using T-Mobile prepaid phone with Cingular sim

Need more info.

If your wife ends her contract with Cingular then her sim card is no longer valid.
What are your plans? Do you want T-Mobile or Cingular service?
To answer your question:
T-Mobile phones are locked to T-Mobile sim cards and must be unlocked to use Cingular sims.
Are you looking for prepaid service? If so check out:
http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm

 

try ebay for unlocked phones.

 

They have to be unlocked if they are T-Mobile. I have bought several unlocked phones from EBay.

 

Yep! Need more info.! :headscrat

 

If you want to use a T-Mobile phone first make sure that it is unlocked and second that you have the proper band frequencies for your area, i.e. 850 mHz 1900 mHz, some T-Mobile phone do not come with the 850 mHz band so look out for that.

If your wife is not going to renew her contract she can stay on a month to month basis but if she cancels/ends her contract she will not be able to use her Cingular sim card as it was previously mentioned.

 

I have a similar question/problem

I need 2 phones. One was lost and another was stolen. I am under contract with cingular without insurance. I want 2 cheap phones just to hold me until my contract expires.

Can I buy 2 cingualr go phones ( pre paid) , remove the sim cards and put in my own sim cards? I realize I will have to buy 2 new sim cards at 25 dollars a piece from cingular.

I called a cingular store and they wouldnt answer me. However they told me that No go phones live the store without activiation. this must mean they are unlocked? does anyone know if other stores that sell go phones make you activiate them? But most importantly will it even work or are they set up only for pre paid sim cards?

thank you much in advance for any replies. I did check ebay but didn't find low end phones for gsm.

 

Cingular locks all their phones, prepaid or not. You can buy the prepaid phones but you will have to activate them. Just don't use the new prepaid lines (or "refill" them). After about three months the prepaid lines will deactivate. In the meantime, you can use the prepaid phones on your post-paid lines.

By the way, do you have the SIM for the stolen phone???

 

The GoPhone kits at local stores are not activated in any way. Just buy 2 of them take them home, and call CS. CS will ask you for the SIM # and the IMEI # of the phone. Then just put the SIM in the phone turn it on and wait for the OTAs.

 

I went out tonight and bought 1 pre paid cingular phone from a walmart for 32 dollars. then I went to a cingualr store and bought a sim card and had them activate the sim card for one of the lost phone lines. I told them someone gave me a phone. Came home put the sim card in, charged the battery and cannot make a call. Everytime I dial an operator comes in and tells me to call customer service, which I did and they are closed.

so, I guess what you are telling me is to activiate the pre paid phone with the sim card that came with it and not my sim card for my account with them, then take that sim card out, put my sim card in and it should work for 3 months? If I am understanding this correctly then would I have the option of reactiving the phone with the pre paid sim and start all over again?

thanks for your help!

 

I hope you are right. I will call cs tomorrow. if this works I will get a second one. I bought the cheapest possible in case I get stuck.

 

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Thank you both for your help. I called cingular this morning and the problem was that when I bought the sim card for my line, the girl didn't lift the restriction I had placed on it when I reported it lost. She only activated it. So, today I will buy another phone for the other line.

the phone itself is extremely no thrills. Perfect for only making and recieving calls. but it works. something to have until my contract expires. I don't want to be locked in for 2 more years to take advantage of discounted phones. It's very said because both phones I had were very good. both had cameras and one had video. the kids enjoyed that. but oh well.........I can't afford it! I really regret not putting insurance on the phones.

thanks again!!

 

I'm glad to hear that your issue is solved, sad to hear about the loss of the functionality of your prior phones. But this brings up a new question, I bought a 8125 (at full price with some rebates) to replace a w600i that was crap, I need to know if my 8125 gets broken, stolen, or lost if cingular will try to send a new one or a w600i because I'm not sure which one is officially on the account.

 

Always, always, always let your provider know if you change phones. The only thing they know to go by is what's listed on the account. They can't accurately replace what they don't know you have.

 

Got a good one for ya, I just called and omg the rep was super friendly and super sweet, wasn't sure I was talking to cingular cs, but anyways, PDA's are not insureable through cingular. Palm's, the Cingular Line of Phones, and Blackberry's none covered. Nice to find out, she removed the insurance from my line though and gave me a little credit for it. Like I said very sweet, wasn't sure it was cingular lol.

 

Insurance coverage and phone types.

Cost as well as function seem to be the driving factors with regard to the Cingular insurance coverage. I know initially that the Razr wasn't covered due to the high cost. One other type of phone to ask about would be any of the UMTS phones because of limited availability. I couldn't find anything on the websites regarding the non-covered equipment. Given the constant state of flux of a carrier's offerings, I guess asking CS is the best route.

 

Re: Insurance coverage and phone types.

if you go to the customer support page and click on the answer center... search term "insurance"


these are the results

The following wireless devices do not qualify for coverage:

All TDMA and GAIT Phone Models
All PDA / high-end Devices

Audiovox

SMT5600
PPC4100
BMW MOT V60i

Handspring

Treo 180
Treo 270
Treo 600
Treo 650
Visor

iPAQ

6320
6325
6510
6515

LG CU320

Mercedes

MOT Startac
MOT Timeport
MOT V60i

Motorola

A388
Accompli A009
E1 ROKR
E680
MPx220
SLVR L7
V190
V235

Nokia

6282
7610
7700/7710
9300
8800/8801
9000IL
9290
9500

palmOne Ace

RIM
6210
6280
7100G
7280
7290
7780
8700c

Samsung

SGH-ZX10
D807
Siemens
SX56
SX66

Sony Ericsson
P800
P900
P910

CINGULAR/HTC
2125
6500
8100
8125

TDMA/GAIT
All Devices