End of old AT&T contracts

Interesting. Perhaps you or the mods should put this in the Cingular Forum. You will probably find more AT&T/Cingular experts there. You can click on the little triangle icon below your name to send a request to the mods.

 

Are you on TDMA or GSM?

 

It sounds like you might have a TDMA phone, but I don't know about the 1/07date since it should be 2/08 that they will shut down Analog & TDMA, but there is an exception if they have no more customers on both before that date they can shut it down sooner.

As for GSM contracts, I have heard a couple of horror stories that old out of contract Blue customers are being converted over, without their knowlege & still using their Blue SIM's. Which doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

This is confusing. There is a similar thread in the Cingular forum.

-jay

 

when i called cust care today for promos, they didnt say anything

 

I have an expired AT&T contract but I have a GSM phone "SIM CARD". Cellular wants $18. per phone and for me to purchace new phones just too update to to their System (new phones + new Sim card+ keep same phone #). The funny thing is that my AT&T phone has better coverage than my daughters cingular phone. It works where her phone can't pick up a signal?? People laugh when i tell them this. I recently was talking to a person who use to repair cell phones. He told me to hold on to my AT&T Cell phone until at least January for the following reasons. Cingular only bought AT&T cell Accounts. A company SBC now owns AT&T and all of the AT&T hardware. Thus, my phone because of its frequency is still using AT&T hardware. BUT, AT&T is buying Southern Bell who really owns Cingular. Thus, if the sale goes through the Cingular Logo and System may be all converted to the old AT&T logo and system. I am confused as hell, so I am just sitting tight to see if the by-out is approved and what happens next??

 

Yeah, all you siad is true, Cingular will be changing to the AT&T name soon. Before the change takes place they need to get you onto their billing system though. To make the transition to AT&T Cingular needs all current AT&T customers on their billing system to avoid confusion.

-jay

 

Phones vary in their ability to pick up a signal. This is sometimes called "radio frequency sensitivity" or just "RF". Virtually all phones that Cingular sells these days can receive both the former AT&T Wireless main frequency and the Cingular main frequency. Therefore I doubt that the difference in coverage you have experienced is due to the frequencies the phones use. It is more likely that you have a phone with better RF sensitivity than your daughter's (yours is a Nokia or Motorola perhaps?)

This is a bit mixed up, but the general idea is right. Simply put, SBC has bought what remained of AT&T and renamed itself AT&T. SBC is now trying to buy Bellsouth. This has been approved by the DOJ, but not yet by the FCC. AT&T and Bellsouth together own Cingular (which in turn has assimilated the former AT&T Wireless). Everyone assumes that the FCC will approve the Bellsouth purchase and Cingular will be rebranded AT&T. This branding change is fairly independent of technical, service and billing system changes.

This to say that Cingular services and policies now will probably not change when it is rebranded to AT&T. Therefore, I don't see an advantage to you in waiting. As you stated, if you want a new phone, you have to sign a new Cingular contract and there is normally a fee associated with this. Others may advise you on how to negotiate around the fee.


SW

 

You shouldn't have to pay any fee to migrate over to Cingular from AT&T Wireless. They are suppose to waive the fee.

As for being confused, As others have posted how & why they will be changing the name. To prevent Confusion, Cingular is going to want all Blue (old AT&T Wireless) customers to migrate over in advance of them changing their name to prevent this "Confusion"

 

I believe by the end of this month, all Blue customers will be converted to the Orange billing system. I know I was converted at the beginning of the month & believe I read somewhere they were to have it completed by Nov. 06

 

you can only ride this ole blue horse so long.:loony:

 

I am kinda getting this feeling more & more from people I keep talking to know the time is coming for us Blue leftover models to get an New Orange paint job.

I have been going over the cost's & it's not looking good on the additional cost's it would be.
I am also checking other carriers cost's just as an alternative (not that we have many good choices around here).

 

well, it was sweet but time to move on i guess. i know how you must feel tho, i had blue but switched to orange before the buyout/merge. if i had blue now i would go kicking and screaming. yeah they offered up some really nice plans back then.:wink:

 

That's part of my concern, I don't believe & haven't heard of many "Special" offers to migrate over & am hoping they come out with either free 7-7 N&W and/or a Share SMS plan, then I can justify the move. With 900 Anytime mins on a $59.99 plan & unlimited incoming SMS with 1000 Shared SMS, and 2 teenage daughters It's not easy.

