Cingular enhanced mobile to mobile

[coalminer]

I have a friend who has Cingular, she got her bill a few days ago, she was shocked to see that when she called me on my Verizon phone, those minutes were charged as mobile to mobile. She called to inquire about that, she was told that if she calls any mobile phone, regardless of who the carrier is, that counts as mobile to mobile.


I did a search on the forums and didnt see anything about this, and that is not the way it is described on Cingular website.


And I saw the bill, it did list my number as mobile to mobile. as it did with a few other numbers that she called, that were cell numbers, but not Cingular.


Anyone else heard of this? Or has Cingulars billing computer had a meltdown?

[bobolito]

That's not supposed to be that way. Maybe one of the numbers was ported and the system thinks that both numbers are Cingular numbers.

[ComicalMoodyDan]

No, it's not suppose to be that way. Only calls to other Cingular customers should be counted as mobile to mobile minutes. I'd tell her to be very careful. This could be a one time screw up and if she starts thinking hey it's mobile to mobile I'm going to call a lot more now she could get hit with a very high bill one month.

[coalminer]

I figured this had to be a mistake, I thought she didnt read the bill correctly, but when I looked at it, sure enough, it was showing my Verizon number listed as mobile to mobile, and we were looking for other cell numbers, there was once she called my kids Northcoast phone, that also was listed as mobile to mobile, and there were other numbers that she called that she knows were cells, but not Cingular that were charged as mobile to mobile.


And then she called and the rep told her that she could call any cell phone, from any provider and would be taked out of the mobile to mobile.

Well, I kind of thoght something like this was going to happen, leave it to Cingular to start something new.

[bobolito]

So, what was the answer? Are the numbers ported?

[coalminer]

Sorry, forgot to mention that, no, none of the numbers were ported.

[bobolito]

What are those area codes and exchanges that Cingular considers as M2M by mistake? I want to check some network databases.

[coalminer]

440-315 ( Verizon ) and 440-310 (Northcoast PCS)

[ZaphodB]

If that's true, I will go back to Cingular tomorrow!

[Skachik547]

That would be great...and I'm thinking of going to Cingular because most of my friends and family have Cingular. But, chances are that this M2M was a mistake paired with a rep who didn't know what they were talking about. Your friend should really be careful about this situation...these companies make mistakes all the time and the consumer is the one to pay.

[coalminer]

She called back again, this time the rep said it was only to other Cingular customers, so maybe it is just a screw up. She has so may rollover minutes built up if they correct it, I dont think it would cost her any money.


I think something like this will happen eventually, but I would think it would be split along the CDMA/GSM lines, Sprint, Verizon, Alltel and then Cingular and T-mobile would band together and do some mobile to mobile deals.

Any other thoughts about this happening?

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by coalminer

440-315 ( Verizon ) and 440-310 (Northcoast PCS)

...And the Cingular area code/exchange is?

[coalminer]

Sorry 330-207

[MOTOhooligan]

Originally Posted by coalminer

I think something like this will happen eventually, but I would think it would be split along the CDMA/GSM lines, Sprint, Verizon, Alltel and then Cingular and T-mobile would band together and do some mobile to mobile deals.

Any other thoughts about this happening?

Doubtful, the entire point of M2M minutes is that you give a discount on minutes that, as a carrier, don't really cost you anything more or less and trying to convince people to get their friends and families to switch to you. I don't think we'll ever see a banding together of Wireless providers for M2M usage, at least the top 6 carriers, anyway. Maybe some smaller, non-competing carriers would do somthing like that, I don't know.

[warriorfootball9]

Originally Posted by coalminer

I have a friend who has Cingular, she got her bill a few days ago, she was shocked to see that when she called me on my Verizon phone, those minutes were charged as mobile to mobile. She called to inquire about that, she was told that if she calls any mobile phone, regardless of who the carrier is, that counts as mobile to mobile.


