Upgrade Phone without Change Plan. Former AT&T WS User.

On Mon, 24 Jul 2006 13:52:51 -0500, "Thomas T. Veldhouse"
<[email protected]> wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>In alt.cellular.cingular SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
>>> In alt.cellular.cingular SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> T-Mobile offers 300 minutes for $29.95 as well.
>>>> But not with unlimited N&W.
>>>
>>> True ... plans are more expensive than they used to be. Less overall coverage
>>> with the elimination of AMPS as well. What an excellent deal for America.
>>
>> I was up in a part of the Bay Area with only AMPS coverage yesterday,
>> Skyline Boulevard between highway 9 and highway 84. I'm wondering if
>> Verizon will really turn off all of the AMPS coverage when they are
>> allowed to do so. This area had call boxes, which are on the AMPS
>> system, and they are in an area where it would be very expensive to add
>> enough towers to provide digital service.
>
>Unless they plan to break agreements that they have made with the likes of
>OnStar or with security companies like Tyco (ADT), which uses analog backup, I
>tend to doubt it will go out anywhere soon. They might make deals between
>carriers so that at least a minimal amount of spectrum is dedicated to AMPS,
>but no one carrier has to bear the entire burden.

OnStar is already going digital, and thus won't be a factor. I doubt
that any others will be significant factors either. My bet is that AMPS
will go away rapidly after the mandate expires. Spectrum is scarce and
expensive, and AMPS demand is already very low, so carriers have a
strong incentive to rapidly redeploy the spectrum.

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

---

› See More: Upgrade Phone without Change Plan. Former AT&T WS User.

In alt.cellular.cingular John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> OnStar is already going digital, and thus won't be a factor. I doubt
> that any others will be significant factors either. My bet is that AMPS
> will go away rapidly after the mandate expires. Spectrum is scarce and
> expensive, and AMPS demand is already very low, so carriers have a
> strong incentive to rapidly redeploy the spectrum.
>

Yes, OnStar is going digital ... but there are MANY AMPS only deployments.
Verizon Wireless gets the business on newer deployments ;-)

Also, as I indicated, there are agreements with various consumers of AMPS,
that I suspect go beyond 2008 [which is the end of the AMPS mandate if I am
not mistaken]. Vast areas of Northern MN, WI, MI and others are ONLY coverred
by AMPS. Further, they are covered by mostly independent tower operators or
smaller regional players [i.e Cellular One]. As long as they receive roaming
revenue from existing infrastructure, I am not sure that these rural operators
will benefit from going digital as that would require multipe towers where
there once was one and promise no significant return on investment. What may
finally get these to go will be the lack of handsets that even have AMPS
capability.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:

> Also, as I indicated, there are agreements with various consumers of AMPS,
> that I suspect go beyond 2008 [which is the end of the AMPS mandate if I am
> not mistaken]. Vast areas of Northern MN, WI, MI and others are ONLY coverred
> by AMPS. Further, they are covered by mostly independent tower operators or
> smaller regional players [i.e Cellular One]. As long as they receive roaming
> revenue from existing infrastructure, I am not sure that these rural operators
> will benefit from going digital as that would require multipe towers where
> there once was one and promise no significant return on investment. What may
> finally get these to go will be the lack of handsets that even have AMPS
> capability.

I'm sure that AMPS will go away where digital exists. But I don't see
the upside in getting rid of all the rural AMPS, even for Verizon. They
just have to dedicate a minimal amount of spectrum for it, as it's
lightly used, but it'd be a shame to lose all that coverage.

Yesterday I was going to the beach, across the Santa Cruz mountains to
the San Mateo coast, where you have no CDMA, no TDMA, and no GSM for
much of the area. We did want to make a call to tell someone who was
coming over that we'd be home late, and it came in handy to have
coverage, even though it was not a real emergency. At the beach itself
(San Gregorio) I had good CDMA coverage, which surprised me because it
worked even on the part of the beach where you're down below a very high
cliff.

When I upgraded my old tdma phone to a new razr I kept the home 50 plan by
not going to a store , but using the 800 number for cingular, complained
three times, then they activated my razr.

In article <[email protected]>,
"Dennis A. Vitali" <[email protected]> wrote:

> When I upgraded my old tdma phone to a new razr I kept the home 50 plan by
> not going to a store , but using the 800 number for cingular, complained
> three times, then they activated my razr.


Check your bill, maybe you dont have the PLAN you think you do.

On Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:41:35 -0500, "Thomas T. Veldhouse"
<[email protected]> wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>In alt.cellular.cingular John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> OnStar is already going digital, and thus won't be a factor. I doubt
>> that any others will be significant factors either. My bet is that AMPS
>> will go away rapidly after the mandate expires. Spectrum is scarce and
>> expensive, and AMPS demand is already very low, so carriers have a
>> strong incentive to rapidly redeploy the spectrum.
>
>Yes, OnStar is going digital ... but there are MANY AMPS only deployments.
>Verizon Wireless gets the business on newer deployments ;-)

<http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/explore/onstar_basics/helpful_info.jsp?info-view=tech_equip>

... beginning January 1, 2008, OnStar services in the U.S. and Canada
will only be available through dual-mode (analog/digital) equipment.

