Here's what someone posted in the alt.cellular.cingular forum about their recent experience with Cingular in their new NY/NJ market: "I purchased a new Cingular phone in Northern NJ on Saturday, 7/6. The Cingular Store was in chaos that morning since their "POS" computer system was down. I was told that my phone would be activated within a few hours. It is now Monday, and the phone hasn't been activated yet. I've learned a few lessons about Cingular since Saturday, and I thought that I'd share them with you. 1) New activations in northern NJ are being given the new "overlay" area code: 551. If your local home phone carrier is ATT, you will not be able to call your cell phone from your house, apparently ATT recognizes this new area code as "foreign". If your local carrier is Verizon, it will let a call through. 2) Cingular "Customer Service" doesn't know what the problem is, and has a lot of difficulty solving problems in the New Jersey market, blaming everything on Voicestream. 3) No one at Cingular seems to have any idea of when the problem will be fixed, but I have been assured that my 14 "trial" will not begin until service is activated. This is a good thing because if the last few days have been any example about how the future will go, I'll go right back to Voicestream. I know that this is a "rollout" for Cingular, but it would seem that they've rushed it a bit. Has anyone else been affected by this?"
very interesting...................what a way to pursuade customers from other carriers. Curious to hear if anyone else is expriencing the same thing.
The entire family spent week of July 1 in South Jersey in Wildwood. Anyone using Cingular had no service 99.9% of the time. After two service reps cutting me off when I questioned why (on a regular phone), the third finally told me it was "traffic". He didn't seem to think it was a problem. Funny, I did. Friends having Nextel and AT&T had no problems.
I've been in Wildwood numerous times and I have used a 3360 and 8260 with Cingular and the signal was very strong in the Wildwood beach and I've had no problems there. Maybe they were having problems that day with congestion or maybe their tower was temporarily down. Remember, it was a holiday weekend and a lot of people were at the beach.
JoanK, that is very odd. If your friends had ATT TDMA then they were actually on Cingular. At about mile marker 112 on the GSP is the division between Cingular and ATT. South is Cingular and north, ATT.
Dobby, AT&T built its own TDMA network in south Jersey a couple of years ago. They are in PCS block A (1900Mhz) but Cingular is on 800Mhz. The division between Cingular and AT&T is on about mile marker 135 of the GSP. That's where system ID changes from 25 (NYC) to 173 (S. Jersey). I think there are other SID numbers when you get by Atlantic City. About the new area codes in NJ, Sprint is doing the same thing as Cingular. They are giving the new 862 area code to new subscribers. I think Verizon doesn't want them to use the old area codes. Frankly, I don't see what th problem is with getting a new area code. I don't think people in New York were complaining when Voicestream and Sprint started using 347 and 646 area codes. Eventually people will get used to it. People seem to marry an area code like if it was part of their ID.
After emailing Cingular and detailing the problems I had in the Wildwood area the entire week, their response was as follows: "Thank you for contacting Cingular Wireless. Unfortunately this is an area that we are trying to make stronger. Some area will be stronger than others. We apologize and will put a ticket in for this area. We at Cingular Wireless appreciate your business and value you as a customer. Sincerely, Cingular Wireless E-Care Services" Wow this just makes me feel so much better. I really don't know what I expected but this email could have been written by a 12 year old. I'm sure the traffic was unusually heavy that week but service was also non-existent at 1:30 am. I just hope they put in a "big ticket".
LOL, I hate when companies reply in such an "informative" manner. JoanK, are you sure your phone is ok? What model were you using in Wildwood?
bobolito, thats odd. When I went down to south jersey last weekend. I dialed 611, and Cingular came on and said "Cingular has attempted to foward you to your Cell Phone company, but has failed, please call them direct."
What exactly do you mean dobby? ----------- His AT&T phone was not being automatically forwarded to customer care by Cingular's switch.
If 611 doesn't work, try *611. There's also the possibility that AT&T still has some gaps in south jersey being filled by Cingular, but that I can't say for sure. Also, it may be possible that your phone switched to 800Mhz at that moment (Cingular) when it should've been at 1900Mhz (AT&T).
From what I here from my friends, Cingular and At&t are the worst in South Jersey. I have tried my friends Cingular phone while traveling from Bellmawr to Mount Holly on 295 and it was pretty bad...i.e you would have a full signal and the calls will still be distorted and very poor sound quality. I would even recommend Voicestream over those two......I still think it's that crappie TDMA technology.
For your information GSM is TDMA too. Just a different type. BTW, that crappie TDMA technology works very good in North Jersey.
<< For your information GSM is TDMA too. Just a different type. BTW, that crappie TDMA technology works very good in North Jersey. >> Thanks Bobolito, But I'm well aware of that!!!! There's no need to get bent out of shape, I'm just stating the facts....thats all. Cingular and At&t just plan suck in South Jersey...sorry too "burst your bubble," they just do.
<<I would even recommend Voicestream over those two......I still think it's that crappie TDMA technology. >> Sorry, my bad...I thought you meant that they (AT&T + Cingular) sucked because they are TDMA, which is definitely not the reason they suck...lol. Coverage in So. Jersey is more concentrated to the highways because population is not as dense. The mentality of the network designers who built wireless networks in So. Jersey and Delaware were more concerned with highway coverage than anything else.
I have NEVER seen AT&T on 1900 MHz in South jersey. 1900 MHz sites disappear about 20 min into NJ. Last week I was in North Wildwood with some friends, Cingular users were camping on the same site and control chan as AT&T users. (Site 76, a201/a206, a 2 sectored cell pointing up and down the shore near E. Schellenger & New Jersey Ave.) This held true for all of south Jersey. Dialing 611 got me AT&T customer service. (Usually when roaming on cingular in PA I get "Cingular wireless has attempted to route...etc etc") Whoever was told that AT&T was 1900 in South Jersey was very misinformed. Also, Neither Cingular nor AT&T users had trouble making/receiving calls during the time we were there.
Rich, I was NOT told that AT&T uses 1900Mhz in South Jersey. I was able to verify this myself using my 8260. If you want to find out who is misinformed, drive down the NJ turnpike south from exit 8 and put your AT&T or Cingular TDMA phone in test mode. Cingular TDMA users have to change the SOC to 2049 for this to work. You will see the phone will be in the PCS A block and not the cellular "a" block. If you are a Cingular customer and try to make a call while the phone is in the PCS A block, you will get a message from AT&T saying that you "can't make a call because you are not an AT&T customer" or something similar. Next time I go there I can collect more details and post it here unless someone else in that area can do so. It is possible that in some regions AT&T users can use Cingular towers and viceversa but I know Cingular customers cannot make calls using AT&T towers in the above mentioned area. Another thing, this is NOT TRUE for ALL South Jersey. I guess in Wildwood either AT&T has not built 1900Mhz and users are forced to use Cingular towers or AT&T may have 1900Mhz in Wildwood but AT&T phones can use either towers.
CDMA is'nt going anywhere. The TDMA carrier's (AT&T, Cingular) are abandoning TDMA for GSM; hence the highly-anticpated, slow to market, controversial and continually failing in testing GAIT technology phones, which incorporate both TDMA & GSM; and, most likely won't be available to fail you too until Q4.
Anonymous, is there something you know that we don't about the GAIT phones other than "they fail in testing"?
<< 1900 MHz sites disappear about 20 min into NJ. >> Yes, the NJ Turnpike has 1900 coverage, but that is relatively close to the PA border. As I said before I saw the 1900 MHz continue into NJ for around 20 min, but that was it. The majority of south jersey is 800 MHz. (just before where 42 south turns into the AC Expressway... all 800 MHz from there.)
