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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / Cingular / May 2005SIM Cards & Connection Quality
I'm trying out a "new" Nokia 6340i phone with Cingular's Pay As You Go plan. I'll switch to a regular plan if the service works for me. I received a new SIM from the Cingular corporate store where I signed up for service. I use up to 4000 minutes a month and have regular accounts with both Verizon and Sprint. I live in Northern CA. Sprint is crystal clear and Verizon is not far off. The Cingular sound quality is terrible compared to the other 2 carriers. There's a lot of hiss and light static in both urban and rural areas with Cingular. Today I went in to a Cingular store and they tried my SIM in another brand new phone, a Nokia 6100. The sound quality was the same. Is it possible that I have a bad SIM or is that the best Cingular has to offer in my area? BTW the Nokia 6340i is a GSM 850/1900 Mhz, TDMA 800/1900 Mhz, AMPS 800 Mhz phone so it should cover all the bases in my area. Chas. > I'm trying out a "new" Nokia 6340i phone with Cingular's Pay As You Go > plan. I'll switch to a regular plan if the service works for me. [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > BTW the Nokia 6340i is a GSM 850/1900 Mhz, TDMA 800/1900 Mhz, AMPS 800 > Mhz phone so it should cover all the bases in my area. Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago. Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM. > > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. > > Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago. > Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM. Very interesting. I called Cingular Tech Support (on a land line) last week to see if maybe the phone was only working on TDMA and/or AMPs not the highly touted GSM. He said it was working on all bands (assuming he had a way to check it out over the air. The manager at the Cingular store yesterday told me the 6340i was obsolete - she was trying to sell me a new phone - but my chip in her phone sounded just as bad. Chas. Good to know that the GAIT option is available for Pay-As-You-Go, too. What you are experiencing really does sound like a Cingular coverage issue to me, more than a sound quality issue. >> > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. >> [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Chas. That's strange, I switched my old GAIT account on a 6340i to a GSM national account with GAIT option a few months ago without a problem, they obviously had to take the IMIE number & such to make sure the TDMA/Analog part would work. However, his being a Pay-as-you go account, Cingular may not do the GAIT option for him, I do not know the answer to this. Anyway, in the 6340i, the phone first searches for GSM, then TDMA, then Analog signals. Where I am currently staying, I only receive Analog, but the voice quality is good. But, when I am in areas of GSM coverage & switch the SIM to my Moto V551, sound quality improves quite a bit over the 6340i on GSM. Just my 2 cents on my experience with the 6340i, a phone I cannot live without right now.. >> Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. > > Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago. > Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM. > That's strange, I switched my old GAIT account on a 6340i to a GSM national > account with GAIT option a few months ago without a problem, they obviously [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > However, his being a Pay-as-you go account, Cingular may not do the GAIT > option for him, I do not know the answer to this. Thanks for the input. About a month ago my Verizon service went to hell within a 2 mile radius of my home and they've told me TS. I've been trying a Sprint phone for almost a month and it works great (but I would prefer not to have to deal with the "Dark Side"). I'm using a Nokia 3585i and it sounds better than my land lines. I wanted to try Cingular in my area before making a switch from Verizon. When I explained what I wanted to do, the Cingular store manager suggested that I buy a pay as you go card instead of setting up a 30 day account. I'm going back to the store today and check out another phone to see if there is any difference. > Anyway, in the 6340i, the phone first searches for GSM, then TDMA, then > Analog signals. Where I am currently staying, I only receive Analog, but > the voice quality is good. > > But, when I am in areas of GSM coverage & switch the SIM to my Moto V551, > sound quality improves quite a bit over the 6340i on GSM. I'm not locked into the Nokia, I just like the format - large buttons, easy to read mono tone screen and so on. I use up to 4000 minutes a month for business and I've never liked flip phones. The newer color screens are hard to read in sunlight and even harder with sunglasses on. I tried my SIM in a new Nokia 6100 at a different Cingular store and there was no difference in sound quality. > Just my 2 cents on my experience with the 6340i, a phone I cannot live > without right now.. I used my Cellular1 Fujitsu 3W analog phone until the bitter end. Sound quality in my car was as good as any land line! > I've > been trying a Sprint phone for almost a month and it works great (but > I would prefer not to have to deal with the "Dark Side"). How exactly is Sprint the "Dark Side?" Sprint was never a part of AT&T.  SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > > I've > > been trying a Sprint phone for almost a month and it works great (but > > I would prefer not to have to deal with the "Dark Side"). > > How exactly is Sprint the "Dark Side?" Sprint was never a part of AT&T. But Sprint is ==always== rated worst for Customer Service. >>How exactly is Sprint the "Dark Side?" Sprint was never a part of AT&T. > > But Sprint is ==always== rated worst for Customer Service. Always, huh Phillipe? http://www.jdpa.com/pdf/2004085.pdf Looks like your favorite source has proven you wrong. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > >>How exactly is Sprint the "Dark Side?" Sprint was never a part of AT&T. > > > > But Sprint is ==always== rated worst for Customer Service. > http://www.jdpa.com/pdf/2004085.pdf > > Looks like your favorite source has proven you wrong. That is not a report on Customer Service. SprintPCS is and continues to rate WORST inCustomer Service. Whenever I call Sprint I always get excellent customer service. >> >>How exactly is Sprint the "Dark Side?" Sprint was never a part of >> >>AT&T. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > SprintPCS is and continues to rate WORST inCustomer Service. > Whenever I call Sprint I always get excellent customer service. Anecdotal evidence counts for nothing. Scientific surveys of many customers are a better measure. and by that measure SprintPCS is always rated worst. > >> >>How exactly is Sprint the "Dark Side?" Sprint was never a part of > >> >>AT&T. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > > > SprintPCS is and continues to rate WORST inCustomer Service. It could also have a lot to do with the customer's attitude when they contact Sprint CS. >> Whenever I call Sprint I always get excellent customer service. > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >> > >> > SprintPCS is and continues to rate WORST inCustomer Service. > It could also have a lot to do with the customer's attitude when they > contact Sprint CS. Dream on. Spin away. Why would Sprint Customers have different attitudes than Verizon or Cingular customers. Oh Wait, more billing problems, more dropped calls, more coverage holes. > >> Whenever I call Sprint I always get excellent customer service. > > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > >> > > >> > SprintPCS is and continues to rate WORST inCustomer Service. Jack, What is your purpose in the group? Are you a Troll or do you have some personal vendetta against Sprint? >> It could also have a lot to do with the customer's attitude when they >> contact Sprint CS. [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >> >> > >> >> > SprintPCS is and continues to rate WORST inCustomer Service. > What is your purpose in the group? Are you a Troll or do you have some > personal vendetta against Sprint? Yes to both. :) SignatureJustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" > Jack, > > What is your purpose in the group? Are you a Troll or do you have some > personal vendetta against Sprint? Phillipe/Jack/50 or so other aliases is a troll trying to stir up trouble. > > Jack, > > > > What is your purpose in the group? Are you a Troll or do you have some > > personal vendetta against Sprint? > > Phillipe/Jack/50 or so other aliases is a troll trying to stir up trouble. You missed one character above John ... it's 150 aliases ... Bob >> > Jack, >> > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >> > You missed one character above John ... it's 150 aliases ... oops, sorry about that! > > Jack, > > > > What is your purpose in the group? Are you a Troll or do you have some > > personal vendetta against Sprint? > > He is a troll trying to stir up trouble. The last bastion of someone proved wrong on USENET is to call the other person a Troll, when they have been proved wrong. The ==FACT== remains that SprintPCS repeatedly by JD Power, Consumer Reports, the Yankee Group and others has been rated WORST for Customer Service. Posting the TRUTH is hardly trolling, except as viewed by cellular shills that can't handle the truth. > > > Jack, > > > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Posting the TRUTH is hardly trolling, except as viewed by cellular > shills that can't handle the truth. What a hypocrite you are Phillipe. You are hardly the one to talk about truth, when you've changed your identity so many times, to hide ... and get around kill filters to spread your shinola. If you are so into the truth, why don't you stay with the same id? Inquiring minds want to know ... Bob > What a hypocrite you are. You are hardly the one to talk about > truth, Inquiring minds want to know ... And your insults change the FACT that SPRINTPCS is rated worst for Customer Service how? > > What a hypocrite you are. You are hardly the one to talk about > > truth, Inquiring minds want to know ... > > And your insults change the FACT that SPRINTPCS is rated worst for > Customer Service how? The truth about you hurts ... doesn't it Phillipe? Come on, fess up, be truthful yourself for a change and tell us why you think it's necessary to change your id so much ... and why you have such a hate and an agenda against