Cingular SIM

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DevilsPGD - 03 Sep 2005 01:46 GMT

I need a Cingular SIM which I can activate on prepaid service when I'm
traveling in the US.

However, I'd like to get the SIM before I arrive in the US so that I can
confirm that my phone is unlocked.

I can't find any way to purchase a SIM and get it shipped, nor will
Cingular even tell me how much the SIM costs, just that I should go to a
Cingular store to inquire.

Any thoughts about an easier way to accomplish this?

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Miguel Cruz - 03 Sep 2005 02:13 GMT

> I need a Cingular SIM which I can activate on prepaid service when I'm
> traveling in the US.
>
> However, I'd like to get the SIM before I arrive in the US so that I can
> confirm that my phone is unlocked.

How about borrowing one from a friend who uses a different provider?

> I can't find any way to purchase a SIM and get it shipped, nor will
> Cingular even tell me how much the SIM costs, just that I should go to a
> Cingular store to inquire.

When I bought one in July it costs about US$25 for a card with $10 worth of
talk credit. The good news was that calls to/from Cingular customers turned
out to be free

miguel

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DevilsPGD - 03 Sep 2005 10:22 GMT

>> I need a Cingular SIM which I can activate on prepaid service when I'm
>> traveling in the US.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
>How about borrowing one from a friend who uses a different provider?

I actually only know one person with a GSM phone who isn't on the same
carrier, and he's not physically accessible right now.

I might see if I can pick one up locally, but I don't want to waste any
extra money just for testing.

>> I can't find any way to purchase a SIM and get it shipped, nor will
>> Cingular even tell me how much the SIM costs, just that I should go to a
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>talk credit. The good news was that calls to/from Cingular customers turned
>out to be free

That helps, thanks.

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Joseph - 03 Sep 2005 03:14 GMT

>I need a Cingular SIM which I can activate on prepaid service when I'm
>traveling in the US.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
>Any thoughts about an easier way to accomplish this?

Look on eBay auctions to get a cingular prepaid SIM. It may or may
not be activated. Even if it's not activated you'll see by putting it
in the handset whether the handset is locked or not. Also, keep in
mind that cingular uses both GSM 850 and GSM 1900. Most European
"triband" handsets are 900/1800/1900 rather than 850/1800/1900 which
is optimally what you need if you want to use cingular prepaid
nationwide. T-Mobile on the other hand is 1900 only so if you have a
Euro 900/1800/1900 handset it will work fine. The tradeoff with
T-Mobile is that coverage is not quite as thorough as cingular's. If
you stay in major urban areas, the suburbs around them and the
highways connecting them T-Mobile may work for you. If on the other
hand you see yourself going to rural areas it may not work as well for
you.

- -

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DevilsPGD - 03 Sep 2005 10:22 GMT

>>I need a Cingular SIM which I can activate on prepaid service when I'm
>>traveling in the US.
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>is optimally what you need if you want to use cingular prepaid
>nationwide.

I'm actually in Canada, and on a Quad-band phone, but thanks for the
info, it's appreciated.

>T-Mobile on the other hand is 1900 only so if you have a
>Euro 900/1800/1900 handset it will work fine. The tradeoff with
>T-Mobile is that coverage is not quite as thorough as cingular's.

And also their rates to Canada are substantially higher -- This was the
deciding factor for me, since I'll be calling Canada a fair amount.

>If
>you stay in major urban areas, the suburbs around them and the
>highways connecting them T-Mobile may work for you. If on the other
>hand you see yourself going to rural areas it may not work as well for
>you.

I'll be mainly in urban areas, and I know people on T-Mobile already, so
I'm not too worried about reception at the office (and in the areas
where I expect to be traveling), but just price.

However, the expiry time on T-Mobile is something I hadn't thought about
until tonight... I'll need to do a bit of thinking to decide whether or
not I want to activate a new account every time I go down, or put down
$100 and keep it active when I'm at home (with 6-12 month expiry dates)

Either way it should save me money since my current carrier's roaming
prices are exorbitant.

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mrcamp - 04 Sep 2005 03:51 GMT

Tmobile is your best bet. Get it on ebay already activated with minutes
and sometimes 1 year expiration. The last card I bought on ebay cam
with 224 minutes and 1 year expiration, and I paid $24 total

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DevilsPGD - 04 Sep 2005 09:02 GMT

>Tmobile is your best bet. Get it on ebay already activated with minutes,
>and sometimes 1 year expiration. The last card I bought on ebay came
>with 224 minutes and 1 year expiration, and I paid $24 total.

Yeah, I'm almost thinking might go T-Mobile even though the LD rate to
Canada is a lot higher -- In the end I think it will work out cheaper
because of the longer expiration times.

I have no problems tossing in $100 at a time if that's what it takes to
get a 1 year expiry.

Thanks for the feedback everyone -- My parents happen to be in Chicago
this weekend anyway so I'll see if I can get them to pick up a SIM for
me.

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mrcamp - 04 Sep 2005 16:08 GMT

Here are some ebay listings. If you do not get one with 1 year exp. Al
you need to do is top it off with a $100 card, and that gives you gol
rewards, 1 year exp. and 15% discount(I think). Subsequent topups als
get you the discount on calls

--
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Joseph - 04 Sep 2005 16:41 GMT

>Yeah, I'm almost thinking might go T-Mobile even though the LD rate to
>Canada is a lot higher -- In the end I think it will work out cheaper
>because of the longer expiration times.

If you're concerned about the long distance charge get an account with
onesuite or Gorilla Mobile. Onesuite is only 3¢/minute to call a US
or Canadian number. Gorilla is 5¢/minute.

>Thanks for the feedback everyone -- My parents happen to be in Chicago
>this weekend anyway so I'll see if I can get them to pick up a SIM for
>me.

If you're wanting a cheap T-Mobile account that's not the way to do
it. If you go into a T-Mobile corporate store they'll want $50 for
the package where you can get it on ebay for lots cheaper than that
and already activated in some cases.
- -

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DevilsPGD - 04 Sep 2005 22:22 GMT

>>Thanks for the feedback everyone -- My parents happen to be in Chicago
>>this weekend anyway so I'll see if I can get them to pick up a SIM for
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>the package where you can get it on ebay for lots cheaper than that
>and already activated in some cases.

Price isn't the only factor, convenience is also a factor, as is not
having to worry about whatever history might be associated with the
account, SIM PINs that I can't unlock, etc.

Already activated is a negative, I'd rather not activate it until the
day before I leave to extend the amount of time until expiry.

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