Cingular phone activation

[pontifex]

My sister has Cingular. If she were to order a cell phone online - not from cingular - how would she go about activating her phone? can she do it over the phone or would she need to take it to a cingular dealer?

her current phone doesn't have a sim card from what i can tell. i can't find it and i really don't know where to look for it. Its an older motorola flip phone.

 

[neutralizer]

Did you look under the battery?

 

[DaWhim]

just insert the sim card to her new phone.

 

[GeekDrew]

doh. nevermind.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

if she does not currently have Cingular GSM service (with the SIM card) I beleive she will have to migrate/transfer over to that (looks like she has AT&T Wireless TDMA service since she doesn't have a SIM).

Once she gets a SIM card and activates it, she can use any unlocked GSM phone that she wants.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: neutralizer
Did you look under the battery?

yes, all i saw was some stickers with info on it and the contacts for the battery. there was something silver under the stickers though. seemed like imprtant stickers that should be there. i don't know anything about cell phones other than how to use them.

 

[InlineFour]

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork
if she does not currently have Cingular GSM service (with the SIM card) I beleive she will have to migrate/transfer over to that (looks like she has AT&T Wireless TDMA service since she doesn't have a SIM).

Once she gets a SIM card and activates it, she can use any unlocked GSM phone that she wants.

yep. TDMA is obsolete. you won't be able to find them now, and if you do, they'll be very expensive at the cingular store.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork
if she does not currently have Cingular GSM service (with the SIM card) I beleive she will have to migrate/transfer over to that (looks like she has AT&T Wireless TDMA service since she doesn't have a SIM).

Once she gets a SIM card and activates it, she can use any unlocked GSM phone that she wants.

oh yeah, i forgot about that. its an AT&T branded phone.
ok, if she were to order the phone from say, Amazon, does the sim card come with it? can she do the acivation herself or does she have to take it to a dealer?

 

[InlineFour]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork
if she does not currently have Cingular GSM service (with the SIM card) I beleive she will have to migrate/transfer over to that (looks like she has AT&T Wireless TDMA service since she doesn't have a SIM).

Once she gets a SIM card and activates it, she can use any unlocked GSM phone that she wants.

oh yeah, i forgot about that. its an AT&T branded phone.
ok, if she were to order the phone from say, Amazon, does the sim card come with it? can she do the acivation herself or does she have to take it to a dealer?

it will not come with a SIM card unless she activates a cingular GSM plan at amazon as well. either way, she'll need to migrate her old TDMA plan to a GSM plan.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork
if she does not currently have Cingular GSM service (with the SIM card) I beleive she will have to migrate/transfer over to that (looks like she has AT&T Wireless TDMA service since she doesn't have a SIM).

Once she gets a SIM card and activates it, she can use any unlocked GSM phone that she wants.

oh yeah, i forgot about that. its an AT&T branded phone.
ok, if she were to order the phone from say, Amazon, does the sim card come with it? can she do the acivation herself or does she have to take it to a dealer?

Ok, I'm not 100% on how this would work, but here's my take.

If she orders a phone from Amazon (i'm assuming for killer rebate deals) she would break/leave the current contract she is in, possibly paying ETFs etc. and I'm going to say she'll lose her number as well (but thats just a wild guess). She would be able to activate the phone once she signs a service contract, etc.

Here is what I would do. Since Cingular is DYING to get everybody off of the TDMA network so they dont have to maintain it anymore, I would call up customer service/retentions and try and get a killer deal with all kinds of free minutes and stuff, then port the number over and possibly get a good deal on a phone then as well.

This way you'd get the best possible plan and hopefully a good deal on a device as well.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: InlineFour

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork
if she does not currently have Cingular GSM service (with the SIM card) I beleive she will have to migrate/transfer over to that (looks like she has AT&T Wireless TDMA service since she doesn't have a SIM).

Once she gets a SIM card and activates it, she can use any unlocked GSM phone that she wants.

oh yeah, i forgot about that. its an AT&T branded phone.
ok, if she were to order the phone from say, Amazon, does the sim card come with it? can she do the acivation herself or does she have to take it to a dealer?

it will not come with a SIM card unless she activates a cingular GSM plan at amazon as well. either way, she'll need to migrate her old TDMA plan to a GSM plan.

how do you do that?
sounds like she needs to go to a cingular store and just pick something out there...sounds way too complicated, and if it sounds complicated to me, there's no way she'll understand it.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork
if she does not currently have Cingular GSM service (with the SIM card) I beleive she will have to migrate/transfer over to that (looks like she has AT&T Wireless TDMA service since she doesn't have a SIM).

Once she gets a SIM card and activates it, she can use any unlocked GSM phone that she wants.

oh yeah, i forgot about that. its an AT&T branded phone.
ok, if she were to order the phone from say, Amazon, does the sim card come with it? can she do the acivation herself or does she have to take it to a dealer?

Ok, I'm not 100% on how this would work, but here's my take.

