Network Selection

That's true, as far as I know, as long as you're on a T-Mobile national plan.

Be aware, however, that many carriers have a clause in their service agreements that allow them to cancel your service if more than 50% of your usage is off-network roaming usage.

I occasionally start roaming on Cingular or Alltel's GSM roaming when no T-Mobile signal is available. I try to stay on T-Mobile's native network here since I tend to get SMS, VM notificiation and MMS faster. (It's been a while but I can't remember if I can even get MMS when I'm roaming.)

 

Hmmm... that's cool. I didn't know that you could roam on the Prepaid. I've never used T-Mobile To Go.

Multi-media Messaging Service... picture messaging, video messaging, voice messages, etc.

 

It all depends on where you live as to if they will allow you to roam on Cingular, most pre-paids don't let you roam, but some do, and that is dependent on where you live or use it.
If you live in an area that has T-Mobile coverage, they may not have a roaming agreement with Cingular.

I know I can't choose T-Mobile with my Cingular phone here in North Jersey, and it goes the same for T-Mobile customers can't choose Cingular's network here.

 

Wirelessly posted (Q's Mobile Device: SCH-A930 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0)



This must be area dependent... I went to a Cing only area with my prepaid phone and I received no service. My Nokia saw the cing signal and i was not allowed to use it. They select the areas where you can roam.

 

Out here in SoCal, you may be able to select Cingular, but it rejects it. At least it has anytime I have manually forced it. I don't know if these rules are in effect everywhere, but I would think in Southern NJ it certainly would be considering it is part of the greater Philadelphia area.

 

I've seen some roaming on T-Mobile To Go in Arizona, it was indeed some Cingular affiliate ('CINGULAR' tag, including single quotes). I have never been able to roam on Cingular towers here in the Bay Area.

What the letter says is not entirely true -- as others have pointed out, the ability to roam on Cingular network is not based on the presence or absence of T-Mobile signal but rather on the roaming agreement being in place.

 

The only way you will really know for sure is when you get your phone, try and see if it will let you register on Cingular.

 

I wish it was that easy, but like these guys said before its only in certain areas that you can roam on cingular's towers. If the T-Mobile coverage map indicates that theres roaming then you can use another available company. If not, (and esp. if theres native T-Mo coverage) then you really cant. I haven't been able to roam on Cingular if it isnt in one of those roaming areas.

 

well you can only roam if there is no Tmo signal at all...........even if your phone cant register on the Tmo network and there is a little bit of signal.........you cant get on Cingular............it wont work.............the prepaid doesnt have nearly as much roaming available as the postpaid cuztomers though

 

The e-mail neh received, is correct.

Where both Cingular (AT&T) and T-Mobile have service, you will NOT be able to connect to Cingular, regardless of whether you are on T-Mobile To Go or a monthly plan.

Where Cingular has service and T-Mobile does not, that is the only time you should be able to connect to Cingular. Although, here in New England, there is one exception: in New Hampshire, there is a large gap in coverage on I-89 outside of Concord, T-Mobile does not have service between exits 3 and 15, then picks up roaming coverage on Unicel at exit 15. I have been told Cingular does have coverage along this route in NH, but for some reason, T-Mobile will not roam on Cingular in that particular area.

 

I have my T-Mobile phone right in front of me. I went into the Network selection, changed it from Automatic to Manual and it proceeded to search for networks. T-Mobile is listed first, Cingular is listed under it.

Select Cingular: No network access.

 

yeah cuz i think most of us here believe that the rep you talked to didnt know what he or she was talking about........i never was able to manually roam on Cingular if Tmo was available........so i dont know what that rep is talking about

 

Wirelessly posted (Q's Mobile Device: SCH-A930 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

As others have seen, including myself, roaming is not unconditional. Roaming is not always available if T Mobile has little or no service. I doubt that they'll be roaming in New jersey any time soon. I'm in Florida and TMobile only roams in the Southwest part of the state... There are plenty of areas where TMobile has no coverage and the phone sees the Cing signal but registration fails... You have to see for yourself and look at the maps. You can only roam in areas marked as roaming... You can't expect any more roaming than that.

 

I can almost 100% guarantee you, that you will not roam on Cingular in NJ, they don't have any roaming agreements in this area, and if they did they would offer it to contract people 1st, since they usually have the better roaming option over pre-paid phones.

I can see T-Mobile when I do a network search, both here in North Jersey & in South Jersey mainly in A/C, and can not select their network.
I would accept the word of the email & those that told you that you Can Not roam on Cingular here, others are just trying to make you happy on the phone.

 

from what i understand..........T-Mobile does not have an agreement with Cingular in NJ........i thought i heard that somewhere else but i could be wrong.........

 

The building where I work is shielded so no cell signals make it more than a few feet from the windows. A couple years ago they installed a Cingular repeater because most of our reps use it. Until last Sunday I was not able to register with that repeater. All of a sudden I get a call deep in the building, and I realize that my phone (unlocked Treo 650) is using the Cingular network. Over the next few days I have been able to use Cingular towers in other areas within 15 miles or so where T mobile coverage was poor, but present. This is with both manual and automatic selections. Sometimes the "Cingular" network is displayed as "T-MOBILE" (all caps), as opposed to the tmo network which has always displayed as "T-Mobile".

All of a sudden, today, the behavior is back to the way it was for the last couple years, with no indication of what was different for three days.

Well, it was nice while it lasted! Anyone have any ideas?

 

thats really weird.........although the capitalization def does mean something.........i'm not really sure though........anybodt wanna put in their two cents?