 

Wirelessly posted (Walkguru's: LG-CU500 Obigo/WAP2.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Wow that is a sweet plan. It will be hard to match that.

 

Yeah, the old ATT contracts are pretty hard to beat, which is why we won't leave ours. But every time you call with a question, they try to get you to migrate.

We have 1850 anytime, 7 pm nights, free incoming SMS, 4 lines for 105 or so including all taxes. No one else can touch that.

fb

 

Yes they are & your definitely doing better then me, we have 4 lines & I didn't get the 7PM N&W and with the SMS plan we are paying around $120.00 +, of course with the new Orange billing my bill is coming out cheaper for some reason by almost $10.00, I don't know if my FAN discount went up or they are doing it differently or being it was the 1st month of the new bill it was a fluke.

 

My cingular contract from that pre merger period is pretty good too (80$ for 3 lines, 850min, w/rollover and NW) and I'm still on it. That's why I have no problem resigning a 2 year contract. But not as good as your ATT deal, which is why the old ATT is out of business. When a company sees the handwriting on the wall, they make desparate attempts to attract new customers.

We shall see, but Cingular would be crazy to offer old Blue guys that same deal, knowing that these customers have no where else to go price wise with the competition. There is only so much good will to go around

 

I do think they need to add at least a shared SMS plan or adding more SMS options & they would do better, especailly with their 3rd Qtr results being so succesful on profits & data rates going up.

Verizon in a sense has a better deal with their SMS packages since all SMS/Pix to other Verizon customers are free.

With the Unlimited SMS packages from T-Mobile & Sprint, in area's they excel more people would choose them over Cingular for the options. I know doing a cost analysis between the 4 I could save a lot of money with T-Mobile & Sprint on compariable plans.

 

It all depends, and we shall see what happens in the future. Don't forget that Cingular has the unique rollover feature that many like, since they are not too interested in SMS. Friends of mine have made similiar cost point analysis and come to different conclusions than yours, based on their interests, coverage maps both in the US and abroad.

 

Yes Coverage is important where you will need it, and for me T-Mobile & Sprint are the lower in coverage where I need it, both here in NJ & when I go to VA & FL. As for international that's not something I need since I don't get to do that, so yes between the rollover & coverage I agree cost doesn't always mean something if you can't use the phone.
For me & others I know, when you have kids & cellphones it's where the SMS plans become an issue.
As you know, it's what works for you that's important & cheap cost with lousy coverage where needed doesn't work very well.

For me I can see me staying with Cingular because when I did a cost difference between Cingular & Verizon I come out around the same cost & don't have to spend as much for new phones (I have 2 unlocked Moto's so I can get 2 SIM's for them & I have been happy with Cingular's coverage and CS.

 

all GSM customers...TDMA not affected by this at all

the final conversion was completed on the 15th

 

Hi-
Yes, I had a (3) watt analog bag phone- Cingular told me as long as I as I paid the bill it was (grandfathered) in. Well, they didn't send me a bill for the phone for (3) months, I called ans asked if there was a problem, do I need to make a payment. They (Cingular) assured me there was not. Well to make a long story short, they shut my phone off- stating I did not pay my bill? Can you believe these guys. They also told me that they (WILL NOT) reactivate it. They also claimed all analog phones will be shut down by Jan 2008 per FCC.
I hope this helps, If anyone knows of a carrier in California that will activate a 3 watt phone please let me know. GJZoomy@aol.com. I hope this helps.
-Greg Z

 

I work for UPS, we used to get a fantasic discount with AT&T- but Cingular bought them out long ago, at least here in CA. I do not like Cingular as a company, but I have to say, they have the best service. My cell phone even worked in Cancun MX when I was on my honeymoon a few months back. I use the Razor V-3c.
-Greg Z (GJZoomy@aol.com)

 

As long as there are no customers using it, they can shut down TDMA anytime. Analog is the one they are required (by the FCC) to keep alive until 2008.

 

From my understanding, they need have to shut down both together due to the way TDMA works.

 

...that's not what I heard, but anything's possible.

 

the probably wanted to cvharge them to keep the contracts not to migrate

yeah it will just be an ownership thing.....nothing technical except for an OTA to update the banners on phones

why do they have to keep analog alive?