1. #1
    fulcrum
    fulcrum is offline
    Newbie

    Location
    Tulsa, OK
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    2
    I am a new Cingular customer, and I am being forced to learn a lot more about wireless phones than I wanted to. Long story short, I have four identical phones (SonyEriccson T226) with poor service quality. One has now died completely, and Cingular falsely blames it on water damage; won't replace it. I've read enough about Cingular (plus spent over 40 hrs talking to -- or waiting on -- CSRs in the last two months) that I don't expect them to do anything about it.

    Instead, I have to learn a lot about buying a phone from a third party and getting it to work on my Cingular acct. Why keep Cingular? It will cost me $600 to move all four phones to a more customer-oriented provider. I am sentenced to Cingular for 2 more years. But I refuse to give them any more business -- I want to buy my phone from someone else.

    1. Network: My bill says "GSM" but doesn't say what speed (I am seeing references to phones working with 900 and 1800, I think). Their website was no help. To register, they wanted me to re-agree to my original contract, which actually absolved them from NEGLIGENCE, which I don't plan to do. How can I find out what they offer in my area (Tulsa, OK)? Preferably without spending another 45 min waiting on hold (or in the waiting room at the store) to talk to a CSR.

    2. The same source SHOULD tell me whether Cingular offers other types of service (xDSM or whatever). Can I get a dual or tri-network phone to work in my area?

    3. Okay, after I have answers to questions 1 & 2, I can look for a compatible phone. I'm not looking at recommendations where to go -- I can figure that out. And I don't want recommendations for brand and model -- I can figure that out. But I would like some advice as to what I need to do to I buy a phone from a third party, then get Cingular to recognize it as MY phone. Do I have to take it to a Cingular store? Will they charge me a fee? Will they refuse to help? I'm not wanting to lay out $50-150 for a phone, then get it here and find out OOPS -- can't use it with my Cingular account. I already have four phones that don't work with Cingular....

    4. These phones have SIMs. I want to be able to carry my phone numbers from the old phones to the new phones, but I'm pretty dim about SIMs. Will the SIMs from these SonyErricson phones work in phones from another manufacturer? Otherwise, they are useless, as I will never buy another SonyEriccson phone.

    5. I've tried Google and Ask Jeeves to find some basics on this stuff, but every site I've found either expects you to know everything about buying a new phone, or wants to offer you a phone with a service contract. I don't qualify for the first category, and I've sadly fallen into the second category already. Anybody got a link to a "buy your own phone" FAQ, or something that actually answers such questions?

    PS -- I need to know ASAP -- my wife's phone is dead, and I need to replace it.


    See More: Buying a phone for a Cingular Acct without giving Cingular $$$
    Overcharged by ATT, underserved by Cingular.




  2. #2
    Kennyg66
    Kennyg66 is offline
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    Location
    MA
    Posts
    4

    If you need to buy phones I have some brand new phones that work on the Cingular network with the Sim cards without be obligating new service or extending your contract.



  3. #3
    fulcrum
    fulcrum is offline
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    Location
    Tulsa, OK
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    2

    As I said, "I'm not looking at recommendations where to go -- I can figure that out. And I don't want recommendations for brand and model -- I can figure that out."

    Instead, I am hoping that someone will post some guidelines for me and people like me. How do I buy a phone from a third party that I know will be compatible with my service?

    Since I posted this note, I have been *told* that Cingular does GSM 800 and 1900 in my area -- but I hear phoniacs spouting off all the time that they jump from analog to digital and KNOW that it's happening, or that they need to buy a phone that is compatible with XYZ protocol. But where can I go to find out what MY service is? (I'm also interested in the "who's really carrying your signal" information, since I've heard that subcontracts between providers can result in the same lousy signal from several in the same market.)

    I've heard that you can download software to "unlock" phones, and also seen ebay offerings to sell me a phone that is "already" unlocked. WTF? A friend told me that sometimes you have to try a series of codes to unlock, and that after a certain number -- 5? 6? -- Nokias become permanently locked. Oops! Hope that first owner didn't use up any of those lives!

    Oh, and what's this about "software"? You can't just type the codes into the keypad on the phone? I gotta hook it to a PC? Guess I better be looking for a data interface cable, too! (Actually, I may have this licked, as I found a store nearby that will "unlock" a phone for $15. I can just add that to shipping and handling.)

    I've been told that the SIMs from one phone *will* work in a phone from another manufacturer. Hope that's true! It's also been suggested that since my SonyEricsson SIM is already programmed for my Cingular service, I may just have to pop it into my new phone and not worry about locks and unlocks. Okay...maybe?

    And then, of course, I find that the phones on ebay that seem worthwhile (decent signal, decent features) that HAVE a SIM all seem to value out (at the Buy It Now price) at $150 or more.

    If it's going to cost me $150 for a phone that MIGHT work with Cingular, I'm better off going with another provider and avoiding two more years of misery. Of course, if I had the $600 to free my family from that misery, I wouldn't be here, would I?

    I COULD go with a pre-SIM phone that works on GSM, but then I lose everything I think I may have learned about locking, unlocking, etc. And of course, I lose my phonebook, too. Not so bad, because we quit entering numbers in the #%#&%*& things when we realized we couldn't make calls on them!

    So no, I did not come to this forum to buy a phone, and will simply state outright that I will not buy one from any who contact me through this venue.

    But instead, I will appeal to the many thousands of you out there that somehow figured out how this stuff works to help me and the many others who have been mistreated and misled by wireless companies to actually gain back a little bit of power over our own destinies.

    Thanks.
    Overcharged by ATT, underserved by Cingular.



  4. #4
    Kennyg66
    Kennyg66 is offline
    Newbie

    Location
    MA
    Posts
    4

    Phones

    Any phone that you buy must be compatiable with the Cingular network and all you have to do is make sure your numbers are stored on the sim take your sim and move it to the new phone and thats it



  5. #5
    Lunchboxx
    Lunchboxx is offline
    Junior Member

    Posts
    18

    As for falsely saying it is water damage, it is plainly visable if it is water damage, whether you believe it or not, you can see it...



  6. #6
    algreenery
    algreenery is offline
    Banned

    Posts
    78

    yep. what they said.



  7. #7
    pointv123
    pointv123 is offline
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    1

    Buying a phone only

    Quote Originally Posted by Kennyg66
    If you need to buy phones I have some brand new phones that work on the Cingular network with the Sim cards without be obligating new service or extending your contract.

    Please let me know where to go to do this






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