Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cingular

New phone/carrier recs.

decrescendo — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:06:55 -0800

It's come the time to buy a new cellphone. I have a RAZR V2 and it's falling apart. My Verizon contract is up in November. Should I re-up with Verizon and stay on my family plan or should I break off and/or go to another carrier? And what phone should I look into? All I know is that I do not want a huge fold out QWERTY keyboard like a 16-year-old girl with a Sidekick and probably do not want a Motorola. I'm on a family plan with two other lines and I burn between 450 and 1000 minutes per month. It's cheaper for me to stay on the family plan, share minutes, and pay my parents as opposed to paying Verizon for my own line. I've noticed that most carriers have 450 and 900 minute plans. So I would assume I would have to get the 900 minute plan.

I need to get a new phone and my contract ends in November. I dislike a majority of the Verizon phones so that brings up the issue of moving to another carrier? I would like to somehow sync my contacts from my Address Book on my Macbook Pro and download pictures from my phone through a USB or similar connection. Other than that, there really isn't a huge need for anything else. Email would be a luxury but it's not necessary (I have a Gmail account).

Which carrier do you recommend I move to if I should leave Verizon. I have not had an issue with Verizon but it simply comes down to the phone selection. I'm a single 23-year-old aerospace engineer and I would like to buy a phone I actually like, even if its a tad pricey.

I could afford an iPhone even though I would not totally enjoy paying that much upfront and monthly. However, it would play pretty well with my new Macbook Pro. I'm sure there are other fantastic and cheaper phones out there. The Blackberry Pearl and Samsung Instinct come to mind even though one is on Sprint and the other is on every carrier.

Find me an AT&T/Cingular cellphone that doesn't suck.

paultopia — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:15:46 -0800

Help me buy a new AT&T/Cingular cellphone that doesn't suck? I need reliability, general feature quality, and (ideally) calendar synchronization, don't need outrageous expense... I'm finally at the point in my cellphone contract where I can get a discount on a new phone for extending for another two years, which is great, because I hate my current phone. Since I'm doomed to stick with AT&T/Cingular for at least that long (it's the only company that gets decent signal on my campus), I don't mind the serfdom, but here's the problem: I can't find a phone that looks at all appealing.

Here's what I'd like:
1. Price: I don't want to spend more than a hundred bucks. I'd go a little higher if I could find a steep, steep discount on something wonderful (like an iphone). I don't care whether I do this by buying from AT&T or from a third party, so long as it works with my current account. And I don't mind buying refurbs, so long as they won't crap out on me and leave me holding a big financial burn. And I don't want to buy an expensive data/media plan to get the full discount. (That's AT&T's latest trick: hundred dollar mail-in rebate cards to get the advertised price, and you only get the rebate card if you not only get a 2 year voice contract, but also a ripoff data plan at an extra 20 bucks a month.)

2. Quality: general cellphone stuff is the most important. I hate my current phone (loathsome Sony Ericsson Z525a) because it does stupid crap like crash if shaken, freeze up, flicker all night because the connector for the charging cable isn't good, etc. The phone needs to work right, be audible, have decent battery life, last for 2 years, etc.

3. I don't need random toy features like cameras, ringtones, etc. Though they're nice if they come without costing more money or requiring compromising on other features.

4. Competent design. Another thing I hate about the phone I have is it puts some "push to talk" button on the side (I don't even know what "push to talk is," except AT&T charges you a lot of extra money for it.), so every time I took the phone out of my pocket, I'd press the button and get an error message. I eventually pried the button off the device in a fit of frustration. No more of this garbage, please.

5. Decent PDAish features would be nice, especially calendar sync with desktop (running vista, or linux if that's easier).

6. I don't want to buy a data plan now, but it would be nice if the phone could handle it should I want to do so later.

Is there a phone that can hit my sweet spot here? Or am I just totally dreaming that the cellphone companies could produce something other than glittery garbage and marketing tricks to screw the consumer?

Looking for a good cheap QWERTY phone.

spacefire — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:38:19 -0800

What is the best value QWERTY phone that one can buy used (unlocked or At&T/Cingular), and where from? EBay didn't yield any crazy deals.

