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Issues with cingular

pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 2:39 PM
So my first issue had to do with issues calling certain phones in an area code. I have a 425 area code number (Eastside of Seattle), but I live down in San Diego, 619 area code. I have several friends who have 206 area code phone numbers, that are still using their ATT plans (haven't migrated over to Cingular). When I try to call them while I'm down in San Diego, all I get is a busy signal, no voice mail, no rings, etc. I'm not sure if there's an issue with other ATT numbers and other areas, but I had this result with 3 friends number's that I tried. when I was over in Phoenix, AZ, I could call the 206 numbers perfectly fine though, so my guess is there's an issue with some San Diego towers. Has anyone else run into an issue like that,...
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ralph_on_me

Sep 19, 2005, 2:46 PM
It might be easier to dispute it using the mediaNet on her cellphone. You should be able to go to "my account" and look at past purchases to have them disputed, and removed. I don't think you'll have luck calling in with it, since every rep I've talked to refers me and the customer to the cingular.com/db site (if our website was more reliable, I'd point you to that as well).

The issue with people on Blue service may be more of a time issue than a location one. In many markets we're doing billing conversions to get customers off of Siebel and onto either Teligence or CARE. Different markets are taking turns getting people moved over, and there may have been some adverse effects from it. If you've travelled back and forth...
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pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 2:55 PM
Well, at least before, it happened for at least a couple months (I tried calling those numbers over a period of time that long, and it never worked). I do know it worked when I was in other cities for sure, both while I was up in Seattle and in Phoenix, so it is (or at least was) and issue here. Perhaps it is fixed by now, so I'll try sometime.

Reps in store are generally about as useless at the people on the phone. Generally, they succeed at misinforming me just as well as when I call in, so I might as well save $2 worth of gas and get screwed over the phone (thankfully, I can call 611 for free, besides the electricity needed to charge my phone :-P). I suppose I could bug the local stores over the phone too, but at that point, it bec...
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SForsyth01

Sep 19, 2005, 2:56 PM
Ok, and what about those handsets that state "My Account is not available for your handset"?
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ralph_on_me

Sep 19, 2005, 3:04 PM
Those are some bung phones. =o(

Actually that may be the account type, not the phone. I don't think CSRs have a tool to use other than the same cingular.com website. We could all pull it up using that, but we have to have your account name and password. I've had a CSR look that up over the phone, but agents can't do squat on that end.
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pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 3:07 PM
Maybe you can answer this questions too. My discount is taken care of now, so there's no issue, but when I was trying to get a military (DoD) discount on service plan, it seemed like every rep i talked to had a different story on it. I eventually got it sorted, after over an hour on the phone with someone (lucky i was in a good mood, otherwise this forum would've heard it for that), but how come it seems like different people have or don't have access to different information?
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ralph_on_me

Sep 19, 2005, 3:21 PM
Sadly, we don't all have the same info. For quite a long time, only corporate stores could request to add FANs to your account. Within the past two months the rest of us were givin the ability to do it, but experience comes with time.

When we have a customer request a discount, we have to search for it. There are discounts for service, discounts for equipment, and discounts for accessories. They're all under the same FAN, but it can be a little bit of a head scratcher to figure out which goes where.

I've gotten a LOT better at searching, since I know which key words return results, but I've been SOL for people many times. An example is a teacher who comes in with an email from their school saying they can get a discount. Nowh...
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pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 3:25 PM
I don't think I've ever heard of a FAN before 🙂 maybe that's part of the problem. Then again, I'm under the discount for all members and civilians of the Navy. Surely that should be easier to find than a teacher in some random school district? It's no small organization you know 😛
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ralph_on_me

Sep 19, 2005, 3:46 PM
It is, and it isn't...

You've got Navy, DoD (which you mentioned), and sometimes specific discounts for where you're stationed at. Hopefully we can find the right one, or the best one to put you on. Oh, and also there are some discounts that's aren't what we call "global". They only apply if the cell service is from the selected market. That's another jab in the ribs.

The FAN is simply Foundation Account Number. It's much easier to say FAN. =o)
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pandashark

Sep 20, 2005, 12:32 AM
Actually, I just remembered a real good story about discounts...

The price that I was getting on the Navy's premiere site was better than the one a store had, so I brought in the price printout along with my ID...the store said they couldn't match the price, and the saleswoman even acknowlegded how much nonsense it was that they can't match the price offered by their own company :-P Can you beat that?
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SForsyth01

Sep 19, 2005, 3:23 PM
ralph_on_me said:
Those are some bung phones. =o(

Actually that may be the account type, not the phone. I don't think CSRs have a tool to use other than the same cingular.com website. We could all pull it up using that, but we have to have your account name and password. I've had a CSR look that up over the phone, but agents can't do squat on that end.


