Cingular to change name

Drew wrote:
> This really is a disappointment to me. I had AT&T back when I had a
> TDMA phone, and I liked their service, and at the time I liked the
> name. However, now that AT&T and Cingular merged, I was getting quite
> used to the Cingular name. It just fits for some reason.
>
> Maybe the statistics show that AT&T is a more "marketable" name, but
> the Cingular name has come to stick. Now Cingular even has phones that
> they call their own. Cingular 8525 for example. How are they going to
> pull that off with the rebranding? It just doesn't sound good.
>
> Looks like they're just being greedy and want to swallow out all of the
> old names, and keep the AT&T the *only* brand. Really disappointing.

The Cingular name has some problems.

First, it sounds too much like the asthma medication Singulair.

Second, as a carrier, Cingular has a very poor reputation for quality
and customer service as evidenced by surveys by J.D. Power, Yankee
Group, and Consumer Reports. In the western region, where Cingular
started out as a 1900 MHz GSM-only carrier, and never had a TDMA
network, the reputation is absolutely horrible.

No doubt the AT&T executives believe that the Cingular name has too much
baggage associated with it, and that a name change will held shed that
baggage.

Personally I doubt the wisdom of the name change. They should fix the
problems that cause them to get the poor ratings, rather than spending
money on re-branding. But then I guess the AT&T execs know better than
any of us.

Rest assured.....

The AT&T name is still considered a bag of shit.
AT&T has always been known as a back-stabbing, god-awful company to do
business with on ALL fronts.
The merger of AT&T and Cingular has been compared to "Dumb & Dumber"

On Tue, 2 Jan 2007 21:35:55 -0500, Porgy Tirebiter wrote
(in article <fEEmh.31499$Gr2.17398@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net> ):

>
> Rest assured.....
>
> The AT&T name is still considered a bag of shit.
> AT&T has always been known as a back-stabbing, god-awful company to do
> business with on ALL fronts.
> The merger of AT&T and Cingular has been compared to "Dumb & Dumber"
>
>

How eloquent.

AT&T Wireless reputation was pretty much in the dumper when they were
bought out by Cingular. AT&& Wireless knew they were being sold and
quality went way down and they sustained their customer base by giving
away the store as far as additional minutes to keep customers from leaving.

SMS wrote:
> Drew wrote:
>> This really is a disappointment to me. I had AT&T back when I had a
>> TDMA phone, and I liked their service, and at the time I liked the
>> name. However, now that AT&T and Cingular merged, I was getting quite
>> used to the Cingular name. It just fits for some reason.
>>
>> Maybe the statistics show that AT&T is a more "marketable" name, but
>> the Cingular name has come to stick. Now Cingular even has phones that
>> they call their own. Cingular 8525 for example. How are they going to
>> pull that off with the rebranding? It just doesn't sound good.
>>
>> Looks like they're just being greedy and want to swallow out all of the
>> old names, and keep the AT&T the *only* brand. Really disappointing.
>
> The Cingular name has some problems.
>
> First, it sounds too much like the asthma medication Singulair.
>
> Second, as a carrier, Cingular has a very poor reputation for quality
> and customer service as evidenced by surveys by J.D. Power, Yankee
> Group, and Consumer Reports. In the western region, where Cingular
> started out as a 1900 MHz GSM-only carrier, and never had a TDMA
> network, the reputation is absolutely horrible.
>
> No doubt the AT&T executives believe that the Cingular name has too much
> baggage associated with it, and that a name change will held shed that
> baggage.
>
> Personally I doubt the wisdom of the name change. They should fix the
> problems that cause them to get the poor ratings, rather than spending
> money on re-branding. But then I guess the AT&T execs know better than
> any of us.

Dave wrote:
> AT&T Wireless reputation was pretty much in the dumper when they were
> bought out by Cingular. AT&& Wireless knew they were being sold and
> quality went way down and they sustained their customer base by giving
> away the store as far as additional minutes to keep customers from leaving.

True, but non-AT&T Wireless customers, about 75% of total subscribers,
don't have that experience to remember. AT&T Wireless customers that
left prior to the plunge in quality and service still have good memories
of AT&T. I recall when my wife's purse was stolen with her AT&T Wireless
phone. They sent out a new handset, and didn't even charge us for it,
though we had no insurance on the phone, and though her rate plan was a
very inexpensive plan ($10 per month and 25¢ per minute).

AT&T had excellent customer service and the best rate plans for quite a
few years. Since I was long gone from AT&T by the time they went into
the dumper, I only know of the issues from disgruntled customers.

In my area, the corporate customers mostly moved to Verizon when AT&T
began to deteriorate. At the time there was really no other option as
Cingular was just starting operations in my area and their network was
very poor (a 1900 MHz only GSM network), and Sprint has always had poor
coverage in my area.

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 12:16:30 -0500, SMS wrote
(in article <459be4e9$0$68990$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>):

> Dave wrote:
>> AT&T Wireless reputation was pretty much in the dumper when they were
>> bought out by Cingular. AT&& Wireless knew they were being sold and
>> quality went way down and they sustained their customer base by giving
>> away the store as far as additional minutes to keep customers from leaving.
>
> True, but non-AT&T Wireless customers, about 75% of total subscribers,
> don't have that experience to remember. AT&T Wireless customers that
> left prior to the plunge in quality and service still have good memories
> of AT&T. I recall when my wife's purse was stolen with her AT&T Wireless
> phone. They sent out a new handset, and didn't even charge us for it,
> though we had no insurance on the phone, and though her rate plan was a
> very inexpensive plan ($10 per month and 25¢ per minute).
>
> AT&T had excellent customer service and the best rate plans for quite a
> few years. Since I was long gone from AT&T by the time they went into
> the dumper, I only know of the issues from disgruntled customers.
>
> In my area, the corporate customers mostly moved to Verizon when AT&T
> began to deteriorate. At the time there was really no other option as
> Cingular was just starting operations in my area and their network was
> very poor (a 1900 MHz only GSM network), and Sprint has always had poor
> coverage in my area.

