Any down side to an UNlocked Nokia 6340i GAIT phone?

I'm considering buying a new 6340i off of Ebay, to replace the
well-used one that I have now. I called Cingular CS to verify there
would be no problem with switching my existing SIM to the new phone
and that Cingular would also allow a new phone to have all the
capabilities of my existing phone (TDMA, Analog, i.e GAIT
capabilities). She said this would not be a problem, just switch the
SIM and call in your ESN from the new phone and the switch would be
made without problem. However, she also said make sure I don't get an
UNlocked phone, because I could have billing problems if the phone
were to roam onto another carrier that was not an authorized roaming
partner. Now my understanding is completely different from what she
said and I discussed it with her for several minutes, saying the SIM
would control the GSM side of the phone and the IRDB should control
the TDMA portion of the phone, etc.

I have the option of buying a Cingular locked 6340i or an unlocked
version from different vendors (of course the prices are not
necessarily the same). So now I'm asking for confirmation from
someone knowledgeable on this. Is there any potential problem with
using an unlocked 6340i with respect to inadvertent roaming on either
GSM, TDMA, or Analog systems, that are not authorized roaming
partners, and thus be billed for minutes not included in the existing
NATION plan? My current plan on the current 6340i from Cingular never
incurs a roaming charge.

TIA

SM

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› See More: Any down side to an UNlocked Nokia 6340i GAIT phone?

The CSR was half right. the first part about calling to do the ESN change is
important. The part about an unlocked phone was bunk. A locked phone will
only accept the original providers SIM, an unlocked phone will accept any
SIM. The SIM, as you noted, holds all the system registration information.

jim
"Spammer Magnet" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm considering buying a new 6340i off of Ebay, to replace the
> well-used one that I have now. I called Cingular CS to verify there
> would be no problem with switching my existing SIM to the new phone
> and that Cingular would also allow a new phone to have all the
> capabilities of my existing phone (TDMA, Analog, i.e GAIT
> capabilities). She said this would not be a problem, just switch the
> SIM and call in your ESN from the new phone and the switch would be
> made without problem. However, she also said make sure I don't get an
> UNlocked phone, because I could have billing problems if the phone
> were to roam onto another carrier that was not an authorized roaming
> partner. Now my understanding is completely different from what she
> said and I discussed it with her for several minutes, saying the SIM
> would control the GSM side of the phone and the IRDB should control
> the TDMA portion of the phone, etc.
>
> I have the option of buying a Cingular locked 6340i or an unlocked
> version from different vendors (of course the prices are not
> necessarily the same). So now I'm asking for confirmation from
> someone knowledgeable on this. Is there any potential problem with
> using an unlocked 6340i with respect to inadvertent roaming on either
> GSM, TDMA, or Analog systems, that are not authorized roaming
> partners, and thus be billed for minutes not included in the existing
> NATION plan? My current plan on the current 6340i from Cingular never
> incurs a roaming charge.
>
> TIA
>
> SM
>

"Scott en Aztlán" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 17:11:24 -0400, "jim" <[email protected]> spake
> thus:
>
> >The CSR was half right. the first part about calling to do the ESN change
is
> >important.
>
> Really?
>
> I've switched my SIMs from phone to phone multiple times without ever
> informing Cingular and never had a problem.
>
> --
> Proud to be a wreckless driver!

The reason it worked is because either A) you were lucky or B) your phone
has never switched to TDMA mode.
If the phone switches to TDMA and the ESN is incorrect, you will be denied
service. If it stays in GSM mode, there will be no issue.

jim wrote (6/5/2005 9:31 PM):

> "Scott en Aztlán" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 17:11:24 -0400, "jim" <[email protected]> spake
>>thus:
>>
>>
>>>The CSR was half right. the first part about calling to do the ESN change
>
> is
>
>>>important.
>>
>>Really?
>>
>>I've switched my SIMs from phone to phone multiple times without ever
>>informing Cingular and never had a problem.
>>
>>--
>>Proud to be a wreckless driver!
>
>
> The reason it worked is because either A) you were lucky or B) your phone
> has never switched to TDMA mode.
> If the phone switches to TDMA and the ESN is incorrect, you will be denied
> service. If it stays in GSM mode, there will be no issue.
>
>

Having the correct ESN in Cingular's records is essential,
but it is absolutely unrelated to whether or not the phone
is locked or unlocked.

--
RJW

I can think of no down side to an unlocked phone. You can download a free
unlock caculator from http://unlock.nokiafree.org/download.php if you buy
the locked one and want to unlock it.

"Spammer Magnet" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> However, she also said make sure I don't
> get an
> UNlocked phone, because I could have billing problems if the phone
> were to roam onto another carrier that was not an authorized roaming
> partner.

"Locking" has nothing at all to do with roaming. A "locked" phone simply
means that you cannot put another carriers SIM in the phone (ie: T-Mobile).
Her caution was from misunderstanding of what she was talking about on her
part.

"Scott en Aztlán" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 17:11:24 -0400, "jim" <[email protected]> spake
> thus:
>
>>The CSR was half right. the first part about calling to do the ESN change
>>is
>>important.
>
> Really?
>
> I've switched my SIMs from phone to phone multiple times without ever
> informing Cingular and never had a problem.

Re-read what was said. The ESN (not the IMEI) number is necessary for the
TDMA side of the phone to work properly.

Whatdayathink?