I did a search on the forums and didnt see anything about this, and that is not the way it is described on Cingular website.


And I saw the bill, it did list my number as mobile to mobile. as it did with a few other numbers that she called, that were cell numbers, but not Cingular.


Anyone else heard of this? Or has Cingulars billing computer had a meltdown?

That give me another reason to switch to Cingular.

[saturnsl01]

Wait a mintute??? A cingular rep getting it wrong?! NO!

[MSE Environmental]

I think this thread brings up an interesting point that we have not discussed.

With all of the porting of numbers going on, how are the carriers who offer mobile to mobile deals going to keep up with it? Think about it, by this time next year numbers could concievably be on their third provider. I'm sure they will try to keep up with it, but I think it will be close to impossible to keep an accurate count of whose number is whose.

I just moved my Nextel number to Alltel, I know of others who have moved to Alltel, Cingular, and Verizon....all of whom have mobile to mobile deals. We'll have to see how it shakes out.....

Mike

[bobolito]

The original problem sounds like a database problem. The Area Code/Exchange was probably entered by mistake as a Cingular number in the M2M database.

[Etorres777]

Most of my family has Cingular so it'll work out with the M2M since AT&T Wireless will be Cingular (hopefully).

[ehcruzan]

Originally Posted by MSE Environmental

I think this thread brings up an interesting point that we have not discussed.

With all of the porting of numbers going on, how are the carriers who offer mobile to mobile deals going to keep up with it? Think about it, by this time next year numbers could concievably be on their third provider. I'm sure they will try to keep up with it, but I think it will be close to impossible to keep an accurate count of whose number is whose.

I just moved my Nextel number to Alltel, I know of others who have moved to Alltel, Cingular, and Verizon....all of whom have mobile to mobile deals. We'll have to see how it shakes out.....

Mike

My thoughts would be that the carriers determine M2M based on whether or not the called party is a customer, not based on the phone #. If it was based on the number, there would have been quite a bit more objections to the number portability issue.

[Etorres777]

I seriously doubt that they would do that. (M2M to any cell phone). If that was the case, everyone would cancel their landlines ande just talk on their cell phones.

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by Etorres777

I seriously doubt that they would do that. (M2M to any cell phone). If that was the case, everyone would cancel their landlines ande just talk on their cell phones.

That would be the point to doing something like that, saying screw the wireline carriers and make more people want to make themselves 100% wireless.

After talking to someone at one of the Cingular stores this appears to be a mistake, they just have the prefix for my Verizon phone, and my kids Northcoast phone listed as their own.

Now if only I could figure out how to get Verizon to see her phone as mobile to mobile.........

[Etorres777]

Originally Posted by coalminer

That would be the point to doing something like that, saying screw the wireline carriers and make more people want to make themselves 100% wireless.

After talking to someone at one of the Cingular stores this appears to be a mistake, they just have the prefix for my Verizon phone, and my kids Northcoast phone listed as their own.

Now if only I could figure out how to get Verizon to see her phone as mobile to mobile.........

One, they'd be screwing themselves, almost all wireless carriers sell landline. Verizon, Alltel, SBC (Cingular), Sprint, etc. They might do it, but not so drastically fast.

[MSE Environmental]

Originally Posted by Etorres777

I seriously doubt that they would do that. (M2M to any cell phone). If that was the case, everyone would cancel their landlines ande just talk on their cell phones.

I think that is exactly where the marketplace is going. Have you seen the commerical where it is an archeological dig in the future. Some guy finds a phone with a cord on it and says "I have no idea what this is".

My wife and I are already in conversations about removing the land line into our house. (We'll keep the fax line). Our main concern was for 911 to be able to see where we are, but with the advent of 911 GPS tracking, we'll probably cut the cord in the near future. We already have four cell phone lines in the house, free mobile to mobile and mobile to home and more minutes than we could use.

What about everyone else? Thinking of cutting the cord?

Mike