Anyone Bundle Their Services with SBC (The New AT&T)

[danny boi]

My girlfriends parents recently filed for bankruptcy after losing a lawsuit so their credit is very poor. They wanted four new lines and after shopping around, they opted for Cingular.

They went into a Cingular corporate owned retail store to sign up for service. After running a credit check, it was determined they would have to pay a $700 deposit for the first line and $ 400 for each respective line.

They then decided against it since they were fairly happy with their Sprint service and could not justify paying so much to initiate new service.

The next day, after watching a SBC TV ad, my future mother-in-law decided to try again the next day with SBC directly. She already has home phone, DSL, and Satelite TV with them. She applied online at SBC's website for wireless service and was approved for four Cingular Wireless lines without a deposit.

In disbelief, she called SBC (just to make sure). While she was on hold, I tried to discourage her inquiry advising her to leave well enough alone. I'm all: "Just leave it alone... you were approved...don't open up a can of worms.."

Anyways, the SBC rep told her because of her excellent payment record with SBC, the online system did not request a seperate credit inquiry. The rep continued to gloat how SBC owns Cingular so that their word on what goes is final.

I just wanted to share this story. I think it was really cool of SBC to give my soon-to-be relatives a more affordable option to use its wireless service.

Well, they received four black RAZR's and love 'em. It's been a couple of weeks since they received them and all four #'s ported over successfully in less than 10 hours.

Anyone have any similar stories of getting around an initial deposit? Is this common? Did they just have good luck that day? Does SBC really have laxed credit requirements when compared to others in the telco industry?

[ZaphodB]

It makes sense to me. If you think about it, a credit report is a list of what other people have said about a person's credit -- in other words, secondhand information. SBC has firsthand information from your girlfriend's parents -- they always pay their bills to SBC on time.

Why would you want to turn away business based on secondhand information when you have firsthand information that is positive?

[danny boi]

Originally Posted by ZaphodB

It makes sense to me. If you think about it, a credit report is a list of what other people have said about a person's credit -- in other words, secondhand information. SBC has firsthand information from your girlfriend's parents -- they always pay their bills to SBC on time.

Why would you want to turn away business based on secondhand information when you have firsthand information that is positive?

True. I am wondering if SBC users in a similar position could activate Cingular service through SBC without a deposit even if Cingular would otherwise charge them directly?

[Jay2TheRescue]

I went on SBC's website today to see what packages were available but I found out that no bundled packages that included cellular service were available in my area.

[danny boi]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

I went on SBC's website today to see what packages were available but I found out that no bundled packages that included cellular service were available in my area.

AT&T's footprint will likely add to the current area SBC is able to offer its bundled packages. ( At least on the business side)

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by YourDaddy

AT&T's footprint will likely add to the current area SBC is able to offer its bundled packages. ( At least on the business side)

When I went to SBC's site to find packages after I entered my zip code it redirected me to AT&T's site.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

When I went to SBC's site to find packages after I entered my zip code it redirected me to AT&T's site.

I would wait till after the 1st of the year, a lot of different things should be coming available from them once they get the 2 companies in the merged process, at least that is the way I understood it from there original press release when the merger was finally approved.
I also get directed to the AT&T site, but if you live in the original 13 states SBC covered, then you have these options already.
I am also curious to see what they may offer with to AT&T customers.