What do you mean "bung phones?" I wouldn't think a Nokia 6230 is a "bung phone."
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pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 3:29 PM
I think he was joking in that part of the post :-P The serious part (or attempt at one) was the second paragraph.

some bung service is more likely the cause 😁
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ralph_on_me

Sep 19, 2005, 3:33 PM
Yeah, I just wanted to say "bung". It's probably the account type that's not supported, but there were older phones that didn't have the "my account" feature on it either. I'm pretty sure even the old ones can connect to MediaNet and select "my account" from there, even if the feature isn't on their GUI.
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SForsyth01

Sep 19, 2005, 3:47 PM
ralph_on_me said:
Yeah, I just wanted to say "bung". It's probably the account type that's not supported, but there were older phones that didn't have the "my account" feature on it either. I'm pretty sure even the old ones can connect to MediaNet and select "my account" from there, even if the feature isn't on their GUI.


If the old phones get it, then why won't my 6230? Not making much sense to me....but then again, I am having an idiot day today. Not much is making sense to me.
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ralph_on_me

Sep 19, 2005, 3:49 PM
Some of the newer ones have a direct application on the menu that says "My Account" where you can just click and go, but I think on all of them you can get online and scroll allll the way down on the homepage to select "my account".

Again, some of the older rate plans may not show up on there. Far be it from technology to support older things.
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jinx7676

Sep 19, 2005, 2:52 PM
pandashark said:
One other issue, on my last bill, there was a $6 charge for some direct bill download. They provided a link where I could look up charges at, and when I logged into that, there were no downloads on the phone number which was billed. Besides, it was my mom's phone, and I hardly believe she would want or know how to go and download crap anyway. Can I call in to have that charge removed (or better yet, could I save some stress and have someone just do it for me here :-P) ?


it HAS to be on the directbill site to challenge it. it will tell you what it is and what its for. if its not there, stop in a store with your bill and be ready to log in to the site from there to show them.

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gunny

Sep 19, 2005, 2:57 PM
jinx7676 said:
pandashark said:
One other issue, on my last bill, there was a $6 charge for some direct bill download. They provided a link where I could look up charges at, and when I logged into that, there were no downloads on the phone number which was billed. Besides, it was my mom's phone, and I hardly believe she would want or know how to go and download crap anyway. Can I call in to have that charge removed (or better yet, could I save some stress and have someone just do it for me here :-P) ?


it HAS to be on the directbill site to challenge it. it will tell you what it is and what its for. if its not there, stop in a store with your bill and be ready to log in to the site f
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pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 3:01 PM
Cingular's phone service is fine on the most part, but the customer service does leave something to be desired. And they're very stingy on the credit too. Where I used to live, Verizon's coverage was non existent at my house, but I'm not sure if that's changed. But now at my work, the verizon users have no coverage, while the cingular folks are usually 3 to 4 bars :-P. Heck, nobody else at all seems to have coverage here besides Cingular, so take that Verizon fanboy 🙂
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jinx7676

Sep 19, 2005, 3:06 PM
good to hear a positive for one, and with facts to back it up

on a side note, i'm sorry your local store isnt as helpful as you'd like. we pride ourselves in this area to be the best, and to be the first reponse to fix a customer's problem. less angry customers = less churn = more word of mouth referrals = more money for me 😎
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pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 3:09 PM
are you in this (San Diego) area? Generally, I usually end up frustrated and annoyed after dealing with people from Cingular (if you couldn't tell from my posts), but the phone service remains excellent, and works very well on the most part, so I tough it out.
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ralph_on_me

Sep 19, 2005, 3:13 PM
Less churn also means more money for your company which should mean more money for you. High churn causes penalties...

I'm out of ideas on the area code thing. Network integration is probably the culprit, but who knows! Do you know if it only affected your phone, or any other phones in that area?
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pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 3:16 PM
well i think my brother's phone had the same issue when he came down (he is 425 area code number also). But I actaully didn't ask any other people I know on Cingular to try it. If it's still happening, I'll ask others to try also.
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ralph_on_me

Sep 19, 2005, 3:23 PM
That narrows down the problem to being one with a specific account or one with the towers in that area. I think it would technically be in the building where local calls are routed from that area to another (I think it's called a BSD).
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pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 3:26 PM
Yea, I tried calling in different parts of San Diego though, so it would probably be some issue with calls coming from this routing area.
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pandashark

Sep 19, 2005, 2:58 PM
I forgot to mention in response to Ralph...I don't live near my mom, so getting her phone and looking up the issue isn't a practical option, at least not within the billing cycle.

I know there's a delay in posting to the db site, but given that the charge was on my bill, it should've been on the site by now (which it wasn't). I'll try to swing by a store sometime and sort it out.
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pandashark

Sep 20, 2005, 12:30 AM
So I actually tried calling the 206 area code numbers, and it still doesn't work! I actaully had faith that it would've been fixed by now, but now my hopes are dashed...should i call cingular again, or go into a store? Basically, I'm trying to figure out who I should talk to for the best results, as I honestly don't believe anyone at Cingular that I contact would know how to help me at this point...
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