Cingular becomes ATT Monday

[mzkhadir]

Engadget

 

[Aimster]

good cause im tired of everyone giving it to me for still having at&t wireless.

 

[ElFenix]

wasn't pricewaterhousecoopers going to be renamed Monday once?

 

[R Nilla]

so I joined at&t wireless, which then became Cingular wireless, which is now becoming AT&T wireless. I wonder how this will affect cingular customers, if at all, and what this means for those like Aimster still on at&t...

 

[jdini76]

Does it have to do with the fact that verizon can put their wireless and telephone customers on one bill?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: jdini76
Does it have to do with the fact that verizon can put their wireless and telephone customers on one bill?

Huh? It has to do with the fact that with AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth they own all of Cingular.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Think this means we can get out of our contracts?

 

[jdini76]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: jdini76
Does it have to do with the fact that verizon can put their wireless and telephone customers on one bill?

Huh? It has to do with the fact that with AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth they own all of Cingular.

Didn't Cingular buy out AT&T wirelss a couple years ago? I am fuzzy on the details.

 

[d3n]

Originally posted by: Aimster
good cause im tired of everyone giving it to me for still having at&t wireless.

QFT, Cigular never did have a plan that could beat my old ATT wireless plan.

Somehow I have a feeling we are going to get sloppy seconds on any network improvements yet again.

 

[lobbyone]

I had an AT&T cellphone, and they told me to get a "compatible" Cingular phone, don't tell me they're going to make me get another BS AT&T "compatible" phone

 

[Deeko]

jdini76, AT&T spun off its wireless division into its own, independant company. Cingular purchased that entity a few years ago. Now AT&T has purchased Cingular's parent company, thus buying back its wireless company as well as another 30% of the market or so that it didn't have before

 

[d3n]

Originally posted by: lobbyone
I had an AT&T cellphone, and they told me to get a "compatible" Cingular phone, don't tell me they're going to make me get another BS AT&T "compatible" phone

Just if you want to upgrade to a new plan I think

on the flip side my big question (since I am on the old AT&T plan) is can I upgrade to any of the new phones without going to a new plan? Most likely everyone is stuck going to a new plan.

 

[JS80]

what a waste, they spent hundreds of millions of dollars branding Cingular and now they're just throwing it away. noobs.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: jdini76

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: jdini76
Does it have to do with the fact that verizon can put their wireless and telephone customers on one bill?

Huh? It has to do with the fact that with AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth they own all of Cingular.

Didn't Cingular buy out AT&T wirelss a couple years ago? I am fuzzy on the details.

Yeah.

Cingular was a joint venture between SBC and BellSouth.
AT&T had their own wireless company, AT&T Wireless, and they sold it to Cingular.
SBC bought AT&T and adopted the AT&T name (or at&t)
SBC (not AT&T) bought BellSouth, meaning they own Cingular entirely now.
Since SBC + BellSouth (+ PacBell + SNET + Ameritech) is now AT&T, they're changing the name of Cingular (+ AT&T Wireless) to the name of the company they bought a few years ago. 😉

Diagram to make it easier 😛

 

[erub]

Originally posted by: lobbyone
I had an AT&T cellphone, and they told me to get a "compatible" Cingular phone, don't tell me they're going to make me get another BS AT&T "compatible" phone

There is some truth in that. In order for you to get the most performance, the phone had to be compatible with Cingular's expanded network list, on the 64K sims (not all phones could handle that). It also helped them save money on any potential roaming costs you might have 😛

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: JS80
what a waste, they spent hundreds of millions of dollars branding Cingular and now they're just throwing it away. noobs.

The AT&T name has been around for over 100 years. Noob.

 

[erub]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: jdini76

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: jdini76
Does it have to do with the fact that verizon can put their wireless and telephone customers on one bill?

Huh? It has to do with the fact that with AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth they own all of Cingular.

Didn't Cingular buy out AT&T wirelss a couple years ago? I am fuzzy on the details.

Yeah.

