AT&T Wireless GSM™ America" Press Release - 4/14/04

[joepoid]

http://www.attwireless.com/press/rel...s/041404.jhtml

AT&T Wireless Announces Aggressive New Offer that Eliminates Roaming Charges

Offer made possible by doubling of company's national GSM coverage area and by significant quality improvements in GSM network

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, April 14, 2004

REDMOND, Wash. - AT&T Wireless (NYSE: AWE) today announced an aggressive new national flagship offer, AT&T Wireless GSM™ America, which eliminates roaming charges for many customers.

The new offer is made possible by the company's doubling of its national GSM coverage area in the last year and by significant quality improvements in its GSM network, AT&T Wireless said.

"Today's announcement is all about our customers and how they will benefit from the positive changes we have made," said Michael Keith, president of the company's mobility operations. "During the last 12 months, we have added or improved 15,000 cell sites, including those added through roaming agreements in major cities with Cingular Wireless and other GSM carriers. We have more than doubled our national GSM coverage area so that it is now approximately 1.2 million square miles in the United States. Customers can now use AT&T Wireless GSM services in more places than ever before."

AT&T Wireless customers who enroll in the new national plan, GSM America, as well as those already on one of the company's qualifying national GSM plans, automatically get the benefit of paying no roaming charges anywhere in the United States. "When they place calls and use wireless data services, these customers no longer have to worry about roaming charges, which are one of our industry's biggest dissatisfiers," Keith said.

"Not having to pay roaming charges is great news not only for consumers but for business customers, whose mobile professionals need to use wireless data applications anywhere their work takes them," Keith said. "Now they can do so from more places at lower cost.

"In addition to expanding its reach, we continue to aggressively improve the quality our GSM network. In many major markets, we have installed hardware and software that significantly improves our customers' wireless calling experience," Keith said. The new hardware and software lets callers with compatible GSM/GPRS devices use the 850-megahertz band of the radio spectrum, which generates a stronger signal than the 1900-megahertz band, travels over larger areas, and penetrates walls better, the company noted.

Overall, these network enhancements will improve call quality in dozens of major cities across the nation. As a result of this upgrade, signal strength has doubled in many places and voice quality has dramatically improved, even in buildings, the company noted.

To enable customers to take full advantage of the larger GSM service area and improved network quality, AT&T Wireless said that all new devices it introduces this year will be 850-compatible, including the latest Motorola V600 camera phone, which comes with Bluetooth, a vivid color screen, access to AT&T Wireless mMode™ service, international roaming capabilities, and many other advanced features.

The new AT&T Wireless GSM America national plan lets customers reap the benefits of the enlarged and improved GSM coverage area. For as little as $39.99 a month, customers get 450 anytime minutes each month and do not have to pay roaming or domestic long distance charges. In addition, they get free unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling on the AT&T Wireless owned and operated GSM network. If customers choose a GSM America national plan for at least $59.99 a month, they also get unlimited night and weekend calling beginning at 7 p.m. instead of the usual 9 p.m.

Customers who place most of their calls from within their home calling area can select a local version of AT&T Wireless GSM America that meets their needs, the company said.

The new offer will be available beginning April 18. On that date, a new print advertising campaign will debut to support the new offer, with radio to follow on April 19 and TV in the coming weeks. The ads will carry the tag line "How many bars do you have?" The bars refer to the signal-strength bars that appear on the screen of a wireless phone, and are a metaphor for the significant improvements the company has made in its GSM network.

[RichXKU]

I would have preferred "How many decibels in reference to a milliwatt do you have while maintaining a low frame error rate", but ok.

A very good step nonetheless, as long as they clean up the network where it already exists as well (i.e. repeated dropped calls even with full signal)

[acd483]

Is this better than Cingular? And what about family rates?

[bobolito]

"How many bars do you have?" LOL! I wouldn't be so optimistic to use that for advertisement. Many people are going to respond "STILL NONE!" [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[Fire14]

But it's sure going to be hard to say None, as much as before, this happens. Especially how Cingular people say how good there coverage is, us AT&T customers should always have coverage.

[GoodmanR]

Originally posted by: bobolito "How many bars do you have?" LOL! I wouldn't be so optimistic to use that for advertisement. Many people are going to respond "STILL NONE!" [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

You have to give them some credit though, there coverage has gotten a lot better. THey have made pretty dramatic improvements to their GSM network.

[bobolito]

hehe...I know, I know. I was just joking around. But I can take you to some areas here in NJ where both AWS and Cingular have no signal. The only problem is that we would need a Hummer to get there. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[Fire14]

Originally posted by: bobolito hehe...I know, I know. I was just joking around. But I can take you to some areas here in NJ where both AWS and Cingular have no signal. The only problem is that we would need a Hummer to get there. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Glad i don't go to those area's, but it would be a good excuse to buy a hummer. LOL

[ZaphodB]

<SARCASM>

Oh boy, $39.99 a month for 450 anytime minutes with "no roaming charges" -- because my phone won't register on a network it would have to roam on.

Gosh, I could get 1000 minutes from T-Mobile for $39.99... and nights and weekends too, but I'm sure that there will be more bars if I get the AT&T plan!

</SARCASM>