Cingular Punishes Analog Customers > Wonder if this counts for GAIT customers?

Wonder if this counts for GAIT customers?

HA! That is sick!

reply to Seph83
I don't believe it affects customers who have GAIT plans (or GAIT feature on GSM plans) and use mostly GSM service where its available.

-Pedro

I am a Cingular GAIT customer. I just got my bill today and it included a note that I would be charged the $5 fee starting next month. On the surface, this make NO sense to me as I'm sure I'm on the GSM network most/all of the time.

However, I called Cingular and the reps confirmed me as a GAIT customer and indicated I *will* be charged the TDMA fee. Since that is what this month's bill is indicating, I can only assume they are correct (imagine that!).

I could see maybe the TDMA-only customer, but it seems the GAIT customers are really get screwed. Even if I agree to upgrade my phone to GSM only, I'll get hit with a much higher rate plan, which I assume is Cingular's strategy.

I've been their customer for many years, but I'll be looking elsewhere for service, based on the principle.

Is an extra $5 really going to break the bank if you rely on GAIT as a useful backup? It's a valid question I think.

I'm with you in principle, but the reality is, they are starting to incurr extra costs for maintaining the legacy netwoks. If they extra money will permit Cingular to move ahead with other technologies which can lead to better GSM (or 4G stuff), I don't have an issue with moving folks from TDMA/Analog if they can work on a way to plug the coverage holes. Because you can port to another carrier which has adequate analog coverage in your area, I don't see the issue other than slight inconvenience. You can be up and running with a new service/provider the very same day in reality.

What sort of price bump would you see if you picked the lowest GSM plan(?)

-Pedro

I don't care if they shut down TDMA tomorrow. I'm probably using GSM 99% of the time. I got the GAIT phone two years ago when they were still building out their GSM coverage - fast-forward two years and I no longer care about TDMA coverage.

As far as the price bump - darn near double. If they would let me switch to a GSM only phone on my current rate plan I would do it, but they won't. They're apparently trying to squeeze out these plans, as previously mentioned.

I would consider pre-paid service in that case, esp. if you really have no use for TDMA and do not use enormous amounts of minutes. AFAIK, $100 can last for 12 mos.

-P

Should I be able to port my existing number with pre-paid?

I'm not aware of Cingular permitting that. You would have to double check with the CSRs though. I believe going from pre-pay to post-pay is permissible though.