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AT&T to ditch WinMo over Symbian......by 2014

I was checking up on GSMArena and found this article and almost had an heart attack when I saw the title. It's interesting how much hell the iPhone has caused WinMo. Now I hope more than ever that MS gets things done with WinMo7. Read on fellow WinMo lovers and US AT&T customers!

only really an issue for people who buy phones over contract though
but it bodes unwell for wm
guess they should saddle up with wm7 and windows7 too as it seems
companys dont feel vista offer them anything xp dident well not enough to
change anyway

Damn, I hope that doesn't happen.

If they actually drop windows mobile they will loose a lot of device diversity and thus loose out on lots of potential customers, regular and businesses alike. windows mobile is a staple in the business arena along side the blackberry and for them to stop supplying windows mobile devices they would be kissing all those profits goodbye. phone companies don't make money on the devices (they actually loose money on them), but they make money on the contracts, especially 2year contracts:
**the average american spends $90 a month (voice, data, sms)
1) Phone company buys phone at $500 each. Gives customer $100 rebate while selling the phone for $500 (they "loose" $100 because now customer buys phone for 400).
**but this is where they make back any money lost and more**
2) customer signs up for a 2 year contract paying $90 month; 24months multiply by $90monthly = $2160
3) now subtract that $500 they originally paid for the phone from the manufactures: $2160 -$500 = $1660, hmmm so they tripled they're original cost.....but its not done yet
4) remember customer had to pay $400 upfront to actually get the phone, so add that money back to their $1660 = $2060
so they're making roughly $2000 an any customer who's paying $90 dollars a month for 2 years. (this not taking into account equipment cost such as cellular towers/data towers, employees, etc).
businesses pays less on each device, but the fact they buy in quantities both device and contract the phone companies more than make back the difference.
if I'm wrong someone correct me.
So for them to stop selling a variety of phones especially winMo devices, then they basically stop supporting a huge part of their revenue stream. i doubt they would really do that, because that would be a really stupid move.

master athlon said:
I was checking up on GSMArena and found this article and almost had an heart attack when I saw the title. It's interesting how much hell the iPhone has caused WinMo. Now I hope more than ever that MS gets things done with WinMo7. Read on fellow WinMo lovers and US AT&T customers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like all the other articles, it says ATT branded phones will probably all be symbian, but all the rest of the OSes will still be in the lineup. Right now, ATT Wireless customer service has to support regular phones, WinMo, symbian, etc. Apple supports the iPhone. If you've ever called ATT Wireless CS, you'd know this decision could be a very good thing. The outsourced CS techs would only have to know one OS (hopefully better than they do now, spread over several OSes), while the hansets running any other OS would be supported by the handset manufacturers. Since Symbian is the longterm OS of choice anywhere outside the US, this makes sense.

My White Nose Hair

Now that I got your attention with my headlines.
Has anyone here ever bought phone from this SMG-GSM -Selling Mobile They have same phones, but lowest price of the four that I found.
Now cheaper aren't always better. So if you bought a phone here. Would you mind sharing your personal experience.
Thanks

Why not stick to the topic in your title? Please tell us more...

I can say that it is accredited by the BBB , Better Business Bureau . And that doesn't come easily or without certain standards having to be met.
My Business is also BBB approved and I had to meet with the local BBB people, they investigated my business for disatisfied customers and made sure that my business was financially solid before they let me advertise as BBB approved.
On that alone I would take a chance.

Having issues with your wireless provider? Look here for some tips!

