I will be signing up with someone else by the end of the day.

After having Cingular for about three years my trusty old Nokia 5100 series
suddenly showed "NO SERVICE".  I took it to the local office, of course they
could not fix it.  All they could do was give me the number to customer
service (I thought that is what the local office was).  I called up customer
service (on my employer issued phone).  They could not fix it and suggested
that I was getting no service because the towers had been moved (their
words).  The customer service lady I talked to remarked that it was strange
that my calls had been routed through towers in Jackson, Ms. (I live in 200
miles away.) and that is why voice messages would not show up for a week
(another story).  She further suggested that because my phone was old it
might have problems with system changes.  I reminded them that I had paid
insurance since I bought the phone, so I should at least get another phone.
She agreed and gave me another number to a separate insurance company (all
payments I made went to Cingular Wireless).  I called these people up gave
them all the information and they would send me another phone for an
additional $50 activation fee (why was I paying for insurance?).  I thought
what the hell, just agree to it and I would have phone service again in a
couple of days.  A couple of days later the new phone comes in.  It is a
Nokia 3560.  Between the total insurance paid and the additional $50 I feel
a little taken advantage of, but at least I have phone service again.  NO.
This phone is supposed to come programmed ready to use.  The only number
that I can call on it is #611.  I call #611 (oh goody, customer (non)
support again).  The lady tells me this time that the Nokia 3560 will not
work with my account.  I calmly tell her that I will take it to the local
office and that if they cannot fix it I will cancel my account.  I did not
expect them to be able to, and they did not surprise me.  The man behind the
counter toyed with it for a couple of minutes and then announced that I
needed to call "customer support".  I then said in a calm, non-personal,
business like way, "thanks for looking at it, but I have spent to much time
with this problem already, please just cancel my account."  He said
something to the effect "We can't do that here, you will need to call
customer support".  This I did this morning.  This episode has left me with
the impression that Cingular is a dysfunctional business, with their last
concern being the customer once they are roped in.  Its procedures mirror
those of bureaucratic local governments.  The people who populate their
local offices are people who are not trusted to make decisions (I do not
know this, but this is the impression from Cingular's practices).

This story is not as bad as some have, but this is really poor performance
on Cingular's part.

Here is the way the story should have gone:

After having Cingular for about three years my trusty old Nokia 5100 series
suddenly showed "NO SERVICE".  I took it to the local office, they could not
fix it.  After looking at my account on their computer and seeing that I had
been paying insurance every month since I have been with them, the
professional person behind the counter pulled a new phone (a Nokia 3560, the
newer equivalent to the old 5165).  Within a few minutes it was programmed
and I was on my way.  I am writing this to express my satisfaction at the
quick response of your fine employees to my malfunctioning equipment.
Thanks again, your loyal customer XXXXXX.

But alas the above paragraph is fantasy.