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-- need some advice on unlocked cell phones
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| Originally posted by l�cid Cingular isn't terrible, but Rob is on Alltel and i'd rather be on the same provider as him so we could get free cell-to-cell minutes. i haven't really had any major problems with Cingular but their customer service is kind of shitty, imo. |
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| Originally posted by Masonious hahaha, true enough. At first I thought 'texting' was about as gay as it got, then I found my brows furrowed furiously texting someone and was like...omg...i might have gay... |
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| Originally posted by Masonious oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh? Rob and Myra, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G - what are you guys in love or something?! lolololooloooo9ollo0ooooololl |
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| Originally posted by l�cid ^^ damn that's a pretty phone! here's one i'm considering... http://cgi.ebay.com/LBN-SAMSUNG-D41...1QQcmdZViewItem |
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| Originally posted by l�cid sorry to break the news to you this way, Mason... but he's having an affair behind your back, and i'm the secret lover. |
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| Originally posted by yujie__ that phone so ugly. I would rather spend alittle extra and get either these tri-band Sony k800 or the Sony K750 or Nokia N80 or the Nokia n73. I used cingular which isnt the best or the worst gsm but still suck. the K750 works with crappy cingular |
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| Originally posted by yujie__ that phone so ugly. I would rather spend alittle extra and get either these tri-band Sony k800 or the Sony K750 or Nokia N80 or the Nokia n73. I used cingular which isnt the best or the worst gsm but still suck. the K750 works with crappy cingular |
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| Originally posted by l�cid i'm not paying that much for a cell phone. $150 is my limit, and i don't care about how cool they look. |
My husband works for Cingular, here's his response:
"Well, yes. You can just insert your regular AT&T Wireless, 32K SIM card into any unlocked, GSM phone and you'll be able to have service, but there are a couple of very important caveats that I want to let you know of before you go out there and either a) buy an unlocked device to use or b) buy a phone and then have it unlocked.
First, what is a locked/unlocked phone? When a carrier, like Cingular (GSM)or Verizon (CDMA) buys a phone from a manufacturer (like Nokia, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, etc.) they "lock" it to the network. That is to say, they make it so that it can only communicate with that network, which makes sense, because you could buy a phone and jump around from network to network and totally scam us, and that's no good for business. Now, each phone has an "unlock code" built into it, which unlocks it making it usable on any network, and once a phone is unlocked, it can't be locked again. This is very handy for people that want to travel internationally and take their phone with them and use a local prepaid service while they're there. And also for mergers. That said, here are the caveats:
1. You'll most likely have to reprogram the data, text messaging, and voicemail settings within the phone, because if you unlock it, those values will be set to the original settings that the phone was originally locked to. What this means is that the phone that you purchase has settings in it for the network that it was originally intended for and you'll have to alter them to work on Cingular Wireless. Don't worry, though, because you can find directions on how to change them all at www.cingular.com/support, and then click on "Device" and then "Chose Make/Model", select "Former AT&T Wireless", then the make and model, and then enter the question. To set up the data you need the correct "Browser Settings", for voicemail it's the correct "Dedicated Voicemail Box Number", and for text messaging it's the correct "Message (or Service) Center Number". If this sounds complicated, it is, but I'd be happy to explain more.
2. You're able to keep your plan indefinitely, but eventually you will need to upgrade. Officially, there's no set date for forced upgrades for all of our former AT&T customers, but all good things will eventually come to an end.
3. If you want to buy an unlocked phone, that's cool. You have a few options with this, and we don't really mind helping with it - provided it's an AT&T Wireless or Cingular branded phone. The rule is basically this: if you've paid for the phone with us, we can request an unlock code for you. That is to say, if you pay for a Cingular phone for full price AND you fax us the receipt, we can request the code. OR if you have a phone that someone has used and went through their full two year contract period, the discounted price that we initially sold the phone for is already paid for and we can release the code. That said, if you request the code, you'll be waiting a bit. Nothing serious, though. I've seen an unlock code come back for a Sony Ericsson phone in three hours, but Motorola and Nokia usually take a week. Otherwise, you can always by an unlocked phone on the internet, or a non-branded phone straight from the manufacturer.
Hopefully this helps you out. Cingular really isn't an evil company at all, either, by the way. AT&T Wireless just gave away the farm, and I really am sorry that you guys got caught in the middle. It sucks, but Cingular really is a company that's built to stay in business for the long haul, which is why the rate plans seems worse, but really everything does when you have a plan that's losing the company money. Anyway, good luck, and thanks! 
