Cingular: Formal Bid for AT&T Wireless

Reuters ^

[IndyTiger]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cingular Wireless made a formal offer to buy AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which if accepted would make the combined company the largest wireless service in the U.S., a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The source declined to specify the price of No. 2 wireless company Cingular's offer, nor would he characterize the offer as friendly or unsolicited. The offer is believed to be at a premium over AT&T Wireless's closing price of $9.99 in Friday's trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The combined company would have about 45 million customers, surpassing the current No. 1 service Verizon Wireless, which had about 36 million customers at the end of the third quarter.

[IndyTiger]

AT&T cash flow problems?

[1rudeboy]

My understanding is the AT&T Wireless has been on life-support for quite some time. It has a good product (at least in Chicago); a Cingular bid might be a good thing.

[amadeus]

Oh, GREAT! This after I spent a MONTH trying to get my cingular number ported over to AT&T. It took OVER A MONTH PEOPLE!! Just, DAMN!!

[jigsaw]

Dr. Dean? Is that you? ;-)

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Mr. Peel and I signed up with AT&T on their digital GSM network on a 2 year plan. After 4 months of crappy reception, I was able to get AT&T to admit that the reception that I was receiving was not what I signed up for (in the area that they promised quality receiption). So, they let me out of the contract with no penalty. It took another 3 months to straighten out the billing. Switched to T-Mobile (also GSM, also digital) -- NO DROPOUTS!

T-Mobile a vastly superior service.

[tort_feasor]

I have had cingular for about 18 months. 2 months ago went from digital network to GSM. I have experieinced a lot more dead cells and a number of times have had service just quit for hours. Hopefully it will improve.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

What we noticed was the AT&T GSM was perfect in the months of March (when we signed up) and the beginning of April. May it was awful, June totally unusable. My personal theory was the summer foliage was causing interference and that the AT&T signal was just not very strong. Mr. Peels thinks that AT&T totally buggered their equipment in April and were not interesting in repairing it. T-Mobile works for us.

[bob_esb]

My opinion is that ATT's GSM network is just much busier. I have noticed it in Seattle - it seems to happen at the end of the workday 4-7, in my case anyway.

[Born Conservative]

AT&T Wireless in my area (Eastern Pennsylvania) sucks; poor reception, lots of dropped calls. One of my co-workers had AT&T, and would call their "customer service" to complain and try to get them to realize that they needed to upgrade their network. When he finally gave up and called to cancel his service, they asked him why he was dropping them. He told them the reasons, and then he asked the service rep why she would think that he should consider staying with them. Her reply: "well, with AT&T's phones, you get to play games on them". Needless to say, he didn't stay with AT&T.

As for me, I feel that Verizon is vastly superior. It won't bother me if AT&T sells out; I'm sticking with Verizon.

[tort_feasor]

What I have been told is they are pushing the GSM network to help the build out program for it. When I switched I got an extra 200 peak minutes a month for the same price as digital (1700 vs. 1500). When my service went totally out I was told that there are some issue with the switching system. BTW I love rollover minutes. After being hit with a couple of $300 bills because of extra use, I like knowing I don't have to keep close track of my usage.

[Gabz]

T-Mobile a vastly superior service.

Absolutely without question I agree with you. My husband has T-mobile and I've got Sun-Com. I didn't think I could find a service that was worse than Cingular - but Sun-Com sure is. The contract is up in may - by then T-mobile is scheduled to have full coverage where we live - as soon as they do I am done with Sun-Com.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

As for me, I feel that Verizon is vastly superior. It won't bother me if AT&T sells out; I'm sticking with Verizon.

You're probably right. However, I was with Verizon for years and my home was in a dead zone. It made it quite maddening to watch those "Can you hear me now?" commercials while being unable to use the "free" weekend minutes from my own home. I just ported my number to AT&T and it seems to be much better at home, although the coverage is not quite as good elsewhere. (I still have 3 weeks to cancel the deal though.)

[MrsEmmaPeel]

My husband has T-mobile and I've got Sun-Com. ... The contract is up in may

So, you'll be paying for crapping service until May? Poor you. When you do switch to T-Mobile, one of the things that's great is their unlimited buddy-to-buddy time. You'll be able to chat with hubby from your T-Mobile on his T-Mobile for as long as you want any time day or night and it won't eat into your regular minutes.

[ken5050]

FYI..a year or more ago a read a column in a somewhat obscure financial journal..I read a lot of those..whaich advocateed shorting the stocks of the companies with the worst commercials...Cingular was the 2nd or 3rd worst choice..

[Gabz]

The reason we kept my Sun-Com service when he cancelled his and went back to T-mobile is that T-mobile service stops about 15 miles north of where we live. I had to have service here because of the rural nature of the area and the fact we have a 5 year old. But T-mobile has promised him service here before my contract is up.

The service itself on Sun-Com is not really that bad - it's just not what it was advertised to be - when we first signed up with them, 2 phones unlimited nights and weekends 3000 anytime minutes, no long distance charges in continental US, yadda yadda yadda, it was for $70 a month........the first bill we got was over $400 all because of out of area roaming charges. I can use the phone in my driveway with no problem, but if I'm in the house and use it I get hit with roaming charges.

I'm going to be driving to Delaware tomorrow - once I cross the MD/DE state line I better not use it except for an emergency because of the charges. Yet on Thursday when I get to CPAC, I can use it all I want. may can't get here soon enough for me.

[Pontiac]

Oh, GREAT! This after I spent a MONTH trying to get my cingular number ported over to AT&T.

I been having the same experience myself with porting to ATT from Alltel.

I may regret the switch.

I have been using the ATT phones to call out (can’t receive) for free until the porting is completed and the reception where my wife works is very poor.

But the ATT plan as compared to the Alltel plan was just too good to pass up.

If the Cingular plan goes through perhaps the coverage will improve.

[CJ Wolf]

they shouldn't be they keep billing me over and over for my cancled fone. I can't get rid of them. They suck big time. Never buy an AT&T phone. They will screw you and your credit if they can.

[Fred Hayek]

I give AT&T on the outside five years, and that's being generous. The company was hit after the Judge Green ordered breakup, but still could have bounced back. What really killed AT&T was Bob Allen's mismanagement (a real cluster####) starting with the Olivetti acquistion. It went downhill from there. Eventually AT&T jettisoned its Bell Labs, now Lucent Technologies, another mere shadow of its former self. In addition, the whole company has sold out to the diversity zampolits, who occupy much of an office building in Morristown NJ, and that's a whole 'nuther thread! All this from the company that gave us the transistor, Telstar, the initial ABM technology, fiber optics, CCD's, etc. Ichabod - the glory has departed.

[CJ Wolf]

cancel it. I'm still fighting AT&T after 3 years. They suck

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

The important factor here, which I can't find mentioned, is the AT&T base competition is drooling over.