I am in Singapore and ATT Fraud locks my phone and wireless card.....

[elazarus]

I am in Singapore and ATT Fraud locks my phone and wireless card.....After all the good research I got my Blackberry Through ATT and my Edge Wireless international PC card.....

So no signal, it turns out that the Fraud department locked my account. Last month my bill was $511 and was paid in 3 days.....so locked in Spain and a month later locked in Singapore and get this...the Fraude department ...that I called on the hotel landline...is closed on the weekend.

So no phone, no wireless internet ($80 a month for the internet) and i am paying $20 a night for the hotel's DSL.

ATT is toast....and now I read in Southern California that T-Mobile is spotty....so what do you do for a Blackberry? Wireless card also? I still have Verizon for $200 a month but cannot call Internationally or use it out of the country......WHAT IS THE ANSWER PLEASE!!!!!!

Thank you

Elliot

[BKKloppenborg]

Originally Posted by elazarus

I am in Singapore and ATT Fraud locks my phone and wireless card.....After all the good research I got my Blackberry Through ATT and my Edge Wireless international PC card.....

So no signal, it turns out that the Fraud department locked my account. Last month my bill was $511 and was paid in 3 days.....so locked in Spain and a month later locked in Singapore and get this...the Fraude department ...that I called on the hotel landline...is closed on the weekend.

So no phone, no wireless internet ($80 a month for the internet) and i am paying $20 a night for the hotel's DSL.

ATT is toast....and now I read in Southern California that T-Mobile is spotty....so what do you do for a Blackberry? Wireless card also? I still have Verizon for $200 a month but cannot call Internationally or use it out of the country......WHAT IS THE ANSWER PLEASE!!!!!!

Thank you

Elliot

damn that sucks sorry to hear about that... Of corse that does sound like AT&T CS lol.... Anyways i havn't heard of T-Mobile service being spotty down here in Southern CA thats where i live but i have CIngular.. But since T-Mobile doesn't have their own network in CA or NV they use CIngulars towers... My Cingular service is good and somtimes better then Verizon in southern ca and up north Cingular is better... The only thing i can think of is either

1. Get Cingular They have black (although you don't want another contract probaly)

2. Try to work it out with AT&T CS (ya right i never had that much luck when i had them)

3. Try T-Mobiles because they use CIngular towers here in CA and NV but everywhere else its kinda spotty....

Good luck hope it works out for you!

[elazarus]

Thanks for replying......if Cingular is better than Verizon...I want to hear about it.

I use Verizon for my U.S. phone and I would love to Consolidate into one Blackberry to use as my phone......is Cingular really that good??? Better than Verizon?? Better than T-Mobile.

By the way ATT is toast...there is no way I can do business with them....it will be handled the day after my return to So Cal.

Thanks

Elliot

[chefofthefuture]

Originally Posted by elazarus

I use Verizon for my U.S. phone and I would love to Consolidate into one Blackberry to use as my phone......is Cingular really that good??? Better than Verizon?? Better than T-Mobile.

T-Mobile and Cingular use the same towers in California. You'll get exactly the same service with both until the Cingular-ATT merger goes through, at which time Cingular users will be able to start using AT&T's 1900mhz and 850mhz network network. About 4 or 5 years down the road, Cingular's existing 1900mhz network will be divested to T-Mobile, and Cingular will be completely on what is today's AT&T network.

[Steve B]

I read in a news report somewhere that AT&T Wireless is getting a "stern talking to", basically ATTWS is in trouble by AT&T Corp, because of the bad CS complaints. I guess AT&T Corp. is getting a bad rep because of the CS complaints with ATTWS.

[BKKloppenborg]

Originally Posted by elazarus

Thanks for replying......if Cingular is better than Verizon...I want to hear about it.

I use Verizon for my U.S. phone and I would love to Consolidate into one Blackberry to use as my phone......is Cingular really that good??? Better than Verizon?? Better than T-Mobile.

By the way ATT is toast...there is no way I can do business with them....it will be handled the day after my return to So Cal.

Thanks

Elliot

Well i like them better but it dosn't mean they are better... They don't have as much coverage but as long as you are in main cities you will have no probelm with them if you travel in very rurel areas then you will need verizon. So far i haven't had a probelm with Cingulars service... Yes its better then T-Mobile by FAR.. T-Mobile is still new and barly has coverage CIngular will have both AT&T coverage and their coverage...

I don't belmae you lol att was horrible to work with...

[Gabriel]

Originally Posted by chefofthefuture

About 4 or 5 years down the road, Cingular's existing 1900mhz network will be divested to T-Mobile, and Cingular will be completely on what is today's AT&T network.

hey chef, what do you mean? t-mobile will take over cingular's entire 1900mhz network, and the cingular will start using att's? i dont understand... i thought cingular had the biggest gsm coverage in the west coast, so why would it take over a much smaller gsm network like att, and give away its already huge network to t-mobile?

[chefofthefuture]

Originally Posted by Gabriel

hey chef, what do you mean? t-mobile will take over cingular's entire 1900mhz network, and the cingular will start using att's? i dont understand... i thought cingular had the biggest gsm coverage in the west coast, so why would it take over a much smaller gsm network like att, and give away its already huge network to t-mobile?

