WSJ reports Cingular looking to buy ATT Wirless

CBS Marketwatch

 

Do any of you guys thingk the Merger would happen?

 

definitely wouldnt rule it out!

 

I agree

 

Whatever it is, merger or acquisition, I just don't want the new company to have any of AT&T Wireless policies or way of business. For starters, the name should be changed.

 

I would guess Cingular will still be Cingular... ATTWS wants to get rid of their name anyways. The one thing I'm wondering is what Suncom will do without AT&T in the same markets at Cingular.

 

The same would apply to Edge Wireless, I guess Suncom and Edge Wireless would have "A member of the Cingular Wireless Network" and a Cingular logo instead of AT&T, sounds pretty cool to me, go Cingular Jack!

 

Maybe they'll come up with a new name, I hope.....ATT has lost all its credibility, and Cingular has never really appealed to me as a great name.

 

Perhaps but wouldn't it be ackward for them to compete against the member brand within the same market... also at least for Triton this would destroy their chances of a buyout.

 

Maybe they would eliminate the Edge and Suncom name, I guess we'll know more by next summer

 

That would be odd. Even though SunCom and AT&T Wireless are separte companies SunCom does use the AT&T Logo in there brand name and is a network partner for them. To compete against there own network partner does seem a little strange to me.

Right now it's sat up where AT&T Wireless and SunCom both have there separte markets so they don't compete with each other. If Cingular and AT&T Merge it brings up some questions. Will the new company try to buy out SunCom? Will they just drop the network affliation with AT&T and go alone or will they continue on with SunCom and a new logo of whatever the new company is.

My guess is when/if AT&T Wireless merges they will go ahead and scoop up SunCom. Personally I think the number of days SunCom has left are limited. It's not a question if they get bought out. It's just when.

 

There have been reports in the past without official comment. Now Cingular has actually come out and named names and confirmed talks. This is not the usual way these things are done. The usual thing is not to comment on mergers and acquisitions.

 

CingulAT&T Wireless? Perhaps they just need to come up with an entirely new name for both as one company? From what I understand Cingular doesn't have all that good a reputation in the wireless industry anyway and I know AT&T doesn't.

 

I'd rather see them keep the Cingular Wireless name and logo. I just left a company with a AT&T logo on my phone. I don't want to see the damn thing back on there. I hate AT&T.

 

Proof?

 

I hope this merger happens. I am usually against big companys merging to make one bigger company, but I think Cingular/AT&T would be a good move.

 

But why would Cingular need Suncom in a market like the Tri-cities where their coverage is already adequate.

 

The affiliate situation seems a little tricky. Since I'm too lazy to look, and I know there are people who probably know the answer, does Cingular have roaming agreements with Suncom? I guess my question is in reference to whether or not Suncom will be a factor in negotiations.

 

Yes, infact Cingular and SunCom are actually quite close. They have GSM and TDMA roaming agreements with each other.

 

Same with Edge Wireless, Cingular doesn't charge a cent to use any voice, sms, mms or GPRS on Edge, while AT&T, their network partner, sees fit to charge for data and sms on Edge. Cingular uses Edge to fill in their coverage gaps in several areas in CA, OR, ID and WY.

 

I'm a little surprised that AT&T Wireless isn't seeing mass customer defections. I seem to remember reading on here that they charge for GSM roaming on Suncom and now I'm reading the same for Edge. Weren't these areas free under the TDMA plan? If so, I would expect that their valued customers who travel to areas covered by these affilates to be quite pissed off when they get their bills.

 

Yup thats exactly why I left them, At&T wireless is one big mess right now

 

Yep, me too, I got tired of AT&T dinging me for GPRS, SMS and MMS when on Edge Wireless's Network, which I am often in my job traveling all over Nor Cal, often in rural and out of the way areas. Cingular doesn't charge me a dime regardless of whose network I am on, they could care less, it's so stupid what AT&T does, I mean, it's bad enough to charge roaming for SMS, MMS and GPRS off of their network, but on their own affiliates, Edge and Suncom, that's just insane!

 

I too hope the merge happens. I can't wait to get my 800Mhz coverage back! But it would be a tragedy if the merged company has the AT&T name, it's logo or any of its tyrannic policies. If that happens I rather go with a CDMA carrier.

 

You mean something like AT&T Orange Splat Wireless?

 

After talking with my sister it has become clear to me which market segment AT&T has turned to... PREPAID! She works for ATTWS and said the GoPhones are going like mad compared to everything else. Now they even have an "Unlimited prepaid usage" trial in Memphis and Miami...

 

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At&T the father of telephone in the good old days. Has a better ring to it than the quilt of Cingular, Cellular One, Metrophone, Comcast Cellular and all the composits of the past from which it was derived.

 

Dude, you don't ssee what i see when i visit my local VZW store. My sales guy sees 10 - 30 people per day and half are switching to VZW from either ATT or sprint right now. When the 4th quater 2003 numbers come out it will be VERY intresting.