)
- NYNEX ... (now part of Verizon)
- Pacific Telesis Group ... (now part of AT&T)
- Southwestern Bell Corporation ... (now AT&T)
- US West ... (now part of Qwest)
Prior to 1984, AT&T also held investments in two smaller and otherwise independent companies, Cincinnati Bell and Southern New England Telephone (SNET). Following the 1984 breakup, these became fully independent as well. All nine local-exchange companies were assigned a share of the rights to the Bell trademark. Additionally, there was one comparably-sized independent (non-Bell) company, GTE.
Many of these companies have since merged, leaving only 4 regional telephone companies in the United States. After the 1984 breakup, part of AT&T's Bell Labs was split off into Bellcore, which would serve as an R&D and standards body for the seven Baby Bells.
- In 1997, Bell Atlantic was acquired by NYNEX (taking the Bell Atlantic name), which later, in 2000, merged with GTE to form Verizon. In 2005, following a protracted bidding war with rival RBOC Qwest, Verizon announced that it would acquire the long distance company MCI. The Verizon and MCI merger closed on January 6, 2006.
- Southwestern Bell Corporation changed its name to SBC Communications in 1995, and acquired Pacific Telesis in 1997, SNET in 1998, and Ameritech in 1999. In February 2005, SBC announced its plans to acquire former parent company AT&T Corporation for over $16 billion. SBC kept the AT&T name upon merger closure, which closed on November 18, 2005. SBC began trading as AT&T, Inc. on December 1, 2005 but began re-branding as early as November 21.
- In 2000, US West was merged into Qwest, a Denver-based fiber optics long-distance company.
- On March 5, 2006, it was announced that AT&T would purchase BellSouth for $67 billion U.S., in an all-stock deal.
- The former independent Bell System franchise Cincinnati Bell will be the only Bell that remains as originally conceived, and will be the only company that still carries the "Bell" name (except for Bell Canada, divested by AT&T in 1956). It used the last Bell logo, designed in 1969 by Saul Bass, until mid-2006, though Verizon continues to use the Bell logo on its payphones (including former GTE payphones), hard hats and trucks.
In 1997, AT&T hired former IBM executive C Michael Armstrong as its chief executive officer. Armstrong's vision was to change AT&T from a long-distance carrier into a global "telecommunications supermarket", eyeing Internet services for the booming dot-com industry.
Armstrong's most prominent strategy was buying significant cable television assets. After acquiring John Malone's TCI and Media One (gaining through the latter a 25% share of Time Warner Cable), AT&T was the largest provider of cable television in the United States. It intended to use these assets to bridge the so-called "last mile" and break the Regional Bell Companies' access-monopoly of the consumer household for data and telephony services, but the wager was costly, substantially increasing the company's debt.
On July 9, 2001 it spun off AT&T Wireless Corp. in what was then the world's largest initial public offering (IPO). Later that year it spun off AT&T Broadband and Liberty Media, which comprised its cable TV assets. AT&T Broadband was subsequently acquired by Comcast in 2002, and AT&T Wireless merged with Cingular Wireless LLC in 2004. When AT&T Wireless was aquired by Cingular it had been a wholly separate company from AT&T Corp for over two years and at the time was not in any way part of AT&T Corp, and was only an AT&T Brand Licensee. As part of the acquisition with Cingular AT&T Wireless would lose it licensing rights to it's own name and Cingular had a 180 day transition period to remove all AT&T Wireless Branding from former AT&T Wireless assets that were now owned by Cingular.
On November 18, 2005, SBC Communications, Inc. completed a merger with AT&T Corp., and took the name AT&T Inc. AT&T later announced it planned on reselling Cingular services under the AT&T name, in "bundled" packages. This worried BellSouth, as AT&T planned on selling these bundled services in competition with BellSouth. However, in a somewhat ironic turn of events, AT&T Inc. announced on March 5, 2006 that it would be acquiring BellSouth's telephone and wireless operations. A revival of the AT&T Wireless brand is definite as BellSouth's 40% ownership of Cingular Wireless will be transferred to AT&T (the primary impetus behind AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth was to acquire the remainder of Cingular, which was the two companies' largest single revenue source in 2005). Cingular is expected to be rebranded under the AT&T Wireless name early next year providing that the AT&T and Bellsouth merger successfully closes.
So in closing.... For people to say that it is the same people behind AT&T as there was 20 years ago, you are right in some aspects...but keep in mind, those people are also behind the current Cingular just hiding under a little orange jack as Cingular is already a joint venture of those companies. Then we have Verizon and Qwest, they are spawns of the same thing, so in reality it is all the same and they have all worked to develop separate brands.
