Old Cingular SIMs (deactivated)

A new 3G SIM should work with any GSM phone. Maybe your old phone is locked to another carrier? ...or do you mean you know/think it's locked to Cingular, and want to try an old Cingular SIM? In that case, try eBay. You can find Cingular SIMs for $5 shipped.

 

There should not be a problem using an AT&T 3G SIM in the W580i. I have a 3G SIM in my 6131(GSM only) and it works fine. My 3G SIM from my Treo works in the AT&T BB Curve 8900 which is also GSM only.

Are you getting an error message "invalid SIM"?

 

Glad to hear that you got it working. I would like to add a couple of things here, mostly for people who may have the same question, and read this thread at a later date.

First of all, When Cingular became AT&T, it was merely a name change. The coding in the phones and SIM cards did not change. If you have a CIngular phone an AT&T SIM card will work in it.

Second, once a SIM card is deactivated, it can never be reactivated. If you need an old SIM card make sure you get an old, UNUSED SIM card.

I collect old phones (land line and cellular phones). I have no problems using AT&T 3G SIM cards in my Classic V3's (GPRS only), my Motorola V551's (GPRS & EDGE), and my old iPAQ 6515 (Edge & GPRS). All of the phones listed here are locked to Cingular, and I have no problems using AT&T 3G SIM cards.

-Jay

 

Ebay is an expensive place to buy old phones... Try yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. You never know what you will find. I once found a very rare Western Electric model 1500 desk telephone at a flea market. It was in very poor condition, but it was complete. I looked at it out of curiosity, and decided to pass because of the poor condition. The old man selling it said "I bet you'd buy that phone for $1." Well, I figured the parts were worth $1, so I went for it. Took it home, wiped the major dirt off of it, and listed it on Ebay. The phone sold for over $100. In another instance at a flea market a dealer knowing I was interested in phones offered to sell me a huge box of old phones for $15. I bought it, and all the way at the bottom was a rare pink model 1554 in near mint condition. Sold that one for $225. I hope to someday find a blue 302 (over $1,000) in my wanderings.

I guess my point is that if you know what you're looking for excellent deals can be found.

-Jay

 

They're not supposed to. Phones tuned in there are supposed to be recycled. There could be privacy issues if someone's personal info was still on the phone and it was given away when they thought it was being recycled.

 

Amazing!I personally haven't gone to any flea market yet, but might go tomorrow since it is a Sunday (procrastination always had me). I had dealt with a craigslist guy who sold me a Sprint HTC TP1 for $30 though. I question why he sold it so cheap (also checked ESN prior to driving to him) and he said he got it at a flea market and goes there all the time. Meh, I'm just hoping to find a $5 iPhone or $10 Nokia 8800 if I were to go to a flea market tomorrow

 

Have to tried to google some around your area? I don't never know of any flea markets around me other than this one that I might go tomorrow. It does seem like a promising flea market... maybe I snap a few picture and post back

 

Forgot to share my previous experience with one of my local flea market, but is was a waste of time. Nothing when it comes to phone (other than 1 or 2 booths that jacked their price up so bad). No wonder they were the premier flea market in my area... useless junks at a high price. Used DVD's were running from $10 to $15 in that place. Gottachase, have to tried craigslist.com? You might be able to find some sim cards in your area..

 

Well, you're a lot better off than me in the day and age when I was 15. Had to borrow my parent's credit card for all my little business ventures. They were scared to use the internet for shopping themselves, just think about handing a card to a teen . But nowaday, if you have some cash of your own, you could easily buy a reloadable card off CVS or some gas stations for all your internet shopping/needs. Just make sure you have an option to register your information under the card though. Also, depending on your stuation, you could ask your parent to generate a virtual credit card number everytime you need to buy something. With a virtual credit card, they offer you an option to choose the amount to load onto the new virtual card number that is one time use only and the expiration date. Very handy when you wanted to buy something from some small websites that you may not trust (transaction will be declined if they charge you more than loaded amount). Some CC companies that offer virtual credit card option includes: Bank of America, Citi, American Express and Discover.