Cingular Pay As You Go - Questions

If someone post here that the LD rate from USA to CANADA is only $0.01 per minute, will you believe him?

I think it could be of great help if you dial 611 and ask those questions to the Customer Service representative.

I'm sure they will provide you the correct answers.

 

I know what you mean. I've spoken with the CSR's from Cingular and gotten conflicting data. There is almost always someone on here that knows the real answer.

I usually keep calling Cingular until I get the same answer as on here.

 

-I pay only $1 a day when I use it and get unlimited mobile to mobile with other Cingular users and .10 a min with non cingular users?

Yes

-I can top off with cards and these minutes expire - there is no roller over with this plan?

Your unused balance will roll over, as long as you refill your account before the experation date.

-Can I call Canada from the USA and if so, what is the rate?

Yes, It's an extra $0.15 a minute on top of your regular per minute charge. That is how I read it.

-Can I call from within Canada to the USA and if so, what is the rate?

Not that I can see, but you never know with Pre Pay.

-Do I HAVE to buy their Pay As You Go phones or can I purchase ANY Cingular phone from ebay and then have it activated to be used with this service?

No, you do not need to buy one of their GoPhones. Any Cingular or unlocked GSM phone with 850 MHz will work.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

it might be a good idea to have 1900 mhz, also.

 

Can you name a phone that has 850, without having 1900.

Their are a lot of cool tri-mode "world" phones on eBay that will only have 1900. I would hate for zacatti to get one of those phone and be SOL because he can't return it.

 

Any Cignular phone that came out in the last year will be fine. Before the AT&T aquisition Cingular had some phones without 850 as most of their GSM coverage was 1900. To get the most of the service you need a phone with 850 & 1900.

 

nope, but i felt that it needed to be said.:loony:

 

May be it was??? It just kind of caught me by surprised as 1900 is normally a given with GSM phones as 1900 has been around much longer in the states.

 

Wirelessly posted (Walkguru's: Nokia6682/2.0 (3.01.1) SymbianOS/8.0 Series60/2.6 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Cingular uses 850 here. So if i use a 1900 only i roam on tmo. I never really thought about it, the other way around.

 

I believe that from outside the USA you will have to get a pre-paid SIM card assuming that you have a phone that can be used in their area..

Also, on pre-paid, there is not such thing as rollover..

 

I think you are right about the SIM. Zacatti would need to get a Canadian SIM when he is there. The nice thing is in Canada they use the same frequencies (850/1900). If Cingular dosn't alow any roaming in Canada they should as T-Mobile To Go is supposed to be able to roam now.

It may not be called "rollover", but on pre-paid your unused balance dose carry over ("rollover") if you add money to your account before the experation date.

 

Well cingular has roaming agreements in Canada but I'm not sure how that works with a pay as you go plan.

 

The cingular web site lists mexico and canada on the pay as you go plan. 15 cents pre minute additional on top of normal charges.


$0.15 per min add'l: Canada

$0.10 per min add'l: Mexico

 

If you use one of the prepaid long distance services, like Tel3.com , it has a 800 number access, and the charge for long distance to Canada is only 3.5 cents a minute. That would be on top of your 10 cent minutes, and it is considered a "local" call, as all 800 numbers are. I use it all the time when I dial long distance, out of the country, using my regular cell phone. Alltel's rates (my current carrier) are much, much, more. London is only 5 cents a minute, so it is worth signing up. NO, I am not a salesman, only someone who has found a pretty good deal.

 

When I got a go phone about a year ago, Cingular refused to sell me a pay as you go SIM without getting a phone from them.

 

That is the case when you call Cingular. You need to go to a corporate or authorized dealer to get just a SIM w/ airtime on it. But the way I look at it is. You will pay $30 to $40 for just the SIM, so why not get a free phone (normally refurb) with that SIM. At least now you have a back-up phone.

 

Well you don't have to tell them what it's for.. that was just a rep wanting to make money off ya. There is no commisssion on a sim card.

Just go into any cingular store and say "I need to buy a replacement SIM card"

They are usually 19.99

Then call customer care and get it activated on your pay as you go phone.

We do it alot here in our store for the customers... Hey it's not always about the money... good customer service provides the money by referrals.

 

I went in to our local corporate store and told them the absolute truth that I have ordered an unlocked GSM phone (SE Z520i) and would like to start a PrePay account and also would like the last 4 digits to be the same as my post pay account.

So for $25.00, I got a SIM, a number and 50 mins., all before my phone arrived. They were even nice enough to say that if I wanted to wait until I got my phone to activate it, that is fine with them.

I have nothing but good experience with our local corporate store, and the fact it's 15 mins. from work and 10 mins. from home is great too.

 

so what exactly IS the expiration date?


mine is tues feb 20

and i have refilled and added time 3 times now to my account

will those minutes roll over if not used?

and do i have to buy a new phone in feb?

 

Are trying to be funny or are you serious? When you buy a $15.00 card, the balance expires in thirty days unless you use it up before that time. The $25.00, $50.00 and $75.00 cards expire in ninety days under the same conditions. The $100.00 card expires in 365 days under the same conditions. If you purchase and add the value of a new card before the balance in your account expires or is used up, the new amount is added to your balance and you may get a new expiration date. So if you have $40.00 in your account due to expire in three, your new balance will be $65.00 if you add a $25.00. That amount will expire ninety days from the date you add the new amount. If you had purchased a $100.00 card and have $10.00 left with nine more months left before expiration, purchasing a lesser card will increase your balance. The amount would still expire in nine months.

The phone does not expire, the account balance expires. There are some disposable phone prepaid accounts in some foreign countries.

 

Now here is the main question that needs to be cleared up. If one purchsed a $100 card and has $10 left with 9 months remaining for that amount to expire. So if one would like to add more and purchases a $25 card which is for 90 days, then would this not mean that the total will now expire in 90 days as the newest addition is teh one that prevails? So basicaly I am asking is the total of $35 will now expire in 90 days and not 9 months!

 

If I'm not mistaken, it's always the date that is the farthest away -- once you have set an expiration date with a $100 refill, you can add lesser amounts and keep the date.

 

I only asked as i have an international pre-paid SIM and the way it works is based on the last refile.

 

And that would seem to make some sense as to how they could do it, maybe this is one of the few things Cingular does that's fair to the customer?

 

I have an international SIM (Riiing) and the way that works is that if the balance doesn't change in 9 months, then the card expires. You don't even have to refill it, just use it once every 9 months. Similar way with my Russian SIM, except there it's 6 months instead of 9. I guess not all prepaid SIMs follow the same model and US prepaid SIMs seem to all be based on refills rather than usage

 

I have that one too. I got it and left it in my office oversease so when one of my employees gose on a business trip it will go with him/her. The local cell company requires a $1,000 deposit for international roaming to be activated and to get that one would also need another $500 deposit to enable the ainternational calling ability (so the total is $1,500) I got my international pre-paid SIM from another country and that one has international roaming (pay about 20 cents more than regular but it is still cheaper than using my Cingular account. I put $100 on it and it goes for one year but I need to refill to extend and it goes by the last refill. I wish it went by what Cingular does.