vB Easy Archive - ugent advice needed

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ugent advice needed
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Posted by: cpriore

i bought a nokia 3650 unlocked a few days ago that has t-mobile tags on it. it appears that cingular(my provider)doesnt use 900 mhz anymore only 850 and 1900mhz. My current phone doesnt use a simm card but i had cingular send me one a while ago for my new phone(retail). i called them and asked them to switch it over for me but they said it was incompatible and no way around it. Of course when i had them send me a card last month they said the nokia 3650 would be fine. if i had a simm card that was already registered would it have worked?? or is there anyway i can use this phone running on 900 or 1900 mhz. also the ebay sellers clearly state this phone would work for cingular..whats the deal?? thanks,,great board by the way!

Posted by: TriBand81

First off GSM 900 was never and never will be used in the US. The 3650 supports GSM 1900 but judging from what you said about Cingular, you might be in one of their GSM 850 only markets where GSM 1900 is not available. Cingular uses GSM 850 only in some markets (like Boston), GSM 1900 only (All of California) or a combination of GSM 850/1900 like in Philadelphia.

Where are you? This is a critical point. You also need a SIM card in the 1st place to have the phone register on Cingular or any other GSM network. If you're unable to use Cingular in your area since they are GSM 850 only, then you can always try going with T-Mobile since T-Mobile uses only GSM 1900 across the nation.

So let me know where you are and that will already help answer the question/solve the problem.

Posted by: cpriore

i live in the boston area. But on cingulars website for my area the phones are all listed as 850 and 1900 mhz. I ordered a simm card from them last month cause my current phone doesnt have one(older nokia). I bet if i had a newer phone with a simm already registered i could have popped that in the new phone with out calling them. Since i had to call them to register the simm they declined cause the phone was incompatibe or the imei number was a t-mobil phone ,,which it is. I was gonna just get the tmobil service but they wanted 500 deposit or i can just have 600 minute plan(forget that). The ebay seller is gonna let me return the phone. now,,the new phone im gonna order is the 3600 with 850 mhz,,do you think cingular is gonna give me problems cause im not buying a phone from them?

Posted by: TriBand81

Quote:

Originally posted by cpriore
i live in the boston area. But on cingulars website for my area the phones are all listed as 850 and 1900 mhz. I ordered a simm card from them last month cause my current phone doesnt have one(older nokia). I bet if i had a newer phone with a simm already registered i could have popped that in the new phone with out calling them. Since i had to call them to register the simm they declined cause the phone was incompatibe or the imei number was a t-mobil phone ,,which it is. I was gonna just get the tmobil service but they wanted 500 deposit or i can just have 600 minute plan(forget that). The ebay seller is gonna let me return the phone. now,,the new phone im gonna order is the 3600 with 850 mhz,,do you think cingular is gonna give me problems cause im not buying a phone from them?

Getting the 3600 is a very good start. No, Cingular shouldn't give you any problems since many people activate service with them without buying a new phone.

As for the GSM 850 question, as far as I am aware Boston is GSM 850 only. Please ask your question in the Cingular Forum exactly like you asked in your previous posts and there are quite a few members who work for Cingular and also come from the Boston area who can answer your question in greater detail.

Here is the Cingular Forum: http://cingular.howardforums.com post in there and I will make the members aware that I know of who are in Boston to look at your thread, deal?

Good Luck

Posted by: cpriore

thanks!

Posted by: ejb5oh

Your screwed dude. Cingular is new in many areas to the gsm network, or so they are in texas. They only operate on the outdated 850 gsm network. You should switch to tmobile or att.

Posted by: TriBand81

Quote:

Originally posted by ejb5oh
Your screwed dude. Cingular is new in many areas to the gsm network, or so they are in texas. They only operate on the outdated 850 gsm network. You should switch to tmobile or att.

How is the GSM 850 network outdated? AT&T and Cingular have just opened up GSM 850 cell sites in most new GSM markets. As long as he has a phone that works on GSM 850 like the 3600 he got, then he should be fine.

Posted by: evan_silbert

"Outdated" is probably not the word so much as "incompatible with most everything." In the Boston market, Cingular only uses 850, so your 3650 with no 850 support did not get any reception on their network. They do provide roaming onto T-Mobile at 1900 but I don't know whether that is only in areas they do not have coverage (most likely). Also, you don't want to be roaming all the time, since it might affect your billing, and you are given "lower priority" on T-Mobile's network than T-Mobile's own customers- you are more likely to get system busy errors and have calls go straight to voicemail.

The 3600 supports 850, so it should be no problem. Generally speaking, a provider should not care what IMEI you are using. They also should be able to tell that it is a 3600 even if it is not originally from them, so it should not be a big deal if they actually do check IMEI's. I think that's a safe bet for you.

Does that cover everything??

Posted by: ejb5oh

Did not mean outdated. Did mean incompatible. Tmobile is the larges world provider of gsm and in the us they are only on 1900. The 3650 does not support the 3650. There is another phone which is supported by cingular. You should have purchased the 3600 as opposed to the 3650. Irregardless, I personally did not like the 3650. They dial pad is awkward and hard to get use to. There is a new equivilent to the 3600 and 3650. Go to nokiausa.com to see it. It has a regular key pad on it.

Eric

Posted by: TriBand81

Quote:

Originally posted by ejb5oh
Did not mean outdated. Did mean incompatible. Tmobile is the larges world provider of gsm and in the us they are only on 1900. The 3650 does not support the 3650. There is another phone which is supported by cingular. You should have purchased the 3600 as opposed to the 3650. Irregardless, I personally did not like the 3650. They dial pad is awkward and hard to get use to. There is a new equivilent to the 3600 and 3650. Go to nokiausa.com to see it. It has a regular key pad on it.

Eric

That's the 3620: www.nokiausa.com/phones/3620