My pocket is full of Doppler radar equipment

negative1 — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:19:40 -0800

"My pocket is full of Doppler radar equipment." I have a full page ad torn out of a magazine (Time? Newsweek?) from 3-5 years ago that is for Cingular mMode. Can anyone help me find another copy of this advertisement? At the top of the page, it says: "My pocket is full of Doppler radar equipment." The ad is a portrait photograph of a 16 (maybe?) year old boy wearing a light blue dress-shirt, a yellow/blue/white stripe tie, black eyeglasses, and a shaggy mop of hair.

The kid in the picture looks strikingly like me. I've had my copy pinned up on the wall for a few years, but its pretty torn up. I want to find a new copy that doesn't have a bunch of tears/creases. I can scan and send the ad if anyone wants to have a look.

Google-fu and GIS failed me.

Ringtones + Cingular

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 16:53:52 -0800

How do I add a custom ringtone to a AT&T (Cingular) 3100 Smartphone? My dad bought one of these phones and wants to add a Sousa march (clip or MIDI file) that he had on his old phone. Any chance of doing this without paying Cingular or a monthly subscription service an obscene amount for the "privilege"?

Can I finally get an unlocked cellphone?

Eideteker — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:07:21 -0800

Is an unlocked smartphone right for me? Or should I wait til my contract lapses? I've been a happy PDA user for about 4 years now. My Tungsten T3 has seldom let me down. Up until now, I have been using a BlueTooth connection to a capable phone with a data plan for my mobile internetting needs, but I think it's time for a smartphone. I love PalmOS, and all the accessories I have are PalmOS, too. So I'm looking for a Palm, not a BlackBerry or WindowsMobile (so no Treo 700 or 750 for me).

I am currently in a contract with Cingular obtained through my former employer, with a decent discount. I have a data plan (20 MB), which I make fairly regular use of. My contract expires in Aug/Sept. But I'm sick of my piece-of-crap RAZR. The battery needs replacing (won't hold a charge), but I'll be damned if I put any more money into this phone. If I purchase an unlocked GSM smartphone (like the 680p) directly from Palm, is it as simple as swapping my SIM card into the new phone, and voilà? I really do not want another contract, with a cancellation fee and the rest of the crap that comes with it. And yes, I'm planning to purchase from Palm, not a 3rd party retailer, because I want to support the (dying?) company. But I have no experience with unlocked phones, so I really need my hand held (no pun intended!) on this.

Also: Will switching my mobile device violate or void my current contract (and the related discount)? With previous carriers, once my contract expired, my rates stayed the same; the only difference is there was no charge to switch carriers or terminate service. I'd most likely be switching to their unlimited smartphone connect data plan, so I'm worried doing so will rock the boat (meaning I will have to call them to let them know I changed my phone, and they will apply some arbitrary "upgrade fees" or some junk). Like I said, I've got no experience with this, and I've never upgraded my phone without a new contract before (actually, I've switched carriers every time).

Lastly, I'm looking for feedback on PalmOS phones themselves. I'm not sure which I should go for. It looks like they don't support WiFi. I have a Palm WiFi card, but I'm not sure it will work with the Treo. Is there any way to get WiFi on a PalmOS cell-phone? And what are the differences between the (refurbished) 650, 680, aside from the price? Assume I make the fullest use of my Palm (for example: documents to go, ssh, and the occasional snippet of Python code).

I have checked howardforums.com, so only mention them if you're linking to a specific thread.

Help me get an iPhone!

raf — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:10:27 -0800

How's AT&T/Cingular reception in Washington, DC? I want an iPhone, but I'm about to move to Washington. My office will be on Pennsylvania Avenue at 12th St. or so; we're not sure where we'll be living yet, but it will likely be somewhere like U Street, DuPont, Chinatown, Penn Quarter, &c.

How do you freely "debrand" a phone?

stance — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 08:22:24 -0800

Is there a free method to "debrand" a phone? (And is there OS X software?) Sony Ericsson W810i here, complete with Cingular crippling. I've come across some information on how to "debrand" the phone to unlock locked features, but it requires money and Windows.

Is there a free, Mac solution? Is there an either-or solution?

