Dave wrote:
> AT&T Wireless reputation was pretty much in the dumper when they were
> bought out by Cingular. AT&& Wireless knew they were being sold and
> quality went way down and they sustained their customer base by giving
> away the store as far as additional minutes to keep customers from leaving.

True, but non-AT&T Wireless customers, about 75% of total subscribers,
don't have that experience to remember. AT&T Wireless customers that
left prior to the plunge in quality and service still have good memories
of AT&T. I recall when my wife's purse was stolen with her AT&T Wireless
phone. They sent out a new handset, and didn't even charge us for it,
though we had no insurance on the phone, and though her rate plan was a
very inexpensive plan ($10 per month and 25¢ per minute).

AT&T had excellent customer service and the best rate plans for quite a
few years. Since I was long gone from AT&T by the time they went into
the dumper, I only know of the issues from disgruntled customers.

In my area, the corporate customers mostly moved to Verizon when AT&T
began to deteriorate. At the time there was really no other option as
Cingular was just starting operations in my area and their network was
very poor (a 1900 MHz only GSM network), and Sprint has always had poor
coverage in my area.