What if those 4.7 million subscribers were to switch to another company because they realize the billions of dollars in profit Cingular rakes in every year amazingly comes from people called customers. "Look through your customer's eyes. Are you the solution provider or part of the problem?" - Marlene Blaszczyk

Sounds about right, when you have three or four major wireless providers, and keeping customers simply isn't important to those companies. If the market were more competitive, or customers more loud in their dissention and demands, then Cingular would be bribing their customers to get off of Analog by giving them digital phones (which personally I think they should be doing-these are Cingular's oldest and probably most loyal customers we're talking about) as opposed to punishing them for staying with the company for so long and clinging to what they believe works. That's what you get when a marketplace gets to the point where not only is customer service not important anymore, but the tables turn to the point where you need the company more than the company needs you. Sad state of affairs.

It is part of Cingular's plan to phase out phones based on older TDMA and analog technology Analog hasn't been sold since at least 2000 and TDMA began phasing out in 2002. This is 2006? Also note that I HATE Cingular. I hope the company burns to the ground. I should know, I used to work for them. BUT, those "long time customers" you all keep talking about are costing them money, not making money. I assure you that the cost of keeping the old network running underneath the current one is costing FAR more than those customers are generating, or even the price of replacing all the older equipment. Although I DO wish someone would remake the old 5100 series in GSM. Those phones could take a beating and keep on going. Plus they were basic. You had a phone, you had a couple of ringtones, you had text messaging, and that was it. Most people don't need a phone that will make calls and wipe their butt at the same time.

The bar is being LOWERED! Yes, I too see their point but it's basicly wrong. I have a fairly new phone so I'm not (yet) affected...but...I don't need teen music, custom ringtones, fuzzy cameras (I already have a decent 13-mpx camera!). Why don'y these providers list instead the relative connection sensitivity of the phones they offer? All I need is a decent signal - and this isn't always available. For instance, Verizon has good coverage in the DC Metro system -not Cingular! Dropped calls are not as rare as Cingular would like us to believe, so why should I be "loyal. Duh!"

I see your point Grace, and agree that those old Analog customers are holding Cingular back and are costing them money, but that doesn't change the fact that they're likely Cingular's most long-time customers, and when presented with the option to either reward them by offering them upgrades to newer phones versus punishing them for their patronage with fees, they chose the latter. Both would solve the problem, but the latter is just more insidious, and doesn't really address the issue as quickly as the former would. Some of those customers might just take the 5 dollars extra a month and roll with it, requiring cingular to keep the analog network up and running. Cingular reported (stated on Marketplace last night) that the revenue they'll generate with the new fees is something like 20-25 million dollars a month, which apparently will defray costs of keeping the analog network up, but not cover it. They could end this in one fell swoop AND benefit their customers even if they just handed out new phones to them like candy, but apparently Cingular has one the opposite route.

As a Cingular user generally disgusted with their service, I'm going to look hard and long for an alternative given their plan to charge you for using something you've already paid for 'cause you won't pay for something else they want to sell you. Ba Humbug. I want a phone system, not a complete entertainment system that fits in my pocket. I'm hoping thre will be some server giving just that. And, that Cingular goes the way of Bell South: a declining base service and ever increasing required minimums. B.S. is a great acronym for the company, and Cingular is working hard to emulate B.S. the new Cingular owner.

I am a Cincular customer and if the upgrade to a comparable level digital phone service is reasonable, i would consider upgrading. Say $15-$25 dollars based on lowest priced phone to highest. If the upgrade is excessive, I will find another provider. This would provide a reasonable customer service while allowing them to eliminate the analog system. But as usual in this day and time, CEO just want bigger bonus.

I agree with the fact that Cingular should just give the customers that have the old phones new ones with out a hassel. By the way I had the problem, I checked what phones were available and chose the one that was the most like my old one. I then called Cingular and requested and then demanded a supervisor. I then worked out a deal that they would waive the upgrade fee and the upgrade cost. End result was that I got the phone for the $9.90 shipping charge (second day Fed Ex). As I have not had problems with the service and have been a customer for a very long time I am happy with this fix but I should have been offered it instead of having to demand it.

I actually wanted to upgrade from my 3 year old AT&T GSM phone to Cingular last year. As long time parton of AT&T I had a few extra such as "200 life time free minutes" that Cingular wouldn't honor, not in the store not via the 1-800. Both my wife and me went with T-Mobile then, taking about $3,600 annual business with us. When I canceled our accounts the Cingular "customer retention" folks (funny name for a department that comes in when it's to late) couldn't believe my story. This 4.99 monthly fee tells me that neither the frontline folks nor the big wigs care about their current customers.

