Cingular and AT&T

[Thythe]

So I was on an AT&T cell phone plan for about 6 years or so, and then they merged with Cingular. I got to keep my awesome plan, though, as I was grandfathered in. This is what I get currently:

900 anytime minutes
unlimited mobile to mobile
unlimited nights and weekends

All this for $29.99. Basically I got this from years of renewing my contract, which I'm not under anymore. Well, now my phone is pretty much on the last leg of its life, and I need a new phone. Unfortunately Cingular forces you on to one of their plans if you buy a new phone. The plan I have now would cost me $59.99 with them or any of the other cell phone companies (DOUBLE what I'm paying).

So...for those of you who went through the same thing, how do I get a new phone and get it activated without losing my plan? I pretty much want to stick to Cingular for the phone selection, so advice to switch to another company is unneeded. Thanks.

[James Boston]

I could be wrong about this, so you'll have to check.

The $59.99 price is the discounted price for the phone that you get when you sign a contract. Cell phones are actually pretty expensive, but greatly discounted when you sign a new contract. You could probably buy a phone a regular price and retain the deal you have, if you think it's worth it.

I ran into a similar situation with Verizon. I just wanted a new phone, but they wouldn't sell me one at rebate price unless I renewed my contract. However, I wasn't eligible to renew my contract because the one I had previously signed was still in effect.

[peachy]

im kinda shocked...ive been with cingular for about 8 yrs now...and they have always worked with me with any prices, etc. Try and speak to someone higher up and see what they say. But even cingular uses had to all upgrade thier phones sometime back if they werent the ones that were compatiable with the new network...just try and talk to someone else

[Hiding]

Talk to a different cingular dealer, I went through the same thing with one guy, walked two blocks down and kept my original plan/price with a new phone for under $50 with a 1 year contract.

[Popinjay]

You should be able to pull your SIM card out from the phone you have now, then buy a new phone off ebay, stick the SIM card in that phone, and voila new phone with no plan change.

www.howardforums.com (http://www.howardforums.com) 2+2 for cell phones.

[craig r]

You will have to get it unlocked though. Or it will already have to be unlocked.

craig

[NorCalJosh]

the absolute ONLY way that you will be able to do this is if you buy a cingular phone either from a store or online, at the full price, and get it unlocked, and then stick your AT&T sim chip in it. there is no negotiating, theres no haggling, if you fully switched over to cingular, you WOULD have to pick a cingular plan. they may have a VIP offer for you, but even that wouldnt come close to comparing to the plan that you have no. sorry for the bad news.

[Thythe]

I have no problem buying a phone without a rebate if it involves me keeping my plan. The $59.99 price I quoted was for a plan, not a phone. I can get the phone I want for free on Amazon with a 2 year contract, but I'll gladly pay $300 for the phone if I get to keep my plan.

Peachy, I think that Cingular is OK with people keeping plans if they are already Cingular customers. It's us former AT&T people that they are trying to force onto their plans. The plan I'm on now has never been offered by Cingular, thus their reluctance to let me keep it.

The thing compounding this problem is that I want to keep my Minnesota number here in Phoenix. Because of that, whatever I do has to be over the phone. If I could do this in person it'd be easier.

[Thythe]

[ QUOTE ]
the absolute ONLY way that you will be able to do this is if you buy a cingular phone either from a store or online, at the full price, and get it unlocked, and then stick your AT&T sim chip in it. there is no negotiating, theres no haggling, if you fully switched over to cingular, you WOULD have to pick a cingular plan. they may have a VIP offer for you, but even that wouldnt come close to comparing to the plan that you have no. sorry for the bad news.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is what I've been hearing so far. I was hoping I could buy the phone at full price and still have them activate it with my old plan. I think not knowing what a SIM chip is might seriously hinder my efforts to do this complicated procedure.

[peachy]

[ QUOTE ]
You should be able to pull your SIM card out from the phone you have now, then buy a new phone off ebay, stick the SIM card in that phone, and voila new phone with no plan change.

www.howardforums.com (http://www.howardforums.com) 2+2 for cell phones.

[/ QUOTE ]

he said he had had it some time...so im guessin it doesnt have a SIM card.... /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif i might be way off though

[NorCalJosh]

pop open your phone, pop the battery out, theres a tiny card in the back. thats the sim chip. each companies phone is locked so that only that particular companies sim chips work with it. to maintain your plan, you have to have your ATT sim chip. and your ATT sim chip wont work in current cingular phones, since they are locked to only accept cingular chips.

