Is Siemens SX66 Available?

[cselwitz]

I had a Siemens SX66 on order with Cingular for a month. Yesterday I was notified that it would not be offered. They said if I already had one that with some information from it, they could configure it for use on their network.

Is this correct? and is it true of any device? If I were to get one online independent of a service provider can Cingular make it work on their network? I had always assumed that the equipment had to come from the provider.

Finally, does anyone have any insight to what happened here? The December Cingular product catalog featured the SX66 and many of the stores had a sample model available for review. Now it appears they may never have actually implemented one.

What gives?

[ADBrown]

I had a Siemens SX66 on order with Cingular for a month. Yesterday I was notified that it would not be offered. They said if I already had one that with some information from it, they could configure it for use on their network.

Is this correct? and is it true of any device? If I were to get one online independent of a service provider can Cingular make it work on their network? I had always assumed that the equipment had to come from the provider.

Nope. Any GSM phone that supports the 850 and 1900 MHz radio frequencies will work on Cingular. That includes pretty much all PocketPC phones. They don't even have to make it work for you--you can pull the Subscriber Identification Module out of your existing phone, stick it in any unlocked phone, and you're good to go.

Finally, does anyone have any insight to what happened here? The December Cingular product catalog featured the SX66 and many of the stores had a sample model available for review. Now it appears they may never have actually implemented one.

Sounds to me like the person who told you that has no idea what they're talking about. I've seen the SX66 complete with Cingular branding, and I know a bunch of people have them. Try talking to a different salesdrone. You may get a different answer.

[asdrew]

I've read several places where people found an sx66 in stock at a Cingular store by checking directly with as many stores as they could. My friend & I each got one B4 Christmas here in Orlando on 2 different days, and some have still found them recently. There are all kinds of stories about why they aren't available and when they will be again. Don't believe any of them, even if they come from CSR's. There is too much mis-information even in official channels.

From everthing I've deduced, my opinion is that they (HTC, Siemens, and/or Cingular) pulled them from the pipeline while they work on an update to the ROM to resolve some issues. This means fewer in the field to update or replace later and less CSR inquiries in the meantime.

This device is awesome and worth hunting down or waiting for!

[jchybinski]

The sx66 is out there - but Cingular is backorder big-time. I was in a cingular store in Philadelphia on Thursday of last week and while they had none out I asked and they had 3 in the back - so I bought one :)

There is a known issue with the BT stack and I hear from my Cingular corporate reps that they are testing a fix, but I have nothing solid as to date of delivery.

So if you want a Cingular branded unit....just stop by a few stores...and be sure to try those that are still marked AT&T as they have stock of things that regular Cingular branded stores don't - at least thats been the case here in Philly.

Regards - John