pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| reply to icex _
Re: Dumb...
said by icex _  :Wouldent they have to pay extra fees if they roamed? I don't see why they'd complain.. Most of Cingular's plans are no-roaming, no-long distance. Cingular only gets stung by this if you are using a non-Cingular owned network in the USA as they have to eat the roaming costs (you still pay for international roaming).
I'm curious to see what their definition of "unprofitable" is. A couple months back on a cross-country trip, I transferred 183MB of data with my GPRS phone and made all sorts of calls in many different parts of the country!
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Tancredo 2008! |
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icex _
Premium
join:2004-05-22
USA
clubs: | Oh, ok. |
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Alpine
Premium
join:2000-01-11
Atlanta, GA
| reply to pnh102
183 megs over GPRS? That's a whole lot of slow-lane downloading! Hehe..
I wonder if any other consequences are forthcoming. Hard caps or something similar? I just bought a Cingular 2125 Smartphone and love it, especially with the $20/month SmartPhone Unlimited data plan. I personally don't use it constantly, but that's just 'cuz downloading at under 20k/sec is painful for anything other than normal surfing and email. But I know some people do have apps that are perpetually connected. Hopefully they don't get capped.
I think it's a little lame to deny "unprofitable" people deals on phone upgrades after contract-expiration, but we're only talking once every one/two years. At least they're letting those people out of their contracts for free.
Adam |
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bogey780
join:2004-03-19
Here | You cut deals for customers who bring you profit or who are loyal.
Bending over backwards to keep customers who bog the system down and you can't turn a profit on is bad business sense in every way. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to Alpine
said by Alpine :183 megs over GPRS? That's a whole lot of slow-lane downloading! Hehe.. Well... i guess you have to have some sort of fun on the road when you've seen all the scenery already. But the data service was actually quite good. I only had dropped connections in southern Texas in 3 spots along I-10.
said by Alpine :I wonder if any other consequences are forthcoming. Hard caps or something similar? I just bought a Cingular 2125 Smartphone and love it, especially with the $20/month SmartPhone Unlimited data plan. I also have a Smartphone. As for consequences, I really don't care. So they cancel my data plan or my contract, I am up $70 a month LOL.
said by Alpine :I personally don't use it constantly, but that's just 'cuz downloading at under 20k/sec is painful for anything other than normal surfing and email. But I know some people do have apps that are perpetually connected. Hopefully they don't get capped. I seriously doubt that low speed data users will be capped, as in the grand scheme of things, 183MB in a month really isn't that much data anymore. I am sure if you were leeching data using a 3G phone at full blast, they might say something as Verizon does.
said by Alpine :I think it's a little lame to deny "unprofitable" people deals on phone upgrades after contract-expiration, but we're only talking once every one/two years. At least they're letting those people out of their contracts for free. Well fortunately there is still some competition left in this industry. There's now nothing stopping people from simply taking their business elsewhere if they run into said predicament.
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Tancredo 2008! |
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Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL
| reply to pnh102
The only problem is the alpha tags on the phone don't tell you whether you are on or off network. Cingular advertises themselves as the "allover network". So as long as you get a signal the alpha tag says Cingular even if you are roaming on another providers network. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Someone posted this map in another forum... this link clearly shows which is the "real" Cingular network and which one is the "fake" network.
»63.241.153.180/coverageviewer/B2B.html
You need to zoom in a few levels to see the "partner" networks.
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Tancredo 2008! |
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whfsdude
Premium
join:2003-04-05
Washington, DC | reply to Alpine
Probably EGPRS. |
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Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL
1 edit | reply to pnh102
I know about the map but they have 55 million plus customers and most do not. All they see is the map on the pamphlets in the store.
Which only shows areas where you will get signal and areas where you will not.
If Cingular is going to use this new policy they should have the alpha tags tell a customer when they are roaming. But then they would no longer be able to fool customers by thinking everything is Cingular so they are not going to do this unless some Attorneys Generals or the FTC start getting antsy. |
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itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Camp Hill, PA | reply to Alpine
quote:
183 megs over GPRS? That's a whole lot of slow-lane downloading! Hehe..
I did close to that last month on my Treo on EDGE/GPRS. |
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Broadband Reports Vi
@charter.com | reply to pnh102
Good Posting! 
I didn't realize how small the Cingular network is in some areas until I saw that. Much of their network is through partner agreements. |
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Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL
| reply to itguy05
I saw from a google search that Cingular, VZW, and Sprint PCS settled with 32 Attorney Generals in 2004 regarding confusing roaming maps among other things.
