On Line Phone and Service Providers

[vroberts]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this discussion, so please point me to the right place if not.

In another thread I stated I was considering a move to Cingular and wanted the Sony Ericsson Z520a, but Cingular had dropped the phone. Well, I found an on-line dealer who has the phone and prices that seem too good to be true. The Phone is free and shipping via Fedex is free. In fact, if I get the Family plan with two lines I can get two z520a's for free. They claim you can even make money on less expensive phones that come with a rebate.

I don't need the lowest price but do want this phone! Are these places real? Buying a new wireless plan and phones has become more difficult than purchasing a car - with all the options and terms and conditions buried in the fine print. How do these places make any money? That is, what am I missing????

Thanks.

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by vroberts

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this discussion, so please point me to the right place if not.

In another thread I stated I was considering a move to Cingular and wanted the Sony Ericsson Z520a, but Cingular had dropped the phone. Well, I found an on-line dealer who has the phone and prices that seem too good to be true. The Phone is free and shipping via Fedex is free. In fact, if I get the Family plan with two lines I can get two z520a's for free. They claim you can even make money on less expensive phones that come with a rebate.

I don't need the lowest price but do want this phone! Are these places real? Buying a new wireless plan and phones has become more difficult than purchasing a car - with all the options and terms and conditions buried in the fine print. How do these places make any money? That is, what am I missing????

Thanks.

That would depend on who they are, most of them are real. If you post their name somebody might have had experience (good or bad) with them.

As for me, ever since Cingular messed up a fantastic phone like the 6682 with their software, I have decided not to buy Cingular branded phones. My 6682 is directly from Nokia and my Z520i is from www.plemix.com.

HTH

[walkguru]

Originally Posted by Charlyee

That would depend on who they are, most of them are real. If you post their name somebody might have had experience (good or bad) with them.

As for me, ever since Cingular messed up a fantastic phone like the 6682 with their software, I have decided not to buy Cingular branded phones. My 6682 is directly from Nokia and my Z520i is from www.plemix.com.

HTH

i bought 2 6682 phones for a real good price. from lets talk. and after getting the 3g sims am having no proublms. so tell us who it is.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by walkguru

i bought 2 6682 phones for a real good price. from lets talk. and after getting the 3g sims am having no proublms. so tell us who it is.

Does your 3g SIM allow manual network selection or is that still crippled?

[vroberts]

Originally Posted by walkguru

i bought 2 6682 phones for a real good price. from lets talk. and after getting the 3g sims am having no proublms. so tell us who it is.

I didn't want my original post to sound like an advertisement, so I didn't mention the name of the site, but it is Mobiledia at www.inphonic.com.

I also have another question. My experience with SIM cards is limited to my unlocked GSM Motorola tri-band phone that I use in Europe by purchasing local SIM cards. From that experinece I believe that I can do the following with Cingular but want to make sure.

I plan to buy a Family plan with two lines from Mobiledia. These two lines will be traneferred from my Verizon plan. I will get two Sony Ericsson Z520a phones at the same time.

When the phones arrive I will add a third line to the plan since Mobiledia can do only two. That phone will be less expensive than the Z520a. I then want to switch the SIM cards in one of the Z520A phones with the one from the new. less expensive phone to get the phones with the right numbers to the right family member. I assume the switch will not cause any problems.

Thanks again for all your help so far!

[JR1]

You should be able to switch the sims without any problem as long as all 3 phones on your cingular account.

[Andy]

Make sure that the phone you use in Europe is not a 900/1800/1900 tri-band phone, but has the 850/1900 bands, otherwise your Cingular coverage will suffer.

[vroberts]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

Make sure that the phone you use in Europe is not a 900/1800/1900 tri-band phone, but has the 850/1900 bands, otherwise your Cingular coverage will suffer.

The tri-band phone I mentioned has both European GSM bands but only the lower frequency USA GSM band.

The new phones I am getting will be quad band.