SPCS? Did you work for them and get canned? Bob > "Jack Zwick" <jzwick3@mindspring.com> wrote in message >> And your insults change the FACT that SPRINTPCS is rated worst for [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Did you work for them and get canned? Ya think? Seriously though, I don't wish anyone ill will, not even Phillipe and company. But it would be nice if someone headed over to alt.food.mcdonalds to at least warn them of what to expect. SignatureMike | A much wittier reply came to mind immediately | after I clicked the 'Send' button. > Jack, > > What is your purpose in the group? Are you a Troll or do you have some > personal vendetta against Sprint? Mij, thank you for that observation. You are correct, Jack Zwick, aka phillipe and a dozen other false identities, is indeed a troll with a vendetta. I'm just glad you claim to the conclusion without any of us saying it; it proves us right. :) SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > Dream on. Spin away. Why would Sprint Customers have different attitudes > than Verizon or Cingular customers. Oh Wait, more billing problems, more > dropped calls, more coverage holes. Hello, Mr. I-Said-I'd-Never-Post-to-A-C-Sprintpcs-again-but-I-lied. Sprint Customers don't have different attitudes than Verizon or Cingular customers. There are customers of each company that have had tons of problems. You know the issue I have with SPCS, as I voiced it very recently here... too many idiots working first-level customer service. (Or I can be charitable, and say that they're just badly trained - but it's probably a combination of both.) And as I said before - and I note that you never bothered replying to that post even after I encouraged you to do so - I like Sprint, but I don't blindly praise them, as you like to insinuate. They get credit when it's deserved, and I complain about them when it's deserved. I personally feel that my personal problems with Sprint are minor compared to the crap I had to deal with the last six months I carried a Verizon phone. At least Sprint doesn't break their network, take months to fix it, and fail to follow a stated policy, "we followup WITH THE CUSTOMER on technical problems, within 24 hours." Verizon did exactly that. Dropped calls out the wazoo, for months, with a number of trouble tickets filed, not one of which got me a callback, except the last one... at which point I'd already decided to dump them and was just waiting a month or so for the end of my contract. And, as I point out in http://stevesobol.com/goodbye_vzw/ , the brokenness was right in front of their corporate retail store in Victorville, California. Not too intelligent. And the idiocy I had to deal with from Verizon is far worse than anything I've had to deal with from Sprint, and I was a customer of both from about 12/2000 through 6/2004. There are people who have had significant problems with Cingular too. I even know a few of them (one of them happens to be my little brother, who is a former ATTWS customer that was BORG'd by Cingular). Again, as I always point out, I personally have no complaints about Cingular because I'm not a Cingular customer, and I am not going to start making pronouncements about carriers I've never even used, like you did a couple times in the Verizon newsgroup. As far as attitudes are concerned, I'd like to point out that your silly little rant about signage on the re-branded ATTWS stores didn't do much for your credibility. You crow about how Cingular and others do so much better with customer complaints than Sprint, but I think, based on that ATTWS thread, that you have a slightly skewed idea of what should be complained about. :) I'd like you to address what I've said about Verizon, but I'm pretty sure you'll just reply with your standard non-answer about JD Power and ignore the points I've made. But it'd be nice if you surprised me (for once). SignatureJustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED "The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" <snip> >I personally feel that my personal problems with Sprint are minor compared to >the crap I had to deal with the last six months I carried a Verizon phone. I had t-mobile since Omnipoint, Verizon, AT&T, Nextel and currently Cingular. By far the absolute worst experience was with Verizon. Every single incoming call at my office in Midtown Manhattan had a echo that was so bad I had to hang up and call the person back. Lot's of other issues with dropped calls and not connecting to the network which was extra fun when coming from another market. I called them 2 to 3 times a week about the problem and they would not deal with it. After 4 months they let me out of my contract since it was all documented. >>Whenever I call Sprint I always get excellent customer service. > > Anecdotal evidence counts for nothing. Well then, the JD power reports count for nothing. Those reports are based on customer experiences; anecdotal evidence. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. >>http://www.jdpa.com/pdf/2004085.pdf >> >>Looks like your favorite source has proven you wrong. > That is not a report on Customer Service. Nice one. The facts are presented to you in black and white, and you flatly deny its existence. Way to go troll. Are you and Comical Ali, the former Iraq Information Minister, related by any chance? By the way, you can click on various regions in the US in customers service ratings on the JD power website, and you will find that Sprint PCS is NOT consistenyl rated worst. In fact, NONE of the carriers have a consistent worst rating. They all tend to fair, once the geographic regions are compared against each other, about average: some rate best in some palces, some rate worst in others. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > >>http://www.jdpa.com/pdf/2004085.pdf > >> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > flatly deny its existence. Way to go troll. Are you and Comical Ali, > the former Iraq Information Minister, related by any chance? Typically cellular shill obfuscation. SprintPCS Customer Service is always rated worst, so you present a survey on something else. Get proven wrong and settle the argument by calling the person proving you wrong a troll. P L O N K > Typically cellular shill obfuscation. Typical troll posturing. > P L O N K Heh! You don't even know what the term means. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. > > Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago. > Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM. Not necessarily if he is using an older SIM. >> > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. >> >> Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago. >> Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM. > > Not necessarily if he is using an older SIM. The SIM will work in the 6340i, even the new SIM. Re-read what I wrote. There are no new Gait accounts since about August of '04. > >> > Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. > >> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Re-read what I wrote. There are no new Gait accounts since about August of > '04. But an old sim with still operate in GAIT mode on a GAIT pphone. >> Re-read what I wrote. There are no new Gait accounts since about August >> of >> '04. > > But an old sim with still operate in GAIT mode on a GAIT pphone. An OLD GAIT SIM on and old GAIT plan, but it has nothing at all to do with the thread. It just "happens" that he is using his SIM in a 6340i. Nothing more. John S wrote (5/4/2005 9:54 AM): >>Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. > > Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago. > Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM. My personal experience with having Cingular activate GSM and GAIT since 1/1/05 indicates the above to be untrue. SignatureRJW > John S wrote (5/4/2005 9:54 AM): > >>Make sure your phone is operating in GSM mode. > > Cingular quit activating the 6340's on TDMA and AMPS several months ago. > > Based on what he said (brand new 6340i) he is operating on GSM. > My personal experience with having Cingular activate GSM and GAIT since > 1/1/05 indicates the above to be untrue. > -- > RJW I went into another Cingular store and checked out my SIM in several other phones. There was no difference in the sound quality with several Nokia phones but it did sound great in a Motorola phone. I don't like flip phones so that's not an option. The manager went into the menu choices in my Nokia 6340i and turned off a Security setting which she said kept the phone on GSM only. My coverage seems to have improved a little plus the sound quality has improved in some places. I can sometimes tell when I change cell sites because the sound quality changes, usually from clear to scratchy. I also set the equalizer to a custom setting. The sound is now acceptable but nowhere near as good as Verizon or Sprint - which is the best in the areas that I cover. Chas. > I went into another Cingular store and checked out my SIM in several > other phones. There was no difference in the sound quality with > several Nokia phones but it did sound great in a Motorola phone. I > don't like flip phones so that's not an option. This pretty much proves that the SIM isn't the issue; it's a combination of the phone and the network. > The manager went into the menu choices in my Nokia 6340i and turned > off a Security setting which she said kept the phone on GSM only. My > coverage seems to have improved a little plus the sound quality has > improved in some places. I can sometimes tell when I change cell sites > because the sound quality changes, usually from clear to scratchy. Looks like the phone is now switching between GSM and IS-136 (old TDMA). SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > The Cingular sound quality is terrible compared to the other 2 > carriers. There's a lot of hiss and light static in both urban and > rural areas with Cingular. Not really wanting to start an old argument again but the CDMA technology gives better sound quality than does TDMA and it's derivitives (GSM). > > The Cingular sound quality is terrible compared to the other 2 > > carriers. There's a lot of hiss and light static in both urban and > > rural areas with Cingular. > > Not really wanting to start an old argument again but the CDMA technology > gives better sound quality than does TDMA and it's derivitives (GSM). Hmm, could be, but.... I have an old AT&T Nokia 6160 TDMA phone that I used with AT&TWS until I closed my account in January. It sounded about the same as most of the other