Not sure if this is the right place to share this or not, but wanted to give some others some help from my own experiences.
I have recently gone through an awful battle with ATT regarding my upgrade status for a new phone. The very vague version of the story is that three months ago my online account showed me as eligible for an upgrade and I was going to get the Iphone 3GS. When I went to the store to buy it, I was told that I was not eligible because my account (on their end) said I was not eligible. After countless arguments and working my way through the 'ranks' of management I FINALLY came to learn that Apple's agreement with ATT does not allow them flexibility to correct customer concerns with the iphone and they are not allowed to do price overrides. The truth of that is questionable, but regardless they outright refused to give me the standard upgrade pricing on the Iphone. In the end I chose to go with the Captivate and from what Ive read, it was the right choice . I thought though that I would share with you all some free tools and services that are available to consumers that helped me and can help you get your complaints and concerns taken care of.
Most of you I hope already know about some of these, but if you dont they can be priceless.
1. The Better Business Bureau: (w-w-w. bbb .o-r-g) The BBB are the knights in shining armor for consumers. They basically will act as a mediator between you and a company who you are having difficulty getting through to or who you feel are giving you the run around. The best part is that since the BBB gives 'report cards' to millions of companies across the country, you can almost always get in touch with a very high up customer service worker who has more flexibility to help you. ATT in general has a department dedicated strictly only to addressing BBB complaints (Corporate Escalations Department Consumer Complaints Division) The only way you will ever have the privilege to speak with these individuals is to go this route. Theres never a guarantee with the BBB, but it will beat dealing with mindless call center drones who are unwilling or not allowed to take care of your issues appropriately. The complaint process is very easy and user friendly and in the best case scenario you will be contacted by the company within 7 days of filing. The BBB will stay in contact with you throughout the entire process and keep you updated with what the company is submitting to them as well.
2. The Federal Communications Commission: (w-w-w. fcc .g-o-v) Did you know that the FCC oversees the doings of all wireless carriers in the country? If all else fails, an FCC complaint is the equivalent of calling in a customer service artillery attack against a wireless company. The company is REQUIRED to address any complaints submitted by consumers to the FCC and you WILL hear back about your complaint. Best yet, the FCC will fight for your side of things and encourage the carrier to work towards getting you a fair resolution. Again, there are no guarantees, but if your getting the run around continuously then go this route! One of the most common complaints to the FCC about carriers regard early termination fees and with the FCC on your side you can almost always get a clean break from a cell contract without having to pay any of those nasty fees that can add up very quickly.
3.BASIC CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL CENTER WORKERS ARE COMPLETELY WORTHLESS TO YOUR CAUSE! I would repeat that but I think you get the point. Call Center employees are extremely limited in what they can actually do for you. Do yourself a favor and ask to speak to a manager, if they tell you that you the manager will say or give you the same resolve, ignore them and again demand to speak to a manager. Call Center employees are trained to try and steer you away from speaking to anyone above them and they will try to convince you that doing anything above them is pointless. DON'T LISTEN! Stick to your guns and talk to a manager or supervisor.
When it does come time to speak to a manager you will be in much better hands because you will actually be talking to someone who has the authority to resolve your complaint and offer you something in return. Supervisors are USUALLY more sympathetic about your complaint as long as you don't jump down their throats from the get-go. Explain your issue sternly and tell them what you want in return. You don't have to break out the boxing gloves but don't be a pushover either, if you don't get what you want, then move onto the next rung on the ladder. It may sound like a lot of work, but if your getting the work around then it is worth every bit of your time and energy to fight it. Don't back down till you get a fair resolve.
Also, the BBB and FCC are excellent bargaining tools to use in your favor. Threatening to file a complaint with either organization can sometimes be enough to tilt the scale. Companies fear this because they know its incredibly easy to file one and there's a good chance that your going to do it if you threaten it.
Again, desperate times call for powerful action. Don't let these comapnies bully you, tell you that your wrong or the worst one: tell you that you don't understand how something works. Companies love trying to convince you that your wrong and that its your fault that your account or whatever is messed up.

Is T-mobile merger bad for consumers?

I think so and I'm about to explain why.
I switched to Verizon's HTC thunderbolt from AT&T (out of contract) and being that I pay a month up front, figured AT&T would owe me for a partial month of service. I was surprised to receive a bill for $67 from AT&T that was for 10 days of service. At the time I was busy and didn't call right away. The next month I received a bill for $403!
I called today and they stated it was $300 in ETF fees. I asked why I owed $67 for 10 days of service and got a response that if I switched service I would have to pay for a full month's of service regardless of how many days I used. I told them the FCC has guidelines to prevent big companies from doing things like that and I would not be paying them for service I didn't use. This is when they began to backpedal and say well as a courtesy we will only charge you for 10 days!?! lol, what a courtesy to actually get charged for what I used.
After an hour long conversation with the customer service manager my bill was reduced down to less than $30. I have experienced this similar type of situation with Verizon in the past after not getting good reception where they tried to charge me for a full month of service after porting over my number as well as unjustified ETF fees.
I didn't have a contract with AT&T yet for some reason they were trying to justify these hefty ETF fees that took even the manager in the customer service department an hour to fix.
I think these big cell phone companies try to bully around the consumer rather than win them over. Then claim they are doing you a favor by treating you fairly!
Hearing about the T-mobile merger I'm really starting to wonder what is going to come of the future of mobile services. I have had T-mobile service for 5 years in the past and never have I experienced these kinds of problems, the big 2 have given me.
Once T-mobile is bought out where will the checks and balances of competition be observed? I would have signed up for T-mobile service but they don't have nice phones nor the data connection speed I was looking for.
Hence the dilema, as these companies get larger they gain more power over the consumer and the manufacturer of the devices. We as the consumer have very little say in what occurs other than to sit on the phone and hope the person on the other end can "work it out" in their system.