What do cell phone reception bars mean?

norm — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 07:59:03 -0800

What exactly do those cell phone reception bars represent? I seem to have great cell phone reception (Cingular) everywhere but my home. Yet often while I'm getting terrible reception and dropped calls, the phone tells me it has three bars of reception. What's THAT all about? Is my provider telling my phone to intentionally inflate the reporting of my reception or is something about my home causing my problem even though I nominally have good reception?

I want to upgrade my cellphone but keep my old plan

Dec One — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:32:58 -0800

I have a $29.99 per month cellphone plan that Cingular doesn't offer anymore. Can I upgrade my phone and keep the plan? I have an awesome cellphone plan. I pay Cingular $29.99 per month, plus taxes, for 250 weekday minutes and more night & weekend minutes than I ever use. Cingular stopped offering this plan to new customers long ago, but has allowed me to keep it, even when I've upgraded my phone and signed new two-year contracts twice. Now it's time to upgrade again. I e-mailed Cingular in January to ask about the iPhone, and whether I would be required to buy a data plan if I decided to upgrade to an iPhone when it became available. In typical e-mail customer service fashion, they ignored my question (I've since decided I don't want an iPhone anyway) but what they did say is "You will have to change your plan. The Preferred Nation plan you are on is an old TDMA plan and will not work correctly with the new phones." I replied saying that's clearly wrong, as I've had GSM phones for years, and my plan has worked fine. They replied, "You will need to change your plan if you upgrade your phone... Our technology has changed over the years and the plans we offer now are more compatible with the phones that are being offered."

In my experience, most of what customer service reps tell me is wrong, and I believe I probably can keep my $29.99 plan. But when I go to extend my contract, how can I be sure? I don't want to get stuck with a more expensive plan that I can't do anything about for the next two years. If I really can't keep my plan, I'll switch to Sprint, which does currently offer a $29.99 plan, but with 50 fewer weekday minutes.

i need a wifi-capable smartphone

beammeup4 — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:00:57 -0800

I need a smartphone with wifi capabilities. Should I purchase a smartphone now or wait? So far, the ones that fit the req's are the Cingular 8525 and the Treo 750 with wifi SD card.

Should I make the investment now or is there something better that I should wait for?

(And please don't say iPhone. i'm not interested)

Can you hear me NOW?

CwgrlUp — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 15:16:10 -0800

Where can I get a good, used, Cingular-compatible phone online? My gf and I have Ericsson z525a phones with Cingular. The reception is terrible. Way too soon in our contract to try to get an upgrade from them. We can't afford to buy two new phones outright. I am looking for suggestions for reputable sites for buying used Cingular phones online. (I'd love to hear models you like as well. Think simple, please. We're concerned with reception and ease of text messaging but nothing as serious as a Blackberry or anything. We're used to making due with regular ol' 1-9 keypad phones to text.) TIA.

PS Ebay intimidates me a bit because you have to watch it constantly and outbid other people and deal with Paypal, etc. Also my dad had an account there a few yrs ago and it was hacked into. Long story! Let's just say I'd prefer somewhere else.

Blank message screen on WM5 Smartphone

sprocket87 — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:05:46 -0800

Help! Opening any text messages or emails displays a blank white screen on my Cingular 2125 (HTC Faraday) Windows Mobile 5 smartphone. I'm still receiving incoming SMS (text) and email messages. It's still notifying me of new messages, and when I open the inbox (SMS or email, doesn't matter), I see the list of new messages and their first line of text. When I click to open them, though, I just get a blank screen!

The screen is totally white except for the menu bar at the bottom and the header at the top ("Text Messages", battery indicator, signal strength indicator). At the bottom, "Reply" and "Menu" show up, and both buttons work. If I press "Menu" it gives me the normal menu options for a message (Delete, Reply, etc). If I press "Reply", the screen stays white but the menu bar changes to indicate that I should be looking at the Compose window ("Reply" at the bottom changes to "Send", "Menu" has different options). However the screen area is still completely white with no text, lines, etc for me to compose in.

So yeah, incoming messaging works, but when I open any message it's just a blank white screen. I don't have any weird character packs/CE-Star thing going on. I can't trace it back to starting after any specific app I've installed either; it appears to have just started at random this week.

