SDA compatibility across providers

[morpheus350]

I'm new to the smartphone world so this may be a dumb question, but here goes:

I'm looking to upgrade my phone (using Cingular as a service provider). If I use an unlocked phone with a Cingular SIM chip, will I lose any functionality with that phone? Specifically, I'd like to use one of the HTC Tornado variants on Cingular's network, but not if functionality such as EDGE and WiFi will be rendered useless. I appreciate any help anyone can provide.

[morpheus350]

I'm new to the smartphone world so this may be a dumb question, but here goes:

I'm looking to upgrade my phone (using Cingular as a service provider). If I use an unlocked phone with a Cingular SIM chip, will I lose any functionality with that phone? Specifically, I'd like to use one of the HTC Tornado variants on Cingular's network, but not if functionality such as EDGE and WiFi will be rendered useless. I appreciate any help anyone can provide.

[Mike Temporale]

No, you should be fine. Provided that phone has all the features that the network supports. Like, if you grabbed an EDGE enabled phone and wanted to use it on a network that doesn't have EDGE, then obviously you can't hae EDGE.

If you had an unlocked SDA from T-Mo you could drop your Cingular SIM in and things should work just fine.

[Islanti]

You may know this, but just in case you don't... while it doesn't have Wifi, Cingular does offer the 2125. That model is similar to the T-Mobile US SDA (and has a better keypad IMO).

You'd probably save a bunch of money if you got the 2125 through Cingular with a contract extension.