The new Dell Latitude D620 and D820 notebooks can be configured with Cingular’s UMTS/HSPDA-based 3G technology onboard, giving customers global wireless data capabilities from day one. In the U.S., Latitude users now have mobile broadband access in all BroadbandConnect markets launched by Cingular in 2005 — and in most major markets by the end of this year — with seamless high-speed EDGE network coverage outside those areas in 13,000 cities and towns. Overseas, they can use their Latitude notebooks wirelessly in conjunction with EDGE or GPRS data service in more than 100 countries worldwide.

“The new Dell Latitude notebooks configured with Cingular’s BroadbandConnect service represent a complete, self-contained package — a fantastic new computing device with unparalleled global wireless capabilities built-in,” said Jeff Bradley, vice president, business data services, for Cingular Wireless. “This simplifies the wireless experience for business users by making it seamless. There’s no longer any need to purchase and bring along a separate wireless card or search for a WiFi hot-spot when traveling domestically or abroad.”

Cingular’s BroadbandConnect service uses UMTS/HSDPA technology — the global standard and natural 3G evolutionary path for GSM providers. In the U.S., it provides average download speeds between 400-700 kilobits per second (kbps), with bursts to more than one megabit per second (mbps). Cingular’s EDGE network, the largest national high-speed wireless data network in the U.S., provides average download speeds of up to 135kbps.

BroadbandConnect is available today in 16 U.S. markets covering 52 cities. Markets include Austin (TX), Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland (OR.), Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA.), Seattle, Tacoma and Washington, D.C. It is expected to be online in most major markets in the U.S. by the end of this year.

The new Dell Latitude D620 and D820 notebooks are available immediately through http://www.dell.com. Latitude customers can activate Cingular’s BroadbandConnect service directly from Dell and are billed monthly by Cingular. Unlimited monthly BroadbandConnect service is $59.99 per month with a two-year contract and qualified voice contract.

Beginning in late Q2, customers will be able to sign-up for Cingular Data Connect international plans. These will offer two international wireless data monthly usage plans — a North American plan ($109.99 for 100MB) for travel within Canada and Mexico and an Overseas plan ($139.99 for 100MB) — both include unlimited domestic usage on Cingular’s domestic data networks. The Overseas plan will provide access in more than two dozen countries, with service planned to be offered in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain and other major areas in Asia and Europe.

evdomanuals.com

Tempers flare and voices rise, but does your good customer service vanish? These are just a part of your day-to-day life in the market place in any business establishment. Customers and consumers are becoming more and more demanding. They get angry and argumentative when they are not served well by whoever is assigned to entertain them. Big and impersonal companies are sometimes finding it difficult to entertain such difficult-to-please customers and offer them good customer service. But for those small companies who have the skill to be more subjective to customers, I say they have found one of the keys to make their businesses a success.

How many times have we heard about a customer service attendant with a sour disposition entertaining the customers? And how many times have this happened to you personally? This does happen. But it shouldn’t! I was at a Western Union office recently and was waiting to get my money when I happen to hear the customer service attendant yelling at a customer to fill up a card before waiting in line to get his money. Good customer service? Not a hope! Now is that a good way to deal with the customers? Now, there are a lot of Western Union outlets scattered across the country, and with that kind of attitude, which customer would have the heart to go back!? Another example is a McDonald’s drive-thru attendant with a negative temperament. Which customer is really going to return to that outlet if they are greeted with an unpleasant, unhappy face? OK… maybe that’s a bad example – but you get my point!

Businesses have to understand that good customer service is what brings the consumers and customers back. Customer service isn’t just a job! It is a sport in the business world that entrepreneurs and employees have to master in order to attract more customers. It is a key element to win over customers and attain success over the competition. A good customer service system obtains more customers through word-of-mouth advertising. Let’s look at it this way. Take the example of the Western Union outlet. The customer the customer service attendant shouted at walked away angry and cantankerous, telling his peers or family members not to do business with that establishment again! And all because of one lousy employee with a sour disposition who didn’t know how to smile once in a while! Can you think of the money that this particular business lost because of one employee? However, if the customer service attendant was pleasant and easy to get along with, the customer would then have walked away thinking how nice it would be to do business with that outlet again. Word of mouth advertising tells people more than anything else that the service was good and the staff there were pleasant. The outlet would then have attracted more customers and more money by simply giving good customer service!

Here is the trick that the companies should apply to their businesses… They should not think that their products alone carry their business to fame. Not at-all. It is the front-line employees who the customers deal with first before they are introduced to the product. They are the ones who deal with the customers personally, and no customer or consumer would want to deal with a negative customer service. If they train well their customer service department, it might mean surpassing customer expectations and might mean more customers. Mastering this skill also means a bigger market share. But who wants just a part of it? Why not win them all? Why not get the majority or most of the market share through not only good but great customer service? A satisfied customer keeps coming back. And sooner or later, your excellent customer service will pay off and you will see it through your income.