The new AT&T

[JamesB]

Not sure if you have seen this, but it has been making its rounds at my company (Cingular) hot and heavy all week

pay very close attention to the map at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj1Mtv9cD0I

James

[Mandy]

That's hilarious isn't it. My Dh works for Cingular too and showed it to me earlier this week. Sad, but true. Oh well he started with at&t wireless before it split from at&t so he's come full circle.

[mobilezen]

I'd say welcome to T-Mobile haha. I'm not a huge fan of Cingular and when I had them for 8 months, the service was just the same so I switched back to T-Mobile cause of unlimited messages. Interesting, when I went back to talk to Cingular they said "oh yeah, we have a 3000 message plan, its just as good as unlimited." oh really?...then what happened to my 5000 messages last month I did with T-Mobile then 25000 my friend did on his Nokia N70. So yeah... I have no reason to switch to Cingular again. I'm not a data freak so I can wait till March to tether for 3G.

Oh question though... why is Cingular and Apple saying the iPhone is going to be locked at the Apple store when other sources say it won't be. *interesting*

[ChuckW]

That is really funny - and mostly true! I used to work for Verizon which, of course, owns Verizon Wireless. Verizon, for the most part, is a combination of what used to be Bell Atlantic, GTE and MCI. The Bell Atlantic part of Verizon is about the only piece of the former AT&T/Baby Bell companies that did not get bought up by SBC - which renamed itself AT&T! It makes a person's head hurt.

[JamesB]

Originally Posted by mobilezen

Oh question though... why is Cingular and Apple saying the iPhone is going to be locked at the Apple store when other sources say it won't be. *interesting*

Not sure, I have not heard either way as to where the iPhone will be sold im in engineering so I never hear all that sales stuff

James

[babybluetx23]

hahahaha TOOOOOOO funny! I used to work at Verizon and Im not really shocked that they are doing the whole name change game AGAIN! As stated above Verizon did used to be mid atlantic bell and GTE and Airtouch wireless and I cant remember the name of the other cell phone service it used to be but they had a little pink allien as their mascot. Anyway they are still a VERY divided company even though they are suppose to be one company.

[JamesB]

just a tid bit of info here on wireless carriers.....

if you are on T-Mobile and get away from the core of a downtown area or away from a major highway you are "roaming" on the Cingular network.

I know here in Houston, once you get out side Beltway 8 toll road and away from a major road you roam on the Cingular network. T-Mobile has not built up there network enough to include all of these areas so they pay Cingular to allow their customers to make and receive calls through the Cingular network.

This is a VERY common practice among wireless carriers with the same technology (TDMA, CDMA or GSM).

Anybody remember PrimeCo? well AT&T bought them many years ago so they could have the AT&T name in Houston, then Cingular bought AT&T. I think Sprint bought Arieal if you can remember that far back. Lots of horse trading going on in the wireless market.

James

[JamesB]

Originally Posted by babybluetx23

I cant remember the name of the other cell phone service it used to be but they had a little pink allien as their mascot. Anyway they are still a VERY divided company even though they are suppose to be one company.

it was PrimeCo. AT&T bought them here in Houston some years ago

a bunch of the AT&T sales people that came over to Cingular when Cingular bought AT&T were from PrimeCo before AT&T bought them

James

[mobilezen]

PrimeCo became AT&T in the Houston Market. PrimeCo became Verizon wireless in DFW. Cingular has a huge network in Texas...their presence is crazy. I've actually roamed on Cingular a couple times in the Galleria up here in Dallas. No biggy though.

Originally Posted by JamesB

Not sure, I have not heard either way as to where the iPhone will be sold im in engineering so I never hear all that sales stuff

James

James, do you deal with basestations and repeaters and run around with that huge Motorola device that measures RF? :) I guess what I'm asking is are you a field rep or just a stay in the office kinda guy? Yeah iPhone is tricky cause Cingular isn't giving out much info but being in the mobile industry 5+ years gets you some sneaky news.

[JohnT]

No matter what I do, I cannot get away from at&t. My SBC DSL is now at&t DSL. Now, my Cingular Wireless (which, by the way, I've been very happy with--thank you very much) is at&t Wireless. Where does end???

[JamesB]

Originally Posted by mobilezen

James, do you deal with basestations and repeaters and run around with that huge Motorola device that measures RF? :) I guess what I'm asking is are you a field rep or just a stay in the office kinda guy? Yeah iPhone is tricky cause Cingular isn't giving out much info but being in the mobile industry 5+ years gets you some sneaky news.

no, i do HVAC, fire suppression and detection, and construction of new buildings or remodeling of existing buildings where our switch gear is at. but in the past I have worked with the base station guys and the rf guys to make it all work. I was in switch operations and have just moved around to different jobs over the years, I have been in wireless for 13 years now, have seen a lot of cool stuff.

Got to see bluetooth and all sorts of other goodies before they became public.

James

[JamesB]

Originally Posted by JohnT

No matter what I do, I cannot get away from at&t. My SBC DSL is now at&t DSL. Now, my Cingular Wireless (which, by the way, I've been very happy with--thank you very much) is at&t Wireless. Where does end???

your TV service is next, but you did not hear that from me, at&t is trying to push all in one billing for home phone, wireless and TV as well as internet. only problem its priced very high right now and i mean very high

James

[ndsimm]

Originally Posted by JamesB

your TV service is next, but you did not hear that from me, at&t is trying to push all in one billing for home phone, wireless and TV as well as internet. only problem its priced very high right now and i mean very high

James

yep, I work for a Home Builder and we have some neighborhoods in far SW Houston and the only option there is ATT and they call it fiber to the premises (FTTP) phone, DSL and TV and we have to pre-wire our homes to connect to their box to provide all the services