I think many customers have nostalgic feelings toward AT&T. Even when
thinking about the big ol' monopoly. The problem of course is that after the
phone company was broken into the Regional Bells many of the bells had
horrible service in comparison with what AT&T used to provide. Even worse
most persons didn't have a choice for local service but to use their now
castrated local Bell company. (I personally remember horrible experiences
with Bell Atlantic when we used to have decent service with AT&T.) I don't
remember the bill going down after the break-up either. (Other than for Long
Distance and phone rental fees).

SinghaLvr wrote:

> I think many customers have nostalgic feelings toward AT&T.

Or at least that's what the AT&T execs hope.

Consumers have very negative feelings toward AT&T's long distance
services, which engaged in very deceptive marketing for many years.
Remember all those promises of multiple monthly credits to your phone
bill if you agreed to switch to AT&T LD. The credits usually ended up to
be far less than the telemarketer promised, but of course since you had
no written agreement you were screwed.

Personally, I had only good experiences with AT&T Wireless, but I left
prior to their decline. If someone has been living in a cave, and
doesn't realize that the new AT&T Wireless is simply Cingular, then they
may mistakenly switch to it, expecting more than they're going to get.

On Fri, 5 Jan 2007 06:04:04 -0500, SMS wrote
(in article <459e30a5$0$68960$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>):

>
> Or at least that's what the AT&T execs hope.
>
> Consumers have very negative feelings toward AT&T's long distance
> services, which engaged in very deceptive marketing for many years.
> Remember all those promises of multiple monthly credits to your phone
> bill if you agreed to switch to AT&T LD. The credits usually ended up to
> be far less than the telemarketer promised, but of course since you had
> no written agreement you were screwed.
>
> Personally, I had only good experiences with AT&T Wireless, but I left
> prior to their decline. If someone has been living in a cave, and
> doesn't realize that the new AT&T Wireless is simply Cingular, then they
> may mistakenly switch to it, expecting more than they're going to get.

I was mostly referring to "the last mile" service. AT&T knows that there is
no more money in LD any more (or even in local telephone service anymore
either). It's in data, mobile and media communications now.If they can be
the high-value provider in THAT market then perhaps they had something.

On the broadband front they are going to have to do better than BellSouth was
doing. They were getting their butts kicked by cable ten ways to Sunday. (I
have to chuckle a bit ... how bad do you have to be before the cable company
becomes the high-value provider!?!)

In article <459e30a5$0$68960$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

> Remember all those promises of multiple monthly credits to your phone
> bill if you agreed to switch to AT&T LD. The credits usually ended up to
> be far less than the telemarketer promised, but of course since you had
> no written agreement you were screwed.

hehehehehe Many years ago I got two simultaneous offers--one per phone
line--from AT&T. These were checks for $100; according to the very fine
print on the back, my cashing the check was authorization for AT&T to
switch me to their long distance service.

I happily did so, knowing full well I had a long-standing PIC freeze on
each line.

Sure enough, my LD provider never changed.

A couple months later I got an angry call from some manager at AT&T. He
knew what the story was, but he was doing his damnedest to make me
change over. I toyed with him a few minutes, laughed, and hung up.
Boy, was he mad.

And I had $200 in my pocket.

Hey, it's a rough world out there...and AT&T knows ALL ABOUT things like
PIC freezes. They want to play the old "oh, we'll do it for you" game
when it benefits them, but they don't want to bother to check for such a
freeze FIRST before sending me the offer.

Too bad, so sad.

SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in
news:459e30a5$0$68960$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net:

<snip>
>
> Personally, I had only good experiences with AT&T Wireless, but I
> left prior to their decline. If someone has been living in a cave,
> and doesn't realize that the new AT&T Wireless is simply Cingular,
> then they may mistakenly switch to it, expecting more than they're
> going to get.


We stuck with AT&T to the end - we never had any problems.. When we
renewed our service, we stuck with Cingular, thinking that since they
had taken over AT&T we wouldn't be considered a new customer. WRONG!
We had to pay an activation fee and didn't have an option for a free
upgrade as we had in the past with AT&T. Left a bitter taste in our
mouth.

Cingluar is rated 3rd in our area by Consumer Reports. We thought
about going with T-Mobile (#1 in our area) however their packages don't
save us any $$ compared to Cingular, the activation fee is greater than
what Cingular charged and none of the phones got me excited enough to
switch. Haven't looked at Verizon and probably will just stay with
Cingular. Their customer service has been decent, which is good. I
reported a dropped call area and that was quickly fixed.

As for the Cingular stores, I've found the quality of employees to be
variable between stores. One of the stores is manned by a bunch of
disinterested "kids" (one day when I walked in the store, they were
pushing each other around the store in the office chairs!), another
store is manned by some very knowledegable adults.

I think the break-up of AT&T was such a disaster and big mistake!!


Sherry