I am an old AT&T customer, who is now a Cingular customer by default... I upgraded to AT&T's GSM network just before they switched everyone over to Cingular. I am still on AT&T's network, even though I am a Cingular customer... What troubles me is that last week I was told by a Cingular Customer Service rep that they would be charging me the $5 monthly fee for not switching over to Cingular's GSM and upgrading my phone/plan... Cingular's announcement and explanation that they are only charging TDMA customers (which I don't have trouble with necessarily) seems to be a smokescreen for the company simply forcing every customer to upgrade their contract and buy a new phone regardless of what network they are on (or to switch to another provider)! I can't help but think this is really just some kind of plan to fix revenues until 2008 ~ getting everyone to sign new 2 years contracts and buy new phones... And then there's the fact that Cingular Wireless will be switching back to "AT&T Wireless" in 2007!

I just changed my 3 phones to t-mobile after 7 years with at&t because of issues with cingular. My problem was that a phone on my plan died, they replaced it under the insurance plan (for $50) but they wouldn't give us the same phone-said it wasn't available to at&t customers, even though they sell the same phone to cingular customers. Then the phone they did send wasn't compatible with at&t either, they then proceeded to remove the text messaging plan from my daughters phone, without my permission, refused to add it back on. They informed me that my only option was to switch to a cingular plan, buy 3 new phones, including replacing the one I had just paid $50 for, and pay about $100 more for less than I had with at&t. So, my contract was up, I switched. But, get this, I switched my service, a week later, I get a bill from them in the mail, saying that on the day I switched, they "disconnected" my service for failing to pay my bill, the amount owed was less than my monthly bill, so I am guessing that now i will have to fight them on my credit report. I went with t0mobile, pay a little more than I did, but tripled my minutes, got the same weekends and nights free, and for $20 a month, all 3 phones get unlimited text messages, aol and picture messaging (cingular wanted that much for 1 phone and it wasn't unlimited). Even if I hate t-mobile, I won't go back to cingular.

I just changed my 3 phones to t-mobile after 7 years with at&t because of issues with cingular. My problem was that a phone on my plan died, they replaced it under the insurance plan (for $50) but they wouldn't give us the same phone-said it wasn't available to at&t customers, even though they sell the same phone to cingular customers. Then the phone they did send wasn't compatible with at&t either, they then proceeded to remove the text messaging plan from my daughters phone, without my permission, refused to add it back on. They informed me that my only option was to switch to a cingular plan, buy 3 new phones, including replacing the one I had just paid $50 for, and pay about $100 more for less than I had with at&t. So, my contract was up, I switched. But, get this, I switched my service, a week later, I get a bill from them in the mail, saying that on the day I switched, they "disconnected" my service for failing to pay my bill, the amount owed was less than my monthly bill, so I am guessing that now i will have to fight them on my credit report. I went with t0mobile, pay a little more than I did, but tripled my minutes, got the same weekends and nights free, and for $20 a month, all 3 phones get unlimited text messages, aol and picture messaging (cingular wanted that much for 1 phone and it wasn't unlimited). Even if I hate t-mobile, I won't go back to cingular.

I just changed my 3 phones to t-mobile after 7 years with at&t because of issues with cingular. My problem was that a phone on my plan died, they replaced it under the insurance plan (for $50) but they wouldn't give us the same phone-said it wasn't available to at&t customers, even though they sell the same phone to cingular customers. Then the phone they did send wasn't compatible with at&t either, they then proceeded to remove the text messaging plan from my daughters phone, without my permission, refused to add it back on. They informed me that my only option was to switch to a cingular plan, buy 3 new phones, including replacing the one I had just paid $50 for, and pay about $100 more for less than I had with at&t. So, my contract was up, I switched. But, get this, I switched my service, a week later, I get a bill from them in the mail, saying that on the day I switched, they "disconnected" my service for failing to pay my bill, the amount owed was less than my monthly bill, so I am guessing that now i will have to fight them on my credit report. I went with t0mobile, pay a little more than I did, but tripled my minutes, got the same weekends and nights free, and for $20 a month, all 3 phones get unlimited text messages, aol and picture messaging (cingular wanted that much for 1 phone and it wasn't unlimited). Even if I hate t-mobile, I won't go back to cingular.

i just did the upgrade to gsm. I got a free phone, no 18.00 fee and free shipping.

Lets see At&t starts offering Unbelievable deals on thier plans and promotions around 1999-to being sold to cingular in oct 2004. They did that so they can look good in thier numbers partfolios and say "hey look at our huge customer base please buy our company!" So who really is to blame on the imposed 4.99 that cingular is now charging for old ATT TDMA customers? Cingular or ATT (the death star). On the other hand have any of you old ATT TDMA users ever tried going in and seeing if they have "Special promotions" for you? Have any of you tried calling customer care to strike a deal? If you answered no to either one of those i suggest you go ahead and do it, and if you said yes to any one of those, but was not offered what you want work on your negotiation skills. Funny thing is i bet if OLD ATT kept on going they would have probably done the same thing and phazed out TDMA anyway.

