Thanks for the best wishes on a new systems. I hope so as well. From what I'm hearing, the call center where I'm at is going to be one out of five call centers that will be trained on transitioning customers from AT&T Wireless Service to Cingular. God lets just hope it goes better then the LNP kicked off over here.
Oh and BTW, best times to call into Care is around 10pm CST and later. I know thats kind of late for some people but you wont have any hold times (usually).:)
You can reactivate your old phone. Just tell them you want to reverse-migrate back to TDMA. AT&T Wireless can do that. I've used AT&T in the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area and it seems to work fine there.
I work for AT&T Wireless customer care. I answer your questions and bitching and whining when you call that "1-800-DUH" number on your bill. What's sad is, the GSM billing system we use is "powered by Siebel eBusiness" [www.siebel.com] This has got to be the biggest pos system I've ever used. Basically its a web based application and Plover is not exaggerating when he said that getting an address/name, etc put into the system takes about 5 different screens loading (about 5-10 mins based on latency issues). Its a web based system. You click or check one checkbox (to add a feature like text messaging for example) and you have to wait for the page to reload before clicking anything else. That's bad enough but I'm sure part of the problem also is that we lack server "throughput"(?) here. Constant latency issues.
At one time they had intended (at the call center where I work anyway) to move all CSR's to be dual skilled reps which basically means they would take both TDMA calls and GSM calls. That would of course, reduce our call times since most of the TDMA only reps sit on their asses all day and take about 1/8 of the calls that GSM reps take. Siebel cannot support any more reps so now they have a department here called SST or Siebel Support Team. Their job is to go over a bill or rate plan or troubleshoot a customers phone but they cant actually make any changes on accounts. They have a stripped down version of our billing system. View only is all they have. Pretty much pointless since most people wouldn't be calling in if they didn't have something that needed changed eh? And to most of the SST's, troubleshooting means powering the phone off and then back on. If its something more difficult then that we get the call also.
Perhaps you should bitch at the dealers and not the reps that you call into. Its true that you get alot of retards up here that don't know what the hell they are doing, and then there's some that have been here more than 3 years who do know. I completely understand that its a crap shoot every time you call in and I cant speak for all the fucktard reps that misinform our customers, but I have quite a few nasty things to say about the dealers.
Dealers get commission for all those extra features they add on when you activate your service. They say "oh its free for the first month" if they tell you at all what they have added. What they don't tell you is that the following month your going to be billed for X amount of dollars for having them whether you asked for them or not. Not only that, but when you call in to get the features taken off, its going to bill your for a prorated amount up to the day in the bill cycle when you call in to have it removed. That means you have to call in twice (and wait on hold) for the same issue. Dealers add them in the hopes that you keep them for 60 to 90 days (whatever term gets them the commission). I had one customer today tell me that the dealer told him it was mandatory for him to have them for the first 30 days. I had another dealer refuse to sell a customer a phone because they customer had just upgraded her plan the previous day over the phone and renewed her contract and he wouldn't get commission for the contract selling her a new phone. She was calling me from the store she traveled to another city to purchase because a rep here on the phone told her she could do that and then was pretty much told she was SOL by the dealer, just because he wouldn't make that extra $10.00 or whatever they make for a contract renewal. Customers CAN AND DO THIS all the time. CSRs here (once again, in my call center at least) don't make commission off sales or contracts at all. They just pay better then most other call centers that I've worked at and have good benefits.
It just pisses me off when a customer calls in upset because they are being billed for mmode, voicedial, enhanced international dialing, mobile assist, and text messaging on their 4 phone lines (how many of you have kids that are not old enough to drive? Or a child that doesn't
I dont have any issues with hardware. My primary issue is with games.
I downloaded and burned the ISO of Mandrake approx two months ago after reading a MaximumPC magazine article entitled 'How to install Linux on your Windows XP PC safely and easily' or something like that. After reading the article and being harassed by my friend that just happens to be a Unix Admin, I figured I'd take the plunge. My system is about 3-4 years old and installation went without a hitch. KDE seemed very similar to the Windows Desktop and updates and downloading software (Open Office, MP3 Player and some other goodies) was just as easy as anything I had ever done through Windows. Linux ran 10 times "smoother" on my PC then Windows ever did.
My only gripe is game compatibility. I dont play hardcore first person shooters. I mainly play RTS and MMORPG's so my craptastic 1GHz AMD / 384MB RAM (PC-133!) and GF3 Ti500 work just fine. If either game developers would start making their games compatible or would make a Linux version for their games, I would definately make a permanent switch from Windows.
Thats the only reason I keep Windows. Now I could be wrong and there could be a ton of games on Linux or some "software converter / Windows Emulator" that Im not aware of that lets you play windows based games on Linux?. I'm very much a luser/newbie and havent the slightest clue, but am I the only person that feels this way regarding games?
