Here it is…I have been an AT&T cellular customer for about 3 years, that being said, my contract has been up for quite some time now. I would like to switch to Cingular to get their nation wide rollover plan 450 minutes/month, although this is lower than the 600 I’m getting now, I still don’t use 450/month at my current rate of talking.
LetsTalk.com has a great site, inwhich you can choose phones and plans, and greater discounts on phones than you’ll ever get through the cellular company directly. For example, the phone I want is the Seimens C61, on a two-year plan with cingular the phone is $9.99 (after $10 mail-in rebate). I personally hate mail in rebates, they are a huge hassle which I often forget about, or finding directions on what to include are non-existant.
On LetsTalk, I found the same phone is free (before $50 mail in rebate) and this is true even for a 1-year contract, not the required two-year plan by cingular in the Cingular stores. For the Seimens C61 on a 1-year contract at the cingular store the phone is a grotesque $69.99 (no rebates).
Furthermore, LetTalks does offer a $50 rebate on the phone, ontop of the initial cost of $0 for the phone. So they are basically paying you $50 to take this phone with your 1-year plan!
As far as working a better deal on the minutes, etc. You’re pretty much stuck with the standard packages. At the Cingular store they were unwilling to give me a better deal.
NOw to Why the AT&T and Cingular Merger Sucks….the only way I can port my current AT&T number to Cingular is to do it directly through Cingular. I cannot port my number between the two companies on LetTalks.com orders. I went into my local Cingular store and asked why, and they said AT&T and Cingular are now considered one company, and switching plans is considered an upgrade, not a new plan. This is a load of crap, since absolutely, they are two seperate phone companies operating as one, seperate pricing plans, seperate cellular networks (I can only get AT&T service at work – not Cingular, and only Cingular at home, not AT&T).
So I think I’m going to dump my current phone number, as much as I hate having to go back to all the companies who send me bills and inform them, it’s still better than paying $70 for a phone that LetTalks.com is willing to give you $50 to take, and agreeing to a 1-year contract instead of 2 years.
I initially had ATT wireless service, which was so horrible I had to dump them. I was blacked out in so many areas you wouldn’t believe it. The worse area was on the block where I live, where it started to get crappy, to my apartment building; where it completley shut down. I felt conned, because the service was okay the first few weeks, then all of a sudden the crappy reception came about. I questioned the Customer Care reps, and was told “all phones have problems in those types of area”. I found that to be a blatant lie, because many a day I would be getting nothing while someone with a different carrier is standing right next to me chatting away! As soon as my contract was up, it was dumping time for ATT. I couldn’t stand them anyway because when they send you a bill, it’s nasty, rude and it as if they want you to pay YESTERDAY. I was happy that my local phone company – SBC – was providing wireless service at that time, and so I signed up with them.
SBC had a combined billing plan, and for some reason which i never figured out, as soon as I signed up for phone service (wireless) with them (CINGULAR?SBC at the time) they started getting really agressive and threatening with billing. Like ATT, as soon as I got a bill I also recieved phone calls, and threatening notices. I was told that “because my phone options have changed” I was being placed on restrictions and must pay my bill within 7 days of whenever I got it – or else face further punishment for doing nothing but being a loyal long time customer. I just think I was not thier preferred demographic. Well, at least they had the due dates on thier bill – ATT just sent a “PAY WHEN RECIEVED” notice, with no clue as to when it was sent, or what the actual due date was… assholes. Needless to say, I shipped those phones right back to them and dealt with Cingular directly. Cingular people WERE nice BACK THEN (before the merger).
Cingular service was perfect up until the merger. I don’t know what they did to screw it up, but after almost two years of good service with Cingular, I am back to the crappy ATT performance. The ATT customer care people (in my neighborhood) weren’t given a crash course in customer service, either – they are still nasty, ghetto, and rude like a spreading virus in the Cingular system now. The last time I was in a Cingular store I waited 30 minutes to buy a fucking phone clip while the ignorant ass employees / friends chatted away… the excuse for that bullshit was “she was buying a phone” – but what does gossip about her momma, friends, the party, her baby daddy, and her freakin’ outfit have to do with buying a phone? They go in the back “looking for a product” and go to sleep, then come out with some crappy excuse as to why it was so hard to find. If anyone needs time restrictions, it’s the idiots they hire in those phone centers. Let a buddy come in and nobody has anything better to do than to listen to your pathetic chatter all fucking day, inconsiderate ATT refuge bastads.
So now I’m back to square one. I was doing my damnest to get rid of all that’s ATT in my life – but now they want to FORCE themselves on me. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they acquired SBC also – so now I have to find new residential service… I’m looking at thier “letter of demand” right now…
If I were to buy a company that provides a service to a custmer for a price, I would not serigate the custmers, If I am a fuckin att custmor, why the hell does my bill say cingular at the top. shouldnt I be writing my $59.00 chek out to at&frikint. This is soo iritating. and I was with At&t scence 1994. I will migrate to another company, yes i will, fuckem
I just got this pay as you go crap, it charges you a minute for 30 seconds, which means they’ve actually decided to CHANGE what the meaning of TIME is to the equation 1 minute = 2 minutes. After exhausting those minutes, I try to reload the phone with a credit card both on the phone and online and that service is “down”. I can’t even give them more money?? Good thing I didn’t have an emergency I guess. I’m just glad I DIDN’T sign a contract like they tried to talk me into.
I just bought a Virgin Mobile Pay-As-You-Go phone with $20 card. It was $40 total at Target – not bad, but they immediately signed me up with a monthly service fee of $14.99 that would get me 10 cents per minute instead of 18 cents per minute.
That is BS in my opinion. The operator reverted back to the pay-as-you-go plan so it’s 18 cents per minute (no monthly fee).
And yes, phone companies *always* charge you for a complete minute. Even land-lines function like that.
“Also I want the world to know that Cingular Wireless is hosting Gay and Lesbian Apperciation Month in July. So if that tells you anything at all about the company there you go…….. As far as I am concernered the company is being run by Satan himself……….”
Dude, they could be buttfucking sheep all over the service center for all I care, as long and the price is right and the perks are cool it’s fine for me.