Large corporations abusing their customers... what else is new?

I've heard these horror stories from both sides of the fence (Verizon + ATT). Just like almost every other business sector in America, customer service is going down with last night's dinner. Instead of "The customer is always right," corporations have now moved to "Get them to a position where they can't say 'no'" leaving consumers no choice but to bend over and take it or band together and sue. Pretty soon instead of labor unions we'll have consumer unions...
/rant

dbisch said:
Large corporations abusing their customers... what else is new?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess the better question is how can I let the government know what happened in my situation and allow them to understand what this means for the consumer?
Or are they just getting paid copious amounts of money to justify the anti-trust situation and there is nothing we as the consumer can do to stop them?
Is there no forum for this other than BBB?
I feel like the FCC should know that both AT&T and Verizon are telling customers they have to pay for service they never receive and then when called out they back down acting like I'm getting one over on them.

Don't know what it is worth.... but...
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/hotdocket/list

azwildfire said:
Don't know what it is worth.... but...
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/hotdocket/list
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'll look into it

Well both companies have crappy service, I was a Tmo customer and hated every minute I had them. Couldnt drive home from work without loosing my call 3 or 4 times.

To tell you the truth "customer service" varies just like people are. Depends who you get, and what kind of problem you have. I have had friends that try and twist the system and complain poor customer service because they don't get their way. I have seen people with legitimate problems who don't get help because at times reps don't have the authority to fix the problem. A lot of people don't have patience like they used to have. Sometimes how you present yourself dictates the kind of service you get.
On the subject at hand... I don't think it honestly matters... Consumers have been giving up power for many years... If it bothered you that much about pricing then why bother getting service and paying for it. If people stuck to their guns instead of paying for it then prices would change faster than everyone paying for service.
BEFORE anyone cries and say they need blah blah blah for "emergencies"
ANY phone land line or cellular can dial 911 regardless if it has service or not as required BY LAW... So that's a VERY MOOT point.
If it was an emergency then what are you going to do? Text 911, or look up on the internet how to dial 911 and report an emergency?
At some point with the way things are going choices will be gone... The government will soon be telling us what we can and can't do, what services to get, and everything else imaginable... We are almost there anyway with the way people cry about this and that instead of putting their money where their mouth is.

FCC halts AT&T plan to raise Internet prices on Sprint and other rivals

The FCC halted a move by AT&T to artificially inflate market costs for competing carriers like Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile. AT&T's plan included tariff revisions that would raise competitors cost for backhaul as much as 24%. The end result would be increased cost to consumers and a less competitive market in which AT&T would be more likely to thrive. AT&T wanted to make the rate increase effective 12/10/13, but the FCC suspended it for five months while it investigates further..."There are substantial questions regarding the lawfulness of AT&T’s tariff revisions that require further investigation," the FCC said.
In a recent congressional hearing, AT&T Senior VP James Cicconi was asked how his company could raise prices 24 percent if it was operating in a competitive market. "I don't think we've raised prices; I think we eliminated some rate plans," Cicconi said.
Harold Feld said the FCC decision shows that new chairman Tom Wheeler "is not going to let AT&T rush him. This was a test." At first, AT&T argued that it didn't even need FCC approval to raise rates, but the FCC forced the company to file a request, Feld said.
That doesn't mean AT&T won't ultimately be able to raise prices, though. Telecom investment firm Stifel said it "doubt the FCC will ultimately prevent the phase-out outright, though we wouldn’t be surprised if it seeks changes to lighten the fallout somewhat."
Read the full editorial by Jon Brodkin here
Watch Harold Feld explain special access here