Cingular cell phone service - Do I need a better phone or provider?

Author

Do I need a better phone or provider?

marx404

2007-05-28, 10:33 pm

Need some intelligent input to help with connectivity issue here. (so Navas,
be nice, k?) The wife and I have Moto V557 phones. We live in NE South
Carolina, 32 mi. N of Florence, SC. My wife can call me and get thru most of
the time, but if I call her, it most of the time goes straight to VM even
though she has the phone on. I work in Florence, she works in Hartsville, 32
mi apart. There are numerous cell towers in between, yet there are many dead
(dropped call) area on certain roads. The whole family is on Cingular Family
Plan, but each phone gets different undesirable results.

My sister lives in N. Hartsville, 5 miles N of us and my Moto gets one or no
bars and drops calls there, despite that you can actually see the tower from
their house! Her old Nokia gets calls, they are clear, and almost no
dropped calls even with only 1 bar. Her husband has a newer Nokia and bad
call reception, if the call even gets thru.

My other sister has an old Samsung phone (I cant remember models numbers so
don't ask pls), she lives right next door to the other sister and they can't
even call each other! Her cell only works when she is outside.

We are getting sick of paying for service that sometimes works or doesn't
work at all. The corporate Cingular rep for my company says we all need
better phones. I wonder if I am better off going back to an AMPS service?
(Altell has AMPS still).

My 2 yr contract ends in Nov. and I am deciding on what I need to do. If the
problem IS our phones, what is the best full-featured phone that I can get
when (and if) I upgrade my phone to fix all these problems? TIA

--
marx404

Elmo P. Shagnasty

2007-05-28, 10:33 pm

In article < TIKdnXW4n4fA48bbnZ2d
nUVZ_r2onZ2d@adelphi
a.com>,
"marx404" <404@404.com> wrote:

> We live in NE South
> Carolina, 32 mi. N of Florence, SC. My wife can call me and get thru most of
> the time, but if I call her, it most of the time goes straight to VM even
> though she has the phone on. I work in Florence, she works in Hartsville, 32
> mi apart. There are numerous cell towers in between, yet there are many dead
> (dropped call) area on certain roads.

It looks like Florence, Hartsville, and where you live are three 32 mile
legs of a triangle.

Have you looked at Cingular's coverage map?

The area 32mi north of Florence has moderate coverage at best, with some
completely dead zones. Hartsville seems to be well covered.

I wonder if Cingular is the brand for you. Sprint claims good coverage,
but even Verizon says that where you are, they cover with roaming
agreements with other carriers.

You might just be SOL.

karlkrandall@sbcglobal.net

2007-05-29, 7:33 am

On Mon, 28 May 2007 21:13:48 -0400, "marx404" <404@404.com> wrote:

>Need some intelligent input to help with connectivity issue here. (so Navas,
>be nice, k?) The wife and I have Moto V557 phones. We live in NE South
>Carolina, 32 mi. N of Florence, SC. My wife can call me and get thru most of
>the time, but if I call her, it most of the time goes straight to VM even
>though she has the phone on. I work in Florence, she works in Hartsville, 32
>mi apart. There are numerous cell towers in between, yet there are many dead
>(dropped call) area on certain roads. The whole family is on Cingular Family
>Plan, but each phone gets different undesirable results.
>
>My sister lives in N. Hartsville, 5 miles N of us and my Moto gets one or no
>bars and drops calls there, despite that you can actually see the tower from
>their house! Her old Nokia gets calls, they are clear, and almost no
>dropped calls even with only 1 bar. Her husband has a newer Nokia and bad
>call reception, if the call even gets thru.
>
>My other sister has an old Samsung phone (I cant remember models numbers so
>don't ask pls), she lives right next door to the other sister and they can't
>even call each other! Her cell only works when she is outside.
>
>We are getting sick of paying for service that sometimes works or doesn't
>work at all. The corporate Cingular rep for my company says we all need
>better phones. I wonder if I am better off going back to an AMPS service?
>(Altell has AMPS still).
>
>My 2 yr contract ends in Nov. and I am deciding on what I need to do. If the
>problem IS our phones, what is the best full-featured phone that I can get
>when (and if) I upgrade my phone to fix all these problems? TIA

Call up 611 and complain, and keep escalating till you get what seems
like a truthful answer. Dont accept a different phone without return
priviledge.

If Cingular can't provide service they can not hold you to a contract.
Your phone must be "Fit for Purpose" is the common law principle.

Scott

2007-05-29, 10:33 am

karlkrandall@sbcglob
al.net wrote in
news:nv1o53hpe04150p
123u8a71c3d0qeergf2@
4ax.com:

> On Mon, 28 May 2007 21:13:48 -0400, "marx404" <404@404.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Call up 611 and complain, and keep escalating till you get what seems
> like a truthful answer. Dont accept a different phone without return
> priviledge.
>
> If Cingular can't provide service they can not hold you to a contract.
> Your phone must be "Fit for Purpose" is the common law principle.
>

But "Fit for Purpose" does not translate into guaranteed blanket coverage.
If the service has always been like this, there is no legal recourse
available. "Karls" tactic of repeat calls to the company will only result
in your account being viewed as a nuisance account, which could actually
diminish the level of service you receive from them (I know of one carrier
that is currently "disinviting" customers with high call volume into
customer service).

