I just got my Cingular bill which included $158 in roaming charges
while I was in St. George, Utah for a week last month.  Problem is
that I called Cingular before I left Southern California to verify
that I would be not subject to roaming charges on my cell phone plan.
I was told by their customer representative that as far as she could
tell I wouldn't be subject to roaming charges while in St. George.
She referred me to their web site to check the coverage map. The map:
http://onlinestoree.cingular.com/html/Maps/Western/California/region_ca.htm
clearly shows St. George as part of my coverage area.  Anyway, my bill
shows roaming charges incurred for the following areas: Interstate 15,
UT, Richfield, UT, and Salt Lake City.  Granted, my hotel was less a
mile from I-15 in St. George (I shouldn't have been charged for those
anyway), but Richfield is 167 miles from St. George while Salt Lake
City is more that 300 miles.  Problem is that  I didn't venture
anywhere close to Richfield let alone Salt Lake City   Another problem
with my bill is that it doesn't show any roaming changes in St. George
even though all but one of my calls were either made or received while
I was in the city limits of St. George.

I've just spend an hour and a half trying to explain the problem to a
Cingular customer service rep and an "Escalation Specialist".  They
first told me that my plan didn't cover St. George.  When I told them
of my call to Cingular before leaving to verify coverage, and gave
them the URL above, they backed off on my coverage area.  The
Escalation Specialist then said that my bill should have shown roaming
changes from St. George if what I am  claiming is true.  From his
tone, it sounded like he didn't believe me as to where I made and
received the calls. I then asked him if it was possible that there
could have been a problem with Cingular's bill system  and/or how and
where the roaming charges were incurred. The length of time it took
him to respond said more than his words.  I then pointed out two
specific calls made within two minutes of each other; one using a
tower somewhere along I-15 and the other using a tower near Salt Lake.
It would have been a physical impossibility for me to make those calls
using those towers within the span of two minutes.   He said he didn't
know specifically where each of those towers were located, but I'd
give odds that they are at least 300 miles apart.  I have hotel and
other receipts, witnesses and even photos to backup my claim but that
didn't make any difference to them.

I could probably go back to them and take them up on their offer to
reduce the roaming changes by 50% but to me that just in not right.
At this point I plan to file a written formal complaint with Cingular,
the FCC and the state regulatory authorities here in California.  But
before I do --

QUESTON -  Has anyone else experienced similar problems with Cingular
roaming charges, especially in St. George, Utah?