ATTENTION: ATT Subscriber? MyCingular.BlackBerry.net Addresses Are DEAD! Check Your Settings!
Posted in News & Rumors on 26 Apr 2008 17:45 by Kevin Michaluk | 6 comments

Back in September 2007 AT&T announced that come October 2007 all @mycingular.blackberry.net addresses would become @att.blackberry.net addresses. AT&T also said that your @mycingular.blackberry.net address would continue to forward to your new one until March 2008. Well, AT&T went a little longer than March, but as of a couple of hours ago, it now seems that all @mycingular.blackberry.net email addresses are dead!

Despite the repeated advanced warnings and plenty of notice time from AT&T, I think this has likely screwed up/is going to screw up a LOT of people who have not updated their reply-to addresses or forwarding addresses lately (think - do you have an email address that you use which forwards to your BlackBerry that you haven't updated in a longgg time?). I've already seen a bunch of emails that I have sent today bounce back to my inbox from this issue AND have received a few emails from readers letting me know that today's change did in fact mess them up royally. So if you're a longtime AT&T user back to the Cingular days and haven't been receiving many emails today, CHECK to see that your email address affairs are in order!!!

Leave your comment Send to a friend

Comments
By: chhyeeaa | Date: Sat, 04/26/2008 - 18:06

they really did give PLENTY of advance warning.

and the new at&t addresses are so much shorter and sweeter.

By: r3g | Date: Sat, 04/26/2008 - 23:00

If anyone got messed up by this AT&T is not to blame. Enough warning was given for everyone to make the necessary changes.

By: Kevin Michaluk | Date: Sun, 04/27/2008 - 01:16

Yeah, AT&T definitely provided lots of notice on this, and I think 99.999999% of subscribers will have known to change things up to the att address.

I think the issues people ran into today just came from accidental oversights... ie. your regular email address is something@businessname.com, and you have a copy of those received messages forwarded to your BB. The forward to your BB went to your @ mycingular address back in the day, and though you know your address is now @att, you just forgot to update the forwarder to reflect that change. Only with the @ mycingular now dead will today have been the day things become affected.

So definitely no fault here to AT&T.... just something that's easy for any user to accidentally overlook/forget about

By: Anonymous (not verified) | Date: Mon, 04/28/2008 - 11:24

As of this morning, my boss's email wasn't forwarding to his blackberry. I didn't know what was going on, as bills and notices often don't filter down to me. I checked all the email settings, and he was on the phone with AT&T when I found your blog.

Thanks so much!

By: Paulilus (not verified) | Date: Mon, 04/28/2008 - 16:41

Why do people think AT&T is completely blameless? They are making their customers jump through hoops solely because it will help their brand marketing by getting "att" out there instead of "cingular".

benefit to the customer = 0.
"Welcome to AT&T. In order to remain a customer in good standing, you will be required to wear this AT&T promotional t-shirt at all times."

By: Anonymous (not verified) | Date: Fri, 05/16/2008 - 20:02

I'll admit that I got the warnings, and disregarded them because I anticipated a major outcry from the user groups. I sincerely doubt that I'm the only one who uses the email address for systems management purposes and who is facing about a weeks worth of accessing every system I've put together over the past five years and changing the email addresses associated with alarms, reports and other maintenance necessary function. Total loss will be between $3,000 and $5,000. Thanks AT&T.

If you're experiencing a similar problem, call tech support. When they tell you (and they will) that they can't/won't restore the forwading fuction) ask to be forwarded to the "office of the President". When the office of the President tells you that they won't do anything, file a BBB complaint. The more people who gripe, the more likely they are to actually do something right for a change.

Also, an AT&T rep did put a RIM represenative on the line who confirmed that the only reason they're not forwarding is because AT&T told them not to, and that there is no technical reason why they can't. Needless to say, the AT&T rep (who was also on the line) was rather surprised by this and, I'm guessing, unhappy that the RIM rep was so frank about it. :-)

 
 1. 23 Nov 2009 - BlackBerry Apps that make you go Hmmmm
 2. 22 Nov 2009 - MiniPaint Beta- Have Some Fun With Your Pictures!
 3. 22 Nov 2009 - BlackBerry Bold 9700 Now Available From AT&T!
 4. 22 Nov 2009 - Contest Reminder: BlackBerry Unlock Codes, Stop Turning!, Meterberry and Leave It On
 5. 22 Nov 2009 - EMEA BlackBerry Alliance Summit 2009 To Be Held In Rome, Italy, This Week
 6. 21 Nov 2009 - Sentient- New Premium Theme From Elecite!
 7. 21 Nov 2009 - SmartSig Gives Your More Control Over Email Signatures
 8. 21 Nov 2009 - AT&T Curve 8520 Dummy Units Arriving In Stores
 9. 20 Nov 2009 - Seesmic Releases Twitter Application For BlackBerry Smartphones!
 10. 20 Nov 2009 - Contest: Win 1 of 100 Free Unlock Codes For Your BlackBerry Bold 9700!!