Updating sim card?

I needed to buy a new phone (old phone went through the wash) so I went
to my local cingular store and bought the SonyEricsson 710a. This is
the first time I have purchased a phone from cingular, my others have
been through ebay or directly from Nokia. The store clerk said he had
to update my sim so it would work properly. I had never heard of this
before as I had never experinced trouble in the past. My question is
What did he do? and will it effect my coverage. I noticed it changed my
number of calls before it goes to voicemail and the funtion keys are
now different when in voicemail. I have the North america plan and I
am worried that I won't get the same great coverage in Mexico that I
have been

---

› See More: Updating sim card?

Thanks for your responses. I already had a 64k sim and was skeptical
when asked to have it updated

Thanks for your responses. I already had a 64k sim and was skeptical
when asked to have it updated

[email protected] wrote in
news:[email protected]:

snip

> Based on my memory of past discussion here is what I remember: They
> probably upgraded you from a 32k SIMS to a 64k SIMS. The new SIMS
> allows them to load share. They probably moved you from the orange
> network to the blue network. The orange network is the old network
> and the blue network is the new Cingular network. The orange network
> allowed your phone to roam on the old Cingular and AT&T & T-mobile
> networks as will as the new Cingular network.. This gave you better
> coverage. The blue network is the new Cingular network. Cingular is
> building this network out and cell sites are not as numerous as they
> will be when the blue network is built to its capacity. Coverage is
> not as good on the blue network right now.
>
snip

Hmmm...I thought the orange was the new network, and the blue was the old
network. Yes? No?

Bruce

"Bruce" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
> snip
>
>> Based on my memory of past discussion here is what I remember: They
>> probably upgraded you from a 32k SIMS to a 64k SIMS. The new SIMS
>> allows them to load share. They probably moved you from the orange
>> network to the blue network. The orange network is the old network
>> and the blue network is the new Cingular network. The orange network
>> allowed your phone to roam on the old Cingular and AT&T & T-mobile
>> networks as will as the new Cingular network.. This gave you better
>> coverage. The blue network is the new Cingular network. Cingular is
>> building this network out and cell sites are not as numerous as they
>> will be when the blue network is built to its capacity. Coverage is
>> not as good on the blue network right now.
>>
> snip
>
> Hmmm...I thought the orange was the new network, and the blue was the old
> network. Yes? No?
>
> Bruce

Orange = Original Cingular Network
Blue = Original ATTWS Network

32K SIM - works across the board, except the 3G phones.
64K SIM - used for ENS (Enhanced Network Selection) Cingular can, at their
discretion, switch the "HOME" network of individual phones from Orange to
Blue or vice versa. It's THEIR choice and is used to relieve congestion of
local networks.
64K Axalto Sims worked in all phones while 64K Gemplus SIMS would not work
properly in Treo 650s and some other phones, eventually all recalled.
3G SIMS, work in MOST phones, but not Nokia 3220 and some others. (Some
Fireflys would have problems, but not all the time)

Mark

It is alleged that [email protected] claimed:

>them to load share. They probably moved you from the orange network to the
>blue network. The orange network is the old network and the blue network is
>the new Cingular network. The orange network allowed your phone to roam on

Um, what? Blue was the old AT&TW network which was being discontinued
as they move everyone to the orange network. When did they reverse
this?

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Peter's Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, #67.
No matter how many shorts we have in the system, my guards will be
instructed to treat every surveillance camera malfunction as a full-
scale emergency.

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Tue, 18 Apr 2006
13:42:40 -0400, Jeffrey Kaplan <[email protected]> wrote:

>It is alleged that [email protected] claimed:
>
>>them to load share. They probably moved you from the orange network to the
>>blue network. The orange network is the old network and the blue network is
>>the new Cingular network. The orange network allowed your phone to roam on
>
>Um, what? Blue was the old AT&TW network which was being discontinued
>as they move everyone to the orange network. When did they reverse
>this?

Depends on the area. Here in California, Cingular sold the "orange" network
to T-Mobile (buying back roaming for some time to come) and kept "blue".
I had my ENS-capable Cingular-branded phone "homed" on "blue" because it works
best in areas I frequent.
--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Tue, 18 Apr 2006
15:51:06 GMT, "Mark W. Oots" <mark_ctc@(no spam)ameritech.net> wrote:

>Orange = Original Cingular Network
>Blue = Original ATTWS Network
>
>32K SIM - works across the board, except the 3G phones.
>64K SIM - used for ENS (Enhanced Network Selection) Cingular can, at their
>discretion, switch the "HOME" network of individual phones from Orange to
>Blue or vice versa. It's THEIR choice and is used to relieve congestion of
>local networks.

It can also be done on request of the subscriber.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Sun, 16 Apr 2006 09:19:35
-0700, [email protected] wrote:

>I did all this because I didn't want to upgrade from the 32k ==> 64k SIMS.
>My co-workers have been complaining about poor coverage in this area since
>they upgraded their SIMS.

Then they must have been "homed" on a different network ("blue" versus
"orange"), a problem that can be fixed (switched to the other network) by
calling Customer Care and asking to be transferred to Tech Support. Other
than that, there is no downside to 64K SIMs, which have the advantage (with
ENS-capable phones) of being able to be switched this way OTA (over the air).