Please help!! Thanks :)

Is a Blackberry 8800 on T-Mobile my best choice for a data-heavy cell plan starting in spring 2007?

allterrainbrain — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 12:47:22 -0800

My (non-existent) ideal device is a Treo -- with wifi, GSM/GPRS, and either EDGE or HSDPA -- on a service plan that includes flat-rate unlimited data, flat-rate international data roaming, and a small amount of voice usage inside the U.S. (say 100 mins/month). So, in the real world, is a Blackberry 8800 on T-Mobile my best choice for a plan starting in spring 2007? I want to use wifi, cellular-data, and cellular-voice, in that order of usage/importance. (Cellular-voice calls would only happen when there's no wifi available for VoIP.) I've been tethering my Sprint phones as laptop modems for six years -- ever since the first-generation data network where you were lucky to get 10k or 12k down -- so I'm looking forward to having EDGE-or-better speed on my next device.

Cost of the PLAN is the biggest factor for me. T-Mobile is cheaper & more flexible than Cingular for data (more below). Sprint and Verizon are out, since they're CDMA and I want GSM/GPRS for international voice & data roaming (esp. in remote areas that currently have GPRS and aren't likely to have any other data coverage for years).

Cost of the DEVICE is less important (since investing in a device that works with T-Mobile will save me money overall vs. any other carrier's data plan). I already own a basic PDA-only Palm device, and I've accepted that I'll need to keep carrying that along with the new data/phone device (since my biggest musts, Palm OS and GSM+GPRS+wifi connectivity, seem to be mutually exclusive for now [I need Palm OS itself, not just an OS that can sync with my Palm data]).

---- Here's what I want in a PLAN:
• flat-rate data plan, covering both unlimited data on the device and unlimited tethering (such as T-Mobile's $30/mo Blackberry plan for non-corporate users)
• EITHER a very cheap add-on for voice calls (like $10/mo for 100 mins/mo [not available at T-Mobile]) OR the ability, if you're on a data plan, to make voice calls billed per minute (as in T-Mobile's $0.20/min voice calls with data-only plans)
• flat-rate international data roaming with no annual commitment (such as T-Mobile's $20/mo international add-on, which you start & stop anytime [billed at $0.66/day] and which doesn't officially include free web access, tethering, or anything other than "email" [I've found many dozens of anecdotal reports to the contrary, but those experiences are apparently due to communication gaps between T-Moblie and its partners which I have to assume will be closed sometime soon]).

---- Here's what I want in a DEVICE:
• available from T-Mobile by June 2007
• non-Windows OS
• quad-band
• QWERTY keyboard
• uses GSM and GPRS and any EDGE-or-faster data standard
• has wifi (WPA-compatible) and will run at least one VoIP client (preferably many clients)
• can be unlocked and used with a new SIM card (for any travels where cheap-voice is more important than cheap-data)
• ringtones can be user-supplied mp3s (it's fine if that requires third-party software and/or lots of fiddling)
• no unsolveable incompatibilities with Mac OS (again, third-party & fiddling are fine).

Am I right that T-Mobile is my best provider and a Blackberry 8800 is my best device (assuming it turns out to have most of the features that are now being leaked -- most importantly wifi)? Am I missing any better ideas? (There are lots of mefi threads with info on older Blackberries/etc., but none specific to my situation.) Thanks for any reactions!

Replacing Cingular phone?

Aanidaani — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 15:20:04 -0800

My girlfriend recently damaged her Cingular phone and she needs a replacement. She wants a cheap one, so she's considering buying a pay-as-you-go phone and swapping out SIM cards so she can use her old service. My question is, will this work? She's worried that if she buys a new pay-as-you-go phone (Such as this.) swapping the SIM from her old to the new one might not work. She doesn't want to have to buy a whole new phone + plan since she already has one and would like to continue it. Does anyone have any experience with this or know whether this is possible?