"
edit: he apologizes if you weren't with at&t, he misread your initial post
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| Originally posted by Fast Turtle My husband works for Cingular, here's his response: "Well, yes. You can just insert your regular AT&T Wireless, 32K SIM card into any unlocked, GSM phone and you'll be able to have service, but there are a couple of very important caveats that I want to let you know of before you go out there and either a) buy an unlocked device to use or b) buy a phone and then have it unlocked. First, what is a locked/unlocked phone? When a carrier, like Cingular (GSM)or Verizon (CDMA) buys a phone from a manufacturer (like Nokia, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, etc.) they "lock" it to the network. That is to say, they make it so that it can only communicate with that network, which makes sense, because you could buy a phone and jump around from network to network and totally scam us, and that's no good for business. Now, each phone has an "unlock code" built into it, which unlocks it making it usable on any network, and once a phone is unlocked, it can't be locked again. This is very handy for people that want to travel internationally and take their phone with them and use a local prepaid service while they're there. And also for mergers. That said, here are the caveats: 1. You'll most likely have to reprogram the data, text messaging, and voicemail settings within the phone, because if you unlock it, those values will be set to the original settings that the phone was originally locked to. What this means is that the phone that you purchase has settings in it for the network that it was originally intended for and you'll have to alter them to work on Cingular Wireless. Don't worry, though, because you can find directions on how to change them all at www.cingular.com/support, and then click on "Device" and then "Chose Make/Model", select "Former AT&T Wireless", then the make and model, and then enter the question. To set up the data you need the correct "Browser Settings", for voicemail it's the correct "Dedicated Voicemail Box Number", and for text messaging it's the correct "Message (or Service) Center Number". If this sounds complicated, it is, but I'd be happy to explain more. 2. You're able to keep your plan indefinitely, but eventually you will need to upgrade. Officially, there's no set date for forced upgrades for all of our former AT&T customers, but all good things will eventually come to an end. 3. If you want to buy an unlocked phone, that's cool. You have a few options with this, and we don't really mind helping with it - provided it's an AT&T Wireless or Cingular branded phone. The rule is basically this: if you've paid for the phone with us, we can request an unlock code for you. That is to say, if you pay for a Cingular phone for full price AND you fax us the receipt, we can request the code. OR if you have a phone that someone has used and went through their full two year contract period, the discounted price that we initially sold the phone for is already paid for and we can release the code. That said, if you request the code, you'll be waiting a bit. Nothing serious, though. I've seen an unlock code come back for a Sony Ericsson phone in three hours, but Motorola and Nokia usually take a week. Otherwise, you can always by an unlocked phone on the internet, or a non-branded phone straight from the manufacturer. Hopefully this helps you out. Cingular really isn't an evil company at all, either, by the way. AT&T Wireless just gave away the farm, and I really am sorry that you guys got caught in the middle. It sucks, but Cingular really is a company that's built to stay in business for the long haul, which is why the rate plans seems worse, but really everything does when you have a plan that's losing the company money. Anyway, good luck, and thanks! "edit: he apologizes if you weren't with at&t, he misread your initial post |
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| Originally posted by l�cid wow... huge thanks for the info. very helpful post! |
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| Originally posted by Masonious wait...did you seriously read that? |
np, if you have any more questions just pm and i'll force him back to the computer later. ;p
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| Originally posted by Soonmeister K800i all the way for me .. class phone |
be careful Myra!
Many cellphones in the US do NOT have sim cards!
You need to call your cell phone carrier to have them activate the new cell phone remotely usually it's no trouble but they may occassionaly ask you to pay a surcharge for that.
Secondly there are frequency distinctions between the different carriers as well as the fact the phones are locked.
If you look on ebay just do a search for the phone you'd like and add your cell phone carrier to the search query.
***edit**** I noticed Fast Turtle just said apparently everything that needed to be said.
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| Originally posted by Fast Turtle My husband works for Cingular, here's his response: 3. If you want to buy an unlocked phone, that's cool. You have a few options with this, and we don't really mind helping with it - provided it's an AT&T Wireless or Cingular branded phone. The rule is basically this: if you've paid for the phone with us, we can request an unlock code for you. That is to say, if you pay for a Cingular phone for full price AND you fax us the receipt, we can request the code. OR if you have a phone that someone has used and went through their full two year contract period, the discounted price that we initially sold the phone for is already paid for and we can release the code. That said, if you request the code, you'll be waiting a bit. Nothing serious, though. I've seen an unlock code come back for a Sony Ericsson phone in three hours, but Motorola and Nokia usually take a week. Otherwise, you can always by an unlocked phone on the internet, or a non-branded phone straight from the manufacturer. Hopefully this helps you out. Cingular really isn't an evil company at all, either, by the way. AT&T Wireless just gave away the farm, and I really am sorry that you guys got caught in the middle. It sucks, but Cingular really is a company that's built to stay in business for the long haul, which is why the rate plans seems worse, but really everything does when you have a plan that's losing the company money. Anyway, good luck, and thanks! "edit: he apologizes if you weren't with at&t, he misread your initial post |
the reviews for the last one i posted were pretty bad, but this one looks neat!
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SAMSUNG-E63...1QQcmdZViewItem
hmmm this one's cool too...
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SAMSUNG-P207-UNLOCKED-GSM-CAMERA-CINGULAR-CELLPHONE_W0QQitemZ290049137716QQihZ019QQcategoryZ64355QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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| Originally posted by l�cid the reviews for the last one i posted were pretty bad, but this one looks neat! http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SAMSUNG-E63...1QQcmdZViewItem |
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| Originally posted by jdat don't you wanna be one of the cool kids? Get yourself a pda/smartphone |
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| Originally posted by jdat Many cellphones in the US do NOT have sim cards! |
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| Originally posted by Jocker well DUH... sim cards are necessary for GSM phones. if it's not a GSM phone, it won't have a sim card |
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| Originally posted by MLB Not neccesary. IDEN phones have GSM chips |
however, the only large iden operator in us is nextel (and not for long, since sprint, after the acquisition, is shifting iden's network towards cdma), and lucid said she has cingular.
so i decided not to get an unlocked phone and instead bought a brand new phone from Wirefly's eBay store. i didn't wanna drop $100+ on a phone that i wasn't entirely sure about, and since this one is Cingular-specific i felt better about spending the money.
it's pretty basic, but i don't really use cell phones for anything more than making calls, sending text msgs, and taking random pictures of my kitten, lol... so for $129.99 with free shipping this was the best deal, and the reviews for it were pretty good.
and it's sexy red.
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| Originally posted by Orbital32 actually even if you get a locked T-mobile phone its easy to get it unlocked. Buy a locked T-mobile phone will probably save you lots of money as well. Just have a friend who has t-mobile call T-mobile and have them tell the Customer service rep that They are planning to go over seas and need their phone unlocked. They will ask for an IMEI number of the phone and email the unlock code within 2 days. They do not check to see if thats is the actually phone that the person is using. I know, that' how i got my phone unlocked |
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