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97 Comments
- stephenv, on 10/12/2007, -9/+42Your iPhone calls. Delivered. To the NSA.
- marklj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24Kind of a bummer. I think they did a good job branding their company to appear *hip* to the younger crowd and professional enough for the older ones. Now AT&T is just.... boring.
- datastorageguy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24"Cingular Brand is About to Fade Away"
Just like my reception..... - MeatBiProduct, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17I think the iPhone should be on Boost Mobile
"WHERE YOU AT DOG!" - kazzyD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Another take on the same story:
http://www.computers.net/2007/01/bye_bye_cingula.html
"The fact that Apple was releasing its iPhone with Cingular seemed cool, but an AT&T iPhone?" - DeepDoo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12AT&T is not assosiated with service period.
To Recap.
Ma Bell breaks up
Southwestern Bell starts buying other Baby Bells
Southwestern Bell Changes Name to SBC
SBC buys AT&T, but they like that name better so they use it instead
AT&T buys BellSouth to get its coverage area and to take sole control of Cingular
AT&T changes name of Cingular to AT&T because they like the name better.
AT&T=SBC so AT&T does not = Service. AT&T is just a name. - rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12"6 months ago i just switched from ATT to Cingular. Now they are going to make me pay all the fees again just to switch back to a SIM card and cell phone that says ATT?????? They have the stealing money game mastered!"
Get your facts straight before going off the deep end.
It's SBC not AT&T. Sheesh!! SBC purchased AT&T and renamed themselves to at&t. Then SBC, aka "the new at&t" purchased Bellsouth. If SBC didn't rename themselves as at&t we wouldn't be having this discussion as they would be re-naming Cingular to SBC.
If the Yankees purchased the Red Socks and changed logo to the Red Socks logo, does that make them the same thing as the old Red Socks? No. Same thing here, except we're dealing with telecom companies and not pro-baseball. - rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13"Will their service get any better? The past, oh, 6 months or so I have had the worst service ever from Cingular. Just switching the phone from my right ear to my left while remaining stationary is enough to drop my calls. Funny thing is that this all started to happen when they began advertising having the fewest dropped calls of any provider."
If you're loosing a call just by switching over from one ear to another, it could be your phone giving you problems rather than your service. - EBFoxbat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8More bars means better reception, better reception means faster data networks because there are fewer dropped packets that need to be resent.
- marklj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7you just described every other cell phone carrier in existence.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7send the orange guy to the gallows and everything will be fine
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Bad mistake. AT&T is not associated with good service.
- djSyndrome, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Good for you! Would you like a cookie?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Same *****, different color.
- socalrob, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11Will their service get any better? The past, oh, 6 months or so I have had the worst service ever from Cingular. Just switching the phone from my right ear to my left while remaining stationary is enough to drop my calls. Funny thing is that this all started to happen when they began advertising having the fewest dropped calls of any provider.
- dassin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7@Tom
This is not a technology migration like the AT&T -> Cingular was. This is just a simple rebranding because AT&T is one of the most recognized names in the world. - Dedpoet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@phr0stbyte
"T-Mobile - as long as you're near a major highway." - Tochi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5FTA:
"And AT&T will not be using the name "AT&T Wireless" but is going with "Wireless from AT&T" likely to avoid the negative connotation associated with AT&T Wireless due to service problems in the past."
BWAHAHAHA!
Because no one in their right mind could ever compare the two names together... they're totally different! - negativefx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Dassin: well done. My girlfriend works for Cingular...no users will see rate/plan/coverage/phone changes from this change. It's not like the previous merger where they were trying to merge two technologies (ie. service and towers). They are simply re-branding the product because they feel that people identify easier with AT&T than Cingular. I disagree...maybe for older generations, but younger generations recognize that orange logo very quickly.
- ExSlashdotter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I'm sick of all the comments about how wireless carrier X is crap and carrier Z is so awesome.
Everybody listen very carefully: Reception is totally dependant on where you live.
