Cingular Mobile Phone Service in Tampa/St. Petersburg

Pros: Excellent service from my phones and all service personnel has been the norm.
Cons: You may find a slightly sour service apple sometime - if so, just call back-later.

First let me say my service and billing is from the Tampa, Florida offices. It changed some years back from the Atlanta offices although I still receive my internet services through what is known as the Atlanta Group as does everyone in Tampa and ...

Pros: None that I can think of.
Cons: Too many to list.Most of all Customer Service Reps

Pros: The only Pro is to avoid Cingular.
Cons: Cingular plans to cheat.

My first year of my 2-year contract is nearing an end. I am now a victim of Cingulars predatory practices. All went well up to the last two months. Now I find myself agreeing with the other reviews lambasting this conniving organization. Here is a ...

Pros: Good customer service. Lowest priced wireless service plan of all local carriers.
Cons: A couple of discrepancies on my first bill.

I've just started service with Cingular. I too was told that there would be no activation fee because I had purchased a "GAIT" phone, whatever that means! Sure enough when the first bill came, there was a $36.00 activation fee. The Cingular sales ...

Pros: Roll-over minutes
Cons: poor signal, dropped calls, echos, system busy messages

I decided to purchase a 450 minute $45 rollover plan from BellSouth, which is now Cingular. (Only a name change, no better service). The BellSouth store was located about 3 miles from my home, which falsely led me to believe that they had coverage at my...

Pros: None
Cons: Too many to list...see below

I am essentially paying for a service that I do not use because I am and have been barely able to us ...

Pros: None yet.
Cons: As described above.

I have been trying to work with Cingular since our migration from ATT in December 2004. I have only just now checked out reviews and find that some people are having the same really unpredictable customer service. We live in South St. Petersburg, Fl and ...

Pros: They got Blackberries and are quick to answer their customer service
Cons: I guess the quick answer is because they can't actually help you. Poor reception

Stay away from Cingular if you live in South Pinellas County. I travel from Park Blvd and south and my service is some of the worst. I have one of the newer GSM phones and have been told that there's nothing that they can do for me. My neighbor has Verizon and has great service in Pinellas/Hillsborough counties.

When I complain about my service they give me the standard answer that they don't guarantee service inside buildings. I could accept that answer if I lived in a tank or under the sea.

Pros: Strong signal, unlimited nights, weekends, mobile-to-mobile, rollover minutes.
Cons: Customer service is a pain (but isn't everyone that way anymore?)

I became a customer of Cingular as a result of their merger with AT&T Wireless, as I had been an AT&T customer since 2000. Overall I feel coverage is good however customer service leaves something to be desired. However Cingular is not alone in this regard. I have been quite pleased with Cingular's calling plans and unlimited night, weekend and mobile-to-mobile calling. The greatest improvement as a result of the merger however has been the rollover minutes as I never seem to use up all my minutes, so I have THAT many more minutes to use next month.

Pros: 7pm nights
Cons: Horrible, horrible customer service

Cingular looked pretty good to me because of their roll over minutes and 7pm nights. Upon inquiry I was told they told me they were offering free activation. Sounded great! Then the fun began. When I received my first bill I was noticed I was charged an activation fee. I called their customer service and they told me I had to go to the store where I purchased it. So I did, they told me I had to call into customer service. No one was willing or able to help me. It gets worse: several times now they have shut off my phone for nonpayment. I have records on their own web site that I HAVE paid. Of course each time they shut me off they charge me a new activation fee. In short in three months I've paid about $300 for a $40/month plan. This is a horrible company with rude, utterly worthless customer service.

Pros: North of Gainsville, FL good
Cons: South of Gainsville, Fl bad, poor customer service.

I have found that the Cingular service starting about Gainsville south down I-75 past Tampa / St. clear to Naples is rather spotty and weak. Naples it often does not exist and if you get a signal it is very weak and conversation is almost impossible. Messages often do not come in. I suggest a good land line as back up. This was all in very good weather. When I spoke to the Cingular people about this they said we are working on the network and towers and they will be updated soon. This is what I heard last year and the year before that, it is now May 2004. Customer service is ranges from acceptable to useless. Getting adjustment on my bill because of 'weak signal, lack of towers" is not going to happen.

I would recommend that all the folks who go to Naples, FL in the winter shop around for another provider. If you travel in South Florida a lot on the Gulf side I would pass on Cingular.

Pros: Can't think of any.
Cons: They are unethical to deal with and their network sticks.

Service is often poor inside buildings. Frequent dropped calls and excessive waits to get a connection in the first place. Voicemail can appear days after it was left. In short their network sticks in the US 19 area from Clearwater north.

I liked the service plan I was on and it had one GSM and one non-GSM phone on it. When my wife's 4 year old phone needed to be replaced I purchased her a new phone over the phone with customer service. I specifically asked three times if I could keep my existing plan and three times they said yes I could and the contract extention was one year.

When I called to activate the phone I was told I needed to change my plan to a "GSM" Plan which not only cost more but required a two year committment. They didn't care what I was told before or that I had a GSM phone working on the non-GSM plan.

I can't wait until my two years is up.

Pros: NONE
Cons: Bad cust. service, low integrity, kind of like a smash and grab business approach...

WARNING... Cingular is in the business of conducting themselves with little or no integrity... among the other complaints you can find on this site, be aware that since they took over AT&T, who was really one of the two very best providers in the US, they have started the process of taking and converting the AT&T GSM towers to their own signal type. This came directly from a customer service rep who warned me at first that the conversation might be recorded, and she had to use caution in what she was able to disclose. After telling me about the tower conversions, she cautiously indicated that this was happening VERY quickly and inside of a few months my current GSM would be nothing but trash! Cingular is NOT the type of company that I want anything to do with.... ever! I am looking for a new provider and will gladly break the contract to get out now. If they do not take care of the HUGE customer base they acquired with AT&T, and make no effort to meet their cellular needs, who would they care about?