[Gilliland]

I am on the $20 bandwagon and loving the Edge speed. Plus the customer service cannot be beat.

Wow, now that's a statement that I never expected to read here. I've got Cingular service, too, both voice and data, and I'm perfectly happy with both. The price isn't bad, and the service is very good.

But customer service? It's the worst in the industry. I've never dealt with a more incompetent organization in my life. And that's not based on one event, but a dozen or more. They screw up pretty much everything they touch.

Maybe you meant that you'd like to beat them (with a stick or a belt), but you can't? <g> That's pretty much the way I feel about them.

[pabo]

Their CS is a little odd (setup-wise). Apparently, different regions have different groups and even different billing systems. There is a pretty bi integration project going on to pull it all together, but that could take years.

My experience is that they can screw up pretty frequently, but recently, they've gone to this "one call resolution" thing. My recent experience is one call, minimal hold time, resolution by the first person I talk to and they actually fix the issue.

Screw-up will happen, I'm just glad to see they figured out that they need to correct issues quickly. I've seen a dramatic improvement in this area.

[dstrauss]

I think we're generally missing the point - of the four major (remaining) networks, only Sprint is reasonably priced ($0-$15 depending how resourceful you are) for unlimited data. If yo don't like Cingular, wait until you see the great "deals" on Verizon.

Bottom line, they're all way overpriced for a far less than 3G experience. Can't wait to see the highway robbery when they start to push those EVDO units out the door.

[Matt-Helm]

So.... question. I'm not interested in hijacking this thread, but it is possible to use active sync over the cingular edge network with a pc at home that has a "always on" internet connection?

[Gilliland]

I think we're generally missing the point - of the four major (remaining) networks, only Sprint is reasonably priced ($0-$15 depending how resourceful you are) for unlimited data.

Not much point in paying $0 to $15 for unlimited data if the network's coverage is so bad that the service is basically unusable. That's the way Sprint works in my geography. Perhaps it's better elsewhere, but I dumped them as soon as my contract ended, and there's no way I'd go back. I'd rather pay my $17 a month for unlimited data that actually works.

[dstrauss]

Gilliland:

My reply was intended as a plug for Sprint; in fact, I had to give up my Sprint plan for Cingular when we moved because of poor home service. My real point is that they are ALL out of line for data service; and I'm afraid it's just going to get worse.

[cjdaniel]

Wow, now that's a statement that I never expected to read here. I've got Cingular service, too, both voice and data, and I'm perfectly happy with both. The price isn't bad, and the service is very good.

But customer service? It's the worst in the industry. I've never dealt with a more incompetent organization in my life. And that's not based on one event, but a dozen or more. They screw up pretty much everything they touch.

Maybe you meant that you'd like to beat them (with a stick or a belt), but you can't? <g> That's pretty much the way I feel about them.

I will agree with you if you live in the south. When I call Cingular, I ask what office I have reached, if it is Atlanta or Louisiana I hang up and call another time. The Southern Offices have the absolute rudest, non-helpful reps. I live in So Calif, and the San Jose Office is wonderful.

[santas]

Can Someone supply me with a link to the Mediaworks rate plan.

https://www.cingular.com/media/media_net_purchase

It's back to $20, but doesn't include any SMSs.

[ButtUglyJeff]

Wow, now that's a statement that I never expected to read here. I've got Cingular service, too, both voice and data, and I'm perfectly happy with both. The price isn't bad, and the service is very good.

But customer service? It's the worst in the industry. I've never dealt with a more incompetent organization in my life. And that's not based on one event, but a dozen or more. They screw up pretty much everything they touch.

Maybe you meant that you'd like to beat them (with a stick or a belt), but you can't? <g> That's pretty much the way I feel about them.

I couldn't disagree more.................

I have had nothing but exceptional service from the Cingular store up the street from my house. They have handled phone and service issues, with smiles on their faces. They have never pretended to know what they don't know, and will always double check in my favor.

Now maybe your issue is with the toll free number or on line?

[100thMonkey]

....yeah, but Sprint sucks

[v3treonut]

I will agree with you if you live in the south. When I call Cingular, I ask what office I have reached, if it is Atlanta or Louisiana I hang up and call another time. The Southern Offices have the absolute rudest, non-helpful reps. I live in So Calif, and the San Jose Office is wonderful.

This is so weird; sort of like the phenomena of so many Treo users having siginficant issues while many others do not. My experience with Cingular CS from southern offices is completely opposite of yours.

I've dealt with Cingular CS a total of eight times in the last six months and on four of those occasions the reps worked from Georgia and Louisana service locations. Two were CS locations in California, one being San Jose. In every instance the reps were courteous, very helpful, and actively sought assistance from others if they did not immediately know how to resolve my issue. Some did not seem to have expert knowledge, but made an honest effort to help. One southern located rep had to escalate my problem with SMS messaging to a higher level of support, but tried in vain not to have to do this. Apparently, a CS rep is penalized in some manner if they escalate a problem and a determination is made that it was not necessary. In my case, it was necessary and the problem was resolved the next day.

[dwessell]

I called threatening to cancel my service over the issues in pricing with the dataplan, and I spoke with one really nice guy for about 40 mins as he searched for plans to help me.. He was in Fayeteville, NC.. He's supposed to call me back today to let me know if there is anything that they can do pricing wise.

Otherwise Cingular reps have never seemed to know the answer to my questions. But instead of finding out, they seem to make it up..

Cingular service and billing are fine otherwise...

[Gilliland]

I have had nothing but exceptional service from the Cingular store up the street from my house. They have handled phone and service issues, with smiles on their faces. They have never pretended to know what they don't know, and will always double check in my favor.

Now maybe your issue is with the toll free number or on line?

Yes, I've found their store people to be very helpful - no problem there. As I said in the first place, it's their Customer Service people who are terrible.

[shopharim]

If you search the forums you can get the Sprint plan for free...

How does Sprint know that you have actually conducted the search? Do you email the search results to them? Do you have to use a Sprint application to conduct the search? Do they credit your account once you have searched enough? How does this work?

[taroliw]

But customer service? It's the worst in the industry. I've never dealt with a more incompetent organization in my life. And that's not based on one event, but a dozen or more. They screw up pretty much everything they touch.

Sadly, I must concur. The only positive experiences I've had with Cingular have been when I was making service changes and worked with a rep in a store who knew what they were doing. Never ever have I had a decent experience with Cingular over the phone.

I am reasonably pleased with the service, though (despite the headaches I faced using GoodLink with their PDA Data Plan; different thread), and haven't yet reach the pain threshold to pay the exit feeds and switch. Worst of all is that I'm not sure I'd switch to another GSM carrier... and that means a new device. So, the pain would have to be significant... those costs add up.

I don't know who ever said there was real competition in the wireless game, but they were smoking crack.

[taroliw]

So.... question. I'm not interested in hijacking this thread, but it is possible to use active sync over the cingular edge network with a pc at home that has a "always on" internet connection?

*chuckle* Then start a new thread...

[taroliw]

I have had nothing but exceptional service from the Cingular store up the street from my house. They have handled phone and service issues, with smiles on their faces. They have never pretended to know what they don't know, and will always double check in my favor.

Now maybe your issue is with the toll free number or on line?

Exactly. For most people, for whom support is a 611 call, the quality of the service provided is marginal at best. In almost all situations (even in Cingular customer forums) the general consensus is that if you want a decent experience you have to go to a store.