Former AT&T Customers Sue Cingular

Cingular has been sued by former AT&T Wireless customers who accused the company of breaching contracts and violating the law in the way it handled subscribers after the merger. Cingular purchased AT&T Wireless in 2004.

The suit was filed by several groups, including the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR), and the law firms of Cotchett, Pitre, Simon and McCarthy, of Burlingame, California, and Stritmatter, Kessler, Whelan, Withey and Coluccio, based in Seattle.

Seeking class action status, the suit claims Cingular intentionally degraded service and charged extraneous fees to switch from an AT&T to Cingular plan. As well as the $18 "transfer fee," users also had to purchase new phones and pay other fees to Cingular to complete the process.

"Cingular has displayed an arrogance which sends the message that their market share is more important than their customers," said Bruce Simon of Cotchett, Pitre, Simon & McCarthy.

Attorneys for the plaintiff accuse the nation's largest cellular provider of reneging on promises to give uninterrupted and improved service as part of the merger. Instead, lawyers claim in the lawsuit that Cingular stopped maintaining AT&T facilities after the settlement, which would have been a breach of contract.

AT&T Wireless used a network standard called TDMA, which it had begun phasing out in favor of GSM prior to the merger. Cingular also had been following the same route, although was much further along at the time the two companies merged.

Those who confronted the company about the degradation in service were told they either had to upgrade, live with the service, or cancel their contract and pay a$175 early termination fee.

"AT&T promised customers the moon but delivered nothing," said Mike Withey of Stritmatter, Kessler, Whelan, Withey and Coluccio. "This suit seeks to hold them accountable to their loyal customers who have been forced to pay added fees just to get the service they were promised. It's not fair."

Cingular declined to comment on the lawsuit as it had not yet reviewed it. However, the company did acknowledge its plans to eventually shut down the TDMA network, as most phone manufacturers have decided to drop support for the aging standard.