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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / ATT Wireless / August 2004Just unlocked my fone...
So I just unlocked my 3595... yeah it's a POS but now I can do what I want with it... anyways, my roommate has T-Moble, a tmda plan... does anyone know if he would be charged differently for making calls with a GSM phone? Are the 2 sims the same even? > my roommate has T-Moble, a tmda plan Wasnt aware TMobile was anything but GSM. It's not. OP's facts are wrong. Nothing but GSM. Scotty > > my roommate has T-Moble, a tmda plan > > Wasnt aware TMobile was anything but GSM. The SIM will either work or not and if it does, usage will be charged. It's tied to the SIM not the phone. Scotty > So I just unlocked my 3595... yeah it's a POS but now I can do what I > want with it... anyways, my roommate has T-Moble, a tmda plan... does > anyone know if he would be charged differently for making calls with a > GSM phone? Are the 2 sims the same even? >anyways, my roommate has T-Moble, a tmda plan... No he doesn't!!! T-Mobile doesn't have any TDMA. They only have GSM. -- John S. e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net > >anyways, my roommate has T-Moble, a tmda plan... > > No he doesn't!!! > > T-Mobile doesn't have any TDMA. They only have GSM. Oops... I didn't realize that... he thought it was TDMA, and I only know he got it more than a year ago... I didn't realize that GSM was even around then...my mistake. >So I just unlocked my 3595... yeah it's a POS but now I can do what I >want with it... anyways, my roommate has T-Moble, a tmda plan... does >anyone know if he would be charged differently for making calls with a >GSM phone? Are the 2 sims the same even? TDMA phones are TDMA phones. GSM phones are GSM phones. CDMA phones are CDMA phones. None will work on the other kinds of networks. You really don't understand the difference. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply TDMA phones dont have a SIM GSM do have SIM thats the reason why UNLOCKING a tdma is a joke! > >So I just unlocked my 3595... yeah it's a POS but now I can do what I > >want with it... anyways, my roommate has T-Moble, a tmda plan... does [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply ok, i'll bite... why is unlocking a tdma phone a joke? a) waste of money cause tdma is dying off b) tdma phones can't be unlocked c) ..... i'm lost. > TDMA phones dont have a SIM > GSM do have SIM [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply The "joke" was simply that's it's harder to switch phones with TDMA than with GSM because instead of just transferring a SIM, the carrier has to activate the phone. I'd call it hyperbole. ;-) >ok, i'll bite... why is unlocking a tdma phone a joke? > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >i'm lost. >> TDMA phones dont have a SIM >> GSM do have SIM >> thats the reason why UNLOCKING a tdma is a joke!  SignatureBest regards, John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/ > ok, i'll bite... why is unlocking a tdma phone a joke? Because TDMA phones aren't "locked" in the traditional sense. Unless the firmware has been specially rewritten, like with TracFone, (which "unlocking" wouldn't fix), any TDMA phone can be used on any TDMA carrier that is WILLING to activate it. > a) waste of money cause tdma is dying off ...that's up to you... > b) tdma phones can't be unlocked More like aren't locked. They are occasionally SOC-locked, meaning certain programming options and menus are hidden from the user, but these options can be programmed over-the-air by the carrier. Sometimes other functions are "locked out" (missing)- for example, WAP browsers are removed from AT&T TDMA phones because AT&T doesn't support data over TDMA. Again, however, that's a case of modified firmware- not a "lock". > c) ..... > > i'm lost. GSM phones are locked to prevent the end-user from using a "foreign" SIM. TDMA phones must be activated and registered by a carrier- the end-user can't use a TDMA phone without the carrier's intervention. >> ok, i'll bite... why is unlocking a tdma phone a joke? > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > carrier that is WILLING to activate it. > My Cell One says they cannot activate AT&T TDMA phones because they won't always use the correct cell towers. They imply there is something hard- coded into the phone that won't let it roam correctly. So is this just BS? "Bean" <noway@jose.com> wrote in message > My Cell One says they cannot activate AT&T TDMA phones because they won't > always use the correct cell towers. They imply there is something hard- > coded into the phone that won't let it roam correctly. So is this just BS? ATTWS has the ability to download roaming data over the air to their TDMA phones. You do not have to periodically dial an access code to get the latest roaming tables, as you would with Verizon. My Panasonic TDMA phone has a menu function to search for networks, but it never finds anything. I asked the ATTWS rep about that and she said that the feature was essentially disabled, because ATTWS took care of that themselves. ATTWS has never made any secret of the fact that their (TDMA) phones were designed specifically for use on THEIR network. Whether the settings were hardware or software-dependent I do not know. But I do remember once asking Cellular One (now Cingular, in my area) if I could bring my Ericsson flip phone over to them, and they said that AT&T phones would not work on their network. They sold what looked like the same phone, but with a different model number. AT&T said that THEY could not activate the model that Cellular One carried. Fortunately, TDMA phones are so cheap and plentiful on eBay, that one can buy tons of phones that do work on whatever carrier one chooses. I can't speak for Cell One, but I can say that I have had ATTWS hook up half a dozen TDMA phones on my accounts over the past 3 years, and all they checked was to see that the phones' serial numbers had not been reported lost or stolen. No problem activating a phone purchased from some source other than ATTWS. The official ATTWS line is that their network is designed to work optimally with only phones that they approve. So I suppose that your carrier is giving you correct info about being unable to activate a phone set up for use on the ATTWS network. |
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