I wonder if these machines are suceptible to the same worms and things that other windows boxes are...
Not only will you get a selection on a touch screen to choose who you want to vote for, but you'll get those annoying popups with how to increase your member size!
Hmm. This may be a stupid question, but could they use "probable cause" like cops so love to use to search other things like locker X next to locker Y that they had a search warrant for?
Speaking of contracts, from what I've heard, if you still have a contract through AT&T when Cingular finalizes everything, your AT&T contract will be carried over to Cingular and you will be bound to that service agreement with Cingular until your 1 or 2 year contract is up. Just food for thought.
This is true. With AT&T (and i would assume with any other company), from what I've heard, any contract over 1 year has to be done in writing. AT&T Wireless customer care reps typically fill out a work request for to have some schmuck in the collateral department mail off a 2 year contract for customers to sign and send back. Now, if AT&T doesnt get that little signed piece of paper back in a "timely manner", then they cant hold you to the 2 year contract, but they will sure as hell turn it into a 1 year agreement and also debit you or remove any promos that are reserved for their 2 year customers.
I work for AT&T Wireless. From what we are hearing, we may not even have a job in 8-12 months. We've heard different rumors, news on the radio, and of course, on the web. Alot of employees, including myself, are worried because we are hearing that Cingular claims that they can handle their customer base as well as ours. AT&T has a customer base of somewhere around 22 million. Cingular has around 17 million (last time i heard). If its true that they can handle this type of customer volume, where does that leave us?
John Zigelis (sp), the high muckity-muck at our company sent out a National Voicemail to us stating that it was the "best thing to do". Well, maybe so for him and the other stock holders since the stock has gone up, according to him, 115% since news of the bid went out. But for grunts like us, pardon my french, but I think were fucked.:\
Eight Crazy Nights made me think of another movie with Adam Sandler. My wife LOVES Adam Sandler so we stop and pick up Punch Drunk Love. Now I dont know if it came out in '03 but regardless, it has to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Both Eight Crazy Nights and Anger Management both beat the hell out of Punch Drunk Love.
And as far as my favorites: Anger Management, Bruce Almighty and Pirates of the Carribean.
Well, from what i was told right out of training (not to say its necessarily the truth) with the company, (this is TDMA..not sure about the GSM) the phones AT&T receives from manufacturers like (i.e.) Nokia, come with an SOC, or System Operator Code preprogrammed in. This makes the phone automatically look for AT&T towers first. Then if it cannot find an AT&T tower, it will then look for other towers to roam on.
The majority of people that use wireless service wont ever have to worry about this. As long as the phone works they are happy. I would hate to get a call from someone that didnt have the SOC programmed (or the wrong SOC for that matter) into their phone and were signed up with the National Plan (no roam/long distance nationwide, AS LONG AS YOUR ON THE ATT NETWORK).
Not all phones give you the option of changing the SOC. For instance, one of the more common phones that im sure alot of people can relate to is the Nokia 3360. heres what it says under the long programming steps regarding the SOC of the phone: (AWS versions have a locked SOC and this step is not available in the program)
Yes, there may be hacks/software/etc you can use, but I still wouldnt recommend trying to use a phone that a provider doesnt support for the simple fact that when the phone stops working, roams when it "technically" shouldnt, or anything else that could go wrong, your basically SOL.
Heres another way to look at it though. Wouldnt the phone manufacturers benefit from having phones locked onto certain networks though? That just means they get to sell more phones, especially now that LNP is available.
Actually they do. Depending on your tenure, its $49.99 with a 12 month contract. i would know. I work for the company.
Re:World first non-lethal weapon of mass destructi
on
Radiofrequency Weapons
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· Score: 1
So they should just nuke the place instead.
I know it may be disturbing but lets see..
On one hand we have maybe 10% (maximum) of a population of a city that has to have electronics is some way or shape to live; be it life support, refrigeration for their drugs, pacemakers, etc.
On the other, whoever uses this EMP bomb could just nuke of carpet bomb the place and have who knows what % of the population of that city killed.
I dont know if they work or not, but I do know that if you stick one of those things to the back of your phone and it messes up the little sticker that has your esn, part/model # of your phone, etc, to the point where you cant retrieve this information, it will void the warranty on your phone. At least with AT&T.
Actually the PUK as far as I can tell is simply a code for reseting the PIN code on your phone (which in turn is used to secure your phone and SIM card from unauthorized use). I could be wrong because I just handle TDMA accounts at my job here w/ AT&T Wireless:)
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Thanks for the best wishes on a new systems. I hope so as well. From what I'm hearing, the call center where I'm at is going to be one out of five call centers that will be trained on transitioning customers from AT&T Wireless Service to Cingular. God lets just hope it goes better then the LNP kicked off over here.
