AT&T

Full review
My husband and I needed a new cell phone plan and new cell phones, so we spent about 2 months looking at each and every company, their plans and their phones. In the end, we chose Cingular because of their rollover minutes.

We were able to get better deals at cingular.com than we could at the retail locations. The whole process was easy. The application is "plug and chug"--you just choose your rate plan, phones and features, then give them your name, address, etc. The procedure took less than ten minutes and I didn't have Slicky the Salesman trying to sell me stuff I didn't need. I received a confirmation email immediately, and throughout the weekend received status emails letting me know what was happening with my order. I placed the order on a Friday and received my phone the next Tuesday.

I was a little worried about customer service after reading online reviews. After taking a step back, we realized that all of the cell phone companies had as many people who loved them as hated them. I had to call customer service within the first week about a rebate issue. The rep was helpful and after supplying her with the needed information, she got everything straightened out quickly. She said she would call me by close of business (this was a Saturday!), and by 7 pm I figured she got busy or forgot. I went out to dinner and returned to find a message on my home phone from the rep saying she ended up on a long call at the end of the day and that she would call me Monday. True to her word, she did, and let me know all was as it should be. I made sure to tell her supervisor how great she was.

This is my last customer service story, I promise! After seeing my bill, I realized that the prorated amount for 24 days was greater than what my monthly bill should be. I called Cingular and the rep agreed that the math made no sense and fixed it. I logged back into my account about 30 seconds after we disconnected and the correction was made.

Overall, we're pretty happy with Cingular. The ordering process was easy. I like their customer service. The reps I spoke to wanted to do a good job and they did. I haven't had any dropped calls, but my husband has. It could be a fluke, it could also be that our house is a cell phone reception black hole, or it could have been the phone at the other end.

We pay $59.99 per month for 550 minutes on a family plan. It is slightly higher than what we were paying for about the same number of minutes with T-Mobile, but we get to keep what we don't use. I don't know why this is attractive, except that somehow we're sticking it to Cingular.

One word of advice about rebates: make sure you print confirmations, web pages, etc! Some rebate forms invalidate others, and the burden of proof is on the customer to show they are entitled to all applicable rebates.


***Update: It's two years later (June 2008) and our contract is up. I'm still very happy with what is now AT&T wireless. We will probably sign up for another two years and take advantage of their phone selection and discounts.***