What's old is new again - bye to Cingular, hello AT&T
People are always accusing government and academia of being inefficient, and saying they should be run more like businesses. Now Gizmodo is reporting this:
Not sure why we didn't see this earlier, but everyone's favorite wireless brand, Cingular, is going to go bye-bye. AT&T is currently purchasing Cingular's parent company, BellSouth, and will remove the Cingular name, replacing it with the euphonious AT&T Wireless. Gone, too, will be the dancing orange fellow we all know and love.
Branding and building the Cingular line cost BellSouth $4 billion. Oh well.
Does this mean when I need service I'll have to report now that I have a service that is AT&T that used to be Cingular that used to be AT&T?
Hey there, Oren:
A month and a half ago, Cingular service here in Tulsa, OK suddenly went all pear-shaped, in all the places where service had previously been excellent.
Calling Cingular and working my way up the chain, they told me that they were upgrading all 30 cell tower installations in the area as part of the AT&T merger. The rep couldn't exactly hide her feelings about this impending development.
Having switched from AT&T when I left Seattle, then going to USCellular, and then Cingular, I can't help remembering all the "fun" of the early days of the MaBell divestiture back in the 80s.
I blame the return of bellbottoms. Everything from the old days is coming back, including MaBell...