In the southeast states, cingular is great. i had a cingular phone for 2 years and it was great, but that was in Louisiana. In Louisiana, Sprint coverage is total crap. If I was to go up north or somewhere else, it might be the total opposite. There's no reason for religious fanboy-ism for cell carriers.
Its like someone saying "oh man, i had a maxtor drive once and that thing totally died! I'm never buying anything maxtor ever again, cause their stuff is crap!!1!". You're situation is just on case, and statistically insignificant. - Qenton, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7There is some serious corporate ego's going on here. Why take a brand that has such recognition and so much advertising behind it and ditch it? You already got iPhone associated with Cingular. Cingular log is a better logo as well. Plus Cingular sounds a lot getter than AT&T.
- javaroast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@DeepDoo
Your right "so AT&T does not = Service." AT&T, SBC, Southwestern Bell....... Bad service is a tradition - deaper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I agree this is a bad move for AT&T. AT&T has a rather poor image these days and they're not at all a trusted company. Bringing them all under the AT&T roof absolutely reaks of MA Bell. A lot of people like cingular and the cingular brand. And it's sure as heck more recognized as a wireless company than AT&T.
- funbags, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4dumb, all the money wasted on branding.
- bacon_skoda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I find it most companies advertise their weakness as strengths.
Cingular drops tons of my calls, and all they do now is say "see this survey? we don't drop calls."
same with all the diet drinks that advertise "great taste" or "taste the same as regular"
when they don't taste the same or taste worse.
PR spin.
I got me a new sim card. same dropping service.
took 10 tries to make one call in SF.
and i had all 4 bars too.
it's all fake. - drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5ATT is a global name Cingular is not IMO they should've kept it ATT wireless I hope the new logo is a orange deathstar instead of a blue one
- KicktheDonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Why, cause they're changing the name on my bill? Whatever...
- danielrh9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Geez, that causes so many problems for marketing and advertising personnel. Not to mention the hours and material needed to rebrand. For example, there is a huge ass Cingular logo near the foul pole at Turner Field in Atlanta...
http://www.henrysignsystems.com/images/cingular09.jpg
So just because of that, so much money and time is wasted taking that down and probably replacing it with the AT&T globe. Not that it matters. Their money, their problem. - NeutrinoQ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm curious, to the people that keep saying you get dropped calls all the time, have you gone to a cingular store and upgraded ur sim card for free? they have come out with two new revisions of sim cards in the last 2 months, and you can go to their stores and ask to be upgraded to the new ones for free
- Cronus6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This has been on going for six or eight months now, maybe if you'd stop reading just Apple stories and pay attention to other things you'd have known about it too....
- Eclipse19, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4First, more bars doesn't mean better service. Better signal means better service. The number of bars is just a software defined (and easily modified to the carrier's specs) representation of the signal quality. (http://www.howardforums.com if you don't believe me.)
Second, better signal quality increases data throughput for GPRS by allowing a higher frequency of phase shift keying (coding scheme, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gprs#GPRS_coding_scheme), not by decreasing dropped packets. - khag7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I'm just one guy, but when I think of AT&T, I think of old/expensive/outdated. When I think of Cingular, I think of new and unencumbered.
What a stupid move. - ngmcs8203, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3No... we don't feel like used whores... we're just going back to the pimp that took us in the first place.
AT&T -> Pacific Bell -> Cingular -> AT&T - mattshoppes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Incorrect.. more bars != better reception. In a purely analog world, sure. But in a digital world, no. You could be standing in the city.... and see a tower in the next block. But because it is overloaded, although you would have full bars, the throughput to the tower would be crippled (because it is overloaded with calls) and as a result your call quality would be worse, then if you were assocciated to the tower over the next hill, which only gives you 2 bars, but hardly has anyone on it. All you need to make a call is 1 bar. So, sometimes you can actually make a better call on a tower that gives you 1 or 2 bars then full scale... if the full scale tower is overloaded with client units.
- dkocolin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2something like that... except that AT&T Wireless was FAILING and had lots of angry customers, so keeping the name wasn't in Cingular's best interests. They spun it as "now you're with us, we're better"
- DeflatorMouse, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7"Why take a brand that has such recognition and so much advertising behind it and ditch it?"