If she orders a phone from Amazon (i'm assuming for killer rebate deals) she would break/leave the current contract she is in, possibly paying ETFs etc. and I'm going to say she'll lose her number as well (but thats just a wild guess). She would be able to activate the phone once she signs a service contract, etc.

Here is what I would do. Since Cingular is DYING to get everybody off of the TDMA network so they dont have to maintain it anymore, I would call up customer service/retentions and try and get a killer deal with all kinds of free minutes and stuff, then port the number over and possibly get a good deal on a phone then as well.

This way you'd get the best possible plan and hopefully a good deal on a device as well.

she's been with at&t for years so i don't know if she's on contract anymore.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Wonderful Pork
if she does not currently have Cingular GSM service (with the SIM card) I beleive she will have to migrate/transfer over to that (looks like she has AT&T Wireless TDMA service since she doesn't have a SIM).

Once she gets a SIM card and activates it, she can use any unlocked GSM phone that she wants.

oh yeah, i forgot about that. its an AT&T branded phone.
ok, if she were to order the phone from say, Amazon, does the sim card come with it? can she do the acivation herself or does she have to take it to a dealer?

Ok, I'm not 100% on how this would work, but here's my take.

If she orders a phone from Amazon (i'm assuming for killer rebate deals) she would break/leave the current contract she is in, possibly paying ETFs etc. and I'm going to say she'll lose her number as well (but thats just a wild guess). She would be able to activate the phone once she signs a service contract, etc.

Here is what I would do. Since Cingular is DYING to get everybody off of the TDMA network so they dont have to maintain it anymore, I would call up customer service/retentions and try and get a killer deal with all kinds of free minutes and stuff, then port the number over and possibly get a good deal on a phone then as well.

This way you'd get the best possible plan and hopefully a good deal on a device as well.

she's been with at&t for years so i don't know if she's on contract anymore.

easy way: go to cingular store, pick phone, port number, done

harder way: call up customer service and negotiate a better than advertised plan and nicer phone for cheap or free, port number, done.

 

[quique]

If you are going to switch over to the new GSM network call Cingular and see if they have any promotions available for old AT&T customers. I was on the old network and I switched over the the GSM network when they offered me a better deal (1000 Nationwide, rollover, no roaming, M2M for $39.99).

BTW, why does she want to buy a new phone? I still have my AT&T Motorola V60c (used for less than 6 months) if you want to buy it off me.

 

[InlineFour]

ask if her she's on some type of contract first.

you'll usually find better rebates on amazon + phone plan. however, i'm not sure if she can still keep her old phone number. you'll have to find out on amazon or someone who has ordered a service on amazon.

the easiest way would be done at a cingular dealer. that way she can have her questions answered right away if she has any. she's also guaranteed to keep her number.

also, cingular/t-mobile are offering free gsm phones for new customers + a 1 or 2 year contract.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: neutralizer
Did you look under the battery?

yes, all i saw was some stickers with info on it and the contacts for the battery. there was something silver under the stickers though. seemed like imprtant stickers that should be there. i don't know anything about cell phones other than how to use them.

What model phone does she have?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: quique
If you are going to switch over to the new GSM network call Cingular and see if they have any promotions available for old AT&T customers. I was on the old network and I switched over the the GSM network when they offered me a better deal (1000 Nationwide, rollover, no roaming, M2M for $39.99).

BTW, why does she want to buy a new phone? I still have my AT&T Motorola V60c (used for less than 6 months) if you want to buy it off me.

its old and i think she said she has been having some problems with it. stuff not working, etc.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Muadib

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: neutralizer
Did you look under the battery?

yes, all i saw was some stickers with info on it and the contacts for the battery. there was something silver under the stickers though. seemed like imprtant stickers that should be there. i don't know anything about cell phones other than how to use them.

What model phone does she have?

no clue. all i know is its motorola

 

[Fraggable]

verizon and sprint (CDMA) don't have SIM cards, as a matter of fact no digital network's phones will have SIM cards IIRC. TDMA phones also don't have cards.

I think you can order SIM cards from Cingular, I don't know what they cost. Activation is $36 and is billed with your first month usage.

 

[Mungla]

Sounds like she never migrated to a GSM plan when Cingular switched over all of their TDMA AT&T customers. We had a run on our phones last fall when Cingular sent out letters to everyone here in Oklahoma warning them that the TDMA network would be toast soon.

The best thing for her would be to call retentions. She is an existing Cingular customer (even though she is on TDMA) and a Cingular store receives roughly the same amount of commission for both migrates (TDMA to GSM) and upgrades. And lemmy tell yeah, they screw their existing customers over when it comes to upgrades. In order to get a decent phone with good reception such as an L6 or L7, she'll have to fork over the $$. If she calls retention and threatens to cancel her account, they do wonders in order to keep customers.

BTW - If retentions fails, one can find killer deals on Ebay. I recently picked up an L6 for my girlfriend for roughly $80 after s/h. It was brand new in a box. She can then purchase a sim card for anywhere from $20-30; I sell them in my store for $20. Then, a Cingular customer service rep can migrate the account over in just a few minutes time.