Part of the settlement was that they would clearly let customers know where they were roaming and would thus incur extra fees.
Now Cingular doesn't have roaming fees anymore but it looks they are skating on thin ice by canceling accounts that roam too much since they aren't telling customers when they are roaming. |
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magusat999
join:2005-07-08
Oakland, CA
| reply to bogey780
Your supposed to design your system so that you don't INSULT or appear to DISCRIMINATE no matter what your real intention is. Everybody knows businesses number one priority is profit, that's not something a business should use as a reason to treat customers differently - even if it is true. |
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hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH
·Time Warner Cable
·buckeye cable
| reply to pnh102
Cingular---at least the BS part has this in their contract: "Terms Applicable to All Plans:
Cingular imposes the following charges: a Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee of up to $1.25 to help defray its costs incurred in complying with obligations and charges imposed by State and Federal telecom regulation, a gross receipts surcharge, and State and Federal Universal Service charges. The Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee is not a tax or a government-required charge. Cingular reserves the right to terminate your service if less than 50% of your usage over three consecutive billing cycles is on Cingular-owned systems."
»www.bellsouth.com/ic/html/pop/ci···_tc.html |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
 ·DSL EXTREME
| reply to icex _
I suspect that the bean counters are finally catching up...
Cingular has had the
m2m minutes always work including when roaming, as well as rollover minutes.
Most carriers take m2m to only work 'in' network (like VZW). Cingular's profits are getting chewed by allowing all the same included features available on roamers w/o any addition charges. Add in rollover minutes, and Cingular won't like it too much. This was the original basis for booting off people using more than 50% roaming in 3 months.
The crazy part is that marketing loves promoting Cingular's 'all over network' and disables the roaming indicator and tags so that you won't know when you are roaming anyways. |
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jimk
Premium
join:2006-04-15
Raleigh, NC
·AT&T Southeast
·RoadRunner Cable
| Actually, Verizon mobile to mobile calling works just about anywhere. If the phone says "Verizon Wireless" or "Extended Network" and does not have a flashing roaming indicator (triangle), then mobile to mobile calling does apply. There are only a few systems in the entire country where your mobile to mobile minutes won't count. They also don't have a 50% roaming rule, but they probably make up the costs that go to roaming on Get it Now and other services that cost money.
If you are out of the country and paying full roaming anyways, then of course mobile to mobile does not apply. |
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jimk
Premium
join:2006-04-15
Raleigh, NC
·AT&T Southeast
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to Zoder
Sprint and VZW have used a roaming banner and/or solid roaming indicator to indicate that roaming charges might apply (depending on your plan) for years. Then again, I don't know when the lawsuit was filed... it could have been before this.
Part of the problem with this is that Cingular has been showing the "Cingular" banner all the time, even when roaming off their network. They don't charge for it, but they don't want their customers to roam too much. However, they don't tell customers when they are roaming. They should just implement a banner similar to what Verizon or Sprint use, or just show the name of the carrier that the phone is registered on. That would prevent a lot of confusion. I understand that some people now get an "Off Network" banner, but I don't think it is widespread yet (or if it will be).
However, forgetting about all this for a minute, it is just wrong to run a customer off like this. Just because they don't spend as much money as you want doesn't make it right to just treat them like trash. |
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bretthoward7
join:2002-01-17
Klamath Falls, OR
| reply to en102
VZW no longer requires you to be on their network for unlimited mobile to mobile. They changed this about 2 years ago. I remember that I made the guy in the store put this in writing and sign it on the back of my recipt when I bought new phones for my parents (who live outside of the VZW network). VZW has a great network and I'm pretty happy with their pricing schemes (when compared to other companies) the only problem that they have is their support staff is damn near useless. Every person you talk to has a different story. Before you decide on anything with VZW make sure you hear it from SEVERAL of their represenatitives. |
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Guy Waters
join:2001-12-04
San Francisco, CA
|  reply to Zoder
Cingular does charge roaming fees, even when the phone banner reads "CINGULAR"! Cingular charged $1.99/min for calls placed from a cruise ship within the Puget Sound, while I could still see the Seattle skyline. The satellite system didn't work at all in the Pacific Ocean between Seattle and Alaska. However, no roaming charges were incurred to use Dobson's, Cellular One network in Alaska.
The other quirk with Cingular is calls made while roaming on AT&T Wireless network in Hawaii back to the US mainland were billed as INTERNATIONAL. |
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Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA | reply to magusat999
What planet do you live on? Business can choose not to serve customers that they can't even break even on. They should probably lay out their expectations before sending then to the chopping block, but that's there business. |
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