AT&T and Cingular System ID's

My phone (a TDMA Nokia 6560) has always shown AT&T on the main display when the phone is in idle mode. Today my phone began showing 'Cingular' on the display. When I went to the network monitor screen, sure enough, it now shows system 4105 Cingular. The conversion is in progress. In the near future, it will be worth it to switch to GSM, as the GSM side becomes more robust, and system resources are concentrated on the 'new' network, and the older TDMA network is stripped of its equipment and bandwidth.

Celltowers hitting people?

In the small town of Sudbury, MA (not very far from me), a Cingular (formerly AT&T) flagpole type celltower recently lost a few fiberglass panels during some very windy conditions. It amused me that the people who appeared on the local TV stated they felt that Cingular should remove the tower, because it was unsafe for their grandchildren (the tower is located a few hundred feet from their property). I love to see people capitalize on an isolated incident, and blow it out of proportion. The chances of being hit are slim, and they saw an opportunity for some bad publicity, and leaped on it. If a piece fell off their condo or house, do you think these people would demand that their house was removed. Check out this article from the local paper that covered the story.

AT&T Wireless to Return!

The latest is that AT&T Wireless will return, selling its service using the SprintPCS network. Although the merger with Cingular will result in the assets of AT&T Wireless going to Cingular, AT&T will retain the rights to the name 'AT&T Wireless'. Wow. They can now use Sprints network, selling the service and the phones, without having to maintain and expand that pesky network. Why didn't I think of that......