Suncom "upgrade" questions

[fizzbiff]

I currently have TDMA phone and Unplan (Augusta, GA). Getting ready to add another phone for my daughter who will be going to college in Charleston, SC. Suncom rep told me that she will have to have same kind of phone as I do, so I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade to GSM.

First question, will any (unlocked) GSM phone work, or do I have to buy one of the models that Suncom sells? (even if not bought from Suncom).

Second question: If I buy a V600 (that will connect to my laptop via Bluetooth) can call an Earthlink number (with whom I have an account) and connect laptop that way, bypassing the whole Suncom internet mess?

And please don't tell me about how bad Suncom is, I already know all the problems!

Thanks.

[hylton]

Not sure on your unlocked GSM phone question...I'm also Suncom TDMA and not completely sure what Suncom will or won't do w/ a GSM phone...I asked them once about a similar request to buy a TDMA phone elsewhere and have it hooked up and they told me NO WAY...but as you requested, we won't go there...haha...

On the data thing, bad news there too...you have to get the Suncom data package in order to make that connection...they don't even do data over TDMA, but on the GSM side they do in certain areas, but it requires the data service to get online w/ it...you can't just call any number, has to be dialed into the Suncom data network.

Unless someone knows more about getting a net connection outside of the data network, I would have to say it's not possible.

Chris

[fizzbiff]

Thanks for the answers. Not what I wanted to hear, but it is what I was afraid of! :-)

[ComicalMoodyDan]

A unlocked GSM phone will work on SunCom. The problem is 99% of the time they will tell you it won't. SunCom is kind of stupid when it comes to GSM. As for the second question I don't think there is any way to bypass the wireless net access and just use minutes instead of KB's.

[fizzbiff]

TNDan, thanks for the information. I think that for now I'll stick with TDMA so as to only have one phone to buy, but it's good to know that I'm not limited to just the Suncom selection of phones when I get ready to change to GSM.

and as an aside about Suncom employees and GSM, about a year ago I asked a sales person in the local Suncom store about when they were making the move to GSM (since the TritonPCS website was bragging aboout their aggressive deployment) and this fellow told me that Suncom didn't use GSM because it was "too old fashioned" and that pretty soon no one would be left using it at all. Geez.