Nokias that I've used. I'm using a Nokia 3585i with Sprint and it's almost as good as what I used to get with my Fujitsu 3 watt analog Cellular1 phone! So much for the benefits of digital. Chas. > I'm using a Nokia 3585i with Sprint and it's almost as good as what I > used to get with my Fujitsu 3 watt analog Cellular1 phone! So much for > the benefits of digital. The benifits of digital over a good strong AMPS signal are all on the carrier side (sound wise). There is nothing better for sound quality than analog. On 5/4/05 9:53 AM, in article 0t4ee.5434$HL2.1882@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net, "John S" <johndsummers@teraearthlink.net> wrote: > Not really wanting to start an old argument again but the CDMA technology > gives better sound quality than does TDMA and it's derivitives (GSM). Hardly. I've had both and must listen to Verizon users all day at work (we use them as our cell provider) The worst sound quality goes to CDMA with Verizon - very coarse and raspy at most times (esp. During high loads). GSM by contrast sounds more natural and much better. >On 5/4/05 9:53 AM, in article >0t4ee.5434$HL2.1882@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net, "John S" [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >Verizon - very coarse and raspy at most times (esp. During high loads). GSM >by contrast sounds more natural and much better. As someone said, it's subjective but that's the experience I have always had in this area. The other night I got a call at home from a client that was on a Cingular Blackberry I believe. I knew his mobile number from the caller id but I had to ask him if he was really calling from the mobile because it was that clear listening on my landline. > The other night I got a call at home from a client that was on a > Cingular Blackberry I believe. I knew his mobile number from the > caller id but I had to ask him if he was really calling from the > mobile because it was that clear listening on my landline. Ironically the clearest cell phone I ever had was a Sprint CDMA Treo 300, which I returned for a refund after 2 weeks. If it ever lost the signal in a fringe zone (i.e. downtown New Haven, CT); it required a reboot to find the Network again. > Is it possible that I have a bad SIM or is that the best Cingular has > to offer in my > area? The SIm should not affect sound quality. All it does is store your account information in order to authenticate you and give you access to the GSM networks, as well as store some phonebook information. What determines actual sound quality is the phone and how the network is configured. Since your SIM has been tried in another phone and you still found the quality to be bad, then it's likely the network. Sound quality is a subjective thing. Some people absolutely love the characteristics of GSM and find CDMA to sound a bit muffled. Others (myself included) find GSM to be too harsh on the ear, and very raspy, and we prefer CDMA. It seems that you're in the latter camp if you have Verizon and Sprint and are happy with their sound quality. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > > Is it possible that I have a bad SIM or is that the best Cingular has > > to offer in my [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Since your SIM has been tried in another phone and you still found the > quality to be bad, then it's likely the network. But which network. GSM, TDMA or Analog???? and is it native Cingular or not? > Sound quality is a subjective thing. Some people absolutely love the > characteristics of GSM and find CDMA to sound a bit muffled. Others > (myself included) find GSM to be too harsh on the ear, and very raspy, > and we prefer CDMA. It seems that you're in the latter camp if you have > Verizon and Sprint and are happy with their sound quality. >>Since your SIM has been tried in another phone and you still found the >>quality to be bad, then it's likely the network. > > But which network. GSM, TDMA or Analog???? and is it native Cingular or > not? If you read the OP's post, you'll realize your question has absolutely no relevance. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > >>Since your SIM has been tried in another phone and you still found the > >>quality to be bad, then it's likely the network. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > If you read the OP's post, you'll realize your question has absolutely > no relevance. If you read the rest of the posts, you'll see it absolutely does. >>If you read the OP's post, you'll realize your question has absolutely >>no relevance. > > If you read the rest of the posts, you'll see it absolutely does. Contradicting for the sake of starting an argument, phillipe? what a shame. You absolutely cannot be content until you've completely polluted every possible thread. A true troll to the last. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. > >>If you read the OP's post, you'll realize your question has absolutely > >>no relevance. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > shame. You absolutely cannot be content until you've completely > polluted every possible thread. A true troll to the last. The last resort of a cellular shill when proven wrong. Call the poster a troll. |
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