Would a newer SIM card help me?

[schuster]

I have been passing the same old SIM card from one unbranded phone to the next over the years. It is a Cingular ENS-capable card from the last days of that carrier, just before 3G was introduced. It is presently in my Nokia E63 using the same unlimited $15 feature-phone data plan I have carried all along (that might be a no-no as I believe AT&T sees this as a "smartphone"). It only works in EDGE mode in my E63, of course, but for my occasional purposes with this particular account, it is adequate.

Over the last year I have experienced quite a few situations in which I have no AT&T coverage for a while, or where I have voice coverage but data does not work at first. With time, or movement about, it eventually kicks in. Usually these are crowded areas where I have been blaming the phenomenon on carrier capacity overload - malls, convention centers, etc; but sometimes it is in a location not obviously saturated.

I am wondering, though, if the age of my SIM card is contributing to the issue. I have thought of getting a new one simply for the 3G compatibility, but then the issue of my data plan/phone combination would come up and I might lose that plan. What would you do? Is there an easy, painless way to get a new SIM card and assign it to my account?

[spdickey]

I have been passing the same old SIM card from one unbranded phone to the next over the years. It is a Cingular ENS-capable card from the last days of that carrier, just before 3G was introduced. It is presently in my Nokia E63 using the same unlimited $15 feature-phone data plan I have carried all along (that might be a no-no as I believe AT&T sees this as a "smartphone"). It only works in EDGE mode in my E63, of course, but for my occasional purposes with this particular account, it is adequate.

Over the last year I have experienced quite a few situations in which I have no AT&T coverage for a while, or where I have voice coverage but data does not work at first. With time, or movement about, it eventually kicks in. Usually these are crowded areas where I have been blaming the phenomenon on carrier capacity overload - malls, convention centers, etc; but sometimes it is in a location not obviously saturated.

I am wondering, though, if the age of my SIM card is contributing to the issue. I have thought of getting a new one simply for the 3G compatibility, but then the issue of my data plan/phone combination would come up and I might lose that plan. What would you do? Is there an easy, painless way to get a new SIM card and assign it to my account?

Yes, drop by an AT&T Company store and pick one up. No plan change needed. Will it make a difference in reception, probably not.

[schuster]

Yes, drop by an AT&T Company store
and pick one up. No plan change needed. Will it make a
difference in reception, probably not.

Yes, but that would put my data plan "on the radar" so to
speak, as I am using a non-smartphone plan with a device
once classified as a smartphone.
I wonder if a non-company store would be safer.

As for reception - I forgot to mention I live in NY Metro.
In another thread here it was discussed that AT&T is
"phasing out" 2G by devoting less and less bandwidth to the
standard GSM bands. By not having 3G authentication
available on my current SIM, perhaps that is why I am
getting issues with "no service". A new SIM would help
there, I am assuming.

[ROLLTIDE]

Why not put your sim card in a non smart phone and head to a corporate store ?

[efparri]

If AT&T had considerd the Nokia E63 as a smartphone, they would have changed the data plan regardless of what SIM card you had in the phone. There is never a guarantee that the carrier will always look the other way with unbranded smartphones.

[veriztd]

The odds of a store rep caring if the OP is using a smart phone with a non-smartphone data plan are slim to none. Not likely that they would attempt to change data features unless the billing system alerted them that it is required to change the SIM. Just go to the store with your current phone or, as mentioned earlier, swap the SIM to a non-smart phone before going to the store and swap the SIM between devices when you get home. Let us know if you have any troubles. You should be just fine.

[schuster]

Thanks ... sounds like a plan.

[GSMinCT]

Doubt they would know what an E63 is. They don't care about the old ones. It's just the new stuff like the unlocked GNex that they care about, because the new ones can suck a lot of data. The E-series phones can't use much anyways.

[schuster]

Followup after a couple of months. I took my E63 to a busy AT&T company store in a mall, and they replaced the SIM card for free with little ceremony except to check my identity and account validity. The "3G" indicator on my home screen is now on. Yay.

Problem is: all in all I'm not really sure it's all that much better.

To reiterate the original issue: turn on phone in busy area (mall, large office building, convention center, hotel) and I may have no service for anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes after powerup. Even with service, attempts to initiate a data connection for web browsing, etc usually fail on the first or second attempt, but eventually I succeed. In a locale without heavy cell usage, everything is fine.

Has AT&T gotten that bad? Or am I at the bottom of the heap because AT&T doesn't see me as having a smart/iphone?

[Jordan T]

To reiterate the original issue: turn on phone in busy area (mall, large office building, convention center, hotel) and I may have no service for anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes after powerup. Even with service, attempts to initiate a data connection for web browsing, etc usually fail on the first or second attempt, but eventually I succeed. In a locale without heavy cell usage, everything is fine.

Yeah, now that you're on 3G and having the same issues (the 2G is being scaled way back), if it's at all common, I'd sure try another phone. Especially the issue with it not showing service for up to ten minutes after turning on... that's - odd. AFAIK, AT&T doesn't prioritize smartphone use in any way.

Do phones calls and SMS work fine? You may have an APN issue, though the only APN that should even work on that plan is WAP.CINGULAR, you might wanna check just to be sure your APN is set to WAP.CINGULAR. The new plans use the APN phone, (that's literally it's name) which I believe is supposed to be better somehow, not sure on the details of how tho.

[schuster]

Yeah, now that you're on 3G and
having the same issues (the 2G is being scaled way back),
if it's at all common, I'd sure try another phone.
Especially the issue with it not showing service for up to
ten minutes after turning on... that's - odd. AFAIK, AT&T
doesn't prioritize smartphone use in any way.
Do phones calls and SMS work fine? You may have an APN
issue, though the only APN that should even work on that
plan is WAP.CINGULAR, you might wanna check just to be sure
your APN is set to WAP.CINGULAR. The new plans use the APN
phone, (that's literally it's name) which I believe is
supposed to be better somehow, not sure on the details of
how tho.

Once I have service at a given location, calls and SMS work
fine. I'm using the same APN as I have for many years;
WAP.CINGULAR

[DWC1]

overcrowding of the network in some areas of NYC is still an issue even on 3G. It can still bring data access to a halt or crawl.

[neo28340]

How old is the sim card?

[Redking117]

I'm having this same issue on the Straight Talk sim i've had for over a year swapping between the E71 and multiple android, iPhones, etc.

Getting a BYOD sim and seeing if that helps.

[schuster]

I'm having this same issue on
the Straight Talk sim i've had for over a year swapping
between the E71 and multiple android, iPhones, etc.

Getting a BYOD sim and seeing if that helps.

Well, my SIM is only 2 months old. What is a BYOD SIM?