There are many things that you can do with your old phone, you can throw it in a box and keep it as a piece of history, or you can just throw it away. But, that doesn't help anyone. Last year the Wireless Foundation started a program called "Donate a Phone." This program takes old phones and refurbishes them, the phone is programmed to only call 911. The phones are then given out to victims of domestic violence, who can use the phone, free of charge, to call 911.
You can donate the phone by dropping it off at a local drop-off location, which can be found here.

This depends on your provider. Family plans let you share a pool of minutes with multiple people for an additional monthly fee. Each phone used in a pooled minute plan must have a unique phone number. Very few providers will let two cell phones share one number. Most follow one plan, one phone number and one phone rule.

There is no conclusive proof that says that using a cellphone will cause cancer, but at the same time there is no conclusive proof that they will not cause cancer. So, no one really knows the answer. The American Cancer society has done many studies that say cellphones are safe, while other studies say they are not.

I do however recommend using a FCC approved cellphone. They meet all FCC requirements for RF exposure. Also, using a headset or other hands-free device as much as possible is a good thing. You can find the SAR value of your phone here.

Wireless service plans give you a certain number of airtime minutes to use each month. You'll pay a per-minute fee for any calls that you make over this limit, and most plans won't let you carry over leftover minutes to the next month. With cell phones, you pay for the calls you receive as well as the calls you make, so you will need to figure incoming calls in your allotted airtime minutes. Minutes also come in different varieties. Most popular plans give you minutes that you can use at any time of day. These are conveniently referred to as anytime minutes. You'll also see companies still selling plans with blocks of airtime divided up into peak and off-peak minutes. Peak minutes come at a premium and can be used from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays. Weekends and evening hours are considered off-peak, and off-peak calls cost much less per minute.
Most calls are rounded up to the highest minute. So a 15-second call will cost you 1 minute.

Here we can maintain a list of websites that can be viewed nicely using your cellphone.

text.broadbandreports.com
text.dslreports.com
google.com

You can check here at Recall Warnings.
They maintain a fairly up-to-date list with news on recalls related to phones and their accessories.

Enter your Zip Code at this site, »www.myrateplan.com/cellphones/, and you will find the carriers and the available phones for your area. You can then choose a phone by eliminating carriers you do not wish to use.

You can now receive Amber Alerts through most Cellular Carriers on your Wireless Handset. To find out more, please click the following link.

Updated 1/17/13 with info provided by fbguy

»www.fcc.gov/guides/comme ··· tem-cmas

Mobile Review has specifications on almost every phone.

Yes, you certainly can!
With the help of TagTag.com you can create your own customized WAP portal.

Yes here is one that has quite the list. »www.palowireless.com/wap ··· rces.asp

Yes. Phones that support java can use a browser called "opera mini". It lets you view wap and html pages.
Supported phones list:
»www.opera.com/products/m ··· /phones/
More information is available here:
»www.opera.com/products/m ··· eramini/
To download, go to mini.opera.com using your phones built in browser.

SMS (Short Message Service) is a service for sending/receiving messages of up to 160 characters to mobile phones. SMS is similar to paging, but SMS messages do not require the mobile phone to be active and within network range, but if the user's phone is not on or out of a service area, they will not receive the message until the phone is either on or back in a service area.

YES!

If the user has a text-message or SMS-enabled phone, you can send them a message via Internet email. Here is a list of known email addresses: (replace xxx with the 10 digit wireless phone number!)


Many providers now allow users to set up their own email alias for text messaging. Please check with your provider for details.

*All of the above providers also have web-based messaging (that I have hyperlinked) in case you don't have access to email.

**Character limits include to, from, subject line, and all punctuation and spacing. Long messages will be truncated unless otherwise noted.

***PLEASE BE COURTEOUS WHEN SENDING MESSAGES! Some providers (ie T-Mobile) still charge their customers to receive text messages. It is a good idea to check with the user if you want to send them a significant number of messages, in case they subscribe to any kind of messaging plan, such as T-Mobile's 500 messages for $2.99 or Nextel's unlimited two-way messaging.

If you have web access on your phone and it supports WAP try navigating to

wimd.aol.com using your phone it's much cheaper than using SMS messages.

If your phone has an IR port you can customize your phone and add free ring tones to it!

You will need Nokia PC Suite for your phone (nokia.com)
An IR port on your computer (laptops come with them usually, for desktops try eBay)

After that, just enable the IR communications on your Nokia and use the tools from Nokia PC Suite to customize your phone.

You can upload free backgrounds and free ring tones!

