Carriers better than Cingular?

I have had Cingular service since 2002 and have paid for my father's service with Cingular since about 1999. A year ago I took a job transfer to Alaska, which is outside of Cingular's calling area. I called Cingular to cancel the two phones used by my wife and me. I retained my daughter's account, because she attends college in Cingular's calling area. Even though I was told when I opened these accounts years ago that, if I moved outside their calling area I could cancel without penalty, Cingular tried to charge me $150 per line to cancel the account. After some hassle, they waived the fees.

Last summer, my daughter came to Alaska for 2 1/2 months and used her phone to stay in touch with friends in Oklahoma. She went back south in early August. In late September, I received notice from Cingular that they were going to close her account because we had moved outside of an area served by Cingular. I protested by telephone and in writing, explaining that the summer usage in Alaska was an anomaly and that my daughter in fact attended college in Oklahoma and that all of her calls for most of the year originated there. I also said I could give them a mailing address in Oklahoma and have the bills go there if need be. Although they never informed me of their decision, Cingular apparently denied my appeal on September 26th. Today (November 10th) they cut off my daughter's phone service. I just spent over an hour on the phone with Cingular and they agreed to reinstate my daughter's service for 10 days to give us time to find a "carrier who served her area." Of course, Cingular serves her area, but apparently we are not allowed to use them anymore.

Ironically, my father moved from Texas to Montana full time 3 years ago. He took his Cingular service with him, and even though he is in an area not covered by Cingular, they never told him he had to drop his service. Perhaps that was because he rarely used his phone. After the letter I received from Cingular in September, we closed his account.

Can you please tell me if there are any other ell phone carriers who are any better than Cingular? I have actually been fairly happy with them before now, but this is ridiculous.

Dobson.
Cingular is not in Alaska.

you know maybe you shoulld pick up that little book that comes w/ all of cingulars phones that show cingular terms and conditions and read over it

Ok, that applies to him and his wife,Russ. What about his daughter? She resides in a state that Cingular services. Why cancel her account? Did I miss something?

Thanks for the brilliant comment, BigRUSS. You're a HUGE help.

That's right, Cingular does not provide service in Alaska, but this did not prevent them from trying to charge me $150 to cancel each of two accounts when I moved to Alaska. And now they have cancelled my daughter's account, who still lives in Oklahoma in an area served by Cingular. They did this because she spent her summer in Alaska and used her phone here. Now they are saying she needs to obtain service from a company that serves her area. Cingular serves her area, but apparently they are off limits.

Can anyone recommend a better service provider, or they all as screwed up as Cingular?

Thanks for the note, Justin. So - are you saying BigRUSS is a Congular rep? That explains the problem. BigJERK. I see he has posted 1025 replies on this web site. I wonder whether they were as informative as the one he left for me. Another good reason to leave Cingular...

As to your suggestion, Justin, that's exactly what I have done so far. I spent an hour on the phone with a Cingular Manager. She understood the problem and said if she waived the rules, she'd get fired. She said she would escalate it to her boss and get back with me if she had any good news. In the mean time, my daughter now has 9 days to get new service.

I told my daughter to go to a Cingular store in Oklahoma and tell them she wanted to sign a new contract and carry over her old number. I bet they have no problem letting her do that.

I also told her to check out deals offered by Verizon and T-Mobile, which are both rated better than Cingular in most areas by Consumer Reports. Why Cingular would want to lose a long-standing customer is beyond me...

its beyond me as to why this situation would actually be happening in the first place, from what you've posted. yes 2 1/2 months she was there but i imagine that prior/after that you were on network more then 50% of the time. their is a specific team dedicated to excessive use off network withen cingular. i imagine you've escalated to a manager in their department? what is your email address? i could speak with some people here regarding your issue and perhaps get some different results then what you've got. another question, during that 2 1/2 months that your daughter was in alaska, did she exceed 750 total minutes per month? I imagine so..

My daughter's boyfriend and most of her friends live in Oklahoma or Texas. Most of them are also on Cingular, so her calls were Mobile to Mobile and thus "Free." Yes, I'm sure she talked more than 750 minutes a month.

I can understand that Cingular probably lost money on my daughter's account this summer, but I thought we were playing by their rules. Is there something in the fine print about this? Our account says we have free Natiionwide Roaming. Does free nationwide roaming and free Mobile to Mobile mean something different? Is this just a come-on from Cingular?

Also - as a reminder - my father moved outside Cingular's calling area and was there for 3 years before we closed his account because of this. Fully 100% of his calls were from outside his calling area. So was his billing address. He never received a warning. I'm sure ths was because he had very low minutes usage, Cingular was still making money.

I'd rather not post my daughter's number or my e-mail address on a blog site. But I would appreciate knowing who else I can talk with about this. I was not aware that there was a team dedicated to excessive off network use. Is there a number I can call to talk with them?

Thank you

People fail to realize that every other cell phone company does the SAME DAMN THING.

Carriers better than Cingular?

Similar Topics

New AT&T Cell Phones

Carriers Talk

Manufacturers Talk

Mobiledia Community