Cingular was a joint venture between SBC and BellSouth.
AT&T had their own wireless company, AT&T Wireless, and they sold it to Cingular.
SBC bought AT&T and adopted the AT&T name (or at&t)
SBC (not AT&T) bought BellSouth, meaning they own Cingular entirely now.
Since SBC + BellSouth (+ PacBell + SNET + Ameritech) is now AT&T, they're changing the name of Cingular (+ AT&T Wireless) to the name of the company they bought a few years ago. 😉

Diagram to make it easier 😛

Only incorrect in the fact that AT&T Wireless was a complete spinoff from AT&T, and was trading on the NYSE as a public entity. This was bought by Cingular (where Bellsouth paid 40% of the money, and SBC paid 60%).

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: JS80
what a waste, they spent hundreds of millions of dollars branding Cingular and now they're just throwing it away. noobs.

The AT&T name has been around for over 100 years. Noob.

It still dosen't make sense. Even though AT&T is a household name, cingular did spend MILLIONS of dollars after the merger pushing the new brand and putting the AT&T wireless to the gutter. They should have just kept AT&T from the beginning and saved their money.

 

[Aimster]

IMO keeping the cingular name would have been better. Whatever

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: JS80
what a waste, they spent hundreds of millions of dollars branding Cingular and now they're just throwing it away. noobs.

The AT&T name has been around for over 100 years. Noob.

It still dosen't make sense. Even though AT&T is a household name, cingular did spend MILLIONS of dollars after the merger pushing the new brand and putting the AT&T wireless to the gutter. They should have just kept AT&T from the beginning and saved their money.

Yep, n00bs.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: mugs

Yeah.

Cingular was a joint venture between SBC and BellSouth.
AT&T had their own wireless company, AT&T Wireless, and they sold it to Cingular.
SBC bought AT&T and adopted the AT&T name (or at&t)
SBC (not AT&T) bought BellSouth, meaning they own Cingular entirely now.
Since SBC + BellSouth (+ PacBell + SNET + Ameritech) is now AT&T, they're changing the name of Cingular (+ AT&T Wireless) to the name of the company they bought a few years ago. 😉

Diagram to make it easier 😛

it's missing General Telephone (though that was not one of the baby bells)

 

[bigrash]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: JS80
what a waste, they spent hundreds of millions of dollars branding Cingular and now they're just throwing it away. noobs.

The AT&T name has been around for over 100 years. Noob.

It still dosen't make sense. Even though AT&T is a household name, cingular did spend MILLIONS of dollars after the merger pushing the new brand and putting the AT&T wireless to the gutter. They should have just kept AT&T from the beginning and saved their money.

Yep, n00bs.

lol. how could they keep the AT&T name if it was still existant as a separate company? noobs

 

[Imagination]

Hmm.... wonder if Steve Jobs new before announcing his iPhone?

 

[AMDMaddness]

You will not need to get an AT&T phone as all cingular phones will work and stay working even with the new AT&T. When users from the old AT&T wireless went to cingular it was infact a different network not the new AT&T its the same network just a different name.

No one saw the SBC/AT&T/BELLSOUTH merger when AT&T wireless was bought out or I am sure it would have stayed AT&T. I have sat at the same desk and worked under three differant companies Bellsouth mobility, Cingular now AT&T.

I think this merger is great for end users, simplified billing for one and all services from one true company not a peice meal of sorts. As far as I have read the focus will be DSL/Fiber and Wireless high speed accesss.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: JS80
what a waste, they spent hundreds of millions of dollars branding Cingular and now they're just throwing it away. noobs.

The AT&T name has been around for over 100 years. Noob.

It still dosen't make sense. Even though AT&T is a household name, cingular did spend MILLIONS of dollars after the merger pushing the new brand and putting the AT&T wireless to the gutter. They should have just kept AT&T from the beginning and saved their money.

I'm sure SBC spent a lot of money on each of their name changes, but they still concoluded that AT&T is a more valuable brand name.