The danger you run into by going back to AMPS is that the mandate to keep
it up expires next year. Although I would expect Alltel to keep it up and
running, there is the possibility that they could decide to replace the
AMPS coverage with a different technology, which would mean buying yet
another phone down the road.

The mention of seeing the tower is indeed interesting, but a caution to
that as well- a cell tower does not automatically translate into a Cingular
tower. It's possible that the tower being seen is an Alltel tower that
Cingular does not have cells on.

Todd Allcock

2007-05-29, 12:33 pm

At 29 May 2007 06:03:01 -0500 karlkrandall@sbcglob
al.net wrote:

> If Cingular can't provide service they can not hold you to a contract.

They DO provide service- just not everywhere the OP would like.

> Your phone must be "Fit for Purpose" is the common law principle.

This tired garbage again, Phil?

It IS "fit for purpose"- the purpose of wireless telephones and service
is mobile telephony. There's no guarantee of coverage at a particular
location- that's the nature of wireless. It's like arguing your car
isn't "fit for purpose" as a house because it lacks bathrooms and a
kitchen. cars and houses have different purposes.

However, if these locations USED to have adequate service before and now
do not, then the OP has a valid complaint. But carriers have a trial
period of a few weeks to a month (depending on carrier/market) just for
this reason- to determine the suitability of the service before the
contract kicks in. The OP says his two-year contract runs out in
November- if service has always been this spotty in these areas, the time
for "buyer's remorse" has long passed.

As to trying new phones, personally if service is so weak that phone
model A will work, but B, C and D won't, that's too fringe an area for my
comfort if I intend to have reliable servce there. I think the OP needs
to find a new carrier come November.

SMS

2007-05-29, 12:33 pm

marx404 wrote:
> Need some intelligent input to help with connectivity issue here. (so Navas,
> be nice, k?) The wife and I have Moto V557 phones. We live in NE South
> Carolina, 32 mi. N of Florence, SC. My wife can call me and get thru most of
> the time, but if I call her, it most of the time goes straight to VM even
> though she has the phone on.

Sounds like the tower where she is located does not have sufficient
capacity so the calls go to voice mail. When she's initiating the call,
she gets dibs on a slot for an outgoing call.

> My 2 yr contract ends in Nov. and I am deciding on what I need to do. If the
> problem IS our phones, what is the best full-featured phone that I can get
> when (and if) I upgrade my phone to fix all these problems? TIA

A different handset isn't going to make a lot of difference.

You're probably better off on Alltel, even without AMPS. The AMPS helps
in rural areas, but will likely be turned off in urban and suburban
areas as soon as the law allows. Alltel is a very highly rated carrier,
often as good as Verizon.

What I worry about is whether the carriers will turn off all the AMPS in
2008, even when there is no digital to take its place.

You can see a good example of what AMPS buys you in places in California:

GSM coverage:
"http://i16.tinypic.com/6faifso.jpg"

CDMA/AMPS coverage (tri-mode phone):
"http://i19.tinypic.com/5xg52x5.jpg".

There are similar types of maps all over Northern California, including
some rural parts of the Bay Area counties

[Copied to v. Please post all alt.cellular.cingular non-spam posts to
alt.cellular.attws as well. The Cingular name has gone away, and
alt.cellular.attws is the proper venue for posts regarding AT&T's
wireless service.]

karlkrandall@sbcglobal.net

2007-05-29, 3:33 pm

On Tue, 29 May 2007 10:11:12 -0500, Scott <how.do@you.do> wrote:

> karlkrandall@sbcglob
al.net wrote in
> news:nv1o53hpe04150p
123u8a71c3d0qeergf2@
4ax.com:
>
>
>But "Fit for Purpose" does not translate into guaranteed blanket coverage.
>If the service has always been like this, there is no legal recourse
>available.

Nonsense, A letter to HQ with a cc to your State's Attorney general,
your local TV muckraker, and newspaper, will always get the contract
waived. It's called "going public" and always makes cellular carriers
change their tune.

> "Karls" tactic of repeat calls to the company will only result
>in your account being viewed as a nuisance account, which could actually
>diminish the level of service you receive from them (I know of one carrier
>that is currently "disinviting" customers with high call volume into
>customer service).
>
>The danger you run into by going back to AMPS is that the mandate to keep
>it up expires next year. Although I would expect Alltel to keep it up and
>running, there is the possibility that they could decide to replace the
>AMPS coverage with a different technology, which would mean buying yet
>another phone down the road.
>
>The mention of seeing the tower is indeed interesting, but a caution to
>that as well- a cell tower does not automatically translate into a Cingular
>tower. It's possible that the tower being seen is an Alltel tower that
>Cingular does not have cells on.

