Locked vs. Cingular Branded

A cingular phone rep told me that an unlocked phone may not have all features enabled that the same phone from Cingular may have. Is this true? For example, how would an unlocked KRZR be different then a KRZR from Cingular?

Thanks again

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Originally Posted by jamepc

A cingular phone rep told me that an unlocked phone may not have all features enabled that the same phone from Cingular may have. Is this true? For example, how would an unlocked KRZR be different then a KRZR from Cingular?

Thanks again

Hi JamePC. First let me say welcome to CFP.

Now on to your post.

I am a HUGE fan of unlocked and unbranded phones and like the freedom to not have all the carrier's stuff cluttering up my phone. I have not had a carrier phone in over 3 years. All of my phones have been bought unlocked and unbranded.

There are lots of benefits and lots of counter benefits to buying an unlocked and unbranded phone. Let's see if we can detail a few of them:

Benefits ...

SIM Flexibility:You can use any carrier's SIM card in your phone at any time. If you travel overseas and want to buy a prepaid SIM card to cut down on expenses, you can simply get anyone's prepaid SIM card and pop it in your phone and your phone will work. Complete flexibility.

Carrier Flexibility: You can change to any other GSM carrier at any time and have your phone ready to go right away without needing to get a new phone.

Function Flexibility: You will not have any carrier restrictions put on your phone. Your carrier can't lock you out of certain functionalities of the phone (Verizon is famous for doing this with their phones).

No Logos: Your unlocked/unbranded phone won't have your carrier's logos all over it making it look cheap.

Phone Buying Flexibility: With carrier phones, you can only get what they are willing to sell you. I like getting the latest and greatest phones. Sometimes these haven't been released to my carrier. Sometimes these phones haven't even been released for sale in the United States (Europe and Asia always get the latest phones because our FCC approval processes make it harder to release new phones quickly in the USA). With an unlocked/unbranded phone mentality, you can get any GSM phone on the market overseas. I had a Moto V3i MONTHS before it was released by any carrier in the USA because I bought mine (new in original packing) from a guy who gets new phones overseas.

There are other benefits as well but that is a good start. Now let's look at some of the negatives.

Negatives (really there is only one) ...

Data: While you'll be able to pop your carrier's SIM card in your unlocked and unbranded phone and have it work right away, data access will not be as simple. Because your carrier did not sell you the phone, they have not populated all of their coding into the new unlocked/unbranded phone you just bought. This means that your access to data won't work right out of the box. This is not a difficult problem to overcome. If you call your carrier (assuming it's either Cingular or T-Mobile) they can send you the coding over he air with a call to customer service and your data will work after you receive that transmission. Usually this just takes a few minutes.

Logos: You will not have your carrier banding all over the casing of your phone. If you are in love with your carrier's logo, this could be an obstacle.

Expense: Your unbranded/unlocked phone will cost more to acquire. Carriers subsidize their own phones. If you want to buy an unlocked/unbranded one, you are going to find that the prices are higher.


As I mentioned, I am a HUGE fan of unlocked/unbranded phones. I have set up all my own phones for years and have helped several friends with T-Mobile and Cingular set up theirs too. It's easy after you get the hang of it.

Your decision boils down to this: Do you want to pay more and work a little more setting up your phone to get any phone you want at any time and to be able to use this phone anyway you want. For me this is a simple choice. If you are more budget sensitive and/or don't like fussing with customizing your phone or just want the ease of letting your carrier handle all of this, then you should just buy something from your carrier.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your through reply! That's the kind of answer I was looking for!

I just brought back a Dopod 595 and a Sony W850i phone back to US from Taiwan, they both are unlocked.

However, when I put in Cingular sim card in the phone, it can not go on internet. Dopod 595 is a smartphone running Windows Mobile 5. It should be simple to set up internet, but the cingular clerk did not know how to set up the internet access....

So I am doing research on the internet on how to set up WAP account..

DO you have any suggestion ?

Thank you

One of the problems with buying unlocked phones is that the carrier that you want to use it on may not provide a lot of support for them. However, for the information needed to make them work, go to the cingular web site, select support for phones, and start looking through the different phones. This will get you what you need to enter. The where on the phone may be a bit more difficult, for the W850i try checking the Sony Ericsson phones, for the Dopod you may need to go to the manufacturers website for the info.
Also, some phone manufacturers do over the air settings, so that all you need to do is to select the carrier, phone model and your phone number and the settings will be sent to your phone.

I bought an unlocked phone, popped in the sim card, and had no problems...

Originally Posted by cupertino

I just brought back a Dopod 595 and a Sony W850i phone back to US from Taiwan, they both are unlocked.

However, when I put in Cingular sim card in the phone, it can not go on internet. Dopod 595 is a smartphone running Windows Mobile 5. It should be simple to set up internet, but the cingular clerk did not know how to set up the internet access....

So I am doing research on the internet on how to set up WAP account..

DO you have any suggestion ?

Thank you

First of all, the clerks at Cingular stores are sales people, not technicians. So they most likely will not know how to do this. Especially on a phone that they are not used to. However, you have a couple of choices. Try going to the Cingular website, go to support for phone and device, and look for instructions for another smart phone, such as the Blackjack, or 3125. Or call cingular support and they should help you. If you get a rep that won't help, ask to be escalated.

Cingular said they are taking down the old ATT towers so they can put up Cingular towers. I am on that old system and was wondering should I upgrade or not. They said I will eventually not be able to use the phone. I have a V600 which is about maybe 4-5 years old. Are they BSing me, or should I update my phone system.