Results 1 to 15 of 51
- 05-04-2005, 12:10 AM #1* * ChasGuest
I'm trying out a "new" Nokia 6340i phone with Cingular's Pay As You Go
plan. I'll switch to a regular plan if the service works for me.
I received a new SIM from the Cingular corporate store where I signed
up for service.
I use up to 4000 minutes a month and have regular accounts with both
Verizon and Sprint.
I live in Northern CA. Sprint is crystal clear and Verizon is not far
off.
The Cingular sound quality is terrible compared to the other 2
carriers. There's a lot of hiss and light static in both urban and
rural areas with Cingular.
Today I went in to a Cingular store and they tried my SIM in another
brand new phone, a Nokia 6100. The sound quality was the same.
Is it possible that I have a bad SIM or is that the best Cingular has
to offer in my
area?
BTW the Nokia 6340i is a GSM 850/1900 Mhz, TDMA 800/1900 Mhz, AMPS 800
Mhz phone so it should cover all the bases in my area.
Chas.
› See More: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
- 05-04-2005, 03:19 AM #2Jack ZwickGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
In article <[email protected]>,
"* * Chas" <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm trying out a "new" Nokia 6340i phone with Cingular's Pay As You Go
> plan. I'll switch to a regular plan if the service works for me.
>
> I received a new SIM from the Cingular corporate store where I signed
> up for service.
>
> I use up to 4000 minutes a month and have regular accounts with both
> Verizon and Sprint.
>
> I live in Northern CA. Sprint is crystal clear and Verizon is not far
> off.
>
> The Cingular sound quality is terrible compared to the other 2
> carriers. There's a lot of hiss and light static in both urban and
> rural areas with Cingular.
>
> Today I went in to a Cingular store and they tried my SIM in another
> brand new phone, a Nokia 6100. The sound quality was the same.
>
> Is it possible that I have a bad SIM or is that the best Cingular has
> to offer in my
> area?
>
> BTW the Nokia 6340i is a GSM 850/1900 Mhz, TDMA 800/1900 Mhz, AMPS 800
> Mhz phone so it should cover all the bases in my area.
Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode.
- 05-04-2005, 07:53 AM #3John SGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
"* * Chas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> The Cingular sound quality is terrible compared to the other 2
> carriers. There's a lot of hiss and light static in both urban and
> rural areas with Cingular.
Not really wanting to start an old argument again but the CDMA technology
gives better sound quality than does TDMA and it's derivitives (GSM).
- 05-04-2005, 07:54 AM #4John SGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
"Jack Zwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode.
Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago.
Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM.
- 05-04-2005, 10:13 AM #5* * ChasGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
"John S" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "* * Chas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
> > The Cingular sound quality is terrible compared to the other 2
> > carriers. There's a lot of hiss and light static in both urban and
> > rural areas with Cingular.
>
> Not really wanting to start an old argument again but the CDMA
technology
> gives better sound quality than does TDMA and it's derivitives
(GSM).
>
Hmm, could be, but.... I have an old AT&T Nokia 6160 TDMA phone that
I used with AT&TWS until I closed my account in January. It sounded
about the same as most of the other Nokias that I've used.
I'm using a Nokia 3585i with Sprint and it's almost as good as what I
used to get with my Fujitsu 3 watt analog Cellular1 phone! So much for
the benefits of digital.
Chas.
- 05-04-2005, 10:24 AM #6* * ChasGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
"John S" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Jack Zwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
> > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode.
>
> Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months
ago.
> Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM.
>
Very interesting. I called Cingular Tech Support (on a land line) last
week to see if maybe the phone was only working on TDMA and/or AMPs
not the highly touted GSM. He said it was working on all bands
(assuming he had a way to check it out over the air.
The manager at the Cingular store yesterday told me the 6340i was
obsolete - she was trying to sell me a new phone - but my chip in her
phone sounded just as bad.
Chas.
- 05-04-2005, 10:39 AM #7Scott McGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
That's strange, I switched my old GAIT account on a 6340i to a GSM national
account with GAIT option a few months ago without a problem, they obviously
had to take the IMIE number & such to make sure the TDMA/Analog part would
work.
However, his being a Pay-as-you go account, Cingular may not do the GAIT
option for him, I do not know the answer to this.
Anyway, in the 6340i, the phone first searches for GSM, then TDMA, then
Analog signals. Where I am currently staying, I only receive Analog, but
the voice quality is good.
But, when I am in areas of GSM coverage & switch the SIM to my Moto V551,
sound quality improves quite a bit over the 6340i on GSM.
Just my 2 cents on my experience with the 6340i, a phone I cannot live
without right now..
"John S" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Jack Zwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>> Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode.
>
> Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago.
> Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM.
>
- 05-04-2005, 10:42 AM #8Isaiah BeardGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
* * Chas wrote:
> Is it possible that I have a bad SIM or is that the best Cingular has
> to offer in my
> area?
The SIm should not affect sound quality. All it does is store your
account information in order to authenticate you and give you access to
the GSM networks, as well as store some phonebook information. What
determines actual sound quality is the phone and how the network is
configured.
Since your SIM has been tried in another phone and you still found the
quality to be bad, then it's likely the network.
Sound quality is a subjective thing. Some people absolutely love the
characteristics of GSM and find CDMA to sound a bit muffled. Others
(myself included) find GSM to be too harsh on the ear, and very raspy,
and we prefer CDMA. It seems that you're in the latter camp if you have
Verizon and Sprint and are happy with their sound quality.
