GSM Phone for Cingular

I'm thinking of checking out Cingular's GSM service in the Northern
California area.
I'll also probably need TDMA and AMP coverage.

I need a REAL phone i.e. no women's cosmetic compacts (tiny flip
phones).

No micro buttons (my fingers cover 2 to 3 buttons/keys, the thumb
cover 4 to 6).

I need to be able to read the screen in bright daylight and/or with
sunglasses.

No cameras, games, calculators or palm pilots and so on.

I use ~4000 minutes a month. I just want to make and receive calls.

I've been using a Nokia 6160 AT&T TDMA phone, a Nokia 3285 Verizon
CDMA phone and recently a Sprint 3585i phone.

I like the size and features of the older Nokia 6340i and Nokia 6310i
phones.

Any suggestions? No "girly-man" phones please.
--
Chas. [email protected] (Drop spamski to E-mail me)

---

› See More: GSM Phone for Cingular

In article <[email protected]>,
* * Chas <[email protected]> wrote:
>I'm thinking of checking out Cingular's GSM service in the Northern
>California area.
>I'll also probably need TDMA and AMP coverage.
>
>I need a REAL phone i.e. no women's cosmetic compacts (tiny flip
>phones).
>
>No micro buttons (my fingers cover 2 to 3 buttons/keys, the thumb
>cover 4 to 6).
>
>I need to be able to read the screen in bright daylight and/or with
>sunglasses.
>
>No cameras, games, calculators or palm pilots and so on.
>
>I use ~4000 minutes a month. I just want to make and receive calls.
>
>I've been using a Nokia 6160 AT&T TDMA phone, a Nokia 3285 Verizon
>CDMA phone and recently a Sprint 3585i phone.
>
>I like the size and features of the older Nokia 6340i and Nokia 6310i
>phones.
>
>Any suggestions? No "girly-man" phones please.

Your 6340i, if unlocked, will work on a Cingular GSM system. Just go to a
company store and ask for a customer-provided and maintained equipment
activation. Good luck getting TDMA activated anywhere. A more modern GSM
phone of similar form factor, with no frills, is the discontinued 3595 or
its replacement, the 6010.

"Mike S." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> In article <[email protected]>,
> * * Chas <[email protected]> wrote:
> >I'm thinking of checking out Cingular's GSM service in the Northern
> >California area.
> >I'll also probably need TDMA and AMP coverage.
> >
> >I need a REAL phone i.e. no women's cosmetic compacts (tiny flip
> >phones).
> >
> >No micro buttons (my fingers cover 2 to 3 buttons/keys, the thumb
> >cover 4 to 6).
> >
> >I need to be able to read the screen in bright daylight and/or with
> >sunglasses.
> >
> >No cameras, games, calculators or palm pilots and so on.
> >
> >I use ~4000 minutes a month. I just want to make and receive calls.
> >
> >I've been using a Nokia 6160 AT&T TDMA phone, a Nokia 3285 Verizon
> >CDMA phone and recently a Sprint 3585i phone.
> >
> >I like the size and features of the older Nokia 6340i and Nokia
6310i
> >phones.
> >
> >Any suggestions? No "girly-man" phones please.
>
> Your 6340i, if unlocked, will work on a Cingular GSM system. Just go
to a
> company store and ask for a customer-provided and maintained
equipment
> activation. Good luck getting TDMA activated anywhere. A more
modern GSM
> phone of similar form factor, with no frills, is the discontinued
3595 or
> its replacement, the 6010.
>

Thanks for the response. I haven't picked up a GSM phone yet, I just
started looking into it. I don't have service with Cingular yet, I'm
checking them out now.

I have an old AT&T Nokia 6160 TDMA that I used until about 3 months
ago. It worked great during 6 years of traveling throughout the US on
business - except parts of the east coast around NJ & NY and most of
the west coast - all areas where AT&TWS's coverage sucked.

I'm now based in the SF Bay Area. In the past, a lot of folks had
coverage problems with GSM phones in this area. I've heard things have
improved since the Cingular/ATTWS takeover. I cover an area up to 100
miles north of SF and 50 miles east of there.

