Cingular desperate to get people off TDMA!

I was wondering the same thing when I saw that, I wonder what their reason for adding this extra fee is other then forcing people onto the GSM network.

I guess they figure since people aren't switching on their own that this would be an incentive to switch over?

I didn't see what they said is the reason to charge more for these customers, like "to maintain this network" or something similar.
I guess these people may just switch carriers if they get mad about this fee & Cingular will see more losses.

 

Talk about the carrot and stick approach! They are telling TDMA subs to get improved service or pay more to keep what they like... maybe for these subs, the $5 nuisance fee added on the bill probably wont make their current plan any less valuable. Or, they'd just get mad and leave... Will they stick it to the Blue GSM subs next? Cingular is already using the carrot/stick approach w/ service and phones.

 

I don't see them doing something like this to the Blue customers, there are too many Blue GSM customers left that they couldn't afford to loose them like TDMA/Analog customers.
Plus they want to shut down TDMA/Analog by next year, so this is like the heavy hand approach to move these people over.

I am hoping they will offer some other incentives to us Blue customers to move to Orange, especially with the pending name change after the AT&T/BellSouth Merger.

 

If the TDMA Contract is Over it's Legal,
if Not it's Illegal.

 

I am not 100% sure about this, since I believe in the T&C they can make changes at any time. I guess I would have to read them to confirm this though.
As for the people off contract, I can see them legally getting away with this.

 

I think Cingular's best bet is to just send TDMA customers the "free" phone, and tell them that after a certain date they must use the new phone.

-Jay

 

I'm picturing that Cingular wouldnt make it so simple lol... but the subs will either get over it or head for the exit. They should just end any existing TDMA/analog contracts and service, waiving the ETFs. They, then, could just shut the antique towers when it is legal to do so.

 

Yes, but they would like to keep these customers if possible.

-Jay

 

all five of them? :lmao:

 

agreed......this is so difficult for cingular......i mean youve seen this problem happening with Sprint Nextel........there is a technology barrier...and that makes problems......

 

5 * $30 = $150/mo.

-Jay

 

bobolito, where did you run across this info? I need to be talking to the 'rents about what is happening with their plan and what their options might be. After I try to explain to them what TDMA is of course. IMO, Cingular is really missing the mark on this. Charging a fee isn't going to entice anyone to do anything but get mad and leave.

 

I don't know why, like Jay suggested, they just don't give everyone a new GSM phone and state that as of a certain date, they should start using the new phone. They can offer all TDMA customers a free session at the nearest store where they are shown how to operate their new phone.

I think that when you are as big as Cingular is, it is really hard from a corporate culture standpoint to even think in this kind of one-on-one personal customer service basis.

 

.....and on top of that they probably dont even have that many TDMA customers anymore anyway....most of them got with the times and followed the evolution of technology......if Cingular would just give everyone a new phone it would cost them money up front but the land and band leases being removed would save them money in the long run and with that extra money they could pay their stores and authed retailors to coach the newbies in the new phones......and they wouldn't have to pay money to maintenance that network

 

Firstly, Bobolitio, is this for real or did you make it up to test a legal possibility?

Scrumhalf et al, I think the key is the GSM rate plan, not the phone. A new free phone is always available, but the TDMA user has to jump into a more expensive GSM plan. Did you mean, a GSM phone, at the old TDMA rate plan? That wouldn't work.

I know some users you are getting $15. plans still on Cingular. $5. is not going to make them move. I guess they could go to pre pay.

 

i agree, that would be the thing to do.


it takes up more resources to keep tdma going.

 

but nobody in their right mind would go for Cingular GoPhone Pay-As-You-Go......maybe the pick your plan but not the payasyougo....that would be insane because the coverage sux cuz cingular doesnt give you roaming capabilites on their true prepaid.....they would lose customers by doing that

 

You probably do not realize how much your comment is exactly on the mark. My parents are in their very late eighties (84/89). My Dad is not blind but his vision is extremely poor. My Mom is confused by her new electric range and microwave. Although their cellphone phone is infrequently used, it was recently necessary to change their older TDMA phone with a new GSM phone.

They did not fully understand why it was necessary to change a perfectly functional device with a new one. The color screen is impossible for my Dad to read and anything beyond dialing a call or receiving a call is much too complex. If one of them inadvertently hits a button that brings up something other than the normal standby screen, the phone becomes temporarily unusable. All they wanted was a simple device that would do nothing more than make and receive calls but nothing like that is available. My dad, a retired physician, simply cannot see to use these devices and my Mom, just does not any longer have the ability to understand the complex menu structure let alone the function of the various features. Some of their neighbors are of of a similar age group and have exactly similar experiences.

Even for myself, I almost miss the old days (1988) when I had an NEC car phone that had a substantial feel to the full size handset and its most complex features were ten memories and a redial button. That being said, I still won't give up my Treo.

 

but times are changing and some things like the TDMA are just too expensive and tedious to keep going not to mention they can be very hard to integrate......Sprint Nextel is an example of that

 

I agree with your points, it is just that I wish Cingular would give them the option. If they decline and leave, then Cingular is no worse off.

 

Agreed, the Electric Bill alone on those TDMA Equipment
runs in the Millions $$ at least from what i've Heard.

 

My Brother is still Cingular Blue and he tells me he has been getting offers in the mail to migrate to Orange, he claims it will cost him nothing to migrate and of course being the great Brother I am I gave him my RAZR with a new sim.

 

My close friend just did exactly that last December. She and I had the 5165 at the same time in the beginning. She, however did manage to stay on her $24.99 (?), which does not include any free M2M. I have no idea how she pulled that & where that plan was hiding, but she did get exactly what she wanted and ofcourse a free Nokia...

 

Bobo,
That's too funny...
How bout this for a theory? ...maybe they don't even realize their TDMA phone doesn't work anymore

kept paying their bill anyway?

Kinda like me & my DSL.

 

I think creating a special rate plan for current TDMA customers would work. They can still keep their low price plan, (and those low plans only had like 100 or 200 minutes on them anyway) and get all customers off TDMA, saving lots of $. I agree, it is mostly aging customers that don't use these phones much, and they will probably die off soon enough. I know with some older members of my family they were fine driving, but when faced with maintenance costs getting too much they stopped driving. They could have easily afforded a new car, but they were too old to want to go through the hastle of learning all the controls of a new car. My Dad's cousin stopped driving because of this. Her husband retired the old car and bought a new one. She stopped driving.

So how's this idea... Take that phone that Cingular sells for 5 year olds, http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/cell-phones.jsp?q_categoryId=all&WT.svl=scm1&q_deviceId=cdsku9870088&WT.svl=imgand put it in a nice shiny chromed case to match the bumpers on their Cadillacs & Buicks to appeal to the older population. This phone has simplified buttons that are spaced out for uncoordinated hands, and it is a free phone. This way they won't have to learn a complicated new phone.

-Jay

 

Hey, its a start. I think there should be a simple phone on the market with big buttons spaced out for older users. I know years ago we bought my grandfather a cell phone that had big buttons, and a big display. I think it was a Qualcomm. Now the mfrs are trying to pack so many features in the phones that they make the buttons small so they can get more of them on the device. I have big hands & I like the keyboard on the Moto V557, but I think a flip may cause problems with people with arthritis, so I don't know what I would recommend for these people.

-jay