The only wireless companies that are in no way related with these are T-Mobile and Sprint. T-Mobile is a German company and is in no way related to any of it, but it's U.S. operations are still maintained by what use to be VoiceStream management. VoiceStream was formerly Western Wireless and was managed by allot of the same people who managed AT&T Wireless, which was formerly known as McCaw Cellular.
Then we have Sprint. Sprint acquired Nextel in 2003 and also members of Nextel's Board of Directors to its board. Nextel was founded by Craig McCaw after he sold McCaw Cellular to AT&T Corp to become AT&T Wireless.
So if you aren't completely confused yet, and you are actually still reading this you will find that in reality all the companies have the same roots they have just done a little bit of sleeping around and spawned quite a bit of incest over the years. When making your decision about which company to go with for any of your services you should not look at their past cause it is all the same, you should however look for the best service CURRENTLY available to you because they are constantly changing.
Any other questions from you people that are so incredibly confused.
Randy on Oct 7th, 2006 at 3:08 PM:
Keep the Cingular Name! Foolish to waste money and time going back to an old name of at&t Wireless. After Cingular's unpleasant acquisition for many old AT&T Wireless customers, Cingular will create confusion and stir up bad memories for some by using at&t Wireless name. Cingular name appeals more to a younger generation, at&t Wireless does not.
jja on Oct 12th, 2006 at 9:14 AM:
I'm all for it if they will bring back everything that I had prior to them switching to Cingular. With AT&T I had more minutes in my plan, it was cheaper and it included free unlimited Mobile to Home and Home to Mobile minutes as I had AT&T for my home long distance. Cingular is "testing" the concept in certain markets, but not here and they can't tell me if the will ever have it in my area. So now my only option is to up the minutes in my plan or bust my minutes and pay through the nose. I can't believe I let them strong arm me into switching to a Cingular account, AND for two freaking years... AUGHHHH
CONNIE on Nov 3rd, 2006 at 4:28 PM:
I am so glad that ATT is taking over Cingular, because they are not a good Company. I never changed to Cingular because my ATT plan was so much better. I never had dropped calls or an issue with voice mail.I missed a good friend's services, because I did not get the voice message until 6 days later, telling me she was dead, even though my phone was on everyday
Johnie on Jan 6th, 2007 at 7:28 AM:
People American Telegraph and Telephone (AT&T Corp) is deader than Pacific Bell and speaking of PacBell Telegraph and Telephone Southwestern Bell Corp (SBC Global, Inc) manages at&t, inc different in first saying that their not AT&T Corp asking use to note the new logo and non caps. This coming from a company that says SBC no longer stands for Southwestern Bell Corp. Yes the last of the Telegraph&Telephone Bell System for the most part is dead once at&t, inc (sbc) phases out the BellSouth, RealPages Publishing and Cingular Wireless names in quarter 2 of 2007. This will finish Southwestern Bell Corp's practice of Unifing brands just as they did with all the other brands that Southwestern Bell Corp has bought throughout the years.
Erin on Jan 12th, 2007 at 3:56 PM:
I have never used ATT cell service before, but I have used their local/long distance and broadband phone services. In short, it was nothing less than a nightmare, which, upon awakening, gave me a year-long migraine. I am not a fan of ANY landline or cell company. They all disgust me, but the bottom line is I despise ATT above all others. Even if they are all the same (or the same people behind the scenes), we all relate to the name/logo that is representing the company at a given time. It is sad that marketing plays such an enormous role in our society, but I have to admit: if the ATT logo shows up relating to any service to which I subscribe, I will have to cancel that service.
ATT, your name, reputation, and logo leave a bad taste in my mouth. You represent substandard services as far as I'm concerned. You are a dinosaur on the brink of extinction. Please... just go away.
mark on Jan 12th, 2007 at 6:49 PM:
well..... my cingular bill came in today, and inside the cingular envalope, was a return envalope, with the at&t logo on it. :( so long my orange astric buddy
kacey on Jan 12th, 2007 at 9:21 PM:
well this certainly sucks! I WAS ATT and then they sold wireless to Cingular.. made me get a new plan.. and all new cell phones cause they said my (new) Cingular plan wouldnt work with the ATT cell phones. So now.. are they going to make me buy all new phones again to work with the... (new) ATT?? I have a family plan with 4 phones on it!!!
Debbi on Jan 13th, 2007 at 8:54 PM:
If At&t takes over Cingular I am switching to Verizon!!
eddie on Jan 15th, 2007 at 9:05 PM:
all i want to know is at&t going to f-up cingulars plans and service? as i recall at&t wireless sucked. cingular has the best network. i feel at&t is going to kill a good thing.
