64K SIMS and ENS Phones Q&A (Resulting from Cingular and ATTWS Merger)

[Prost]

Originally posted by kilo
If you are having terrible coverage problems though, you can still call into technical support as you always have to see if there is anything else that could be done for you

Just call cingular technical support, she said that V600 is not ENS enable but V400 is so, by putting in the 64K SIMS in my wife's V400 might help the matter, but not my V600. Is that true? I also ask that is the Nokia 6230 and ENS phone and she said yes. Ultimally, she told me to go to a nearest cingular store to see weather 64K SIMS will help with my siutuation. She also said that my 32K SIMS cannot be override to "prefer" the blue network I don't know how true is that.

[Prost]

Originally posted by kilo
If you are having terrible coverage problems though, you can still call into technical support as you always have to see if there is anything else that could be done for you

Just call cingular technical support, she said that V600 is not ENS enable but V400 is so, by putting in the 64K SIMS in my wife's V400 might help the matter, but not my V600. Is that true? I also ask that is the Nokia 6230 and ENS phone and she said yes. Ultimally, she told me to go to a nearest cingular store to see weather 64K SIMS will help with my siutuation. She also said that my 32K SIMS cannot be override to "prefer" the blue network I don't know how true is that.

[kilo]

Originally posted by TGIF
One question: I have no menus that allow me to see what network I'm on or to switch. Is this one of the advantages of unlocking a phone? Or is that just to be able to use other provider's SIM's? Finally, if I unlock a Cingular phone and continue to use it on the Cingular network, am I taking any risks of messing things up?

Unlocking only allows you to use other providers SIMS

You are unable to switch to other networks because the SIM card is set to not allow that.

If you unlocked your phone, you wouldn't risk messing anything up, aside from possibly breaking your phone when you first try to get it unlocked

for more information on unlocking, please email simunlock@cingular.com or check the howard forums forum for your provider

Originally posted by Prost
Just call cingular technical support, she said that V600 is not ENS enable but V400 is so, by putting in the 64K SIMS in my wife's V400 might help the matter, but not my V600. Is that true? I also ask that is the Nokia 6230 and ENS phone and she said yes. Ultimally, she told me to go to a nearest cingular store to see weather 64K SIMS will help with my siutuation. She also said that my 32K SIMS cannot be override to "prefer" the blue network I don't know how true is that.

They didn't offer any other solutions? Odd.

All Motorola V600's sold by Cingular are not ENS capable
Some Motorola V400's sold by Cingular are ENS capable
Some Nokia 6230's sold by Cingular are ENS capable

Cingular can't tell a phone number using a 32K SIM to prefer blue: True

If your Moto V400 is ENS capable, putting a 64K SIM into it and having Cingular Color Swap you to Blue will cause your phone to prefer Blue towers first, then Orange.

[Prost]

Originally posted by kilo
All Motorola V600's sold by Cingular are not ENS capable
Some Motorola V400's sold by Cingular are ENS capable
Some Nokia 6230's sold by Cingular are ENS capable

Cingular can't tell a phone number using a 32K SIM to prefer blue: True

If your Moto V400 is ENS capable, putting a 64K SIM into it and having Cingular Color Swap you to Blue will cause your phone to prefer Blue towers first, then Orange.

I guess I can goto nearby cingular to get a 64K SIMS for my wife's V400, for my V600, I might need to buy another phone? Is 6230 ENS enable?

[Raab Himself]

Okay i called Cingular and told them that i wanted my phone to be set to Blue insead of Orange..this was on tuesday..and they said it should be working in about 48 hours...it is now hour 72 and still nothing has changed...im not complaing or anything i just want to know how long it actually takes?

[kilo]

Originally posted by Prost
I guess I can goto nearby cingular to get a 64K SIMS for my wife's V400, for my V600, I might need to buy another phone? Is 6230 ENS enable?

If you are determined to try this solution, I would make sure that the V400 is ENS capable (check your PM inbox) and if it is, get one 64K SIM and test it on that one phone first

Originally posted by Raab Himself
Okay i called Cingular and told them that i wanted my phone to be set to Blue insead of Orange..this was on tuesday..and they said it should be working in about 48 hours...it is now hour 72 and still nothing has changed...im not complaing or anything i just want to know how long it actually takes?