You mean like Cingular did with the ONE-HUNDRED-AND-TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD AT&T brand? - yeahbuddy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3When I think of AT&T, I instantly think of a payphone, not the iPhone.
- vt19991, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2ngmcs8203 - that was hilarious and shows you are a good sport.
KicktheDonkey - No, it is because many AT&T customers were treated very badly by Cingular and Cingular customers can now expect something similar from AT&T. - phr0stbyte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2it got all us nerds talking about them...so it must not be too bad of a move...
- vt19991, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ExSlashdotter - Your main point is well taken but the example you give does not make any sense. If it was all of your precious data on a Maxtor drive that was lost. As far as you are concerned, statistics does not matter, emotions do. I bet you would hesitate to buy a Maxtor then, at least, most people would. In your eyes Maxtor would be a bad thing then, wouldn't it?
- djdole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No thanks to the iPhone on Boost.
I don't see Apple being very happy with 'spinny-rims' on their sexy new phone. - aserer511, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2This is terrible....the Cingular name carries sooooo much more recognition and clout. I also hear rave reviews, and their phone selection is nice
- roadkillrampage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1unfortunately the same clueless Cingular management folks will still be there. If it went back to the AT&T Wireless management, i'd consider going back to them for service.
- djdole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually, more bars usually just means the signal your phone is RECEIVING from the tower is good.
Now whether or not your phone can kick out a strong enough signal BACK to the tower is almost never the fault of the service provider.
It's usually an idiot user that is at fault, by doing stupid ***** like removing the phone manufacturer's antenna for an off-brand gaudy blinking LED antenna or faceplate. Or by not taking care of the phone and breaking it's antenna somehow.
As for this 'Cingular fading away' story... I HIGHLY doubt it. They wouldn't have spent the time & money partnering with apple to advertise "Cingular" on the iPhone only to drop the name/brand around the time the phone is actually released. - demonicume, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1*****, i was looking for a way to break my contract. i just upgraded to get a better phone.
- phr0stbyte, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3ya a lot of the cingular crowd will head over to t-mobile now
- djdole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1To get even further off topic,
If someone is getting mad at ANY hardware manufacturer because the person lost data on a harddrive that went bad, then they have misplaced anger.
They SHOULD be pissed at themselves for not periodically backing up their "oh so important" files. CD-Rs & DVD-Rs = GOOD.
But to digress, ExSlashdotter, you are correct.
Reception depends on SO many variables you can't even list them all if you tried.
But lets try anyways...in one long run on sentence...
Weather conditions, phone power levels, phone hardware, phone manufacturing quality, user (mis)use of the phone, location (regional), location (buildings), location (mountains, plains etc), Building structure & materials (dense materials degrade signal quality), electronic equipment in the proximity of the phone (interference), How the user holds the phone (don't cover the antenna!), the use of stupid accessories (IF (that's a big IF there) a 'sticker' blocks the 'radiation' then it's blocking your phone's signal too.), power grid quality (no electricity = no working towers), network quality, current network usage (Too many users = bad. NYC on 9/11 anyone?) and yes carrier quality too. ...and many others.
People just tend to blame their service provider because they have to shell out the cash each month to their provider, and money tends to focus people's attention. (Even though blaming the provider makes about as much sense as blaming the electric company when a bulb burns out.)
Basically the only thing you can count on is that people are stupid. - HuddaDudda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I also had to pay 18$ per line - 36$ total to switch from ATT to Cingular after being with ATT for over 5 years or more! I doubt they are not going to give us our $18 per line back now that they are ATT again due to the "technical aspect" of how the companies were held, it being two different entities. However they are changing because they want to be known for the better brand name. Kind of a double standard if you ask me! Anyone think maybe a class action suit maybe coming down the road for those fees?
- GenghisCon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Bring back the Death Star logo!~
- punkrock4life, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2chaning cingular's name is a huge mistake at&t will come to regret.
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