How Cingular does things. (Comparison shop with other providers)

[kilo]

im happy to know that, like tmobile, they will be unlocking my cingular phone after 3 months. THIS IS SOMETHING VERY DEFINITE. right?

Unfortunately, no. This policy is relatively new to Cingular. So I would bet it would take more than one call to Customer Service to get it done.

if i do change my phone subscriber, i plan to do it online as i see a better deal. is their any advantage/disadvantage to this vs. having my subscription done at cingular's onsite store?

This isn't specific to Cingular, this is with all carriers.
Most online stores only give you big discounts if you open up a new phone line. IE: Porting doesn't count.

Stores are good because they are so much easier to return the phone if it doesn't work, or you just don't like it. So far all my transactions with the store have been great.

[kilofox]

Kilo or anybody,

I am expecting my new phone to arrive in a couple of days. I have a porting question.

I am a VZW customer. I dont want to port my number until I have had time to see if Cingular will work for me. So, I am getting the Cingular phone with its own new number. When I spoke with a Cingular service rep, he told my that Cingular would not charge me a 2nd $36 to port my VZW number if I should decide to stay with Cingular (which I really hope I am able to do).

Is this true? Or could the Cingular rep be giving me incorrect information?

PS... how smooth can I expect the number port to be if I should do so?

Thanks.

[kilo]

Kilo or anybody

I'd want to comment but I've been out of the game far to long. It would be a good idea to post this question to the main board.

Talking about a problem with misinformation though, I think something all consumers should demand is a copy of the dialog they had with a company representative as protection for both parties.

The best I can come up with, is having any promises or assurances be emailed to you as well. This would be for all companies, not just Cingular.

[luciblu]

You can port your # to cingular free for the first 30 days of activating new svc. You may need a new sim card and depending on where you purchased your equipment you may have to purchase it.

[AlwaysOn]

With Cingular, if I decide to change my plan, and I change to a plan with the same cost or higher cost, does that change my contact dates?

Thank you!

[kilo]

With Cingular, if I decide to change my plan, and I change to a plan with the same cost or higher cost, does that change my contact dates?

As far as I recall. Your contract is only extended for 2 reasons:

1. They sell you a phone at a discount.
2. You move to a price plan with a "promotional element" while you are on the last half of your existing contract.

So currently, if you moved to a price plan that offered "Free M2M as a promotion" and you were on the last half of your contract (IE: Months 13-24 on a 2 year, or Months 7-12 on a 1 year), then they would request a new 12 month committment from you.

If you don't like that, you can always add on M2M onto a family or individual plan for $9.99 a month.

[odinsdream]

How does one go about getting the 1-year contract instead of the default 2-year? I went to a Cingular store this afternoon, and the salesperson seemed unwilling to admit that there was such a thing as a 1-year contract available for an extra price.

What do I need to say?

[kilo]

How does one go about getting the 1-year contract instead of the default 2-year? I went to a Cingular store this afternoon, and the salesperson seemed unwilling to admit that there was such a thing as a 1-year contract available for an extra price.

What do I need to say?

"I'm unwilling to consider anything but a 1 year contract". Which they might follow with "I'm unwilling to sign up a 1 year contract".

Just keep in mind that lots of places can sell Cingular service that aren't necessarily a store owned by Cingular, and they can usually decide if they want to sell 1 year contracts or not, so you might very well have to choose a separate store if you can't find what you are looking for there.

I think cingular.com is only 2 year contracts as well.

[vegenigma]

I've mentioned this in another thread, but one big difference between Cingular and T Mobile is this:

If you have T Mobile and a Sidekick phone, you get unlimited internet for $29.99. The closest thing that Cingular has is $19.99 for 5 MB per month, which is lame.

I've spent a few minutes today complaining to Cingular about their poor packages, but nobody cares, which seems to be a recurring theme at Cingular.

[daweeze02]

How does one go about getting the 1-year contract instead of the default 2-year? I went to a Cingular store this afternoon, and the salesperson seemed unwilling to admit that there was such a thing as a 1-year contract available for an extra price.

What do I need to say?

I got a Cingular 1 year contract at Sams Club last week.......the black razor cost me $100, but I would rather pay for it and get a 1 year contract than get it free from Amazon and be locked in at 2 years.

[kilo]

I've mentioned this in another thread, but one big difference between Cingular and T Mobile is this

It would be great if you could make a "How T-Mobile does things. (Comparison shop with other providers)" thread in the T-Mobile FAQ to better assist us all in comparing the companies.

[.7]

Contract / No contract discussion here.

[Doubledip29]

The way I go around this is by using another Ringtone website such as PCS3g.com or 3GUpload.com where you can upload your stuff for free and then download it to the phone for free. I also go around the "as long as you use the towers" charge, by using CSD in conjunction with M2M. That means free internet 24/7!

i posted this elsewhere, but what the heck - CSD = ? rookie - help me out, how about this free iternet - what does it take to get it done thanks

[kilo]

i posted this elsewhere, but what the heck - CSD = ? rookie - help me out, how about this free iternet - what does it take to get it done thanks

CSD = Circuit Switched Data
There are two ways for Cingular GSM phones to make a data connection to get on the internet. One is Circuit Switched Data, which is sort of the equivalent to a very old and slow dial up networking. It places a phone call from the phone to whatever computer routes internet, and then connectes at about 19.9 kb/s speeds. It's not very consistent.
In the old days, you could get CSD added onto your account for free (you would need it if you were going to use your phone as a modem to connect to your own ISP like EarthLink or MSN), but these days it costs $3.99/month.

The other way to get online with a Cingular GSM phone is with something called GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA. These are like data only connections and somehow don't use voice, or something like that. It's really the only internet Cingular advertises anymore. Check cingular.com for prices.

[Doubledip29]

well, we changed service from sprint yesterday - but i have a question - cingular doesn't offer the insurance for the treo 650 phone my wife decided to go with because it is similar to the pda phone she had with sprint. is there an alternative way to get your pda/phone insured?