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Cingular Announces Results From Its Annual Valentine's Day Survey on Wireless Courtesy and Dating Please pardon the interruption, but I love you! ATLANTA, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless believes Valentine's Day is a time to be in love, a time to be romantic ... and, yes, a time to be courteous! (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050210/CLTH020 ) For the second year, Cingular Wireless, an industry leader in wireless safety and courtesy education, has commissioned a survey of adult cell phone users to determine if and how wireless technology has affected their love lives. The survey, conducted by ICR (International Communications Research), revealed that the rules of dating have remained pretty much unchanged since last year, with 29 percent of respondents admitting they would get upset if their date took a call while on a date, compared to 32 percent in 2004. Ironically, the unofficial mantra of all active daters -- "do as I say, not as I do" -- is also in full effect this year, with 26 percent of cell phone owners admitting to answering their phones while on a date. Shame, shame! A total of 12 questions related to dating and wireless courtesy were posed, including: * Have you ever ended a relationship over crude wireless behavior? (8 percent said yes) * Has your wireless phone ever saved you from an uncomfortable date? (14 percent said yes) * Have you ever used your wireless device to call another girl or guy you were interested in while you were on a date with someone else? (6 percent said yes) "The key to living and dating in a wireless world is to know how to effectively -- and responsibly -- use your wireless device," said Jim Ryan, vice president of data products, Cingular Wireless. "From sending flirty text messages, to capturing a special moment with multimedia messaging services, to simply calling to whisper sweet nothings, wireless services offer lots of creative ways to say, 'I love you.'" Compared to the 2004 survey, more cell phone owners now: * Use text messaging to communicate with their date (24 percent vs. 16 percent) * Say they have used text messaging news as a conversation starter (9 percent vs. 6 percent) * Have had their date call someone that he/she was interested in from their cell phone while on a date with them (8 percent vs. 5 percent) * Judged a prospective mate by the cell phone they use (3 percent vs. 1 percent) Sense and Sensibility In addition to playing wireless Cupid each Valentine's Day, Cingular Wireless also is a year-round champion of wireless safety and courtesy. Through its award-winning program "Be Sensible," Cingular helps educate consumers nationwide about safe and courteous ways to use wireless phones and devices. To demonstrate that love and wireless courtesy can go hand-in-hand, Cingular offers a few courtesy commandments: * Let your date know in advance if you're expecting a call that you know you'll need to answer. Hint: It had better be someone important -- and impressive. * On those occasions when you're in a public setting and you need to use your phone to have a private conversation with your sweetie, text messaging may just be the best tool for the job. After all, sometimes love just won't wait. * Variety is the spice of life, so mix up your romantic wireless techniques by sending flirty text messages one day then a multimedia message with your favorite "couple" photo the next. To really add a little heat to the fire, add a love note to the photo. That's sure to make even Cupid smile. * Eliminate the "do you love me?" question forever by jazzing up your phone's screensaver with a photo of your beloved. A picture is worth a thousand hugs! Love, Cingular Style Orange is the new color of love this Valentine's day, thanks to some exciting data offerings from Cingular Wireless: * No time to play the dating game? No problem. Cingular and Match.com have teamed to offer MatchMobile, a unique wireless dating service that allows love seekers to connect with potential dates in their area, conveniently and anonymously. For just $4.99 per month, Cingular customers can create a MatchMobile profile on their Cingular phone, as well as view profiles and pictures of MatchMobile members, potentially finding a date this Valentine's Day. The service works on most Cingular handsets. For a complete listing or to sign up for Cingular's MatchMobile service, visit http://www.matchmobile.com/ . * This Valentine's Day, Cingular is putting a different spin on the mood ring, with a colorful selection of ringtones from today's most popular artists. Priced between $0.99 and $2.49, Cingular customers can fall "Crazy in Love" with Beyonce; "Step in the Name of Love" with R. Kelly; or simply rock "Happy Valentine's Day" with Outkast. Log on to http://www.cingular.com/rings to download from hundreds of different ringtone options. * The look of love is just a snap away thanks to a new, first-of-its- kind, photo postcard application from Cingular and Fujifilm. Cingular customers can now use their camera phones to send personalized Mobile Postcards(TM) to anyone in the country, via U.S. mail, directly from their Cingular handset. Mobile Postcards can be a modern twist to the traditional "Wish You Were Here!" postcard or serve as a state-of-the- art, digital alternative to a "Be Mine" request on Valentine's Day. Mobile Postcards are available on most Motorola handsets, and the cost for creating and mailing the personalized photo postcard is just $1.99 each. For more information, visit http://www.cingular.com/postcard . About Cingular Wireless Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving more than 49 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:BLS), has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation -- the ALLOVER network -- and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover, the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com/ . Get Cingular Wireless press releases e-mailed to you automatically. Sign up at http://www.cingular.com/newsroom . http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050210/CLTH020 http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Cingular Wireless CONTACT: Jennifer Bowcock, +1-404-236-6319, or , or Kelleigh Scott, +1-404-236-6321, or , both of Cingular Wireless Web site: http://www.cingular.com/ http://www.cingular.com/newsroom http://www.cingular.com/rings http://www.cingular.com/postcard http://www.matchmobile.com/

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