Over my years with AT&T, they rewarded me with great perks, adding some bonus minutes to my 250 minute plan (first 100, then 350 more = 700 total peak), gave me early evenings (starting at 7pm), free International dialing, all on my $29.99 plan. When I got word of the forced switch, I started to negotiate with Cingular and all they would give me was 200 bonus minutes on any plan. No early evenings, no cheaper plan, nothing close to what I had. They just want us to all pay more and lose the standing and perks we have as long-time customers. They need to learn to respect their loyal customers or they will lose them. They are a huge, profitable company who knew of the implications of buying AT&T when it had customers on a different network. Cingular is not dealing with their responsibility to transition the millions of customers they bought. Instead they are focing us to pay if we don't do what conveniences them and costs us more- switch to a more expensive plan!! I'm happily going to Verizon. I have read a lot of positive comments on Verizon's customer service. Cnigular's is freuqently rated poorly and they prove it in all my recent conversations with them. Don't let them buy you off with a phone, you need to get the best customer service and good service for the best recurring monthly charge. Stand up for your right as a consumer against a rich, rude company and when they lose customers, they will see that the consumer isn't a puppet.

I read the comment about negotiation skills and just had to comment. My wife is an arbitrator and pretty good negotiator. She has been a long time Cingular customer, for more years than I can remember. She did call customer service about the letter. To make this short and sweet, the bottem line was Payup or leave. Cingular agreed to waive the upgrade fee, but a two year contract and a new phone was the requirement. Unfortunately, I just switched from Nextel to Cingular, so I am stuck for awhile unless I buy out the contract. Cingular will lose one customer this month and another as soon as my contract expires.

Is it legal for a company that bought another company and it's contracts,to change customers plans(contracts)? If it's customers decided to terminate their contracts early they would be charged stiff cancelation fees.why is this not the case for this cellular company that imposses extra fees on it's customers when they where not informed of this at the time of singing a contract?

is there any notice of a class action suit about this? i remember when i first signed up with at&t, they had a promotion of of xxx minutes of free nights and weekends. however, they would actually credit them on you first xxx minutes per month wether or not they were night or paek. so what did that do? it would eat up you night time minutes, before your peak minutes during peak hours, leaving you with no night minutes. ofcourse i immediately realised this was unfair when i recieved my bill, and soon after recieved notice of a class action suit that was won due to this unfair tactic. what do you think?

i have had my tdma phone for quite a while. as said by others, i dont use it for anything other than phone calls. (no text, no pictures, etc.). my plan costs me $29.99 per month with taxes about $36. i have 600 anytime minutes, free unlimited nights and weekends starting at 7pm and ending at 7am, f ree unlimited mobil to mobil, and free long distance. the only thing i dont have is roaming, but i only roam about 2 or 3 weeks a year, and since the cheapest roaming plan they offer is $39.99 per month, the extra $10 a month ($120 a year plus taxes) i am saving, is plenty of money to cover the cost of the few roaming calls i make. if i "upgrade" to gsm, i will be reduced to 450 anythime minutes (150 less than i currently have), 5000 minutes of nights and weekends (instead of unlimited), that start at 8pm, and end at 6am (2 hours less per day which will help eat up my reduced 450 anythime minutes) ill still get unlimited mobil to mobil and free long distance. but i will get "free" roaming, which i already explained, i dont really need. if cingular really wants us to switch over, they would just let us keep our current plan, and price, and swicth us over when we get a gsm phone. and if they are really concerned about "losing" money, they would eat the cost of the gsm phone, because it would cost them far more in the long run.......

I am retired and take trips around in the US about every month. Just got back from Wyoming last month with a friend of mine. We both have Cingular, they have GSM and I'm still on AT&T TDMA. During the 10 days in Wyoming, my phone was on roaming the entire time, but I had a signal 99% of the trip. My friend, however, only had Cingular service for 60% of the time and nothing the other 40%. I did run up a $25 roaming charge, but am not complaining, as I did have service. I started with AT&T in 1988 with the old bag phone and stayed with them until Cingular took over. Have been happy with Cingular, until the last 3-4 months, when the signal in my house (I live in Dallas, Tx) dropped from 5 bars to 1 bar. Driving around the Metroplex, I have more dropped calls in one week now that I had in 16 years with AT&T. I also have to redial a number 10-12 time before it will go through (I get a busy circuit signal). I just got back from a trip to Alabama Friday, and it worked fine there so I know that it isn't the phone. So now they are charging me $5 a month, have degraded the system in Dallas to the point that it is becoming unuseable, want me to switch my $49.95 plan (700 + 450 lifetime anytime minutes, 7pm-7am evenings, free incoming text, unlimited n/w, and free roaming to a $59.95 plan with 500 anytime minutes and 9pm-6am evenings. All this and they think I should be a happy camper?