Cingular Wireless Company

Cingular Wireless can't compel customers to sign away their right to file class-action lawsuits against the company, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. Calling the clause in Cingular's contract "unconscionable," the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco paved the way for a consumer class-action suit to go to trial in Los Angeles.

Cingular Wireless can't compel customers to sign away their right to file class-action lawsuits against the company, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. Calling the clause in Cingular's contract "unconscionable," the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco paved the way for a consumer class-action suit to go to trial in Los Angeles.

An outage in San Diego knocked out service for numerous Cingular Wireless customers for nearly four hours Thursday. Cingular, which is 60% owned by SBC Communications Inc., said a problem with some gear caused intermittent outages that left an undetermined number of customers without voice or data service. "We will look at what happened and why to make sure it doesn't happen again," Cingular spokesman Arturo Navarro said.

A legal fight involving two Southern California companies and AT&T Inc. is exposing an ominous reality: Phone companies say they can decide whom their customers can't call. The Kidney Cancer Assn., a small charity watching its nickels and dimes, found that out the hard way. The nonprofit had been using a free, Web-based conference-calling service from a Long Beach company to connect patients with medical experts.

* EarthLink Inc. plans to offer its subscribers software to block Internet pop-up advertisements. The Atlanta-based Internet service provider also will block so-called pop-under ads. Shares rose 56 cents to $6.63 on Nasdaq. * Cingular Wireless, the second-biggest U.S. mobile-telephone company, will let users nationwide keep unused monthly minutes. The joint venture of SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. is the first U.S. mobile-phone service to offer a national rollover plan.

AT&T Inc.'s wireless unit, Cingular Wireless, said Wednesday that it had completed its two-year, $1.3-billion investment to expand and enhance service in Greater Los Angeles. The wireless unit, being renamed AT&T, built 257 new cell sites in the area last year -- 560 over two years -- and enhanced network capacity. Cingular said much of the beefed-up coverage was in metropolitan Los Angeles, the area around Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza and parts of the Inland Empire from Temecula to Hesperia.

A little more than a year ago, no one had heard of Cingular Wireless. In fact, it didn't exist. But after cobbling together more than 11 brands nationwide--including Pacific Bell Wireless in California, BellSouth Mobility and Cellular One--it has become the nation's second-largest mobile phone carrier, and its quirky orange "X-man" logo has been burned into the minds of an army of consumers. The company, a joint venture of SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp.

California regulators are investigating Cingular Wireless, the second-largest U.S. wireless telephone company, after receiving thousands of consumer complaints about shoddy service and cancellation fees. In its order for the probe, the state Public Utilities Commission said Cingular's system appeared "fundamentally unfair to consumers."

Cingular Wireless said it agreed to buy $100 million of phone services from AT&T Corp. to help resolve a branding dispute related to Cingular's purchase of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. AT&T, the former parent of AT&T Wireless, challenged the use of its brand name this month, saying AT&T Wireless' slow response time to customer calls violated an agreement between the companies. Cingular will retain the AT&T Wireless name for six months after its $41-billion purchase.

Cingular Wireless cleared a hurdle to its acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. when antitrust authorities said its parent companies, SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp., could buy back some licenses they were forced to divest when they formed the joint venture four years ago. The Justice Department said it had agreed to modify a 2000 agreement with SBC and BellSouth that had barred them from reacquiring spectrum licenses in California and Indiana.

AT&T Inc.'s wireless unit, Cingular Wireless, said Wednesday that it had completed its two-year, $1.3-billion investment to expand and enhance service in Greater Los Angeles. The wireless unit, being renamed AT&T, built 257 new cell sites in the area last year -- 560 over two years -- and enhanced network capacity. Cingular said much of the beefed-up coverage was in metropolitan Los Angeles, the area around Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza and parts of the Inland Empire from Temecula to Hesperia.

Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest cellphone provider, said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter profit nearly quadrupled, boosted by customer growth during the holidays. Cingular said it earned $782 million during the fourth quarter, compared with $204 million in the same quarter of 2005. The company said revenue increased 10% to $9.8 billion. The company, which was re-branded under the AT&T Inc. name last week, was a joint venture of Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp.

Cingular Wireless is expected to be the service provider for a new Apple Computer Inc. cellphone, according to a published report. The new phone and service could be unveiled as early as today, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website Monday night, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation. Cingular representatives could not be reached Monday night, and Apple spokesman Steve Dowling did not return a call seeking comment.

Cingular Wireless said it more than tripled its second-quarter profit on a 7% increase in sales. The Atlanta-based joint venture of BellSouth Corp. and AT&T Inc. said it earned $540 million, compared with a profit of $147 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to $9.22 billion.

Former AT&T Wireless customers accused Cingular Wireless in a lawsuit Thursday of misleading them about the benefits of combining the two companies and overcharging them for upgrading service. Despite a "massive marketing campaign" that promised the transition to Cingular's system would be seamless, the customers alleged that Cingular had been dismantling the AT&T network since the two united 21 months ago.

A state appeals court on Tuesday upheld a $12.1-million fine against Cingular Wireless for signing up customers faster than it could provide service and for imposing high cancellation fees without a trial period. The mobile phone carrier also must pay as much as $10 million in refunds to people who canceled their contracts.

Cingular Wireless, the second-largest U.S. mobile-telephone company, received support from the Communications Workers of America union for its attempts to acquire AT&T Wireless Services Inc. The CWA, which represents 700,000 industry workers, urged members and retirees who hold AT&T Wireless shares to support a sale to Cingular. CWA members include employees of Cingular and its parents, SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp.

Three of the nation's largest cellular phone companies have reached a disclosure agreement with 32 states. Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless and Sprint PCS will be required to provide more detailed coverage maps to consumers, give customers a two-week grace period to end service without penalty and fully disclose service contract rates and conditions. Their marketing also must be more specific about the costs and limits of services.

Cingular Wireless lost a bid to block three class-action lawsuits when the U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to question California court rulings that companies say are limiting the use of arbitration. The court rejected Cingular's appeal without comment, clearing the way for suits that challenge the company's early-termination fees and accuse it of locking mobile-phone handsets so that they don't work on competing networks.

Cingular Wireless began a program to let independent musicians create and sell ring tones through News Corp.'s MySpace.com, an online social networking site. Cingular is working with InfoSpace Inc., a seller of ring tones, mobile-phone games and data, to create the tones, David Garver, executive director of marketing for Cingular, said at the CTIA Wireless 2006 trade show in Las Vegas.