I have a motorola V60i with AT&T as my provider. I can't stand them anymore and would love to find another company to use. I stopped in Cingular, and they said I'm SOL and will have to stick with AT&T. Is this true? I believe the Cingular rep about it not working on their network, but it won't work on anyone else's network? that blowz. All this GSM, CDMA, TDMA jargon gets confusing...

 

well if you unlock your phone, you can go with any GSM provider. there is software out there to unlock your phone, im just not sure what it is. maybe someone else will know. but if you want to use that phone, unless you unlock it, you are stuck with AT&T because they locked it to their network.

 

Thanks malu, I tried to find something about this online. Not sure if i can reprogram my phone though. I don't have a sim card. And the stuff costs like $400 to reset.

If anyone has the means to do this, please hook me up.

 

you're better off buying a new phone... there's lots of offers on phones now with 1 year or so contracts...

 

you are hosed. get with CDMA, you can get the v60i on a CDMA network for pretty cheap.

 

Actually At&T's service is TDMA service so the only other provider it would be compatible with is Cingular. I dont think that phone is GSM...if it is then you can go to T-Mobile. Unlocking your phone won't do shit cause you dont even have a place for a SIM Card.
And CMDA is just not going to work at all.

 

So your TDMA phone has a bit of a different lock than a traditional GSM phone. I've seen TDMA locked phones, they are much harder to undo than a GSM phone, which only requires the unlock code. With TDMA, you need to reflash the software/firmware in the phone if you expect it to work perfectly with Cingular. That may be completely impossible and if you do find some type of setup to accomplish this, you run the risk of frying your phone. You are better off selling your phone on eBay and buying a Cingular-compatible phone.

So I know I've been long-winded lately and some people find it boring but I find the need to explain things, so here goes: Why does AT&T lock up their phones so tightly? Obviously it is an effort to retain you as their customer, you get turned away by the competition and you go back/stay with AT&T. You don't want to take the loss (sale on eBay) so you ride it out. You renew your contract....whatever. If I were AT&T, I wouldn't want people coming into my store, buying my v60i new off the shelf, and then activating it on Cingular and paying them good money. I'm sure AT&T went to a lot of trouble to get a good deal on Motorola handsets and they did this for THEIR customers. Why would Cingular have to even talk to Motorola, all they have to do is wait for AT&T to buy the phones, then they just go to AT&T stores and get them. Plus AT&T spent a lot of time developing those phones, receiving them in, the distribution costs, stocking, inventory, repairs, etc. not for the competition. So what am I trying to say?

If Sprint phones were not locked, everybody would buy Sprint phones and activate them on Verizon. Then there would be no more Sprint phones. Know what I mean?

 

well AT&T's tactics worked. I either eat $200 for the phone and swith providers, or just settle for their BS. The think that pisses me off with them is that they always require you to be in a contract. This whole thing is for my girlfriend, 98 3.0 CL owner . I, 01CLS, have sprint, my contract has been expired for about a year and I still have the same deal that I agreed to almost 2 years ago. About 3 months ago she wanted to upgrade her plan, pay AT&T more money, and they wouldn't let her. Just didn't seem like good business.

I'd like to see more providers enter the market, I would think that would give the phone makers more power and if someone would come out with a standard technology that would allow one phone to work with multiple providers, i'd bet it be a success. Making providers more of a commodity and have more of an emphasis on customer service. It may also reduce the amount of towers popping up everywhere.

thanks for letting me vent

 

Oh no, what are you trying to do, put me [even more] out of business?

I edited the part of your post that I do agree with.