Need help on GSM phones! Does anyone know if SIM cards are

[AgadorSparticus]

universal and can be used in all phones? I currently have a seimans GSM cellphone that is with ATT. But ever since Cingular bought out ATT, we've been having a horrible time with reception. I don't know if it is the phone or the system. One of my phones is on its last leg and we are looking for a replacement phone.

Does anyone know if I can just insert my old Sieman's SIM card into a new Motorola GSM phone? And can someone explain to me about locking and unlocking phones?

I don't know if all this is just some marketing bullshit to get me to cancel my old plan (which is excellent) to sign up with a Cingular plan, but I don't want to give up my old plan which is unlimited minutes.

IAE, any information will be appreciated. THANKS.

[ET Awful]

1. Yes, the SIM card is universal basically.

Odds are it's your handset (phone). Yes, you can just swap the card into a new phone. The SIM card is what has all of your info on it, and it's compatible across all phones within the same carrier (Cingular and ATT are the same carrier now).

The only time you'd run into an issue is if you tried to put a Cingular SIM in a T-Mobile phone (unless you went through the effort of unlocking the phone)

[AgadorSparticus]

3. How do you unlock the phone? Do you do it yourself or do you have to

go through the service to unlock the phone? Thanks for the input. Now I know what type of phone to purchase.

[ET Awful]

4. You shouldn't have to unlock it at all.

The unlock procedure varies from phone to phone. For some phones it's very easy, for others it's not.

Once you know the exact model of phone you're going to get, you can usually do a Google search for "unlock phone model" and find the right info.

[AgadorSparticus]

8. aaaah! thanks, this answers my question from the other post.

I'm going to ebay to check on phones.

:yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock:

[ET Awful]

9. Well hell, if you're shopping on E-Bay, you should be able to buy

it already unlocked :).

[AgadorSparticus]

12. yea, I just saw one that says it is unlocked and ready for immediate use

with a sim card. And the price isn't bad ($99 slightly used)--compared to the $350 range at the store. I REALLY don't want to have to spend that kind of money for a new cell phone, ya know?

[arcos]

2. If your phone is unlocked...

You can use any SIM card. If it is locked you cannot. There is software and tools available to unlock phones, but you won't find them everywhere and some of them may be risky and could damage the phone.

[AgadorSparticus]

5. this might be a stupid question, but I just want to make sure I understand

...it's the phone that is locked and not the sim card, right?

[ET Awful]

7. Correct. n/t

[ET Awful]

6. Partially correct. . . . if the phone is the same carrier as your original

phone, it should work fine. If it's not, you will have to unlock it. If I'm not mistaken, ATT/Cingular are the same carrier for all intents and purposes and the SIM card should work fine between them.

Best bet is to just try it. Go to the closest Cingular dealer, ask them to let you try the SIM card in the phone you want. If they want to make the sale, they'll let you try it. It doesn't require any programming of the phone itself, you just slide the card out of one phone and put it in the other.

[arcos]

10. Yes, you absolutely right...

Locked phones are only a problem if you have a SIM card from another provider.

[Roland99]

11. Check out

http://www.howardforums.com or http://www.wirelessadvisor.com for phone info.

[AgadorSparticus]

13. Thanks for the links, Roland. I'm checking it out.... n/t

[NV Whino]

14. I was having the same problem

My Siemens phone was less than a year old and I wasn't about to buy a new phone just so it could have the Cingular logo on it... although the Cingular people kept telling me I had to. I went to my phone store (where I bought the phone) and they simply changed the setting to staight GPRS (or GRPS?) rather than the "search for the best signal" option. Works fine now. And I still have the same ATT&T plan I signed for.

About SIM cards. Supposedly they are interchangable. However, when I was in the process of buying this phone, I tried a Nokia first, entered all my phone numbers. Then hated the Nokia--bad sound--and went to the Siemens. For some reason, the Siemens would not read the Nokia SIM. Had to enter all the numbers again.

(My phone store had a 30 day return policy. I went through two phones before I found the Siemens.)

[AgadorSparticus]

15. that's interesting. I'm going to try that and see if it doesn't improve

the service. Right now, the service is terrible. Calls are often dropped and at times when I should be getting service, I'm not. For example, last week, we were driving back to Tucson. At one point, my mother's phone is cingular also and she got service just fine. Mine, however, did not pick up anything. We both should be getting service since we are both Cingular customers. I don't understand why our reception or service has been so bad.

[NV Whino]

16. It solved the problem for me

You can actually make the change yourself. Look in the manual and it will tell yo how to do it. I had my phone guys do it for me, but it's in the phone menue somewhere.