From my very scientific survey of asking one tech about the 8 color swaps she's done, 4 of them failed; I've been told that after it's initiated, it goes through at midnight (you may have to power cycle the phone)

So either:
A: The color swap failed
B: Color swapping didn't change your situation at all

[Raab Himself]

Originally posted by kilo
From my very scientific survey of asking one tech about the 8 color swaps she's done, 4 of them failed; I've been told that after it's initiated, it goes through at midnight (you may have to power cycle the phone)

So either:
A: The color swap failed
B: Color swapping didn't change your situation at all

It must have failed because my dad has a v400 that i can manually selet Cingular Blue and he gets full reception while i get 0-2 bars on Orange

And if you were wondering i was talking to a lady at tech support

[Hi-Tek]

hmmm my color swap went through instantly. the tech told me to power off my phone, and to turn it back on in about 10 minutes. Now it works like a charm.

[kilo]

Originally posted by kilo
for more information on unlocking, please email simunlock@cingular.com or check the howard forums forum for your provider

my bad, that email address was: simunlockcode@cingular.com

You will get this reply:

Good morning/afternoon:

The Cingular Wireless SIM Unlock Group has received your request for the unlock code on your handset. In order to process your request we require the additional information listed below:

Customer's name on account:
Account number:
Mobile number:
Phone make and model (i.e.: Motorola v60):
IMEI number (this can be retrieved from the phone by pressing *#06# on the keypad of the phone):
Part number (for Siemens phones only):
Reason for request:

Please note: SIM unlock codes are released to Cingular Wireless customers only. After becoming a Cingular customer you must have service for 90 days before the code is given. If this is not a Cingular phone then your current or previous service provider must provide the code. Also, Cingular will not release an unlock code for an inactivated phone or a closed account with an outstanding balance.

Thank you

Cingular Wireless SIM Unlock Group

[TGIF]

Originally posted by kilo
Unlocking only allows you to use other providers SIMS

You are unable to switch to other networks because the SIM card is set to not allow that.

If you unlocked your phone, you wouldn't risk messing anything up, aside from possibly breaking your phone when you first try to get it unlocked

Thank you for the info and the follow-up.

Just to confirm my understanding: unlocking a phone will not make accessible hidden menus for seeing/selecting network providers, etc.?

Thanks,

TGIF

[skytrack]

I have what I believe is a non-ENS capable Nokia 6230. My IMEI begins with 3533. Of course when I bought the phone I was unaware that only certain IMEIs were ENS-capable phones and others weren't. Is there a way I can exchange mine for an ENS capable one? I've had service with Cingular for 3 months now. The reason I want ENS in the first place is because the Blue network in CA is better than Orange due to the 850 band. Cingular tech's have set my SIM's default to Blue but since i'm using a non-ENS 6230 it always defaults to Orange.

Will Cingular replace my non-ENS 6230 if I complain about the bad reception that cannot be solved without an ENS capable model?

[Raab Himself]

this was posted in the cingular forum:

Originally posted by hhubley
Over the next few months, Cingular will begin to "cherry pick" (their words) ATT Towers and merge them into the Cingular system. What this means is that specific ATT towers will be recoded from 310-380 to 310-410 to provide better overall coverage to Cingular Orange customers. Basically, current Blue customers will see their native network decrease in coverage while native Orange customers will see their coverage increase. This is presumably how Cingular will get more Blue customers to migrate to the Orange side.

Cingular hasn't been moving too fast on this because of their concern to maintain Blue business customers. Current Blue GSM business customers still have access to new phones and plans through the Blue side of the company. But since a good chunk of Blue business users are still on TDMA, Cingular wants to have a solid Orange GSM network to influence Blue business users to migrate to. Once a so;lid complete GSM network is consolidated, you'll see Cingular ramp up migration for EVERYONE to the 310-410 network.

Just my .02 worth.

now, if this is true, and i want my phone to prefer AT&T's towers, will i be able to change back to Cingular later on?

[kilo]

Originally posted by skytrack
Will Cingular replace my non-ENS

I can't imagine they would, especially for free, people buy phones with bad RF quality all the time and have reception problems, but if they keep them after the trial period we never offered discounted equipment as a solution for coverage problems

Originally posted by Raab Himself
now, if this is true, and i want my phone to prefer AT&T's towers, will i be able to change back to Cingular later on?

I'm sure you would be able to, since everyone will eventually be moving to the Orange network I'm sure they will be able to move people back from Blue even if they've been "locked" to Blue

Question is, does Cingular do this on their own? will they call you up and ask permission? what if it's 4 years from now and there are NO blue towers? Will they just force you over then?

[PhillipD76]

Do you know which IMEIs are ENS capable or specifically non-capable?

Thanks

Originally posted by skytrack
I have what I believe is a non-ENS capable Nokia 6230. My IMEI begins with 3533. Of course when I bought the phone I was unaware that only certain IMEIs were ENS-capable phones and others weren't.

[skytrack]

Originally posted by PhillipD76
Do you know which IMEIs are ENS capable or specifically non-capable?

Thanks

Kilo said:
3533************ Non-ENS
3550************ ENS