New member question - ending service

[rn45]

I just registered with this forum.
I searched for a topic on termination of service, but got no result.
I've had Cingular service since 1997. Last year we went to Nokia 6590 phones and GSM. Our service went downhill rapidly. Every time I called customer service, they asked if I had the latest download. Whether I had it or not made no difference as I constantly found myself without service in areas where I'd always been able to make calls before. The last straw was in February. I live in Indianapolis and traveled to Louisville Kentucky for the day. Once I got one county south of Indianapolis, I lost signal. There was a brief signal as I passed the Columbus Indiana exit on south bound I-65, but that was it. I got absolutely no signal at all in Kentucky. When I called them in Louisville on my friend's Verizon phone, they said that they were having a temporary service outage in Louisville only. All the way back to Indianapolis, I got nothing. The next day, I signed up for a Verizon account. I can't have a phone that seldom works. When I asked how to terminate my contract, they said I have to find someone to take over the remaining months. I have three lines on my Cingular contract. Does anyone know another way to end it? Can I pay an early termination fee? Do I have to pay one for each line? I searched Cingular's website for the answer, but couldn't find it.

[Matt]

I don't know the specifics of Cingular's service, but I believe all carriers will let you out of a contract if you pay the termination fee, and it is ususally "per line."

[MOTOhooligan]

The termination fee is per line and they have to let you pay it if you want to terminate service with them, it's the law. I've heard that Cingular has the worst early termination fees of all the wireless providers, so I would definitly check with Customer Service to make sure it's worth it.

[Shizam76]

There is GSM coverage down your route to Louisville. It must have been a temporary outage. Your phone should have switched to a roaming partner like T-Mobile or AT&T. Especially right on the highway. Sounds like your phone doesn't have the correct roaming databases programmed into it. I'm not sure how to check that, or get the correct databases into your phone.