:)
Oh and BTW, best times to call into Care is around 10pm CST and later. I know thats kind of late for some people but you wont have any hold times (usually).
I kind of liked the idea or AT&Tingular..
You can reactivate your old phone. Just tell them you want to reverse-migrate back to TDMA. AT&T Wireless can do that. I've used AT&T in the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area and it seems to work fine there.
I work for AT&T Wireless customer care. I answer your questions and bitching and whining when you call that "1-800-DUH" number on your bill. What's sad is, the GSM billing system we use is "powered by Siebel eBusiness" [www.siebel.com] This has got to be the biggest pos system I've ever used. Basically its a web based application and Plover is not exaggerating when he said that getting an address/name, etc put into the system takes about 5 different screens loading (about 5-10 mins based on latency issues). Its a web based system. You click or check one checkbox (to add a feature like text messaging for example) and you have to wait for the page to reload before clicking anything else. That's bad enough but I'm sure part of the problem also is that we lack server "throughput"(?) here. Constant latency issues. At one time they had intended (at the call center where I work anyway) to move all CSR's to be dual skilled reps which basically means they would take both TDMA calls and GSM calls. That would of course, reduce our call times since most of the TDMA only reps sit on their asses all day and take about 1/8 of the calls that GSM reps take. Siebel cannot support any more reps so now they have a department here called SST or Siebel Support Team. Their job is to go over a bill or rate plan or troubleshoot a customers phone but they cant actually make any changes on accounts. They have a stripped down version of our billing system. View only is all they have. Pretty much pointless since most people wouldn't be calling in if they didn't have something that needed changed eh? And to most of the SST's, troubleshooting means powering the phone off and then back on. If its something more difficult then that we get the call also. Perhaps you should bitch at the dealers and not the reps that you call into. Its true that you get alot of retards up here that don't know what the hell they are doing, and then there's some that have been here more than 3 years who do know. I completely understand that its a crap shoot every time you call in and I cant speak for all the fucktard reps that misinform our customers, but I have quite a few nasty things to say about the dealers. Dealers get commission for all those extra features they add on when you activate your service. They say "oh its free for the first month" if they tell you at all what they have added. What they don't tell you is that the following month your going to be billed for X amount of dollars for having them whether you asked for them or not. Not only that, but when you call in to get the features taken off, its going to bill your for a prorated amount up to the day in the bill cycle when you call in to have it removed. That means you have to call in twice (and wait on hold) for the same issue. Dealers add them in the hopes that you keep them for 60 to 90 days (whatever term gets them the commission). I had one customer today tell me that the dealer told him it was mandatory for him to have them for the first 30 days. I had another dealer refuse to sell a customer a phone because they customer had just upgraded her plan the previous day over the phone and renewed her contract and he wouldn't get commission for the contract selling her a new phone. She was calling me from the store she traveled to another city to purchase because a rep here on the phone told her she could do that and then was pretty much told she was SOL by the dealer, just because he wouldn't make that extra $10.00 or whatever they make for a contract renewal. Customers CAN AND DO THIS all the time. CSRs here (once again, in my call center at least) don't make commission off sales or contracts at all. They just pay better then most other call centers that I've worked at and have good benefits. It just pisses me off when a customer calls in upset because they are being billed for mmode, voicedial, enhanced international dialing, mobile assist, and text messaging on their 4 phone lines (how many of you have kids that are not old enough to drive? Or a child that doesn't
His parents didnt kick him out.. Maybe I'm pulling strings here but I'm sure that he could have went "home" as in his parents place anytime he wanted.
perhaps, after they got married, she found out that his performance matched about what his computers were, highly overrated and really overblown.
I dont have any issues with hardware. My primary issue is with games.
I downloaded and burned the ISO of Mandrake approx two months ago after reading a MaximumPC magazine article entitled 'How to install Linux on your Windows XP PC safely and easily' or something like that. After reading the article and being harassed by my friend that just happens to be a Unix Admin, I figured I'd take the plunge. My system is about 3-4 years old and installation went without a hitch. KDE seemed very similar to the Windows Desktop and updates and downloading software (Open Office, MP3 Player and some other goodies) was just as easy as anything I had ever done through Windows. Linux ran 10 times "smoother" on my PC then Windows ever did.
My only gripe is game compatibility. I dont play hardcore first person shooters. I mainly play RTS and MMORPG's so my craptastic 1GHz AMD / 384MB RAM (PC-133!) and GF3 Ti500 work just fine. If either game developers would start making their games compatible or would make a Linux version for their games, I would definately make a permanent switch from Windows.
Thats the only reason I keep Windows. Now I could be wrong and there could be a ton of games on Linux or some "software converter / Windows Emulator" that Im not aware of that lets you play windows based games on Linux?. I'm very much a luser/newbie and havent the slightest clue, but am I the only person that feels this way regarding games?