[NorCalJosh]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You should be able to pull your SIM card out from the phone you have now, then buy a new phone off ebay, stick the SIM card in that phone, and voila new phone with no plan change.

www.howardforums.com (http://www.howardforums.com) 2+2 for cell phones.

[/ QUOTE ]

he said he had had it some time...so im guessin it doesnt have a SIM card.... /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif i might be way off though

[/ QUOTE ]


your right, he may be on the TDMA network. if you dont have a sim chip, your in even more trouble bro. you'll have to go on ebay and find an old ATT TDMA phone, get it sent to you, call customer service, and have them electronically transfer your number from one phone to another.

[Thythe]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You should be able to pull your SIM card out from the phone you have now, then buy a new phone off ebay, stick the SIM card in that phone, and voila new phone with no plan change.

www.howardforums.com (http://www.howardforums.com) 2+2 for cell phones.

[/ QUOTE ]

he said he had had it some time...so im guessin it doesnt have a SIM card.... /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif i might be way off though

[/ QUOTE ]


your right, he may be on the TDMA network. if you dont have a sim chip, your in even more trouble bro. you'll have to go on ebay and find an old ATT TDMA phone, get it sent to you, call customer service, and have them electronically transfer your number from one phone to another.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I bought this phone back in September of 2002. I took out the battery and didn't really see any type of chip, so I probably am on this TDMA network. That does sound familiar. Half of the reason of trying to do this is getting a newer phone, so I don't think I'd want to buy an old AT&T TDMA phone on Ebay...

Ugh, so I'm screwed huh? It really sucks having to get a plan that is going to cost me $360 more per year...and is EXACTLY the same plan I'm using now.

[NorCalJosh]

Yeah, its TDMA. theres no way of switching to a newer phone, TDMA phones havent been in service since right around when you bought yours. cingular operates on a completely different network, so no, theres no way to bring the plan across. if you've been with ATT that long, you WILL have a VIP offer, which wont be as good as your current plan, but at least ask about it when you call customer service. its generally only a special discount on the phones, but occasionally they;ll throw in a different service plan as well.

[Thythe]

Well hopefully this VIP offer will at least be decent. This merger really screwed me over. As my contract ran out, AT&T probably would have offered me some other cool stuff to renew again, but instead I'm stuck trying to negotiate a plan that will certainly cost more and will probably have less minutes.

[NorCalJosh]

it is true that ATT would have done their best to offer you something good, but you would have had to change plans as well, in order to switch over from the old TDMA to the new GSM ATT network. the biggest issue is that with the merger, it would be impossible and monetarily impractical to keep track of all the junk ATT threw out there, so we're doing what we can to try and merge cost saving with keeping the customer happy. unfortunately, theres just some killer plans, such as yours, that are impossible to duplicate.

[Thythe]

Ahh, you work for Cingular huh? Yeah it was kind of a point of pride to have such an awesome plan for such a cheap price. I don't even think any major cell phone company even has a $29.99 plan anymore, not even consider the insane minutes I get.

[NorCalJosh]

yeah, i manage a company owned retail store in the bay area... tmobile may offer a 29.99 plan still, but its nowhere in the vicinity of that plan. ATT was really great about rewarding customers, but unfortunately that doesnt transfer over to a cost effective merge you know? its tough to merge two companies with 25 million+ customers each, give or take, and some things end up falling through the cracks.

[Thythe]

[ QUOTE ]
yeah, i manage a company owned retail store in the bay area... tmobile may offer a 29.99 plan still, but its nowhere in the vicinity of that plan. ATT was really great about rewarding customers, but unfortunately that doesnt transfer over to a cost effective merge you know? its tough to merge two companies with 25 million+ customers each, give or take, and some things end up falling through the cracks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh yeah, I definitely understand. Thanks for all the help.

[dibbs]

I've been in the same boat you have except I'm on the cingular side, the company hates me for not getting a new plan, but I love it. I havent read the other threads, which probably suggest this, but get a new phone off ebay, it will most likely be used. Basically find a phone you like that youve seen your friends have or whatever, and search for it on ebay. If you go through a seller with a very good rating you should have no problem. I have a buddy that works at one of the cingular stores and this was his advise to me as a friend, and I took it, got a Motorola flip that Im very happy with, and its about a year later and Im still happy.

If you have a real thing against anything used, you can find it on there too, but the price is really steep usually. Oh yea, when you're searching for the phone, search for it with "Cingular" or "AT&T" included in the phrase, to make sure it's compatible with your network