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Sun, 16 Apr 2006 08:46:48
-0700, [email protected] wrote:

>On 16 Apr 2006 05:21:33 -0700, "AV8R" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>I needed to buy a new phone (old phone went through the wash) so I went
>>to my local cingular store and bought the SonyEricsson 710a. This is
>>the first time I have purchased a phone from cingular, my others have
>>been through ebay or directly from Nokia. The store clerk said he had
>>to update my sim so it would work properly.

That's not correct -- he was misinformed.

>>I had never heard of this
>>before as I had never experinced trouble in the past. My question is
>>What did he do? and will it effect my coverage. I noticed it changed my
>>number of calls before it goes to voicemail and the funtion keys are
>>now different when in voicemail.

That's the phone and the service, not the SIM.

>I have the North america plan and I
>>am worried that I won't get the same great coverage in Mexico that I
>>have been

Your coverage will be the same if you kept your old plan.

>Based on my memory of past discussion here is what I remember: They
>probably upgraded you from a 32k SIMS to a 64k SIMS. The new SIMS allows
>them to load share.

Switch your "home" network OTA (over the air) between "blue" (old ATTWS) and
"orange" (old Cingular).

>They probably moved you from the orange network to the
>blue network. The orange network is the old network and the blue network is
>the new Cingular network.

"Blue" is old ATTWS and "orange" is old Cingular.

>The orange network allowed your phone to roam on
>the old Cingular and AT&T & T-mobile networks as will as the new Cingular
>network.. This gave you better coverage.

In fact "blue" SIMs will freely roam on "orange", and "orange" SIMs will
freely roam on "blue". The only difference is in the "home" network -- a GSM
phone will use the "home" network if it has a "usable" signal, even if
"usable" is poor and there's a much better signal on a "foreign" network.

>The blue network is the new
>Cingular network.

"Blue" is old ATTWS.

>Cingular is building this network out and cell sites are
>not as numerous as they will be when the blue network is built to its
>capacity. Coverage is not as good on the blue network right now.

Coverage is actually the same, and better than either network alone. The only
difference is signal quality of the "home" network in any given area.

>Cingular recently changed their voicemail.system You are probably on the
>new voicemail system. You probably have access to both voicemail systems
>for a while before they cancel access to the old one and force you to use
>the new one.

Cingular has been switching to the ATTWS voicemail system.

>Not sure but you might be able to change the number of rings
>to voice mail by calling Cingular or some other method.

You can -- see the FAQ below.

>According to what I have read in this newsgroup, your coverage might change
>in the USA for a while until Cingular builds up the blue network. Not sure
>about coverage in Mexico.

Coverage will stay the same if the plan stays the same.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

It is alleged that John Navas claimed:

>freely roam on "blue". The only difference is in the "home" network -- a GSM
>phone will use the "home" network if it has a "usable" signal, even if
>"usable" is poor and there's a much better signal on a "foreign" network.

So will CDMA. When I was with VZW, I could stand next to a friend with
Sprint and in some places, one of us would have 4 bars of signal and
the other would have just the antenna icon. Usually, it was him with
the icon only and me with the four bars.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Notes on Fortress Construction: 14. All deathtraps will have only one
way in or out. Any way out should lead to an even more cunning and
fast-working deathtrap.

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Wed, 19 Apr 2006
15:01:38 -0400, Jeffrey Kaplan <[email protected]> wrote:

>It is alleged that John Navas claimed:
>
>>freely roam on "blue". The only difference is in the "home" network -- a GSM
>>phone will use the "home" network if it has a "usable" signal, even if
>>"usable" is poor and there's a much better signal on a "foreign" network.
>
>So will CDMA. When I was with VZW, I could stand next to a friend with
>Sprint and in some places, one of us would have 4 bars of signal and
>the other would have just the antenna icon. Usually, it was him with
>the icon only and me with the four bars.

Similar, but somewhat different issue: In the case of Cingular, the "foreign"
("blue") network is free, actually just another part of Cingular, whereas
Verizon would roam on Sprint, which wouldn't be free to Verizon, only if and
where there's a roaming agreement in place.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

It is alleged that John Navas claimed:

>[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]
>
>In <[email protected]> on Wed, 19 Apr 2006
>15:01:38 -0400, Jeffrey Kaplan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>It is alleged that John Navas claimed:
>>
>>>freely roam on "blue". The only difference is in the "home" network -- a GSM
>>>phone will use the "home" network if it has a "usable" signal, even if
>>>"usable" is poor and there's a much better signal on a "foreign" network.
>>
>>So will CDMA. When I was with VZW, I could stand next to a friend with
>>Sprint and in some places, one of us would have 4 bars of signal and
>>the other would have just the antenna icon. Usually, it was him with
>>the icon only and me with the four bars.
>
>Similar, but somewhat different issue: In the case of Cingular, the "foreign"
>("blue") network is free, actually just another part of Cingular, whereas
>Verizon would roam on Sprint, which wouldn't be free to Verizon, only if and
>where there's a roaming agreement in place.

The point of my message was that the phone keeping a signal lock on its
"home" network even when it's a crappy connection and a stronger
"roaming" network is available is not unique to GSM, they all do that.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"You can start by helping me understand the precise nature of conflict
between the two sides that you've set up." "Green." "Purple." (Cmdr.
Ivanova, Purple and Green Drazi leaders, B5 "The Geometry Of Shadows")