Man, the Swifter(TM) could make a killing working with NASA. Who would have known? ;)
I wonder if these machines are suceptible to the same worms and things that other windows boxes are...
Not only will you get a selection on a touch screen to choose who you want to vote for, but you'll get those annoying popups with how to increase your member size!
Hmm. This may be a stupid question, but could they use "probable cause" like cops so love to use to search other things like locker X next to locker Y that they had a search warrant for?
Speaking of contracts, from what I've heard, if you still have a contract through AT&T when Cingular finalizes everything, your AT&T contract will be carried over to Cingular and you will be bound to that service agreement with Cingular until your 1 or 2 year contract is up. Just food for thought.
This is true. With AT&T (and i would assume with any other company), from what I've heard, any contract over 1 year has to be done in writing. AT&T Wireless customer care reps typically fill out a work request for to have some schmuck in the collateral department mail off a 2 year contract for customers to sign and send back. Now, if AT&T doesnt get that little signed piece of paper back in a "timely manner", then they cant hold you to the 2 year contract, but they will sure as hell turn it into a 1 year agreement and also debit you or remove any promos that are reserved for their 2 year customers.
AT&T Wireless is not CDMA in any market. They are strictly TDMA and GSM
I work for AT&T Wireless. From what we are hearing, we may not even have a job in 8-12 months. We've heard different rumors, news on the radio, and of course, on the web. Alot of employees, including myself, are worried because we are hearing that Cingular claims that they can handle their customer base as well as ours. AT&T has a customer base of somewhere around 22 million. Cingular has around 17 million (last time i heard). If its true that they can handle this type of customer volume, where does that leave us? John Zigelis (sp), the high muckity-muck at our company sent out a National Voicemail to us stating that it was the "best thing to do". Well, maybe so for him and the other stock holders since the stock has gone up, according to him, 115% since news of the bid went out. But for grunts like us, pardon my french, but I think were fucked. :\
Does this story not make it sould like ALL Linux users are out to take down big bad SCO and MS all in one fell swoop with these virues?
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtm l?type=internetNews&storyID=4262987
Eight Crazy Nights made me think of another movie with Adam Sandler. My wife LOVES Adam Sandler so we stop and pick up Punch Drunk Love. Now I dont know if it came out in '03 but regardless, it has to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Both Eight Crazy Nights and Anger Management both beat the hell out of Punch Drunk Love. And as far as my favorites: Anger Management, Bruce Almighty and Pirates of the Carribean.
Well, from what i was told right out of training (not to say its necessarily the truth) with the company, (this is TDMA..not sure about the GSM) the phones AT&T receives from manufacturers like (i.e.) Nokia, come with an SOC, or System Operator Code preprogrammed in. This makes the phone automatically look for AT&T towers first. Then if it cannot find an AT&T tower, it will then look for other towers to roam on. The majority of people that use wireless service wont ever have to worry about this. As long as the phone works they are happy. I would hate to get a call from someone that didnt have the SOC programmed (or the wrong SOC for that matter) into their phone and were signed up with the National Plan (no roam/long distance nationwide, AS LONG AS YOUR ON THE ATT NETWORK). Not all phones give you the option of changing the SOC. For instance, one of the more common phones that im sure alot of people can relate to is the Nokia 3360. heres what it says under the long programming steps regarding the SOC of the phone: (AWS versions have a locked SOC and this step is not available in the program) Yes, there may be hacks/software/etc you can use, but I still wouldnt recommend trying to use a phone that a provider doesnt support for the simple fact that when the phone stops working, roams when it "technically" shouldnt, or anything else that could go wrong, your basically SOL. Heres another way to look at it though. Wouldnt the phone manufacturers benefit from having phones locked onto certain networks though? That just means they get to sell more phones, especially now that LNP is available.
Actually they do. Depending on your tenure, its $49.99 with a 12 month contract. i would know. I work for the company.
So they should just nuke the place instead.
I know it may be disturbing but lets see..
On one hand we have maybe 10% (maximum) of a population of a city that has to have electronics is some way or shape to live; be it life support, refrigeration for their drugs, pacemakers, etc.
On the other, whoever uses this EMP bomb could just nuke of carpet bomb the place and have who knows what % of the population of that city killed.
Harsh reality but.. I'd take the first option.
I dont know if they work or not, but I do know that if you stick one of those things to the back of your phone and it messes up the little sticker that has your esn, part/model # of your phone, etc, to the point where you cant retrieve this information, it will void the warranty on your phone. At least with AT&T.
Actually the PUK as far as I can tell is simply a code for reseting the PIN code on your phone (which in turn is used to secure your phone and SIM card from unauthorized use). I could be wrong because I just handle TDMA accounts at my job here w/ AT&T Wireless :)