switching phones

hello..i have a standard lg flip phone courtesy of cingular. however, that phone flat out sucks so i am wnating to switch to a new phone. is there a series of steps i have to go through? or can i just buy a cingular compatible phone from ebay or such and activate it? also, can i keep my phone number?

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Originally Posted by kevling51

hello..i have a standard lg flip phone courtesy of cingular. however, that phone flat out sucks so i am wnating to switch to a new phone. is there a series of steps i have to go through? or can i just buy a cingular compatible phone from ebay or such and activate it? also, can i keep my phone number?

As long as the handset you buy is a Cingular branded phone that's not reported lost or stolen (if used) or if it's unlocked all you have to do is put your current sim card into the new phone and your'e set, no need to call for activation, and yes you keep the same number....gotta love GSM phones..

Tony, are you saying that all you have to do is buy another phone and put your Sim card in it? So if I still have a few months on my current contract, if I find a phone at a decent price I can just switch my sim card? Also, what is locked and unlocked. Forgive my ignorance, but I'm relatively new to all this.

You can buy a GSM Phone anywhere (eBay for example), and simply put your SIM card in it to change phones, provided: The phone is Cingular Branded (locked to Cingular) or it is unlocked (meaning that someon has modified it to work on any carrier).

Alternatively, if you have a two year contract you can go to Cingular and upgrade your phone (at the new contract price) by extending your current contract. Usually you have to be in the last 6 months of your contract for them to agree to this.

Brian,

Thanks for the input. I'll check out these options.

Tony E!, or anyone else here, I have a question about changing phones.

1) I have a crappy NEC 515 from Att.
2)Att merged with cingular
3) In laramie wyoming, there is no cingular, but they lease towers or something so the service works here.
4) If I buy an unlocked Razr off of ebay, all I will have to do is take out my SIM from my NEC and put it in the Razr, and viola?

Also, if i have to buy a locked phone, which i hopefully wont, do i need to buy an Att locked since my plan is with Att, or cingular locked?

If we can avoid all of that, great, my main question is can i just pull the sim out of my terrible NEC and put it in a new, unlocked Razr?

You would need to get a phone that is ATT locked, or an unlocked phone.

If you use your SIM card now (ATT), your phone will prefer blue towers from ATT, and will not connect to any orange towers if a blue one is found first.

Say, for example, that you are standing 50 ft in front of an orange tower, but the phone can still see the blue tower 5 miles away with only one bar of reception, your phone will still prefer the blue tower (and will completely ignore the orange tower like it's not even there). This may not be a problem at first, but as cingular converts more and mroe towers will reception will get worse and worse, until you eventually get no signal and have to go into a cingular store and get a cingular SIM. Of course when you get a Cingular SIM, you'll need to have your phone unlocked so it will read it. Life's a ***** sometimes.

Why not just the razr from a cingular store? They've been advertising the fact you can get it for $199 after rebate like crazy up here in WI. With a nationwide plan you shouldn't need to have any Cingular towers nearby, since you'll just roam off the others.

We can unlock any cell phone or PDA locked to AT&T or Cingular at flat rate of 50 dollars per code.

We offer BULK quotes for reseller or cellphone store owners. So please contact us at 706-247-4464

to discuss further details.

For individual clients:

you can fill out the details of the phone and IMEI numbers at the following website:

http://www.globalgsmphones.com/UnlockProcessing.htm

we are professional and once we receive the request, then within 24-36 business hours you will

receive the unlock code with instructions.

We do not work on weekends. So keep that into consideration when ordering from us.

NOTE: Unlock code for latest models of phones or PDA will cost slight extra.

regards,

Vikas
Global GSM Phones, Inc.

Thank you, you have now officially spamed almost every thread in this cingular forum.. all 14 of your posts are the same overpriced advert that you posted in the other forums..