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So Cingular sucks...

Radarr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
1,130
9
Montana
I've been getting really bad service with my Cingular phone the last 6 weeks. Numerous phone calls, trips to Spokane to get new sim cards, resets of the phone have done nothing. I can make calls just fine. I just never recieve them - I just get a little voicemail notification thing about an hour after the call comes in.

I called Cingular, and finally I got to talk to a tech guy. Turns out they're revamping every tower in Eastern Washington due to the recent merger with AT&T. Pretty cool - really big, new network system. The down side? It's going to be at least 6 months before they get everything working properly again. And they have no intention of even sending out a letter telling people why they're paying full price for half-service.

And I thought the UK bike scammers were bad...

I know there's a lot of people here in Pullman with the same problems as me - does anyone else have this going on around them?
 

Fast&Smooth

Monkey
Jun 24, 2002
446
0
Bothell, WA
i think t-mobile is doing the same thing right now actually. only they get towers up on a weekly basis. i pretty much dont have any service in some areas of downtown seattle though.
 

geargrrl

Turbo Monkey
May 2, 2002
2,379
1
pnw -dry side
yep, cingular sucks. Even living IN Spokane, the coverage is spotty. I found out AFTER we signed the two year contract with 3 phones that Verizon gives the best coverage in this area.

You should make them fed ex overnight the cards to you. I always ask nicely for stuff like that, especially if it's their f-up.

geargrrl
 

Radarr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
1,130
9
Montana
geargrrl said:
yep, cingular sucks. Even living IN Spokane, the coverage is spotty. I found out AFTER we signed the two year contract with 3 phones that Verizon gives the best coverage in this area.

You should make them fed ex overnight the cards to you. I always ask nicely for stuff like that, especially if it's their f-up.

geargrrl
The funny thing is that I switched from Verizon at the beginning of the year. I had them for 2 and a half years before I got sick of never having digital features (like pressing *69 for minutes, voicemail notification, etc). Then about 2 weeks after swtiching, Verizon get a tower down here, and all those features start working. I was sick of hearing for about a year that "Oh, we'll have a tower up in your area in about 6 weeks."
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
Verizon's the best game in town. In most towns I think.... T-mobile is definitely bottom of the barrel....

My T-Mobile phone wouldn't get reception at Rat Pac. I was the only one that day whose phone wouldn't work. What a loser I was.... Yes. It was the phone that made me a loser.....
 

Tenchiro

Attention K Mart Shoppers
Jul 19, 2002
5,407
0
New England
MMike said:
They are a CRAP load better than what we're stuck with in Canada....

I gotta say, technology-wise...cell phones and internet especially, We are about 3-5 years behind the US. It's very frustrating.....
LOL that sucks, because that is how far we are behind Europe and Asia...
 

Bullitrider

Monkey
Apr 17, 2004
577
0
Seattle
I heard and interview with the editor of Wired. He was saying in Europe they have phones where if you heard a song and wanted to figure out which song it was you could record a bit of it with your phone, connect to the internet and do an audio search to get the info based on the recording. Talk about connectivity...we're still in the stone age.
 

Five

Turbo Monkey
Mar 8, 2003
1,506
0
West Seattle, WA
Nextel isn't any better. We have it here at work and since the merger w/ Sprint they've been busy upgrading. One part of our office I'll get 4 bars and if I walk a few feet away I get "no service" It sucks, calls keep getting dropped or when I do have service it constantly breaks up.
 

oly

skin cooker for the hive
Dec 6, 2001
5,118
6
Witness relocation housing
MMike said:
They are a CRAP load better than what we're stuck with in Canada....

I gotta say, technology-wise...cell phones and internet especially, We are about 3-5 years behind the US. It's very frustrating.....
I think Russia is further ahead then canada..... In fact, in canada they buy levis from russia for like 500 dollars a pair.....
 

SR

Monkey
Dec 8, 2001
336
0
Olympia WA
my cingular service has been great for the 4 years I've been using it. Great service and coverage almost everywhere. Sure in some buildings I don't have coverage but that's not isolated to cingular...the only problem I ever have is with my phones...appearanly letting your phone go through the wash isn't very good for it...supposedly neither is letting your two year old spill apple juice all over it. go figure
 

toughguymagee

Pretty Boi
Jun 1, 2002
446
0
crackhouse down the street
Radarr said:
I've been getting really bad service with my Cingular phone the last 6 weeks. Numerous phone calls, trips to Spokane to get new sim cards, resets of the phone have done nothing. I can make calls just fine. I just never recieve them - I just get a little voicemail notification thing about an hour after the call comes in.

