Cingular and AT&T

[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]

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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 2+2 for cell phones.

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

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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]

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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 2+2 for cell phones.

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

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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.

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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]

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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.

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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