Cingular Continues to Enhance Illinois and Wisconsin Network
24 Mai 2006 - 2:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Company to Invest $400 Million in 2006 to Provide Most Reliable
Service CHICAGO and MILWAUKEE, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular
Wireless today said it will spend $400 million this year to extend
coverage and enhance the quality of service for customers in
Illinois and Wisconsin and more than $6 billion nationally. The
company expects to add more than 140 cell sites in Illinois and
Wisconsin alone and finish integrating its GSM network, which began
when it purchased AT&T Wireless in 2004. In 2005, Cingular
Wireless, the country's largest wireless provider, turned on-air
more than 110 new cell sites in Illinois and Wisconsin. Also, in
2005, the company invested $300 million to expand network coverage
and improve capacity to benefit customers in the area. With the
2006 investment, the company will have spent more than $700 million
in Illinois and Wisconsin during the past two years. Additionally,
customers in Chicago and Northwest, Indiana also have access to
Cingular's 3G high-speed broadband wireless network. For customers
who don't want to find a Wi-Fi hot spot at a coffee shop or burger
joint, Cingular offers BroadbandConnect service, which uses a
laptop PC modem card providing average data connections between
400-700 kilobits per second on the downlink with bursts to more
than a megabit per second. Other options include 3G phones with
MEdiaNet services, featuring Cingular Video, giving customers
access to a variety of streaming video services, together with
exclusive content from HBO. Cingular's 3G service also offers
customers the opportunity to use a phone for voice and data
services simultaneously, so they can talk to someone while using
the phone as a modem for accessing data services -- something other
carriers' 3G technology doesn't allow. Customers can select from a
number of data plans priced between $19.99 and $59.99. "It's great
to see the investments we're making in our network payoff for
customers. Quality and coverage are everything in our business and
our customers can be assured they're receiving the most reliable
service in Illinois and Wisconsin," said Terry Stenzel, vice
president and general manager for Illinois and Wisconsin. "We've
improved capacity and in-building wireless coverage by adding
hundreds of new cell sites. This investment will enable us to
continue delivering the highest quality service available --
service that is enhanced by best-in-industry calling plan value and
cutting- edge devices." Enhanced Coverage During the first four
months of 2006, Cingular has enhanced service throughout Illinois
including the following cities and corresponding counties: *
Algonquin, McHenry; * Bourbonnais, Kankakee; * Kankakee, Kankakee;
* Chicago, Cook (Lincoln Square, near Westside, Burbank); *
Plainfield, Will and Laporte, LaPorte; * Champaign, Champaign; *
Bluff Springs, Cass; * Owaneco, Christian; * Strassburg, Shelby; *
Oconee, Shelby; * Findlay, Shelby; * Peoria, Tazewell; * Peoria,
Peoria; * Bay View Garden, Woodford; * Washington, and South Pekin,
Tazewell. In Wisconsin, Cingular is offering enhanced coverage in
and around the following cities and counties: * Combined Locks,
Oatagamie; * Chilton, Calumet; * DePere, Brown; * Madison, Dane; *
Green Bay, Brown; * Valders, Manitowoc; * Sun Prairie, Dane; *
Pittsfield, Greeenleaf, and Glenmore, Brown; Cingular network
engineers continually monitor the network, driving approximately
22,000 miles per month throughout Illinois and Wisconsin.
Nationally, Cingular uses a variety of companies, as well as its
own technicians, to drive test its network. The company expects
this army of testers to drive nearly 30 million miles -- the
equivalent of 50 round trips to the moon -- to measure the quality
and coverage of its network. Additionally, the company offers an
interactive mapping tool available at all retail locations and by
calling 1-866-CINGULAR. The tool provides customers with up-to-date
wireless coverage information and is designed to answer a
customer's specific wireless coverage questions based on an
address, street intersection, zip code or even a landmark. It
enables the customer to view his or her Cingular coverage all the
way down to the neighborhood street level while depicting the
likelihood of coverage in various scenarios - such as inside a
building. The company's network growth relies on advanced GSM/EDGE
technology. EDGE is the fastest national wireless data network in
the country. Globally GSM is used by more than 1.8 billion people
in 200-plus countries. Cingular customers can use a single handset
to make calls in more than 170 countries and access data services
in more than 95 countries. For more information about Cingular,
please contact 1-866-CINGULAR or visit http://www.cingular.com/ .
About Cingular Wireless Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless
carrier in the United States, serving 55.8 million customers.
Cingular, a joint venture between AT&T Inc., formerly SBC
Communications Inc., (NYSE:T), and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:
BLS) , has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation
-- the ALLOVER(TM) network -- and the largest mobile-to-mobile
community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is a leader in
third generation wireless technology. Its 3G network is the first
widely available service in the world to use HSDPA (High Speed
Downlink Packet Access) technology. Cingular is the only U.S.
wireless carrier to offer Rollover(R), 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://cingular.mediaroom.com/ DATASOURCE: Cingular Wireless
CONTACT: Chris Comes of Cingular Wireless, +1-847-765-3602,
wireless: +1-312-282-0539, Web site: http://www.cingular.com/
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