--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.
- 05-04-2005, 10:45 AM #9Scott McGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
Good to know that the GAIT option is available for Pay-As-You-Go, too.
What you are experiencing really does sound like a Cingular coverage issue
to me, more than a sound quality issue.
"* * Chas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "John S" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> "Jack Zwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode.
>>
>> Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months
> ago.
>> Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM.
>>
>
> Very interesting. I called Cingular Tech Support (on a land line) last
> week to see if maybe the phone was only working on TDMA and/or AMPs
> not the highly touted GSM. He said it was working on all bands
> (assuming he had a way to check it out over the air.
>
> The manager at the Cingular store yesterday told me the 6340i was
> obsolete - she was trying to sell me a new phone - but my chip in her
> phone sounded just as bad.
>
> Chas.
>
>
- 05-04-2005, 11:40 AM #10Jack ZwickGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
In article <[email protected]>,
"John S" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> "Jack Zwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
> > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode.
>
> Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago.
> Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM.
Not necessarily if he is using an older SIM.
- 05-04-2005, 11:48 AM #11Jack ZwickGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
In article <[email protected]>,
Isaiah Beard <[email protected]> wrote:
> * * Chas wrote:
>
> > Is it possible that I have a bad SIM or is that the best Cingular has
> > to offer in my
> > area?
>
> The SIm should not affect sound quality. All it does is store your
> account information in order to authenticate you and give you access to
> the GSM networks, as well as store some phonebook information. What
> determines actual sound quality is the phone and how the network is
> configured.
>
> Since your SIM has been tried in another phone and you still found the
> quality to be bad, then it's likely the network.
But which network. GSM, TDMA or Analog???? and is it native Cingular or
not?
>
> Sound quality is a subjective thing. Some people absolutely love the
> characteristics of GSM and find CDMA to sound a bit muffled. Others
> (myself included) find GSM to be too harsh on the ear, and very raspy,
> and we prefer CDMA. It seems that you're in the latter camp if you have
> Verizon and Sprint and are happy with their sound quality.
>
>
> --
> E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
> Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.
- 05-04-2005, 11:55 AM #12* * ChasGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
"Scott Mc" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> That's strange, I switched my old GAIT account on a 6340i to a GSM
national
> account with GAIT option a few months ago without a problem, they
obviously
> had to take the IMIE number & such to make sure the TDMA/Analog part
would
> work.
>
> However, his being a Pay-as-you go account, Cingular may not do the
GAIT
> option for him, I do not know the answer to this.
Thanks for the input. About a month ago my Verizon service went to
hell within a 2 mile radius of my home and they've told me TS. I've
been trying a Sprint phone for almost a month and it works great (but
I would prefer not to have to deal with the "Dark Side"). I'm using a
Nokia 3585i and it sounds better than my land lines.
I wanted to try Cingular in my area before making a switch from
Verizon. When I explained what I wanted to do, the Cingular store
manager suggested that I buy a pay as you go card instead of setting
up a 30 day account.
I'm going back to the store today and check out another phone to see
if there is any difference.
> Anyway, in the 6340i, the phone first searches for GSM, then TDMA,
then
> Analog signals. Where I am currently staying, I only receive
Analog, but
> the voice quality is good.
>
> But, when I am in areas of GSM coverage & switch the SIM to my Moto
V551,
> sound quality improves quite a bit over the 6340i on GSM.
I'm not locked into the Nokia, I just like the format - large buttons,
easy to read mono tone screen and so on. I use up to 4000 minutes a
month for business and I've never liked flip phones. The newer color
screens are hard to read in sunlight and even harder with sunglasses
on.
I tried my SIM in a new Nokia 6100 at a different Cingular store and
there was no difference in sound quality.
> Just my 2 cents on my experience with the 6340i, a phone I cannot
live
> without right now..
I used my Cellular1 Fujitsu 3W analog phone until the bitter end.
Sound quality in my car was as good as any land line!
- 05-04-2005, 02:10 PM #13John SGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
"Jack Zwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "John S" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>> "Jack Zwick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode.
>>
>> Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago.
>> Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM.
>
> Not necessarily if he is using an older SIM.
The SIM will work in the 6340i, even the new SIM.
Re-read what I wrote. There are no new Gait accounts since about August of
'04.
- 05-04-2005, 02:12 PM #14John SGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
"* * Chas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm using a Nokia 3585i with Sprint and it's almost as good as what I
> used to get with my Fujitsu 3 watt analog Cellular1 phone! So much for
> the benefits of digital.
The benifits of digital over a good strong AMPS signal are all on the
carrier side (sound wise). There is nothing better for sound quality than
analog.
- 05-04-2005, 02:13 PM #15Isaiah BeardGuest
Re: SIM Cards & Connection Quality
Jack Zwick wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Isaiah Beard <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Since your SIM has been tried in another phone and you still found the
>>quality to be bad, then it's likely the network.
>
>
> But which network. GSM, TDMA or Analog???? and is it native Cingular or
> not?
If you read the OP's post, you'll realize your question has absolutely
no relevance.
--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.
Similar Threads
- HTC
- Nokia
- Sony Ericsson
- alt.cellular.cingular
- alt.cellular.cingular
How to get a job?
in Chit Chat