vB Easy Archive - Unlocking 5600 from AT&T on TM or Cingular??

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Unlocking 5600 from AT&T on TM or Cingular??
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Posted by: PortlandDan

I went into a Cingular store tonite to check out the 5600 after reading all the good press on it. They did have one. He confirmed what many of you already know...that the phones are locked to AT&T and he said I'd have to get it unlocked to work on another network (Cingular or T-Mobile).

He and another employee were talking about a meeting they were in where they were told that even if a phone gets unlocked you may have an issue down the road if you go into a roaming area and the phone will lock up and need to be unlocked again (with the roaming carriers unlock code). This didn't make a lot of sense to me...but that's what they said. So basically they were saying it might work locally...but out of town into a roaming area and the phone could / would lock up again. They also said that IP addresses, etc. on the data side of the phone would be re-populated when you enter another companys' roaming area. Again this didn't make a lot of sense to me.

They were also talking about the different frequencies that AT&T / Cingular (850) and T-Mobile (1900) run on...saying that if the phone came initially provisioned for AT&T (850), that it will constantly look for those towers and that phone operation will be flaky. So much of what they said sounded like BS.....but thought I'd check with the experts!

Beyond all that...being in Portland, what are your opinions of Cingular. People here complained about AT&T regarding their GSM. Essentially, down here the merger was nothing but a name change....the same towers are being used. I have T-Mobile as a secondary service...and overall, have been very happy with their service.

Any thoughts or comments about the above would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Posted by: martin4058

You're right, they're talking nonsence

Quote:

if a phone gets unlocked you may have an issue down the road if you go into a roaming area and the phone will lock up and need to be unlocked again (with the roaming carriers unlock code)

The phone is unlocked at hardware level and will not be re-locked by roaming or otherwise.

Quote:

They also said that IP addresses, etc. on the data side of the phone would be re-populated when you enter another companys' roaming area

Re-populated

You will need to change the GPRS settings in your phone if using another operators SIM but that's all. There will be no changes to the data settings other than your own.

Quote:

They were also talking about the different frequencies that AT&T / Cingular (850) and T-Mobile (1900) run on...saying that if the phone came initially provisioned for AT&T (850), that it will constantly look for those towers and that phone operation will be flaky

When the phone is first switched on it will scan all frequencies in the available bands 850/1800/1900 and will pickup towers from all networks. Network access is then based on which SIM you have so a T-mobile SIM would automatically access the T-mobile network (or an agreed roaming partner network). After accessing the T-mobile network the phone will only listen to neigbouring towers on it's own network.

It could be that you would better off with a Cingular SIM than an AT&T sim as Cingular has bought out AT&T but I reckon you should have just bought the phone anyway

Posted by: PortlandDan

Thanks for the reply! I didn't think they knew what they were talking about!

Thanks again!

Posted by: george2350

I am never amazed by some of the instore reps creative thinking.... wow is all I can say. And I am sure that for every one person (who comes here and asks to clarify things) there will 100's of poor souls who are misguided by there wonderfully talented and intelligent people....