Ken on Jan 18th, 2007 at 6:54 AM:
Cingular is changing their name to AT&T because a while back 2004 SBC Global owened Cingular Wireless and bought AT&T Wireless. In 2005, SBC Global bought AT&T Residential/Commercial LAN Service. After SBC Global's buyout of both of these companies, then SBC Global changed their name to AT&T (to fool everyone because they are hated so much). Which is now why they are changing the name to AT&T because they own both.
CingularSales on Jan 23rd, 2007 at 12:26 PM:
This is how it works out. for those of you holding on so tightly to your old AT&T wireless plans I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you still need to switch from AT&T Wireless plan to a new at&t Wireless plan. you seem to be thinking that the company is changeing its not the company its just the sign over the front doors nothing more.
Tom on Jan 26th, 2007 at 9:06 AM:
Will this change over allow me to get out of my Cingular contract with no penalty?
Thomas on Jan 28th, 2007 at 3:03 PM:
Just a clarification, I work for Cingular, Now the New AT&T and I dont want to bust anyone's bubble, but the old plans are not comming back and if you still use and old AT&T wirless phone and it goes bad you are still going to have to get a new phone and a new plan. AT&T wireless was its one seperate company from AT&T, the cingular plans and equipment still stand and nothing is changing in reguards to that. We value all of our customers both Cingular and former AT&T wireless. Just keep in mind that the reason that AT&T wireless is no longer around and that they had to sell to Cingular is that the plans that you all love so much where you are paying 39.99 and may have up to 1200 minutes for that price, those very plans put AT&T wireless into a position where they could no longer afford to stay in business.
Lee Aarhus on Jan 29th, 2007 at 12:12 PM:
I have Cingular now and am wondering when the name changes back to AT&T will I lose my Cingular roll over plan? If so will they credit my account the 7400 roll over minutes I have?
If I lose the minutes, I hate to say then Cingular or the new AT&T will be losing a customer since I paid for this plan and therefore believe I paid for any roll over minutes I have earned.
Smiley on Jan 29th, 2007 at 12:15 PM:
Also, when they roll back over to AT&T, will I need to sign up for a new contract in order to get new phones etc?
Jose on Jan 31st, 2007 at 6:55 AM:
The name Cingular sounds and looks better than the name AT&T...besides that it makes no sense of changing the name again...
Danny on Feb 1st, 2007 at 5:22 AM:
I'm just 16 and I read all of your stuff; and this stuff was very interesting, correct me if I'm wrong please.
I'm not adding the years, since it'll cause more confusion to some of you.
~~A~~
SBC and Bellsouth jointly owned Cingular. But separate companies.
~~B~~
At the time (or before):
SBC, and AT&T were separate companies.
~~Action 1~~
Until AT&T, whom owned AT&T Wireless, sold their wireless division to Cingular (owed by SBC and Bellsouth.)
Cingular took over AT&T wireless and AT&T took the Cingular name but to keep confusion Current Cingular Customers were known as Cingular "Orange" and while previous AT&T wireless customers were known as Cingular "Blue"
~~Action 2~~
SBC announced that they will be taking over, parent company AT&T.
~~Action 3~~
When SBC and AT&T officially merged, they kept the new AT&T. Thus brings "the new at&t"
----
the new at&t and Bellsouth still jointly owns -Cingular.
----
Until...
~~Action 4~~
the new at&t announced they will be taking BellSouth over, or "joining" the new at&t, and Bellsouth will be taking the new at&t name
Now since the new at&t took over Bellsouth (or about to) Cingular is now COMPLETELY owned by the new at&t.
====
My Comments
====
See, thing I don't get is that you guys are making a big thing about Cingular changing it's name to AT&T.
Even though before, SBC and Bellsouth owned Cingular together, they were running the Cingular together!
But since AT&T taking over Bellsouth, isn't more of a good thing, then a bad thing? Because AT&T can do THE HELL THEY WANT WITH CINGULAR without Bellsouth meddling, you know?
That means, AT&T doesn't have to agree with the other owning company for approval. In a sense, it'll be much better! Better plans, better phones, etc!
Like the saying goes, two heads are better then one? But in this case, one company ownership is better then two companies owning; confusion and conflicts with other owning company.
Again, I'm 16 just came upon this page, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Thomas on Feb 11th, 2007 at 6:25 PM:
To answer a few questions, as I have stated before I work for cingular. No you will not lose roll over, yes you will still have to do a new contract if you want a new phone for free or at a discounted price.
Jesse on Feb 17th, 2007 at 8:03 AM:
Thomas
Cingular was recently in Las Vegas giving people a preview of the one way video service that is to come I believe by this summer. Any word or hint on when they will release their two way video service? I am really looking forward to the two way video service.
