Cingular surcharges older phones

In another brilliant customer service maneuver, Cingular is going to charge extra 5 bucks a month to those customers unwilling or unable to purchase a newer phone.

Also in the article:
In early July, a federal lawsuit was filed claiming Cingular promised to provide uninterrupted service to AT&T Wireless subscribers, but instead degraded their phone reception in an effort to persuade them to sign new contracts.

I personally know two people (um, really personally) who would testify that Cingular is actually trying to downgrade all of their service in an effort to persuade them to sign with a completely different carrier.

I'd laugh, but it's not very funny.