You need to unlock your X426 to use the Cingular SIM card.

Press *#9999# on your phone, it'll give you a number, reply here with the number. Once I have the number I'll be able to tell you what comes next.

I have a Samsung X497 (from Cingular) which recently started freezing up. The only way I can "unfreeze" it is to remove the battery and reinsert it. The first time this happened, I lost all my saved phone numbers (which I ignorantly saved to the phone and not the SIM card). I have two questions:

(1) Is it the phone or the battery?

The "new" AT&T/Cingular store rep said the phone needs replacing (but of course he would like to sell me a new phone). If it's the battery, I'd like to just buy a new battery. If it's the phone, the "new" AT&T won't replace the X497 since I've had it for 15 months and it's out of warranty.

(2) If it's the phone, is there a way I can use my old phone, a Samsung X426 (e.g., "unlocking" the X426)? The store rep said I could just insert the Cingular SIM card from my X497 into my X426 but when I tried this, a "Wrong SIM card" message appeared on the phone. (Since the X426 was purchased from the "old" AT&T, it has an AT&T SIM card. )

Since I now dislike the "new" AT&T/Cingular service, I would like to next try a new carrier (Verizon?), so I don't want to upgrade since this means signing up for another 1 or 2 years. Although one solution is to just cancel my Cingular contract and sign up with a new carrier and get a new phone that way, I don't want to incur the penalty and give the "new" AT&T any more of my money. For the remainder of my Cingular contract, I'd just like to have a useable phone and once the contract is up, switch to a new carrier. Thanks for your help!