Yes, though it's not a give-away. It's a $2.5b transaction. T-Mobile is buying Cingular's entire 1900mhz network in NV and CA. Cingular is selling some of the spectrum to T-Mobile also, though they're taking some with them. This agreement requires the AT&T acquisition go through, of course.

http://www.t-mobile.com/company/pres...release100.asp

I guess Cingular feels the AT&T network, plus the spectrum they bring to the table, will be good enough, or that there might have been regulatory hurdles had they not divested this network.

[bobolito]

T-Mobile will be buying Cingular's towers in CA/NV plus some spectrum. That purchase will be effective in Feb. 2005. After that Cingular will start using AT&T towers plus all of AT&T's spectrum in addition to the spectrum that they will not sell to T-Mobile from the existing network. In addition, Cingular will be leasing some spectrum from T-Mobile for the next four years after the closing. I don't know exactly what this means, but this sounds like after Feb. 2005 there will be no more T-Mobile/Cingular network sharing and Cingular will be using AT&T towers. Whether Cingular will have access to the towers being sold to T-Mobile after Feb. 2005 is not clear, but we'll see.

[elazarus]

Sounds like Cingular loses out by sharing with A T & T whose network is still not up to par......

If Verizon was only GSM ...they have the best network but you can't use it overseas and to call internationally it is .65 a minute.....

A T & T is dead to me....so the only option for GSM is T-Mobile while I keep my Verizon phone as my incoming 800 number for perfect reception in the U.S. and my Blackberry goes to T-mobile.

By the way, A T & T never got over 3 bars out of 5 but that worked for GPRS e-mail but wasn't good enough for phone service in Orange County California

Thank you

Elliot

[TProphet]

You'd be surprised at the amount of CDMA roaming, although there is none in the European Union (the EU, in their infinite wisdom, legislated GSM-only). CDMA is widely available throughout North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, China, Russia, Ukraine, etc. and operates on the same frequencies used in the US. So don't think you have to have GSM to roam internationally... it all depends where you travel.

That said, VZW now offers a phone with GSM international roaming (on Vodafone and its partners). I'm not sure what the GPRS story is, but you might want to look into it.

FWIW, I don't generally recommend international roaming. It's very expensive and you pay for both incoming and outgoing calls. Consider obtaining a prepaid SIM card for the country you plan to visit in advance. You can then forward your mobile phone to your international number, if you want seamless roaming (I don't bother--when I get a local SIM card, I refer callers to my international number via the outgoing message on my voicemail).

Originally Posted by elazarus

Sounds like Cingular loses out by sharing with A T & T whose network is still not up to par......

If Verizon was only GSM ...they have the best network but you can't use it overseas and to call internationally it is .65 a minute.....

A T & T is dead to me....so the only option for GSM is T-Mobile while I keep my Verizon phone as my incoming 800 number for perfect reception in the U.S. and my Blackberry goes to T-mobile.

By the way, A T & T never got over 3 bars out of 5 but that worked for GPRS e-mail but wasn't good enough for phone service in Orange County California

Thank you

Elliot

[elazarus]

Yes Verizon has a CDMA/GSM phone a Samsung 790 but they do not sell it if you have less than 5 business numbers.....I use $500 month with Verizon and $500 with ATT and still can't get the right combination.

Verizon charges too much for outgoing international at $1.49 for their roaming when you rent a phone.....

I am not sure how that international sim card works that you spoke about but it sounds like a BIG money saver...please do tell more.

Thank you

Elliot

[TProphet]

It's pretty simple (really, this post is long but it's not very complicated). First, buy an unlocked GSM handset. You can find them on eBay for under $100. If you get one that does 900/1800MHz, then it'll work everywhere except North America. You can buy a tri-band one for about $150 on eBay, and it will support 900/1800/1900MHz, so you can also use it in North America. Personally, I don't think it's worth the bother unless you both use GSM at home and store your phone book on your handset, rather than your SIM card.

Anyway, when you get to the country you're visiting, visit a local GSM store and buy a prepaid SIM card. They usually cost anywhere from $15-$30 and usually include about 10 minutes of local calling (additional airtime is purchased via prepaid recharge cards). Pop it in your handset and you're ready to go! Incoming calls are free abroad on local SIMs (countries outside of North America and the Carribean generally use a "caller pays" system for cellular billing).

When I had VZW (who only charges airtime for call forwarding), I'd forward my VZW handset to my office, and then have a co-worker forward my office phone to my GSM number abroad. I don't do this anymore, since I have Sprint and they charge 10cpm for call forwarding. Now, I just call my voicemail from a payphone abroad (always cheap with my trusty MCI prepaid calling card from Costco), and update my outgoing message with my new GSM number. Piece of cake!

Foreign prepaid SIMs generally only work in the country you're in, so this can be a problem if you visit several countries in Europe, for example. Vodafone prepaid SIMs work in other Vodafone markets (and Vodafone is practically everywhere), but you'll pay high roaming fees--not that it matters if you have a balance to use up.

