Date posted: 3-23-01

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Cellular? Wireless? What's the difference?

By Veronica Thomas

DeKalb News Service

Two years ago, Julie Whittington, of St. Charles, started driving to DeKalb to visit a friend. She didn't like driving alone at night, so she took her cellular phone with her.

When Whittington left DeKalb, she decided to call home and see if her kids were OK. She dialed her number, only to get a busy signal. After several failed attempts, Whittington stopped trying to call home.

Whittington called the cellular company to find out why she couldn't make a call. She learned DeKalb was outside her service area, and she would have to use a different dialing pattern. She would also be billed for extra fees when she left the Chicago area because her service provider was another cellular company.

A change in company names has changed this.

Two cellular carriers in the Chicago area, Cellular One and Ameritech Cellular, changed their names from cellular to wireless. Ameritech Cellular became Verizon Wireless at the end of 1999, and a little more than a year later, Cellular One became Cingular Wireless.

Both companies said the name change benefits customers because the merger of several companies means customers can use their phones nationwide without being charged a roaming fee. Cingular and Verizon said the name change doesn't affect the quality of service or rate plans.

Clay Owen, director of media relations at Cingular, said the new company provides customers with nationwide service. He said customers had Cellular One service when they were in the Chicago area, but it changed when they went outside their local area.

"People didn't understand if they went to Ohio, the Cellular One service they were using there wasn't the Cellular One service they were using here," he said.

Ed Gerdevich, retail manager at Advanced Wireless Data Inc., said cellular and wireless is the same technology.

"The service hasn't changed," he said. "The word 'wireless' just covers more applications. We provide Internet and paging service, as well as phone service. The change in wording reflects that."

Whittington no longer has roaming fees, but still has to use a different dialing pattern to make calls when outside her service area.

Keith Galbraith, a Verizon customer from Geneva, hasn't noticed any changes in his service either.

"I never used my phone when I wasn't in the area, so I don't know if I'm being charged differently," he said. "My bill is the still the same, and the service is same. It's good in some spots and bad in others."

Cingular was formed when its parent company, SBC Communications, and Bellsouth formed one company. The merger of Bell Atlantic Corporation and GTE Corporation formed Verizon.
Cingular honored all cellular contract customers signed with SBC Communications and Bellsouth when it made the transition, Owen said.

For the past few years, AT&T Corporation and Sprint Corporation battled for the top two spots in the wireless market share, but now they are third and fourth behind Verizon and Cingular.

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Source list:
· Ed Gerdevich, Retail Manager Advanced Wireless Data, Inc., (630) 513-7799
· Clay Owen, Director of Media Relations Cingular Wireless, (404) 236-6153
· Keith Galbraith, Verizon Customer, Geneva, (630) 208-0510
· Julie Whittington, Cingular Customer, St. Charles, (630) 220-0342