AT&T acquires Cingular
In 2004, I purchased my first cellphone from Cingular. Even though this Press Release is dated March 5, 2006, my phone records from AT&T (at the time, Cingular) show what happens when two providers merge. None of my phone records from 2004 up to when I left Cingular/AT&T in 2005 are accurate and I can't view them because of "proprietary business reasons" - to AT&T's credit, after screwing up all of my phone records, they did agree to - under subpoena, which we weren't allowed to pursue - provide us with the actual call records.
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In this image (appears to the right): I've circled some odd points where records have strange entries. The green highlight mark shows the valid range where the calls between Chad, Steve and I took place. If you browse the call record PDF, you'll see that the records appear out of order, are mangled and in places where I received calls it appears only as my number or "ROAMING INCOMING"
AT&T couldn't tell us about specific numbers or even give us insight into what the subpoenaed records would have provided. I also worked with T-mobile to get records via their legal department, but they were essentially identical to the ones I got myself before the attorneys got involved. I was skeptical that they would hold the true information about calls I made in 2004 and 2005, but I am still interested in seeing them. Unfortunately, I'll never be allowed to and for this reason, I can't show you anything other than the records I have.
Any incoming call - and many of them are incorrectly listed as a "1 minute call" - is reported as being from my own number. So, proving that Steve Chen called me back on his cellphone in 2005 isn't possible unless we use a subpoena in the discovery phase of a law suit, which couldn't happen because of Rule 11.
I stopped service on March 9, 2005. Here's what AT&T was able to send without a subpoena: AT&T Records Searchable