There are a lot of rural areas with limited coverage, that's why I'm
looking for a phone that has more than just GSM.

I've read a lot of reviews on the 6340i. People either loved them or
hated them. They sell for $20-$25 on e-Bay.

Some people complained that they were fragile and/or they frequently
turned themselves off. Any comment? What about your other 2
suggestions. I use about 4000 minutes a month.
--
Chas. [email protected] (Drop spamski to E-mail me)

* * Chas wrote:

[snip]

> I'm now based in the SF Bay Area. In the past, a lot of folks had
> coverage problems with GSM phones in this area. I've heard things
> have improved since the Cingular/ATTWS takeover. I cover an area up
> to 100 miles north of SF and 50 miles east of there.

I'm from the UK and have had no problems at all using a 6310i roaming on
both Cingular and AT&T in the Bay area. This is using purely 1900 MHz of
course, the 6310i being a European spec. one on 900/1800/1900. I've also
used a pre-pay T-Mobile SIM card in the same phone with no major problems.
Coverage dies around the Big Sur area on Hwy.1 but then so does everything
from what I'm told ;-)

Ivor

"Ivor Jones" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> * * Chas wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> > I'm now based in the SF Bay Area. In the past, a lot of folks had
> > coverage problems with GSM phones in this area. I've heard things
> > have improved since the Cingular/ATTWS takeover. I cover an area
up
> > to 100 miles north of SF and 50 miles east of there.
>
> I'm from the UK and have had no problems at all using a 6310i
roaming on
> both Cingular and AT&T in the Bay area. This is using purely 1900
MHz of
> course, the 6310i being a European spec. one on 900/1800/1900. I've
also
> used a pre-pay T-Mobile SIM card in the same phone with no major
problems.
> Coverage dies around the Big Sur area on Hwy.1 but then so does
everything
> from what I'm told ;-)

Very interesting. I saw a slew of 6310i Nokias listed on e-Bay by
sellers in the UK including a lot of new ones. They seem to go for
around £30-£50GBP ($50-$100USD). I was wonder how they would work in
the US.

Thanks
--
Chas. [email protected] (Drop spamski to E-mail me)

* * Chas wrote:
> "Ivor Jones" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> * * Chas wrote:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>> I'm now based in the SF Bay Area. In the past, a lot of folks had
>>> coverage problems with GSM phones in this area. I've heard things
>>> have improved since the Cingular/ATTWS takeover. I cover an area
>>> up to 100 miles north of SF and 50 miles east of there.
>>
>> I'm from the UK and have had no problems at all using a 6310i
>> roaming on both Cingular and AT&T in the Bay area. This is using
>> purely 1900 MHz of course, the 6310i being a European spec. one on
>> 900/1800/1900. I've also used a pre-pay T-Mobile SIM card in the
>> same phone with no major problems. Coverage dies around the Big
>> Sur area on Hwy.1 but then so does everything from what I'm told
>> ;-)
>
> Very interesting. I saw a slew of 6310i Nokias listed on e-Bay by
> sellers in the UK including a lot of new ones. They seem to go for
> around £30-£50GBP ($50-$100USD). I was wonder how they would work in
> the US.
>
> Thanks

I'd be wary of relying on 1900 GSM alone though, maybe a 6340i would
better suit your needs given that it has TDMA and AMPS as well as both 850
and 1900 GSM.

Ivor

In article <[email protected]>,
"* * Chas" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Very interesting. I saw a slew of 6310i Nokias listed on e-Bay by
>sellers in the UK including a lot of new ones. They seem to go for
>around £30-£50GBP ($50-$100USD). I was wonder how they would work in
>the US.

I've had a 6310i in the US mostly but also in the UK, Russia, etc. on
the old AT & T network and overall it's been really good. There are a
few holes in the US where an older analog phone would have worked better.

It's not totally compatible with all the iSinc features of my Macintosh
Powerbook, but I am able to upload all the AddressBook data and use the
BlueTooth to establish a GSM direct connection to the Internet.