Why does Cingular suck?

[ChimeraJS]

So just ignore our billing mistakes? nah. then they'll add more.

[RedMosquito]

never said that. Of course you have to keep tabs on your billing charges. I'm just saying ALL phone companies do that.

[tfrisk]

Just to let you know... I COMPLETELY agree with you. Cingular sucks bad. I go to school at LSU and I can't walk across campus and keep a conversation going without having to repeat EVERYTHING. It constantly cuts out. I was at a red light , completely stopped, and finished a phone call. WITHOUT MOVING, I tried to place another call and it wouldn't let me. Just wanted to let you know that you're not the only one fed up with them.

[KevinJames]

When you run into that type of problem, turn the phone off and back on again, giving it a few seconds in-between. See if that resolves your issue. I'm curious to hear, let us know.

Also, if you are in a large & crowded public setting (campus, ball field, etc), busy signals are not uncommon. It is sad that while some airhead is busy chattering about the color of their car or their latest body piercing, that someone else is being denied service that needs to make an emergency call.

[bobolito]

Actually, a phone company's service quality depends a lot on who you ask. If you live in a neighborhood where Cingular's signal is weak then of course you will speak badly about them. However, those people that say that Cingular is great is because they live and move around an area where the signal happens to be good. We know that everyone moves around different particular areas of towns and cities and they work and live in different areas so everyone's experience is unique. Also, some phones handle weak signal situations differently than others and that may influence their opinions. By the way, Cingular HQ is in Atlanta so they better have good service there.

I live in NYC area and my Cingular phone is full power everywhere in the building where I work. In my house though, I used to have to go to the attic to get a weak signal. Recently though, AT&T put up a tower nearby and my Cingular phone is now full power in my house so I can use my Cingular phone in the basement too. By the way, Cingular and AT&T use the same antennas in this area. I've had dropped calls while in my car specially in NYC (manhattan, Queens, Bronx). But ever since I switched from my Nokia 5160 to the 8260 calls rarely drop. The 5100 series nokias were not the best for TDMA. I find the 8200 and 3300 series much better.

All providers have their pros and cons and they all have coverage holes here and there. Also, you will always find a small number of people that have billing problems and customer service discrepancies with any carrier. Chimera, tfrisk, and the anonymous person (we wished had a name), just happen to be three of those cases. No company is 100% perfect so maybe Cingular is just not for them. You should sign up with the provider that has the phone that you like the most and better covers the particular area where you move around. This may take some trial and error testing though.

About customer service issues I don't care what company it is, I never like dealing with stores. I wouldn't recommend anyone going to a store for service. Dealing with the company directly over the phone has worked much better for me. I am not saying that my experience with Cingular has been flawless this way, but it's not for me to hate them either considering they have the best rate plans in the country. One thing I would like is for them to extend their support hours a little more.

During my first year with Cingular (Cellular One back then), they gave me free/unlimited nights and weekends. I was told by the store that after the year was over, the nights and weekend feature was gonna cost me $10/month which I agreed. I got used to talking for hours after 9pm over the year. Then when the year was over, I found out the hard way they left me with plain old 200 minutes/month and no nights and weekends. During that first month after the year expired, I was thinking I was unlimited after 9PM so I got an $800 bill at the end of the month. I had to convince them that they should've automatically put me on the $10/month for unlimited night & weekend minutes when the year was over. I had a hard time to convince them, and they offered to give me a $600 credit. They said that I was supposed to call them at the end of the contract to tell them to put unlimited nights and weekend for $10/month, which is opposite to what they told me at the store. But after noticing how ignorant Customer service reps can be, after several phone calls they gave me the total $800 credit.

The month after that I get a mysterious $192 charge. They claimed that was because the credit they gave me the previous month I had to purchase a phone. But I never bought any phone I told them. But their ignorance didn't stop there. They claimed that they had to give me a $192 credit on top of eliminating the $192 charge ($384 total credit). That credit not only paid my bill for the month, but also for the next few months. I never understood why they did that but they insisted to give me an extra $192 credit even though I told them I just wanted the $192 charge eliminated. LOL...

So in the end I have learned that you can manipulate these people to your advantage if you want.
Instead of paying the $800 bill, I got about 5 months free!!