Well, if you are happy with theservice that TM provides, stay with them.

On the other hand, Cingular is the original "A" band Cellular carrier (read
that 800MHz) and they bought AT&T which I believe is 1900 PCS there in the
Boston area. This combination should give you better coverage than T-Mobile
alone.

My last trip up that way was to Cape Cod. I was in Dennis and had excellent
coverage on my AT&T Wireless phone (both TDMA and GSM), my T-Mobile phone and
my Sprint Phone. At that time I did not have a Cingular phone for comparison as
I now have.

I live in Texas and work all over the world.

--
John S.
e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net

Switch to Sprint and you'll get a $150 rebate on a new phone
every 18 months.

I was thinking the same.  Is there anything stopping someone from having
another person (wife) in household opening a new acct and you/me cancelling
the last one?  You would then have 1 active acct (SIM) and two phones.

On 1/29/05 11:42 AM, in article f7fnv0tkvh18eegmk4eo5hk228om4odppv@4ax.com,

I love how *new* customers get everything at a really good discount.  My
sister, a first-time T-Mobile customer, just got herself a Nokia 6800
for supposedly $0.  It was originally $100 with a $50 instant and a $50
mail-in rebate.  Unfortunately I wasn't there to hear this for myself
because from past experience these people who work in the company store
are proan to fibbing.  For example with my Motorola V66 I was told it
would be FREE for an Upgrade, because I had been a good customer for
such a long time, but after I said ok to the deal it was suddenly $50.  
When I questioned the sudden change in price I was told the exact
opposite of what I was told not two minutes earlier.  I wonder if
they're taught to do it in such a way as to make you think you didn't
hear something right and would be two embarrassed to claim you
distinctly heard them say the exact opposite.  At the time I wasn't
about to argue because I was desperate for a replacement as I had just
lost my phone and couldn't find it and I needed it for work.

So anyways getting back to why I'm writing this response, I went online
to check out the Nokia 6800 at t-mobile.com and it lists the phone as
$100 with a $100 web-rebate making it FREE.  Is a web-rebate the same as
instant-rebate?  There was no mention of a mail-in rebate, unless this
employee mixed up the phones with a similar one with a $50 instant+$50
mail-in like a few I saw on the site.

If it did have a mail-in rebate they forgot to give it to her because it
wasn't in the bag with the other stuff or they were incorrect after all.  
My sisters big mistake was going by herself instead of waiting for me to
get off work and go with her since I have had experience with the
employees at that particular T-Mobile Store.

One last thing I'd like to note, and please correct me if I'm wrong is
looking at the receipt it doesn't look like they charged her the
customary $35 activation fee at all.  All that's listed is:

1             NOK KIT 6800 VSW 49.99
1 ACC NOK 6800 UPGRADE PROGRAM  0.00
                  sale amount 49.99
                    sales tax  2.50
                        total 52.49

It looks more like a receipt for an existing customer than a new
customer.  Item 1 is the cell phone (at a discounted price) and 2 is the
free accessory kit that came with it (carry case, car adapter, etc.)

Unfortunately the store was already closed by the time we went back by
it after she picked me up from work so I didn't get to see the phone or
the other stuff it came with until we got home.

After playing around with it I liked it enough to see what T-Mobile
would give an existing customer for a deal.  I called T-Mobile from my
cell and asked about an upgrade deal.  He said I could get it for
$24.99, saving $10 over a *new* customer because their final cost was
$35 since the phone had to be Activated.    At the time it was confusing
what he was trying to say because he kept babbling about the $35
Activation Fee but now that I wrote it down it makes sense because he
didn't make it clear I wasnot paying for Activation.

Since they had originally sold the Nokia 6800 to my sister under the
premise it was being discontinued I declined the offer over-the-phone
and said I'd try to get it for a better deal elsewhere.

Hopefully I can do it withing a couple days because I had purchased the
data cable for my Motorola V66 back on 1/9 and their return policy
states 30 days.  Do they give cash or store credit for opened
accessories?  Any chance they'd exchange the Motorola cable for a Nokia
one if they have them at the same price?  I picked up the one for $39.99
that was a Motorola Original and came with PhoneTools, not the $50
Susteen DataPilot one.  I looked on the website for the one for Nokia
6800 and only saw a DataPilot boxed set at $58.00.

Yes, I know I could have gotten a generic off ebay for far less but at
the time doing GPRS through the cell was new to me and I figured if I
had trouble I'd have more of a success dealing with Customer Service if
they saw I had an official one purchased directly from them.  I saw it
as a "if it don't do jack, they can't deny giving your money back since
they sold it to you" position.

Thanks for reading this very lengthy post.  Sorry if it went a little
off the original topic of being about getting a new gsm phone as a new
customer vs an existing.

Is coverage/reception versus Cingular even a reason for switching from
T-Mobile?  The way I understand it, a roaming agreement with Cingular
allows T-Mobile phones to roam for free on the Cingular network (with a
national rate plan).  In effect, then, isn't the T-Mobile network as big
as the T-Mobile coverage map + the Cingular coverage map?  ..especially
if you have a quad-band phone that takes advantage of the parts of
Cingular's network that are on 850MHz.

I have enjoyed T-Mobile service since my contract expired a year or so
ago.  Since then, when I needed to upgrade a phone I've had the freedom
to look for unlocked GSM phones on eBay and on other vendor web sites.
It's harder to get the same rock-bottom prices that are offered with new
service contracts, but I think the flexibility to shop around makes it
worth it.

There is no "retention" department or group any more...