Does cingular offer no contract option?

[SoCal91302]

I don't understand how any rep could fool a customer into thinking there's no "no contract" option. It says in fine print next to the price tags for each phone:

V551 (for example)
$249 *no-contract
$100 *1yr contract required
$50 *2yr contract required

It just baffles me as to how the reps could either seriously be clueless, or succeede in playing the customer for a fool.

The no contract price is just that, the price of the phone if you buy it without signing a contract. Yes, there are month to month plans, they are called pre-paid. The catch is you pay more for the minutes. It's funny that people think they can get the same great rates as contract customers, without a contract!

[SoCal91302]

Update. Got Cingular Nation GSM activation tonight (on my GAIT phone) with no contract. So don't accept that it can't be done. Corporate store on South Dale Mabry in Tampa. At first, he said I had to have a contract, but I dropped the "Customer Owned and Maintained (COAM) equipment" line to the manager and he folded like a Southern belle's fan. I have the standard $39.99 plan on a month to month basis.

I do have to admit that I didn't mention contract (and niether did he) until he had gone thru the whole activation process. When he told me that I would be asked to confirm accepting a two year contract was when I dropped the bombshell, that I wanted month-to-month. He was able to quickly go back in and change that. I asked for a receipt, just in case.

The sales guy was very nice. To make up for the hassle, he didn't even charge me for the SIM card. Life is good!

Reminder: you got this plan...
http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cel...svl=2250800013

NOT the 450 w/rollover and 5000 nights and weekends and unlimited M2M for $39.99!

I like how he sweetened the deal with a free SIM card

[B-Money]

Sometimes when a CSR says he doesn't know about the no contract plans, it could be that he simply hasn't been told. I would be one of those CSR's. True, it doesn't help us get $$, but the plain truth is that it doesn't say anywhere in any documents i've ever read that it is possible. Nor would I even have any clue how to set that up in our computer system. Nowhere have I seen any options to do it. And in the 6 months i've worked for Cingular, I've never seen it done in the store.

So don't just automatically assume that the reps are being devious.

[gregsmith59]

The no contract price is just that, the price of the phone if you buy it without signing a contract. Yes, there are month to month plans, they are called pre-paid. The catch is you pay more for the minutes. It's funny that people think they can get the same great rates as contract customers, without a contract!

Customers do get the same rates on month-to-month postpaid as contract postpaid customers, except no M2M is included. Why add to the mis-information?

[SoCal91302]

Customers do get the same rates on month-to-month postpaid as contract postpaid customers, except no M2M is included. Why add to the mis-information?

So why does the pick-your-plan option exist? And why is there no way to activate this sectret month-to-month plan available in OPUS (the software we use to activate). Please enlighten us.

[mdrobnak]

So why does the pick-your-plan option exist? And why is there no way to activate this sectret month-to-month plan available in OPUS (the software we use to activate). Please enlighten us.

Not sure. See this is the problem I had. (Btw, the reason there was a seperate thread was I was unsure this info was still correct. As of today, the 27th, it most certainly is.) I was in a corp. store in Scarsdale, NY, and was told Opus couldn't do anything except 1 or 2 year. This is not correct. I had the runaround - first they told me to call 800-331-0500, and a gentlemen there told me to call the "Credit and Activations" number (an 866 #), and then a polite woman was very surprised to hear from a customer lol. She told me to go to a store, so I did, again. I'm not sure of what the "Retail Sales Consulant" at the Penn Plaza store did, but she got it to work without any issue. Just everyone be aware there is NO way to add Mobile to Mobile without a contract.

Bottom line - T-Mobile branded, unlocked Nokia 6101 on Cingular, working messaging, voicemail, web, voice, etc, all without a problem, except web is called t-zones lol. I'll have to load Opera Mini on it later (unlimited MediaNET plan). Haven't tried tethering yet though. I will need to do so very rarely, but it will be for short SSH sessions only.

-Matt

[gregsmith59]

So why does the pick-your-plan option exist? And why is there no way to activate this sectret month-to-month plan available in OPUS (the software we use to activate). Please enlighten us.

Ignorance is no reason to be rude.

Prepaid and postpaid are two entirely different things. You're just getting confused by bringing prepaid into the discussion.

Just because you can't do it on OPUS doesn't mean it is not allowed.

There are multiple threads about this option - in fact Tripy had to close one since it was a duplicate. Read the forums and search and you will know it is possible.

[pdirish1953]

I don't understand how any rep could fool a customer into thinking there's no "no contract" option. It says in fine print next to the price tags for each phone:

V551 (for example)
$249 *no-contract
$100 *1yr contract required
$50 *2yr contract required

It just baffles me as to how the reps could either seriously be clueless, or succeede in playing the customer for a fool.

Trust me, They're clueless......

[T-Man2]

I read this only once already, so maybe the answer is partially there, but: If I were to go into a Cingular store, get ready to buy a phone and pick a contract, and then tell the sales rep I want the COAM 'contract', would I have to go from the $200 for the phone (with 2yr SCA, or Soul Contract Agreement) to its current sale price? I'd imagine I would have to if I dont sign an agreement.

-T

[tennessee31]

I read this only once already, so maybe the answer is partially there, but: If I were to go into a Cingular store, get ready to buy a phone and pick a contract, and then tell the sales rep I want the COAM 'contract', would I have to go from the $200 for the phone (with 2yr SCA, or Soul Contract Agreement) to its current sale price? I'd imagine I would have to if I dont sign an agreement.

-T

Yes. You'll end up paying approx. $100 more for the phone.

[T-Man2]

OK, thanks for letting me know.

[91-stang]

i am shocked people are still arguing over this. i am in the kansas city area, and our cingular stores have had the no contract deal for at least 6 months if not more.



also, correct me if i am wrong, but i believe with most companies, even with a contract you basically "pre-pay" anyways. you pay for the next month, plus any overages/extras from the previous month, not just pay for the previous month.

my bill that i just got on 3-11 shows it as 3/05-4/05...therefore you pre-pay on it.

[T-Man2]

But it is by 30 days and still mostly a month by month thing, you just pay for your next month ahead of time...

[1badmf]

I was about to do the no contract option, I even set up a whole plan for it, but later I found out about the no M2M and that was a deal killer for me. Everyone I know has cingular. So I ended up cancelling that plan and adding a line at Walmart for a 1 year contract and got a SLVR for my girlfriend. Not a bad deal. Now I use about 30 anytime minutes and 5 billion M2M

[vedichymn]

This may be a stupid question, but I live in Alaska right now, and there's not really any of the big providers up here.

I'm moving to Chicago in 3-4 months, and I'm looking at getting an unlocked Treo 650 that I'd like to get up and running on Cingular in the next month or so, for use on the drive, and to have a Chicago number.

Is it possible to get a SIM card from Cingular on a non-contract basis for an area I don't live in? Are they going to complain that I'm roaming on CellularOne's network up here for the next few months until I get down into the Lower 48?

Additionally, say I do like Cingular's service, would there be any issues getting my wife a phone on Cingular's network, and moving my number over to a familytalk plan with rollover and such (on a contract basis)?