Cingular is horrible!

I have had some major reception issues at my home (although its very good away from my house) but I live near the water, beside a bluff, so maybe that is part of the issue. I have had calls getting switched (ie I dial someone but get another party, while my party gets another incoming call from a stranger) and calls where the person I am talking to cant hear me but I can hear them.

I called Cingular today and they took the info, and I immediately got a call from a technician, who said they were going to send someone out to perform tests on the tower in my area, and told me to go into a store and get a new SIM card (free).

So their response to this problem seems okay--as long as they fix these issues I will feel like the service is pretty good. It did take three phone calls to get them to ship me a new phone (the video was broken on my first one). I never gt the feeling no one cared, per se, but I did feel as if nobody could figure out just what they had to do to get a new phone sent out.

So I am crossing my fingers and hoping that this time, I will have a better experience!

Yeah!

Please explain to me people. If Cingular is so great, then why for the second year in a row they dropped in the ranking of customer satisfaction at consumer reports.org. This is a nation wide survey. Apparently they have lots more problems than perhaps Verizon which is number 1 or the #2 T-mobile.

That's a good question. The answer lies in the fact that our conversations here are entirely anecdotal, whereas professional surveys use statistical rules to reach their conclusions. That doesn't mean that these fora are just for fun - on the contrary, the high level of interest shown by our participation here must gain the attention of vendors, as our exchanges are public - worldwide - and will increase in their influence as the Internet becomes more popular (we ain't seen nothing yet!).

To add to our depth of Cingular experiences here, I'll quote from my earlier post elsewhere:

I'm really at a loss to understand all the negative comments regarding Cingular. I'm in Indiana and have been with Cingular for 9 years. Never had a negative experience with customer service and have always been very satisfied with the company. I wouldn't switch carriers under any circumstances. Sure their coverage isn't everywhere, no company's is. I drive a truck and usually get to about 5-10 states every week. I go places in KY and MI where you can barely get a truck down the skinny little 2 lane roads, way out in the boondocks. So I have plenty of experience all over the midwest with Cingular and Verizon. I also have a Verizon phone provided by my employer, talk about a junk phone with poor service. 6 of us have the same Verizon phones and everyone has constant problems.

Your comments about Verizon are interesting, and they fly in the face of what most Verizon customers seem to say, along with the polls I've seen - that Verizon has the best coverage overall. The obvious key here is that all-important factor: location, location, location. It also sounds like your employer could be providing inferior phones for your needs (pretty dumb, I'd say - but that's also been my experience with corporate telephony).

My own customer service experience with AT&T (since 1998) was, with one exception, perfectly fine. Not so good with T-mobile, which is as cubicularly-insensitive (if ultimately resolution-oriented) as an organization gets.

If there were to be a vote today, mine would be for reintegration of the carriers and providers back into a single entity, all of whose research would be done at Bell Labs, which could provide the best technology without having to worry about the latest marketing trends.

I moved my service from TMobile to Cingular in November due to the merger with ATT. I had a couple of dead spots with T Mobile and I would drop calls and I thought the advertisements about total coverage would be true. Well it was too good to be true. I drop every call I make and am totally frustrated with the service. since I got a phone for my son as well I need to pay $300 to cancel a service that simply does not work at all. Beware before you buy cingular it really bites.

Even more to the point: Be wary AFTER you buy any cellular service - test it as much as possible within the return period, and be ready to swap back (or forward) to another provider.

For msaund, I'd recommend being a squeaky wheel, up to and including writing an actual letter, detailing the specific complaints each time. As you develop a file, you'll be better able to get relief when you force them to escalate the issue to a manager with some authority.

Just to add to the discussion. I like my Cingular service. I do live in a major city, so there are probably a good amount of towers. They handle the load well. Cingular seems to be the best here, where it sucks back in my hometown. I have a tower like right outside my window, so i've always got perfect reception in my house. Good enough that i'll use my cell for long distance calls instead of the house phone. I was nervous commiting 2 years to a provider, but I'm happy with my decision to go with cingular.

well it all depends on your location. im sure cingular does suck in some areas, as well as verizon or any other provider. cingular offers service(gsm) here in my area (ky) but its spotty at best. even the cingular store in town must use one of those boosters to provide signal to their store. overall the customer service was great. never once had an issue they couldnt fix. there are certain areas cingular could use more towers, but thats true for any provider. cingular certainly doesnt suck, but its all about your location. i have moved on to area newcomer alltel, and i have full signal everywhere i go. im amazed at the difference in coverage. i now have service everywhere i had with cingular, as well as places i didnt. so to me, cingular dont suck, just alltel works a lil better in my area

Cingular is horrible!

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