Cheapskate seeks Ericsson phones!

stuckie — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:38:58 -0800

I'm a big fan of the Ericsson interface, though my current phone (T637) is on its last legs. Sony has come out with a ton of great phones recently, all vast improvements on what I have, and almost none of which I afford. A few years ago, major wireless carriers could be counted on to heavily discount the newest latest freshest phones, especially Ericssons, and now only ONE carrier (Cingular) sells ANY of them, and they only have the two bottom-of-the-line models. Anyone have any advice or inside information before I bite the bullet and get the cheapo model? The types of phones I've been lusting after:
k790a/k800i, w850i, k510i, etc.

The full story (including tangental rant):

Been "sitting on" my upgrade status with Cingular, not wanting to blow it on something unworthy and getting stuck with it for 2 years.

Yesterday, they release the "alright" w300i, a great price at $94 (+mail-in $75 Cingular bill-credit =$19) w/2-year contract. So I jump on it. And the online store is screwed up and won't take my order. And the customer-service folks tell me the online discount is not available by phone and I should try again tomorrow. Which I do, and find out that they've upped the price $20 during that time. And that they've removed a lot of the "stock" features from the phone for their sale version like the built-in memory card and headphones. Bleh.
(FYI: I called customer-service back and they won't honor yesterday's price)

Free of a contract, I checked other carriers, only to find out (as I stated above) that NO other US carrier sells ANY other Ericsson phones at all. Craigslist isn't quite doing it for me. Low-rent etailers or possibly-sketchy eBay vendors abound for some of my more-desired models, but they're still the difference between paying $19-$149 and $449-549. One I can currently afford, the other, I can't.

It's technically possible that Cingular or other carriers might start selling other SE models at some point (though customer service reps obviously don't have this information), but I've been waiting 2 years already and my phone is starting to fade.

So I guess the main question is: Do I go ahead and drop $114 (+fees & taxes, -mail-in rebate) on the so-so phone, or wait, or find some other way to get a better one?

Or, does anyone have any inside scoop as to whether any carriers are going to show Sony some love for the holidays, or whether they've been blackballed?

GSM Newbie Questions

j-dawg — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:50:22 -0800

I'm about to acquire the object of my gadget lust. I'm new to the GSM world, and am looking for opinions about whether I should take this phone to T-Mobile or Cingular for service. (Other GSM newbie questions inside.) I've been a Sprint user for years, but I'm tired of poor build quality on Treos, and I'm ready for something new. I'm convinced the E70 is the phone for me, but there's no North American version yet. So I'm taking the plunge and getting the European model which doesn't include 850MHz coverage.

I've done the math, and it looks like my monthly costs for a modest voice plan, a modest text messaging plan, and unlimited data would be similar, so that's not an issue. What I'm really looking for is this:

* Do both networks offer good coverage in major metropolitan areas with 1900MHz-only phones?

* Are both data plans equivalent, or are there pitfalls I won't learn about from their marketing materials?

* Assuming I also pick up a cheap 850MHz compatible phone for use when I'm out of 1900MHz coverage, is there any problem on either network swapping SIM cards?

Bonus question: Anyone have good or bad expeirences with MobileBee?

Thanks!

Cingular give you more bars? Not at my desk!

thilmony — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:12:59 -0800

Cell phone signal! Arggg. How can I improve my coverage at my desk? I work in a
small real estate office, next to a swim school, complete with a pool and all the pipes to fill it. It's a single story building, we are in the middle, not an end. Cingular or Tmobile has full bars on the phone at the windows, but near our desks one bar, dropped calls, sometimes no signal at all...

I bought a
Digital Antenna Model # 4KPR-15R dual band 50 dB gain wireless cellular
repeater, where you put some antenna box suction-cupped to the windows, then 15 feet away a transmitter that is supposed to boost that same signal. Based on the description, if you have good signal at the window you should be good to go.

Well, it gave me full bars at my desk, but dropped calls worse than ever! I'm returning it...

Forwarding calls to the hard line is not a solution for me as many non-realtor calls come in on that phone and I can't expect the receptionist to answer all those calls.

One idea that will cost more is getting a WIFI phone from Vonage, then fowarding to that but I'd rather not have to do that.

