Cingular to offer unlimited call-forwarding plan

By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff, 9/9/2003

WESTWOOD -- In a step toward a "one phone number" union of wireless and landline communications, Cingular Wireless, the second-largest cellphone carrier in Boston and the United States, will launch a service next month offering unlimited forwarding of incoming calls to home or office phones.

While all major wireless carriers let people program their phones to forward calls to other numbers if they can't answer or have the phone turned off, Cingular's service will offer unlimited forwarding of incoming calls for $3 a month with any of its service plans. But unlike standard forwarding, incoming calls with Cingular's "FastForward" service are not deducted from monthly minutes.

The plan, being unveiled today, requires buying a $40 device that also works as a phone charger for several existing phone models. Cingular's service makes forwarding automatic when the cellphone is placed in the cradle device, eliminating the need to program a number and code to activate and turn off forwarding. Customers can buy up to three cradles per wireless phone and use them to forward calls to other phone numbers.

Cingular's "FastForward" product is expected to be the first in a wave of new products and services that will enable wireless subscribers to make and receive calls through their home or office phones, taking advantage of big "buckets" of free weekend calling minutes and cheaper long-distance calling services. These plans would also compete with "follow me" services, offered by firm such as Linx Communications and Z-Tel, that can have one phone number ring two or three wireless and landline phone lines. The Cingular offer comes as the wireless industry is bracing for new federal rules set to take effect Nov. 24 that will enable customers to keep their old phone numbers when they switch carriers. Cingular is thought to be among the companies most vulnerable to losing customers. The Atlanta-based carrier, which is owned 60 percent/40 percent by Baby Bell giants SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Inc., has been hard-pressed to project a competitive distinction like Verizon Wireless's network reliability and Nextel Communications' Inc. "DirectConnect" walkie-talkie service, although it has pioneered "rollover" plans letting subscribers carry forward unused calling minutes from month to month.

"FastForward is really a way to manage your communications and give you more flexibility and freedom to decide where and how you're going to take your phone calls," Mark Bees, Cingular's New England regional general manager, said in an interview yesterday at Cingular's Westwood offices.

While the deal could cut Cingular's revenues by allowing customers to get a huge increase in incoming calling for just $3 more a month, Bees said, "I'm much more concerned with gaining market share, increasing customer loyalty, and distinguishing our service from our competitors."

Cingular's service will allow calls to be forwarded to landline phones operated by any carrier, including, locally, Verizon Communications Inc., Comcast Corp., and RCN Inc., as long as the wireless and landline phone numbers are in the same local calling area. Cingular estimates, however, that 70 percent of its customers nationally are landline customers of SBC and BellSouth, so most of the traffic it would divert will stay on its owners' networks.

Roberta Wiggins, a wireless analyst with Yankee Group in Boston, said Cingular's plan "is a nice convenience to have. It's a step toward unified communication, but it's only a limited part of it." Wiggins said consumers would likely be more interested in a service plan that let them use both outbound and inbound wireless calling minutes from home and office phones.

The plan could appeal to Cingular customers who have poor wireless reception at home, so they get landline-quality connections through their cellular number. Cingular also envisions the product appealing to highly mobile workers such as real estate agents and tradesmen who would like having a cellphone number that would ring their home or office.

Verizon Wireless spokeswoman J. Abra Degbor said, "This isn't something that's on the table for us now. We're not really clear about what the benefits are to using your wireless minutes on your landline phone. To us the reason you come to wireless is to get the service we offer and the mobility."

AT&T Wireless and Sprint PCS said they had no plans for a similar service, although AT&T said it is rolling out a plan that provides unlimited outbound night and weekend minutes that can be used on either a wireless phone or an AT&T landline account.

Cingular will begin selling the plan Oct. 1, with a device that works with six Motorola phone models and one from Nokia. Starting Nov. 1, it will sell a device that works with almost all Nokia phones and units made by Siemens and Sony Ericsson, which generally sell for $50 to $100 with a two-year service plan, Cingular spokeswoman Jennifer J. Bowcock said.

Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com.