Indeed, most Towers are in fact owned by Third Parties, and if they
have Cingular equipment, it may be viewed as a "Cingular Tower".

Scott

2007-05-29, 10:33 pm

karlkrandall@sbcglob
al.net wrote in
news:vnro53l600tq9bf
1tmlo4e0qcbatbp96vb@
4ax.com:

> On Tue, 29 May 2007 10:11:12 -0500, Scott <how.do@you.do> wrote:
>
>
> Nonsense, A letter to HQ with a cc to your State's Attorney general,
> your local TV muckraker, and newspaper, will always get the contract
> waived. It's called "going public" and always makes cellular carriers
> change their tune.
>
>

Too bad we can't use the same tactic to get rid of stupid XXX.

Mij Adyaw

2007-05-30, 4:33 am

SNIP
> You're probably better off on Alltel, even without AMPS. The AMPS helps in
> rural areas, but will likely be turned off in urban and suburban areas as
> soon as the law allows. Alltel is a very highly rated carrier, often as
> good as Verizon.
>
> What I worry about is whether the carriers will turn off all the AMPS in
> 2008, even when there is no digital to take its place.
>
> You can see a good example of what AMPS buys you in places in California:
>
AMPS is only safe to use for emergency situations. Anyone with a Police
scanner can listed to your conversations and many folks do. I would not ever
use amps except in emergency situations. You certainly don't want to give
credit numbers or other personal information while on an amps call. Amps
needs to die and the FCC should force these carriers to convert to either
GSM or CDMA.

karlkrandall@sbcglobal.net

2007-05-30, 7:33 am

On Tue, 29 May 2007 21:34:45 -0500, Scott <how.do@you.do> wrote:

> karlkrandall@sbcglob
al.net wrote in
> news:vnro53l600tq9bf
1tmlo4e0qcbatbp96vb@
4ax.com:
>
>
>Too bad we can't use the same tactic to get rid of stupid XXX.

Sorry you have trouble with your anatomy.

marx404

2007-05-31, 7:33 am

Geezuz, my frikken scroll wheel is wearing out! Is it because of short term
memory that you guys always post the OP and all replies in your reply? Oh
well, had to rant, it took me 10 min this morn. to scroll, scroll, scroll
thru this post. :-)

Thanks for the all the good replies. I will be checking out Altell when my
contract runs out, talking to locals in both counties here (above and below
the Darlington Racetrack) Cingular is iffy at best and virtually no
connectivity issues with Altell.

In conclusion, what a shame that now Cingular is the new "att" service
hasn't improved. As a former AT&T Wireless customer and employee I am quite
dissapointed. Thanks again.

--
marx404

karlkrandall@sbcglobal.net

2007-05-31, 10:33 am

On Thu, 31 May 2007 07:30:05 -0400, "marx404" <404@404.com> wrote:

>Geezuz, my frikken scroll wheel is wearing out! Is it because of short term
>memory that you guys always post the OP and all replies in your reply? Oh
>well, had to rant, it took me 10 min this morn. to scroll, scroll, scroll
>thru this post. :-)
>
>
>Thanks for the all the good replies. I will be checking out Altell when my
>contract runs out, talking to locals in both counties here (above and below
>the Darlington Racetrack) Cingular is iffy at best and virtually no
>connectivity issues with Altell.
>

Again why stay with Cingular. If they are not providing service, you
should get out of your contract, people do it for free EVERY DAY,
you just need to stand up for yourself.

>In conclusion, what a shame that now Cingular is the new "att" service
>hasn't improved. As a former AT&T Wireless customer and employee I am quite
>dissapointed. Thanks again.

Michael Paris

2007-06-01, 10:33 pm

I agree, if Cingy is giving you a hard time, or you don't care for them,
then change, and this isn't ment as a pert answer, I have heard bad and good
about all US providers, my brother in law had a bad time with Cingular, and
went to VW and he's happy. I had just the opposite.

Recently I went to Sprint for mobile broadband, with the provided corporate
discount and EVDO-A it came to $15 less per month over what Cingy was going
to charge me, and there isn't 3g service where I live. (YET). If they do
provide it, and its hsdpa by me, and they match or come close to Sprints
rates, I may switch, even if it costs me a termination fee if the service is
significantly better.

John Navas

2007-06-13, 3:33 pm

On Thu, 31 May 2007 07:30:05 -0400, "marx404" <404@404.com> wrote in
<fISdnYOY-p9ILMPbnZ2dnUVZ_t-mnZ2d@adelphia.com>:

>In conclusion, what a shame that now Cingular is the new "att" service
>hasn't improved.

It actually has in many areas.

>As a former AT&T Wireless customer and employee I am quite
>dissapointed. Thanks again.

What does that have to do with it? Should they build a tower just for
you? ;)

No one carrier is best or even good in all areas. It's simply not
possible. So go with whatever carrier gives you the best combination of
coverage and service in areas you care about most.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ Cingu...less_FA
Q>

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