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Cell phone plans

Doc

Doc

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I don't like my cell phone. I'm in a two year contract with Cingular ...the new AT&T. I went into the At&T cell phone store and they said all the special priced phones were for new contracts only. I would have to pay full price if I wanted the phone. :eek:
I see cell phones for sale on Ebay. I assume you can get one of those, or one at Radio Shack and have it programed to work with my current plan, but I'm not sure of this.
Anyone have any hints on what my options would be?
 
The phone must have the right features to work with your company. That is the way I understand it, for whatever that is worth.
 
Docs,

There are ways to unlock phones, but I've never gotten into that. However, with Cingular you have what is called a Sim Card in the back of the phone. This basically tells Cingular you are you.:tiphat: You can take this card out and put it in any other Cingular phone and it will work just fine and it will be "you" calling. The other thing you can do is go online and look to see what kind of phones are available. Usually after a year you can get a new phone, but it will require a new 2 year contract. This means 2 years from the day you order the new phone, not 2 years tacked onto your current 2 year contract. Online you can usually find pretty decent phones for free or relatively cheap.

Don't know who you work for, but if they have any type of wireless phones with AT&T you probably get into the Cingular Premiere type plan. This saves you 10% per month on your bill. You can also save a bunch on phones. We just got 4 new Sony Ericsson phones that the cheapest that I had seen anywhere else were $129. We ended up getting those for free. This phone took a little getting used to, but I'm starting to like it.

BTW, we were on the old AT&T service under Cingular. Now we are on the old Cingular service under AT&T.:toilet:
 
I'm just now 6 months into this new plan. I talked to AT&T when I was at 5 months and they would not sell me another phone at the discounted price because my contract was to new.
I suppose I have to wait 6 more months ... but I hate these 2 year contracts, then I would have to sign up for 2 more years.
I'm looking for a way to buy a phone outside of AT&T's system, but still have it work.
As for all Sim cards from AT&T working in all the AT&T phones, that didn't play out either. My previous phone was a Samsung. It worked fine for close to 3 years, but when I replaced it 6 months ago with a Nokia the same Sim card would not work in the Nokia. I had to completely reprogram the phone.

This new phone does have Blue Tooth, but I don't have the Blue Tooth USB plug for my computer yet. Blue tooth seems like the best way to update any phones directory without having to reenter all the numbers. You can also back it up that way.
 
Doc said:
... but I hate these 2 year contracts, then I would have to sign up for 2 more years.
Click to expand...

I guess it doesn't bother me. I've been with AT&T since '98 and have no plans to change, so 2 years means nothing to me.
 
Doc,

Were you previously on AT&T and then went to Cingular? I've never seen the sim cards not interchange. I've switched them several times. I work with a guy that has a friend that works at a Cingular store. He switches phones about once a month and never switches sim cards. It really surprises me that you had an issue. When we got our new phones a couple of months ago we had to get new sim cards because our olds ones were AT&T and not Cingular.
 
jwstewar said:
Doc,

Were you previously on AT&T and then went to Cingular? I've never seen the sim cards not interchange. I've switched them several times. I work with a guy that has a friend that works at a Cingular store. He switches phones about once a month and never switches sim cards. It really surprises me that you had an issue. When we got our new phones a couple of months ago we had to get new sim cards because our olds ones were AT&T and not Cingular.
Click to expand...

Yep, you guessed it. My previous plan was with AT&T, the most recent one I signed up for was after AT&T merged with Cingular, so now I'm on Cingular. Now they are switching back to AT&T so I'm probably screwed again as far as my current Sim card working in whatever phone I get next. I didn't change companies, but since they merged I'm the one inconvenienced. :pat:
 
Doc said:
as far as my current Sim card working in whatever phone I get next. I didn't change companies, but since they merged I'm the one inconvenienced. :pat:
Click to expand...

I have 7 phones through them and constantly buy new ones on eBay to replace broken or obsolete phones. I've never had trouble moving things over. Usually you just have to move the SIM chip. On some, you'll have to change some of the settings to be able to send and receive pictures and to browse the web. Still, it's no big deal.
 
That is good to hear. Thanks Brent. :thumb:
 
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