AT&T Wireless

AT&T--and, by extension, AT&T wireless--has as long a history as a U.S. telephone company can have. Atlantic Telegraph & Telephone came into being when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in the mid-1870s. In 1984 its vast monopoly was broken up, of course. AT&T Wireless is now an independent corporate entity. The history lesson is now over. Let's move on to today.

What AT&T Wireless Offers in Service

With the acquisition/merger with Cingular Wireless during the first half of 2004, AT&T's wireless coverage--that is, number of wireless towers, hence signal strength and accessibility--essentially doubled. Cingular's famed nationwide and beyond network is now available to AT&T wireless customers. This is especially good for AT&T wireless customers who travel on a regular basis.

The strong suit in the AT&T cellular plan bag is flexibility. Although your contract runs on an annual basis, you're free to change plans from month to month as your needs might demand. Say you're signed up for the national $49.99/500 anytime minutes plan on a regular basis. This August, however, your son will be on a ranch in Wyoming. The rest of the family will be at the beach for three weeks during part of that time. Then there's the client job that clearly will not be signed, sealed, and delivered well beforehand despite all your planning.

You can see the minutes rolling into four digits. AT&T doesn't bat an eye in swapping you up either the $79.99/1250 minutes or the $99.99/1700 minutes for just that month. There's no surcharge, no murmur, no hassle, when September rolls in and you switch back to your usual minute allotment.