2007-05-21 07:31:28 · 6 answers · asked by Javier M 1 in Consumer Electronics ➔ Cell Phones & Plans
Good question!
It's because of the history of ownership.
Originally, there was a phone company called "Ameritech Wireless", another one called "Southwestern Bell Mobile", and another called "BellSouth Wireless."
When SBC bought Ameritech, they struck a deal with BellSouth to form a nationwide wireless company. They decided to call the combined venture "Cingular."
Meanwhile, the long distance company AT&T also had a wireless venture. AT&T hadn't had a good decade in the late 90's and into the 2000's, and it was pretty much ready to implode. So, Cingular bought the AT&T Wireless company and folded it into it's Cingular operation.
After that, SBC actually bought AT&T, and they decided that the AT&T name was more recognizable. So even though AT&T technically disappeared at that point, the new company was renamed AT&T.
The next thing that happened was that the new AT&T (really SBC) bought out BellSouth. Now BellSouth and AT&T were the same company, so there was no more "joint ownership" of Cingular. Since the new company was the sole owner of Cingular, the new AT&T decided to once again rebrand the wireless service as "AT&T Wireless".
So, to answer your question, its because of the many mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in the communications industry. I think you're going to see the name AT&T Wireless stay for a long, long time now.
2007-05-21 07:39:56 · answer #1 · answered by Scotty Doesnt Know 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Original AT&T is different than the at&t now. The "new" at&t is actually SBC, but they decided to use at&t because it was a more well known name, AT&T was bought out by SBC therefore they decided to change the name to Cingular but it was a 60/40 joint venture with Bellsouth but now that at&t has bought out Bellsouth they decided to change their name to the parent company and have everything all under one name at&t.
On a side note someone should stop at&t before they start to monpolize again.
2007-05-21 15:48:48 · answer #2 · answered by Blargh 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
AT&T wireless was bought by singular years ago then Cingular was purchased by BellSouth and now AT&T owns Bellsouth, Cingular, and SBC.
2007-05-21 14:40:38 · answer #3 · answered by crys 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because the company keeps being bought out by diffrent companies every now and then ....cingular used to be bellsouth the reason cingular is changeing now is because at&t bought it now ....at&t has been at&t for as long as i could remember.....they know what their doing i guess
2007-05-21 14:43:39 · answer #4 · answered by snipit 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
liam hemsworth brothers
2013-12-30 09:17:18 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They hope we will forget they are ripping us off those loser commies
2007-05-21 14:34:59 · answer #6 · answered by Chaza Pender 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