Hello.  I very recently opened a personal Cingular Nationwide
plan/account. (I’m still in my 30 day “trial period”).   I have an
unlocked, unbranded Razr V3 that I’m happy with overall.    Making a
long story short, when I went to the Cingular store to sign up, the
sales folks kept insisting I should have the Cingular branded and locked
model of the phone.   Seeing this as an obvious sales and marketing push
and having already found and purchased the unlocked phone, I declined to
buy their phone, which caused quite a flurry of comments and veiled
warnings from the sales staff.

I have three questions.

1.)   Given that I’m on a national plan, does anyone know of any danger
of being hit with true “roaming” fees?   They did assure me that being
charged with roaming fees is impossible due to the terms of the contract
and I tend to believe that.  However, in the area I live, I’m catching a
Cell. One tower and the roaming indicator does activate on my phone
(being that it is unlocked and unbranded).    These are supposed to be
shared within the GSM network but coming over from many years of
experience with Bell Atlantic/Verizon regional plans, I’m still quite
sensitized to roaming charges.  I’ve also had no experience with
Cingular customer service in terms of their willingness to assist with
such situations.

2.)  Does anyone know of any “REAL”, specific advantages of using a
Cingular branded and locked phone vs. the unlocked phone, say in terms
of “roaming databases”, better signal strength while traveling, etc?

I’m not using web, text, or video features.   Those are not a concern.
 I just want to be as certain as possible I have the best possible
phone features, signal, and can be comfortable with the knowledge that
I’m not running up roaming fees.   I am only asking here because I need
to make a final decision before my 30 day trial period is up and my
contract locks in.

3.)  When I purchased the unlocked phone (eBay – new) I was told that if
I provided my own phone, I would not have to go under contract.  (About
Feb. or March or this year.) Due to illness and a death in the family,
I didn’t make it into the store until June.  I was told I had to take at
least a 1 year contract.  However, the computer also showed an option
for an 11 month “contract” but the sales person wouldn’t try it and
claimed to not know what that was.  Does anyone know  if I’m being given
the run around on this issue?  As with most everyone, I’m not a fan of
contracts.

Thanks in advance for any advice, comments, and assistance.

John