Thinking of switching ATT to Cingular

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular,alt.cellular.attws (More info?)

Now that Cingular bought AT&T WS, can I switch from an AT&T
plan to a Cingular plan without paying a new-service fee?

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular,alt.cellular.attws (More info?)

In article <2vvcnoF2pu3mmU1@uni-berlin.de>,
"Gary Warner" <jabadoodle@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Now that Cingular bought AT&T WS, can I switch from an AT&T
> plan to a Cingular plan without paying a new-service fee?


soon, but likely the clock will start over on a new 2 year plan, and in
many circumstance they may make you buy a new phone if your old phone
cant handle 800 Mhz.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular,alt.cellular.attws (More info?)

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In <jzwick3-BC73C9.17321316112004@news1.east.earthlink.net> on Tue, 16 Nov
2004 23:32:14 GMT, Jack Zwick <jzwick3@mindspring.com> wrote:

>In article <2vvcnoF2pu3mmU1@uni-berlin.de>,
> "Gary Warner" <jabadoodle@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Now that Cingular bought AT&T WS, can I switch from an AT&T
>> plan to a Cingular plan without paying a new-service fee?
>
>soon, but likely the clock will start over on a new 2 year plan,

Or 1-year plan.

>and in
>many circumstance they may make you buy a new phone if your old phone
>cant handle 800 Mhz.

You'll need a new phone in all circumstances.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular,alt.cellular.attws (More info?)

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.attws - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <30283mF2qq9m0U1@uni-berlin.de> on Wed, 17 Nov 2004 18:18:22 -0600,
"Shaolin Superfly" <shaolinsuperfly@yinyang.com> wrote:

>The only fees involved in switching plans from AT&T to Cingular is an $18
>"upgrade" fee. Cingular legacy customers pay the same fee when upgrading
>their accounts and/or equipment. As of November 15th this fee is
>non-negotiable and cannot be waived. Period.

I personally think the fee is foolish and a bad sign for the future -- it
makes no sense to risk the merger by annoying customers the company badly
needs to keep with nickel and dime fees.

>There may be additional costs depending on the Cingular handset that you
>choose. Yes, a new handset must be purchased due to the new 64k SIM and ENS
>compatability requirements.

That rationale doesn't really hold water in my opinion. If a new 64K SIM with
ENS* were really "required," then Cingular would have to upgrade the bulk of
its existing customers as well, and that won't happen anytime soon either.
Again, I personally think this is foolish and a bad sign for the future -- it
would make more sense to expedite the full integration of the two networks.


* Enhanced Network Services, which extends GSM by making it possible for the
handset to effectively treat two different networks (ATTWS and Cingular) as
one combined Home network, so that the other network can be selected even when
the real Home network has a usable signal. (Without ENS, the handset will
only select the other network when the real Home network doesn't have a usable
signal, even when the other network has a better signal or when the real Home
network has run out of capacity.)
--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular,alt.cellular.attws (More info?)

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.attws - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <0Qjrd.98$Va5.38@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net> on Wed, 01 Dec 2004
13:39:08 GMT, "Stuart Friedman" <stu@nospam.na> wrote:

>That's great, but many of us have pretty new phones. I have an unlocked
>v600 that I"m perfectly happy with and which Cingular currently sells. It
>is silly to trade that in. Cingular has been known to do sim only
>activations, why not on a transfer.

Because it locked to and customized for ATTWS. Trying to migrate those phones
would be a Support nightmare.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>