Other details, tried my RAZR, Samsung C20x and Treo 650, all with Cingular and T Mobile. Changing carriers isn't an option I want either. Another person at the office has Sprint and coverage is a little better, but I want it to be great, where I could walk around the whole office looking in files, checking someone's schedule, sitting at my desk....

There must be another solution someone here has for me!

Your favorite moderately priced cell phone? If a Razr is so bad, what should I replace it with?

coolhappysteve — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:55:28 -0800

I broke my brand new (Cingular) Razr and am going to have to buckle down and pay full retail to replace it. Everyone seems to complain about that phone (though I had no problems), so if I'm going to have to pay retail, I might as well get something better. Like what? It needs to be Cingular-friendly. I couldn't care less about MP3 features, WAP access, or any of that other stuff. I'm a GTD nut, but a Treo is out of my price range. I just would like a cheap, good-looking, functional cell phone - a camera and bluetooth would be nice.

Esteemed MeFi community, what do you love and hate in the cell arena?

(Thanks guys - sorry I'm not plumbing the depths of philosophy here; that's next time)

Night and Weekend Minutes

Hammerikaner — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 15:55:02 -0800

Do they not kick in if your call starts before 9pm? I am a new Cingular subscriber (yeah, I know, the rollover minutes seduced me), and I was shocked to see a 58 minute call logged to my daytime minutes. The call had begun at 8:53 and I assumed that logically at 9:00 my nighttime minutes would kick in. Naturally, this is not the case and I ate up 1/7th of my total monthly anytime minutes on this one call. Do other wireless carriers keep you on daytime minutes for calls that begin before 9 and extend on past 9? In a follow up note, I was able to get 40 "courtesy minutes" for my trouble, but I wasn't reimbursed for the full 51 minutes lost to their foolish system.

Has this happened to anyone else?

As a secondary question: what kind of penalties are generally involved in switching phone companies if I wanted to ditch Cingular?

Help Me Figure Out if My Phone is a Boy or a Girl

foxy_hedgehog — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 14:53:50 -0800

Cingular has announced it will now charge all customers not using a GSM phone $5/month, beginning in September. How can I tell if my (several years old) phone is GSM? I'd ask the nice people at the Cingular store but suspect they will be too busy plying me with new fancy phones to give me an honest answer.

Just got a Motorola SLVR, show me around!

neilkod — Wed, 17 May 2006 09:17:43 -0800

So I got a new Motorola SLVR L7, what are some cool things I can do with it? Bonus points for OSX-Friendly apps/solutions. I'm talking apps, hacks, games, secret stuff here, you name it. My main machine is an Apple laptop, but I have access to an XP box during the day.

From what I understand, this phone works like the RAZR. My provider is Cingular, if that matters.

cellfilter

delmoi — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 11:35:12 -0800

I'd like to get a friend of mine a new Cellphone for Christmas, since the one she has no longer works properly. Is it possible to buy her a phone such that she could just swap her old phone out with the new one, keeping the same account? She has some sort of contract-free account with Cingular under the AT&T wireless brand (more on that inside), and I don't think that her phone uses a SIM card. I'm not sure what plan or system she's on, but I know it's through AT&T wireless/Cingular, and her credit card is charged automatically whenever she runs out of minutes.

So what would be involved in getting her a new phone?

Ideally I'd like to get her an unlocked phone with a SIM card so she can take the phone with her if she ever wants to change providers, or change phones more easily in the future.

So, what are my options here? Anybody know?

Cingular plan to pay-as-you-go?

miriam — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 09:04:54 -0800

I have a Nokia cell phone with Cingular service. My two-year contract is up, thank goodness, and I'd like to switch from Cingular's cheapest monthly plan (which has more minutes than I can use) to a pay-as-you-go card. What I want to know is, can I do that while keeping my old cell phone and number? And if so, how?

The Treo is dead! Long live the [insert name of new phone here]!

mboszko — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 11:34:32 -0800

I'm fed up with my Treo 650 crashing all the damn time. Please recommend for me a new RELIABLE phone/device I can sync with Mac OS X that will hold my contacts, email and let me take notes; and also work on Cingular, so I don't have to break my 2-year contract. Bluetooth is a major plus. Web browsing is nice, but not necessary. Please show your work.