Actually, Cingular won't become 'AT&T Wireless', but rather simply 'AT&T.' They've confirmed that there will be no 'AT&T Wireless' or 'AT&T Mobile.' They plan to bundle everything under one banner.
This whole merger mess is convoluded. For those of you without a headache, I'll try to sum it up for you. Let's see if I get this right...
Bellsouth and SBC started Cingular.
AT&T spun off AT&T Wireless.
SBC bought AT&T and adopted their name.
Cingular bought AT&T Wireless.
AT&T Bought Bellsouth and Cingular.
It's almost like an ouroboros.
ugh.
What's next? AT&T becomes a monopoly and gets split up by the government?
Oh. Really? Ma Bell? In the Early '80s? Nevermind then.
Actually, the last bit should be AT&T bought Bellsouth, thus unifying the Cingular service under one company.
People is the US don't remember what happened last week. It has been so many years since Cingular bought AT&T Wireless that, for most, any bad experiences are long forgotten. Also, most old Cingular customers came from Southwestern Bell/CellularONE and BellSouth Mobility.
Oh, know they don't. The vast majority of users that had AT&T Wireless or know the companies well enough know how bad it was. And it's even more well-known because of how staunch and bitchy the former AT&T Wireless users have been since the purchase of it by Cingular.