George on Feb 19th, 2007 at 9:31 AM:
Many comments above are indicative of my feelings towards ATT and Cingular, particularly those in support of the Old ATT Wireless customer satisfaction with their contracts and service. However, and to make this as short as possible; Until now I have maintained my cell service with Cingular under the old ATT contract agreement without changing equipment. Last month (January 2007) I was billed normally for the FAmily Plan which allowed my wife and I to call between cell phones and our home on an unlimited basis. This month, without any notice I was billed subject to some form of new plan that Cingular (The new AT&T) applied to my usage, for a per minute charge that totaled four times my normal bill (or $275.00). Now, the question is not who do I want to do business with, but how in the world do I find justice for this erroneus billing. The war stories I have read about others trying to receive appropriate customer service with Cingular are not encouraging and I have spent much of the past 24 hours trying to decide how to resolve this issue. Looks to me as though "The New AT&T", might just be the worst of the worst!
Baker on Feb 26th, 2007 at 11:37 PM:
I am 100% switching to Verizon if these *******s change the cool orange logo to that lame a$$ weird looking globe or whatever its intended to be.
Cingular is awesome, when I saw the first commercial I couldn't believe it.
But I will tell you something, you all have to make a big deal about it, call the customer service up and let them relay the message to their manager that if they decide to change back to AT&T (which they already are) you're going to switch cell phone companies.
Thomas on Apr 15th, 2007 at 5:30 PM:
Jesse,
I dont have any word on when the video conferencing is going to be available, I know that we are all as excited about it as the customers are. I have heard rumors that we are going to try to roll it out by the end of june in conjunction with the release of the Iphone
Danny : ) on May 5th, 2007 at 1:34 AM:
hello well first of all i want to say... people!!! people!!! like the cingular dude said its just the name that is changing nothing more as i recall i called customer service to ask and INFORME myself before blabin out oh im confused.."will i have to change my plan" yada yada yada!!!!! they told me yes were gonna have new plans.. but you dont have to change your plan..only if you decide on the AT&T Unity plans.. yea their gonna have the new logo, yea THE CINGULAR JACK WILL NO LONGER BE..its juat a name REALLY GET OVER IT!! if ya love the dam logo so much just keep a cingular branded phone just note that the service will not display cingular and thats a fact a have a cingular phone and plan currently and guess WHAT!!! the service display saays AT&T!!!ill just have to get used to seeing my phone wtih the cingular logo and it displaying AT&T.. of course till i get a new phone which will more than likely have an AT&T logo o also like the others said the old att wireless plans ar not gonna come back att wireless is dead... so i suggest you STICK with cingular.. oopps i mean (THE NEW AT&T)...
Tony on May 20th, 2007 at 11:07 PM:
Regardless of what the name is, the service will be what it will be. I don't get why some of you are talking about "If they change their name/logo" who cares? The name Cingular can remain, but if the management changes, etc. us Cingular customers will be SOL.
I originally, signed up with SBC, then it changed to Cingular about two years later, I've remained with Cingular through it all, and for the exception of a few things, I've been happy. The reason I signed up for SBC and not AT&T, well, I didn't like AT&T. Now I guess I'll be with AT&T.
The thing that gets me, to everyone I know, AT&T is almost a bad word! Why change your name to a bankrupt company's name? AT&T was going out of business, weren't they? Then suddenly, SBC said they were buying AT&T, and then IMO changed their name to AT&T, in what had to be an idiot move. Now that they've got the land-line, it is time to screw up the wireless arena too.
With all do respect to Thomas, the poster that admits to working for Cingular, how on earth do you know what will happen in six months? Roll over will stay? I'll believe that when I still have Roll Over with my plan in a year. Additionally, what else could you be wrong about? Job security? Bet you wouldn't be defending them, if in say six months you along with 500 other employees get a pink slip (pretty normal under circumstances like these).
Charlie Paris on Jun 7th, 2007 at 11:11 AM:
Cingular has a great system and had great calls, but their bookeeping stinks no matter what else they do. They could never get a bill consistant or right. What a pain.
Robin on Jan 19th, 2008 at 8:23 AM:
I was a Cingular customers which is now ATT. And I hate it, my bill has gone up by 20 dollars. Att swears that it hasn't but everyone I know that had Cingular says the same thing.I also had recieved an offer from them for internet and phone service. Thinking it was a good plan. My husband and I switched....bad choice! The services I obtained were basic phone no options, and DSL internet. These services were on for less than 2 mos...and my total bill is 252.38! Fee for this fees for that, a complete waste...ATT SUCKS! I hope they go under again...needless to say I switched back to my previous provider...
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Alan on May 4th, 2006 at 12:17 PM:
How is changing your name and then changing it back again supposed to "eliminate customer confusion"?