Well, I wanted to update people on my Cingular experience after
switching from Verizon in Chicago. The switch and phone number transfer
were fairly painless. However, I have noticed that voice quality and
signal strength is worse in Chicago than Verizon. Get a lot of calls
that impossible to understand. I live in a high rise (30th floor) which
may be part of the problem.

I got my mum a Nokia 6230 from Amazon, and a RAZR from a cingular store
for myself: the RAZR is a slickster phone, no question. We are on a
family share plan. The volume on the RAZR could be a little louder
perhaps, but it is not bad. I suspect the Nokia will have better
reception though I didn't get much of a chance to compare. The lady at
the Cingular store gave me a number at Motorola to call about unlocking
the phone - we'll see if it's possible. So far, Cingular is tolerable
though I would be happier with better signal strength and fewer dropped
calls (there have been quite a few so far while I had almost none with
Verizon). What caused me to switch is discussed in many earlier threads
but I really wanted a GSM phone for travel. Thanks to all the people
who educated me about GSM phones.

Wiggling