- The AT&T-Cingular merger took place on December 29, 2006, so any cell phone that is branded as Cingular is years out of date. Problems with Cingular-branded phones may relate to network locking or to the inability of older phones to communicate at the improved radio frequencies used by newer networks.
- American cell phones are routinely sold as locked devices, meaning that they can be used only on the network run by the company that sold the phone. After the Cingular-AT&T merger, this led to a catch-22 for some owners of Cingular phones, as the company now operated under a different name, and some phones would no longer operate with their company's network. These problems can be solved by AT&T technicians.
- Cingular and AT&T phones use GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) technology, which can operate on different radio frequencies. As of December 2009, GSM can operate in the United States on 850 megahertz (MHz), 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, or 1900 MHz frequencies, and a particular phone must be able to tune in to each frequency in order to use this network. An older cell phone that can reach only the 1900 MHz network will not be able to use an 850 MHz cell tower, so if your coverage is not what you'd like, consider upgrading your phone.
- American cell phones that are sold by one of the major providers have a brand name affixed to them; if your phone has a Cingular logo, it was sold as a Cingular phone. However, even if you had Cingular service before 2007, you may not be using a Cingular-provided phone. Cingular service was compatible with many different GSM phone manufacturers.
- In nearly all cases, problems with a Cingular phone on an AT&T network (or problems roaming on the T-Mobile GSM network) are related to phone's age. If your phone is not working as well as you'd like, consider upgrading to a recent model; along with better network coverage, you'll also enjoy the benefits of longer battery life and other technological improvements made since 2006.
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