According to Shroyer, his wireless service significantly deteriorated after the merger. When he complained, the company told him he needed a new chip for his phone. But it wouldn't let him install the chip without signing a new agreement with the company, and in doing so, he unknowingly agreed to the arbitration clause.

This happened to me too, but they said it was the phone itself. Had to get a new phone, contract, and all...

Usually, the no-sue agreements are not watertight. I readily signed one at my gym knowing that if I were injured because of negligence, it would not matter.

Cool, I'll drop a dumbbell on your head then.

According to Shroyer, his wireless service significantly deteriorated after the merger.

I actually work for AT&T now, and we hear this a lot. 'EVER SINCE AT&T BOUGHT CINGULAR MY SERVICE HAS BEEN SHIT.' AT&T wireless was bankrupt and wanted to cut off service to its customers. The FCC forced them to sell the business instead. Cingular bought them and decided that the AT&T brand name is more recognizable.

The only thing that changed, effectively, was the name. There was next to no change in service.

In some cases, they did in fact stop allowing customers to roam on T-Mobile towers, which is one possibly reason why there may actually have been a change in the quality of service in limited areas.

Otherwise I would chalk this up to some kind of placebo effect of the sour grapes variety. By all accounts, AT&T wireless coverage was shit. The only people that still have it are the cheapest faggots on earth who don't want to pay $50 for a new phone because they have 10 year old Nokias that still function.

Sadly, unless you live in a big city, Verizon and AT&T are the only options for good coverage.

Cingular bought them and decided that the AT&T brand name is more recognizable.

They sure did, and their attempts to cash in on that name are amusingly heavy-handed. It reminds me of the phase in Jennifer Lopez's career where she decided it was of the utmost priority that everyone start calling her 'J. Lo' immediately.

Good plan. There is only one big problem: you have to _lift_ the dumbell before you can _drop_ it.

^

I've had cingular, now ATT wireless service for years. And I can honestly say that after the merger, their coverage sucks just as bad as before.

The point is not about AT&T crappy service, tho...you know. That just provides context to his complaint which is: de gummint.

I use cingular/AT&T and have noticed zero percent change in service since cingular was renamed AT&T

Actually, AT&T was doing good when they where sticking to their guns with CDMA. When they decided they wanted to switch all the phones to GSM is where the service went downhill (at least in So.Cal) The upkeep on one cellular type must be really high, but imagine trying to maintain two, roll GSM out (borrowing Cingular in areas they didnt have coverage yet)

What happened is they slowly started cutting back on CDMA to try and force people to GSM. 'Oh, your phone doesnt work so well? Yea it must be your phone come get another free phone on a new contract' thus locking in the customer again on the GSM network without having to really explain that they caused it, not the customers phone and it gets all the long time out-of-contract people back in contract.

Well, obviuosly it didnt pan out the way the mighty consultants must have told the upper level management because they flopped and Cingular was the best bet for buyout (AT&T customers on GSM = no brainer, Buy out for the additional GSM coverage, and just let the CDMA slowly die out)


Thats my take on the whole thing, been many years since I actually worked in the cut throat & bleed it dry market of cellphones.

FYI, that spiffy leather case that cost you $20 cost $2 and the headset you pay $35 may a big fat $5, $10 for some of the fancy qualcomm connectors. Its the only place for any profit to be made.

they can't handle gprs traffic, edge wont help either, routers are too simple

Actually, AT&T was doing good when they where sticking to their guns with CDMA. When they decided they wanted to switch all the phones to GSM is where the service went downhill (at least in So.Cal) The upkeep on one cellular type must be really high, but imagine trying to maintain two, roll GSM out (borrowing Cingular in areas they didnt have coverage yet)

AT&T was TDMA not CDMA. And only AT&T had those TDMA towers, Cingular didn't have TDMA towers. It costs the new AT&T to maintain those old shitty analog towers rather than just switching them to digital. And who the fuck actually wants TDMA or CDMA? The rest of the world (except stupid Japan) uses GSM. Additionally, GSM phones have a SIM card, allowing freedom with the phones. When you have a Verizon phone you are stuck with it, but you can buy an unlocked phone if you want if you have a SIM.

Its the only place for any profit to be made.

That, and the two year contract. They could do away with the two year contract and people in general, who want FREE PHONES FREE PHONES CHEAP PHONES PHONE WITH JUST A PHONE IN IT, would have to pay in excess of $500 for the shitty RAZR and would cry cry cry.