If you want to know your foreign number before you leave, I recommend Telestial. They sell pre-activated foreign SIM cards, and provide instructions in English. You'll pay a $10-$15 premium over what you'd pay locally but it cuts some hassle out of your vacation. I personally don't find picking up a sim locally to be much of a bother, because there is a GSM carrier kiosk in every major airport I've transited. Unless you're going somewhere especially exotic, people working in foreign airports generally speak English and will gladly set everything up for you on the spot.

Did I mention incoming calls are free with a local SIM? Even if it's prepaid, you won't pay anything to receive incoming calls. If you get the regular MCI prepaid calling card at Costco (not the international version, but the regular one), people calling you won't pay a higher rate to call your GSM handset--just the international toll charge. It's absurdly expensive to call mobile phones abroad (I paid about 40 cents per minute to call a Vodafone mobile from a hotel phone in New Zealand). It was cheaper for my friends to call me in Amsterdam from Seattle on my GSM handset than it was to call a land line in Amsterdam from my mobile during off-peak hours. And oddly enough, when I was in London, it was cheaper than paying local rates for me to call a friend's Orange GSM handset using my MCI prepaid calling card--routing the call from London to the USA and back again (at a rate of 28 cents per minute). It was altogether absurd since he was only a mile away, but it worked.

In case you're wondering, I don't work for any of the companies I've mentioned. I have just used their products and, for the most part, like them (the exception was the MCI prepaid card in the Netherlands; KPN Telecom has "geblokt" the number from being reached from their payphones).

[elazarus]

Thank you.

Since I am going back to T-Mobile for my Blackberry, how can I tell if it is locked or unlocked....Back up plan...I have a Nokia 6610 which is originally a T-mobile phoen and I know I can move the sim ccard from one to the other..... but how can I tell if it is locked or unlocked?

And if it is locked, isn't there a code to unlock it.

The "buying a Sim Card" makes abosolute sense...as people can e-mail me on my Blackberry and I can call them back on the local European or Asian Sim.

I just wish Verizon would solve the whole problem as I would use them for the best coverage in my area, a Blackberry and overseas but the CDMA is unheard of nowadays in Europe.

I just got back to the U.S. tonight and the Blackberry and Wireless card are still locked and customer service would not and could not help me...I requested an e-mail of the screen that shows they locked me out as I do not plan on paying the cancellation fee when it comes.

Thank you

Elliot

[Mike]

We use T-Mobile Blackberry's at work. Started with AT&T but like you had problems with them shutting off service if they did not get the check on time. They would not send the invoice to the correct address, so by the time it got to the right place and got paid it was past due.

I don't know if they are unlocked or not, but we have employees traveling all over Europe and they use the Blackberry for the email (Lotus Notes) and for calling or being called. I think T-Mobile has the best rates around for International Calling and Roaming, and we have a corporate account (now over 120 Blackberry's) so I think the International rates are even better than a individual user can get, so we have never tried to switch SIMS or use a prepaid one from overseas.

We have 2 Blackberry Enterprise Servers connected to our 2 Domino Notes Servers so email works great. Also, we use a lot of PIN to PIN messages that are extremly fast and better than text messaging.

We have several sales people in California and so far they have had no problems with either the phone or email on the Blackberry.

[elazarus]

The past few days I have forwarded my Verizon to the Blackberry from T-Mobile and it is working great.......so Verizon goes and the number (an 800# gots to it) gets ported to T-Mobile.

Without the earpiece the Blackberry can be hard to use for the phone.....I was told the new 77XX series has fixed that.....we will see.

5000 minutes on T-Mobile $129

3000 minutes on Verizon $199

You do the math!!!!!


Elliot

[COtech]

Originally Posted by elazarus

Since I am going back to T-Mobile for my Blackberry, how can I tell if it is locked or unlocked....Back up plan...I have a Nokia 6610 which is originally a T-mobile phoen and I know I can move the sim ccard from one to the other..... but how can I tell if it is locked or unlocked?

You have an unwanted ATTWS SIM, try it in your T-Mobile Nokia 6610. If you get the "wrong SIM" or "incorrect SIM" message, the 6610 is locked. If the 6610 displayed the same "locked out by ATTWS fraud department" behaveour that you are used to, the 6610 is unlocked. Or is this what you described above, that you had already used your 6610 with the ATTWS SIM? (Then the 6610 is unlocked.)

Originally Posted by elazarus

And if it is locked, isn't there a code to unlock it.?

Yes, and after three months as a T-Mobile customer, you can request and receive it from them via Customer Service.

COtech

[elazarus]

Unfortuneately....or maybe I should say it was good fortune to give back the Sim Card with the Blackberry to AT&T when I got my money back......

So I have a live Sim card on my T-Mobile Blackberry and a dead sim card from a previous period in my Nokia 6610....even though it is T-Mobile I had cancelled it.

Thank you

Elliot

[ZaphodB]

http://www.unlockme.co.uk/downloads.html is the place to go to get the code calculator for Nokia phones. It's a free download and there are instructions on the site.

Your Nokia 6610 will require the DCT-4 calculator.

[elazarus]

Thank you.

It amazes me how you guys find these sites.

Regards

Elliot