If your vehicle has analog-only equipment, however, you will not be
able to upgrade the equipment nor will your vehicle be able to
receive OnStar service as of January 1, 2008.

>Also, as I indicated, there are agreements with various consumers of AMPS,
>that I suspect go beyond 2008 [which is the end of the AMPS mandate if I am
>not mistaken].

I doubt it.

>Vast areas of Northern MN, WI, MI and others are ONLY coverred
>by AMPS. Further, they are covered by mostly independent tower operators or
>smaller regional players [i.e Cellular One]. As long as they receive roaming
>revenue from existing infrastructure, I am not sure that these rural operators
>will benefit from going digital as that would require multipe towers where
>there once was one and promise no significant return on investment.

AMPS roaming revenues are rapidly going away. Spectrum is scarce and
expensive, and AMPS demand is already very low, so carriers have a
strong incentive to rapidly redeploy the spectrum to digital.

>What may
>finally get these to go will be the lack of handsets that even have AMPS
>capability.

That's another factor even now.

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

On Mon, 24 Jul 2006 15:03:13 -0700, SMS <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>Yesterday I was going to the beach, across the Santa Cruz mountains to
>the San Mateo coast, where you have no CDMA, no TDMA, and no GSM for
>much of the area.

GSM coverage is actually good in that area with a multi-band phone. You
must still be using that old 1900-only GSM phone.

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

On Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:30:47 GMT, "Dennis A. Vitali" <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>When I upgraded my old tdma phone to a new razr I kept the home 50 plan by
>not going to a store , but using the 800 number for cingular, complained
>three times, then they activated my razr.

The SIM was activated, not the phone -- GSM phones don't need to be
activated.

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

On 2006-09-16, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 18:28:41 GMT, John Navas <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:30:47 GMT, "Dennis A. Vitali" <[email protected]>
>>wrote in <[email protected]>:
>>
>>>When I upgraded my old tdma phone to a new razr I kept the home 50 plan by
>>>not going to a store , but using the 800 number for cingular, complained
>>>three times, then they activated my razr.
>>
>>The SIM was activated, not the phone -- GSM phones don't need to be
>>activated.
>
> Sure they do. The IEMI numbers are turned off when they come from the
> factory. Just in case someone breaks into the store and steals a bunch of
> phones, the IEMI number was not entered into the system so the phones won't
> work. The rep has to activate or enter the IEMI number into the system
> before ht phones works. So, GSM phones have to be activated before they
> work. NO!?

No. The reason they record the IMEI number when they sell you the
phone is so, when the phone is returned for warrantee service, they
can determine when, and by whom, the phone was purchased. The phone
would work fine even if they didn't record the IMEI, but you might
have difficulty getting warrantee work done if the phone broke.

I use a phone that I purchased overseas, and while the store I
bought it from probably entered the IMEI in their system for warrantee
purposes I am very sure that system is in no way connected to any system
Cingular uses. Yet, when I bought Cingular service, they just handed my
the SIM card and paid no attention to the phone. I didn't buy the
phone from them, so the IMEI was uninteresting to them.

Dennis Ferguson

"Dennis Ferguson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On 2006-09-16, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 18:28:41 GMT, John Navas <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>On Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:30:47 GMT, "Dennis A. Vitali" <[email protected]>
>>>wrote in <[email protected]>:
>>>
>>>>When I upgraded my old tdma phone to a new razr I kept the home 50 plan
>>>>by
>>>>not going to a store , but using the 800 number for cingular, complained
>>>>three times, then they activated my razr.
>>>
>>>The SIM was activated, not the phone -- GSM phones don't need to be
>>>activated.
>>
>> Sure they do. The IEMI numbers are turned off when they come from the
>> factory. Just in case someone breaks into the store and steals a bunch
>> of
>> phones, the IEMI number was not entered into the system so the phones
>> won't
>> work. The rep has to activate or enter the IEMI number into the system
>> before ht phones works. So, GSM phones have to be activated before they
>> work. NO!?
>
> No. The reason they record the IMEI number when they sell you the
> phone is so, when the phone is returned for warrantee service, they
> can determine when, and by whom, the phone was purchased. The phone
> would work fine even if they didn't record the IMEI, but you might
> have difficulty getting warrantee work done if the phone broke.
>
> I use a phone that I purchased overseas, and while the store I
> bought it from probably entered the IMEI in their system for warrantee
> purposes I am very sure that system is in no way connected to any system
> Cingular uses. Yet, when I bought Cingular service, they just handed my
> the SIM card and paid no attention to the phone. I didn't buy the
> phone from them, so the IMEI was uninteresting to them.
>
> Dennis Ferguson
>

You don't have to call Cingular for anything but the insurance.

I've bought 2 v400, 1 V551, 3 Razrs and 2 Razr V3i off ebay, I'm sure the
seller didn't call Cingular to activate them and I know I didn't.

Of these phones all but the V400s are in service with Cingular today and
Cingular still hasn't been called on any of them
...
bamp