I called Cingular, and finally I got to talk to a tech guy. Turns out they're revamping every tower in Eastern Washington due to the recent merger with AT&T. Pretty cool - really big, new network system. The down side? It's going to be at least 6 months before they get everything working properly again. And they have no intention of even sending out a letter telling people why they're paying full price for half-service.

And I thought the UK bike scammers were bad...

I know there's a lot of people here in Pullman with the same problems as me - does anyone else have this going on around them?
Your "tech guy" gave you incorrect informaiton. Think about it. How long ago did school start in Pullman? (about 6 weeks ago). What happens when you take (however many people go to WSU) and throw them on a site(s) all at the same time? You have congestion. When a site is congested, CPU utilization goes up, and the quality of the site(s) can go down. This has nothing to do with the merger between Cingular and AT&T Wireless.

This is very similar to other congestion issues in life:
Why do we not have traffic jams at 1 am but we do at 5pm?
Why is the stadium bathroom line so long at halftime?
More people trying to use the same path at the same time.
 

toughguymagee

Pretty Boi
Jun 1, 2002
446
0
crackhouse down the street
Tenchiro said:
LOL that sucks, because that is how far we are behind Europe and Asia...
Nah, not really too far behind technology wise. Implementing the technology, yes, we were slow to bring it into this country. Now that we have it, for the past three years, we are on the same page as europe and moving toward the folks in Asia.
 
toughguymagee said:
Your "tech guy" gave you incorrect informaiton. Think about it. How long ago did school start in Pullman? (about 6 weeks ago). What happens when you take (however many people go to WSU) and throw them on a site(s) all at the same time? You have congestion. When a site is congested, CPU utilization goes up, and the quality of the site(s) can go down. This has nothing to do with the merger between Cingular and AT&T Wireless.

This is very similar to other congestion issues in life:
Why do we not have traffic jams at 1 am but we do at 5pm?
Why is the stadium bathroom line so long at halftime?
More people trying to use the same path at the same time.
very true, but why did they get rid of the King dome tub toilets. These were the only time it was ok to stand next to someone and pee(with in a 3 foor radius) :eek: :blah: :nuts:
 

Five

Turbo Monkey
Mar 8, 2003
1,506
0
West Seattle, WA
bibs said:
very true, but why did they get rid of the King dome tub toilets. These were the only time it was ok to stand next to someone and pee(with in a 3 foor radius) :eek: :blah: :nuts:
I hate those things - we had the circular ones in High School - nothing like peeing w/ someone across of you. There was this big ole thing in the middle to block views strategically but still.
 

Radarr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
1,130
9
Montana
toughguymagee said:
Your "tech guy" gave you incorrect informaiton. Think about it. How long ago did school start in Pullman? (about 6 weeks ago). What happens when you take (however many people go to WSU) and throw them on a site(s) all at the same time? You have congestion. When a site is congested, CPU utilization goes up, and the quality of the site(s) can go down. This has nothing to do with the merger between Cingular and AT&T Wireless.

This is very similar to other congestion issues in life:
Why do we not have traffic jams at 1 am but we do at 5pm?
Why is the stadium bathroom line so long at halftime?
More people trying to use the same path at the same time.
Yeah, I considered that too, but the fact of the matter is that I had great service for the 8 months prior (5 of which included a semester with a the same number of people here). Then they go and upgrade all the towers.

If the tech guy was feeding me BS, that's all the more reason for me to hire a lawyer and fila a class action suit against them... :devil:
 

Radarr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
1,130
9
Montana
Snacks said:
Ah, the American way to solve everything :rolleyes:
"Class action" means that I can get out of my contract without paying the $175 early termination fee. It's like a whole bunch of people cliaming $175 in damages against a company who is in violation of the contract that they afforded at the inception of service. Using the legal system of this country is something that you do every single day, so don't give me your :rolleyes:. :eviltongu :eviltongu :eviltongu :eviltongu :eviltongu

It's NOT like some retarded woman filing a $100 million lawsuit against a drug company because her husband dies of an unforseen drug interaction. That is your "American way".
 

Snacks

Turbo Monkey
Feb 20, 2003
3,523
0
GO! SEAHAWKS!
Radarr said:
"Class action" means that I can get out of my contract without paying the $175 early termination fee. It's like a whole bunch of people cliaming $175 in damages against a company who is in violation of the contract that they afforded at the inception of service. Using the legal system of this country is something that you do every single day, so don't give me your :rolleyes:. :eviltongu :eviltongu :eviltongu :eviltongu :eviltongu

It's NOT like some retarded woman filing a $100 million lawsuit against a drug company because her husband dies of an unforseen drug interaction. That is your "American way".
Dude, you're a spaz:rolleyes:
 

Radarr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
1,130
9
Montana
I'm not a spaz, just really pissed off at a crappy (at least in my area) phone company.

A spaz would challenge Cingular to a duel.