In the study of philosophy, singular propositions are ones that are about a particular object or individual ("Socrates was wise."). In the study of wireless phone companies, Cingular Propositions are about what one company does to get your business without subsequently delivering the goods.

We were propositioned by Cingular Wireless's agent, Mobile Systems Wireless, back in January 2001, and signed up for three Nokia phones. Our plan was to eventually use wireless phones in lieu of a land line, so coverage at our home location was critical to us.

4/8/01 Update: Even Dave Barry has had a bad experience with Cingular, saying "I apparently have a special cellular plan wherein all my calls are routed through a Burger King drive-thru intercom in Bolivia." Check out his hilarous column at http://www.miami.com/herald/special/features/barry/2001/docs/apr8.htm

The Sales Pitch

When we stopped by their booth, Cingular was still doing business under the moniker of Pac Bell Wireless. We had a longstanding good working relationship with our phone company, Pac Bell, so we were encouraged to check out their offer. We only learned on closing that this new company and its agent had no connection with Ma Bell.

We had been very impressed with their ads, which offer free unlimited calling between shared phones, and a reasonable monthly rate that worked out to $60 a month for three phones. We were paying $30 a month for one Sprint phone, with no unlimited calling, so this looked like a really good deal. Our first (and last) monthly bill, discussed later below, revealed this assessment to be off the mark.

The salesman's technique was to provide us with abundant assurances ("you definitely have excellent coverage in your area!") while getting us as quickly and smoothly as possible to the close. While we had been assured repeatedly that there were no hidden costs, we found out at the contract signing that there's indeed one catch: if you choose to terminate your agreement in less than two years, you owe the agent (Mobile Systems Wireless) $400 per phone, plus another $200 to Cingular if less than one year. Our Sprint contract had no such stipulation, so we really balked at this.

The Reception

When we got home (to Los Altos) to try our phones the very next morning after purchasing them and charging them up, we discovered from the signal meters on our Nokia 5190 phones that the readings were zero out of four bars. We called Cingular customer support, which explained that you needed at least two bars to assure good reception.

We subsequently had multiple bad calls, with failures to connect or disconnections most times, and calls going through perhaps one of three or four times. This was unacceptable for us, as we had planned in the future to use wireless phones in lieu of a land line.

We next checked with our neighbor, who has a Cellular One (now AT&T) wireless phone. His signal was consistently reading three out of four bars on a similar Nokia phone.

Our next stop was to some friends in another part of town who also subscribed to Pac Bell Wireless service. They explained that the service didn't work at their home either -- and not well in surrounding areas either -- but they'd grown accustomed to the poor service given the low rates and free shared phones calling. We didn't want to go this route, so we investigated further.

Calls made around Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View and Palo Alto confirmed that the reception never got over two bars on our phones. We called Mobile Systems Wireless and asked if perhaps a more expensive phone might improve reception, and their answer was no. This leads us to the next category. . .

The Customer Service

As mentioned before, we'd called Cingular Customer Service about the reception. They were generally very helpful and responsive, although the waiting time borders on intolerable. Mobile Systems Wireless's customer service, however, is another matter all together.

Again, the waits were very long. This was bad enough. Worse, however, were the initially unhelpful and eventually hostile responses that we got from their representatives. We explained our situation in detail, and their replies were consistently to the effect that "we don't guarantee reception in any particular area, and you're now stuck with this contract. Try to send the phones back and we'll just mail them right back to you."

This can't be the right way to treat customers who are having serious problems with your product. After several rounds of this pummeling, we checked out and got advice from our lawyer to terminate our contract by written notice, return the phones by registered mail, and sue in Small Claims Court for damages if they're returned to us. We followed the advice, and the phones haven't been returned. We also voided the card used for the Mobile Systems Wireless deposit vouchers. We're prepared to litigate the matter if necessary, using our lawyer's services.

The First (and Last) Bill

Several weeks after we'd started the service we received our first bill, which was another eye opener for us. Although we hadn't used the phones for more than ten minutes each, two of the three showed over thirty minutes of air time. In one instance on the bill, there are four voicemail access periods on one phone, with each being one second apart from the next. This kind of padding occurred throughout the statements for the three phones.

The Lessons Learned

1. Ask to borrow one of the agent's phones for one day of testing in your home and anticipated high-use areas before you sign anything.

2. If reception is good for you, compare agents if there's more than one in your area. The one we dealt with is not one that we would recommend.

3. If for some reason you sign up and want to cancel later, do so carefully and after getting legal advice.

4. Consider other carriers, using Epinions in the
process.

4/17/01 Update: Yesterday we received an invoice from Cingular which zeroed out, without explanation, the $647.21 bill that they had been sending us since February (termination fees for three phones plus light usage). Also, the harassing phone calls from their agent, Mobile Wireless, have finally ceased (more termination fees, per the above article). We're delighted to now have put this nasty episode behind us. Again, be sure to conduct a live experiment on whether the coverage is good in the area where you live and work. Despite its other failings, Sprint passes this test with flying colors for us, and we have thus expanded our original single-phone service with them to now include four phones. We'll write about Sprint's pluses and minuses in the near future.



Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 60(promised)