newbie here! quick internet question

been with cingular a year or so. before that i was with suncom. i still carry my suncom unplan (unlimited minutes for 49). when cingular bought out suncom they could/would not match the unlimited internet for $3.

luckily i still have my unplan.

i'm not familiar with new cellphone tech, but want to get a new phone and thinking about getting a pda style.

my question; which if any gsm phones can get on the internet through my wireless home internet or say a hotel or bookstore? like laptops are able to do.

is this type of tech even out? if i get an internet plan through cingular i lose my unplan which i'm not willing to do.

tks

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It's quite likely that once you upgrade your phone they will make you choose a new plan, and you'll have to choose from one of their current plans. So if you want to keep your unplan you better check out whether changing phones will force you to change your plan. It's a sneaky little trick the phone companies use to migrate you off of old plans.

tks, but i don't plan on getting the phone from a cingular store.

is this a hard question? 26 views

Not quite sure what you are asking, but there are pdas that access the internet through both gsm and wifi. GSM being through the cell towers, wifi is through the hotspots like laptops do. Using wifi does not involve any charges from Cingular, although they do have a plan that allows you to use wifi in selected hotspots without paying the hourly fee.
What that means to your plan, I have no idea. but there it is.

Originally Posted by jurob

tks, but i don't plan on getting the phone from a cingular store.

doesn't matter you'll still have to call Cingular customer service to activate the new phone and when you do that is when they will do the plan switch on you.

its a gsm phone with sim card. i transfer the card to unlocked phone and there is no need to call cingular.

Interesting. I have never used a gsm sim card so I would not have thought about that. Hope it works out for you.

Originally Posted by Nags

Interesting. I have never used a gsm sim card so I would not have thought about that. Hope it works out for you.

That is one advantage to Sim cards. They can be moved phone to phone if the phones are branded the same as the sim card, or put in an unlocked phone.
What features work depends upon the phone. Some carriers have the settings built in so that you cannot change them to work on another carrier (T-mobile's sidekick for one). Other phones, or carriers, allow the settings to changed fairly easily. Almost every Cingular phone can be configured to work on other carriers in a few minutes. Makes it nice for overseas roaming.

Shrocat,
phone i'm looking at is the 8125 wifi phone. if this phone can connect to the internet using wireless "hotspots" like starbucks, bookstores, home, etc...then i'm going to get this phone. saves me from having to lug the laptop around.