NEW YORK--Cingular Wireless said on Wednesday it is testing a service that allows unlimited calls between its cell phones and the home phones of AT&T's local telephone customers, in an bid to improve customer loyalty.Cingular, the No. 1 U.S. mobile service, is a joint venture of BellSouth and AT&T, which was recently formed when SBC Communications bought AT&T.
The trial comes as local phone operators face increasing competition from cable providers and mobile providers have to fight harder to win new mobile users and keep existing ones as the number of potential new first-time mobile users dwindles.
The latest Cingular and AT&T option, dubbed Mobile2Home, will cost $5.99 a month and it will only be available until February 25 to Connecticut customers who combine their AT&T local phone bill with their Cingular phone bill.
The concept is similar to unlimited mobile to mobile call packages that wireless operators including Cingular already sell, but AT&T said this would be the first package that combines traditional home phone and wireless services.
If the service is expanded, it would be a step toward U.S. operators' ambitions to integrate traditional landline phone services with wireless services to improve convenience and tie in customers for longer.
Cingular rival Sprint Nextel recently created a joint venture with four cable operators in a bid to develop services together that would help them compete against regional operators such as AT&T, Verizon Communications and BellSouth.
