Clueless AT&T customer

[william28]

Hello, I am an AT&T customer and wish to keep my AT&T plan because if I switch to Cingular at the point in time they would severly down grade my plan.. ie go down from 1000 minutes a month to (300 or so maybe 400) for the same amount of money...

My question is I would like to switch phones, maybe get a smart phone or a pda based phone. The current phone I have at the moment is just cheap freebie phone they gave me when a renewwed my plan. I do not wish to change my plan I don't need to use an data feature, I just would like to have some pim features and etc in my phone.. Is it possible for me to get a different phone and still keep my AT&T contract? I understand I would have to get a AT&T network compatable phone.. I just don't understand what else I would have to do...

Thanks, William

[Mike Temporale]

Basically, you need to get an unlocked GSM phone. Then you can just insert your existing SIM into the phone and off you go.

There are a couple choices for unlocked phones. You can buy a i-mate or qtek type device. They are sold unlocked and thus you can just insert your SIM card. You could buy a Cingular branded phone without contract (paying full price) and then pay to have it unlocked. Your last option (that I can think of) is to buy a used AT&T branded phone and just insert your SIM and use that. No need to worry about unlocking.

Does all that make sense? Hope it helps. :D

[william28]

Actually that all made sense, but I beilve my current phone does not have a sim card, therefore I don't have... Am I screwed?

[Mike Temporale]

I'm not too familiar with US carriers. Was AT&T not GSM at some poing in the past? If you don't have a SIM, then yes, you're in trouble. While there are a couple CDMA phones, You can't just buy an unlocked one and use it on any carrier. You have to ask them to activate the phone on their network and unless the phone is one of theirs, then your chances are slim to none. :(

[william28]

I beilve that not all at&t phones were gsm. I know when I renewed my plan in November 04 they limited my selection of phone to the lowend nokia ones.... So I guess I am screwed? I see on ebay there are new sim cards for sale..

[Rocco Augusto]

if you have an old TDMA AT&T phone then you are screwed :(

if you tried moving everything over to a GSM account on blue (AT&T side) you would have to pick a plan that was like $39.99 for 450 minutes with no nights or weekends. you would only get all the good benefits if you moved to the orange side (Cingular).

what i would do is take the battery off of the phone and look for a sim card since you said you weren't sure. if you have a sim card youre all good, just but an unlocked smartphone. if you dont have a smartphone i don't think there is anything you can do. if you can find an old TDMA smartphone it will prolly be so outdated it wouldnt be worth the time :(

-opti-

[william28]

Looks like I am screwed... I just removed th batttery no sim card..
When I talked about moving my account it was to cingular.... They did not want transfer over my plan minute wise, I think they also would have dropped my mobile to mobile and my off peak starting time at 7... So I guess I got put up with this phone for the legnth of my contract? Unless Cingular changed their policy....


Thanks for the help

[Rocco Augusto]

you dont get to keep your rate plan, you have to pick a new orange plan. you do get to keep your mobile to mobile though except you get m2m to all 52+ million subscribers. you can opt to have nights start at 7 for an extra $7.00 a month ($14.00 for family plans).

also you dont have to wait for your contract to be up unless youre thinking of moving to another carrier. if you want to stay with att/cingular you can do the migration process anytime because youre on a old TDMA plan. eventually they plan on doing away with supporting TDMA which is why they want you to move to orange. it does suck that they wont support your old plan but look on the bright side, you get a cool phone ;)