Many new phones are Bluetooth enabled. Bluetooth can be used to transmit data, pictures, phone numbers, etc through a wireless connection to your Laptop or PC. Some carriers charge up to $.25 to transmit a picture from your camera phone to your PC. Bluetooth allows you to transfer them without any charges. Most laptops have Bluetooth built into them and a USB wireless Bluetooth connector for a desktop can be purchased for under $20 for most phones. Bluetooth is a short range device which works in a 30 foot radius.

There are also wireless Bluetooth headsets, speakerphones for home and car use and other accessories. Some car models from Toyota, Lexus and BMW use Bluetooth technology making it possible to use your phone as a handsfree device while you drive.

If you use "AOL Instant Messenger", you can send SMS messages to anyone you want, as long as you have their cell #.

Instead of sending a message to "MyScreenName" send it to "+1areacodephonenumber", ex: Lets say the persons phone number is (555)523-3432. You'd send a message to "+15555233432".

CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) is a packet-based network that is typically isolated within major metro cities throughout North America. The CDPD network has an optimal bandwidth of 19.2K, and is run in the same spectrum as the AMPS networks.
**Verizon, AT&T Wireless, and I believe Cingular run CDPD networks**

CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) can be either packet based or circuit based, depending on the method of access and version of the technology. cdmaOne (the version before CDMA2000) uses circuit switch data, that runs at 14.4, and acts as a dial-up connection. CDMA2000 is packet based, and has a maximum of 144kbps (for the currently deployed version in the US/Canada, which is 1xRTT), and delivers 50-120kbps in real world usage. Future CDMA2000 versions will provide a maximum of 384kbps (1xRTT rev. A), then 2.4mbps (1xEV-DO), and then 4.8mbps (1xEV-DV). It is capable of up to 56kbps for the dial-up version, which lets you use your own ISP.
**Verizon, Bell Mobility, TELUS PCS, and Sprint PCS are the major US/Canada CDMA networks**

GSM (Global System Mobile Communication) is the predominant network outside of North America including Europe, parts of Asia, South America, etc. GSM (excluding GPRS and EDGE) is a circuit-based network, which means that the user must make a dial-up connection to access the network. The GSM network has an optimal bandwidth of 14.4 K.
**AT&T Wireless's Next Generation network/mMode, Fido/Microcell, Cingular (in some areas, including California, Nevada, Washington state, and South Carolina), Rogers AT&T's newer network, and T-Mobile use GSM**

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a packet-based wireless communication service that promises data rates from 56 up to 114 Kbps and continuous connection to the Internet for mobile phone and computer users, but delivers in the 30-50kbps in real world usage. GPRS is added on top of GSM networks and will complement existing services such circuit-switched cellular phone connections and the Short Message Service (SMS). GPRS is NOT related to GPS (the Global Positioning System).
**AT&T Wireless's Next Generation network/mMode, Cingular in GSM areas, Fido/Microcell, Rogers AT&T's newer network, and T-Mobile use GPRS**

TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) as a standard (not the concept, which GSM and iDEN also use) is a technology used in digital cellular telephone communication to divide each traditional AMPS cellular channel into three time slots in order to increase the amount of information that can be carried. TDMA is a circuit-switched network that allows for 14.4kbps speeds.
**Cingular (excluding their Washington state, California, Nevada, and South Carolina markets), AT&T Wireless's older network (Digital PCS), and Rogers AT&T's older network use TDMA**

iDEN (integrated Digital Enhanced Network) can be used in either a packet based form or circuit switched form. In circuit switched, it runs are 9.6kbps, in packet based mode, it runs at 19.2kbps, and can use compression on the network to increase effective speeds.
**Nextel and TELUS Mike are the major iDEN networks in the US/Canada**

•GSM Association total full members - 505 (in addition there are 25 provisional members)

•Number of Countries/Areas with GSM System (September 2002) - 184

•GSM Total Subscribers - 747.5 million (September 2002)

•SMS messages sent per month - 24 Billion

•SMS forecast for 2002 - 360 Billion

•GSM accounts for 71.2% of the World's digital market and 69% of the World's wireless market

I accidently found this thread by Dr Olds »Re: [Help] How to Dialup to ISP using a cell phone
which explains how to connect your Bluetooth enabled phone to your PC. It may be very helpful as it provides step-by-step instructions. If you change the wording it could be added to the FAQ.

Thanks for listening.

HSDPA is the Acronym for High Speed Downlink Packet Access.

HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) is an upgrade for WCDMA (UMTS) networks. It doubles network capacity and increases download data speeds five-fold. Simply put.

More detailed it is a packet-based data service in W-CDMA downlink with data transmission up to 8-10 Mbps (and 20 Mbps for MIMO systems) over a 5MHz bandwidth in WCDMA downlink. HSDPA implementations includes Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Hybrid Automatic Request (HARQ), fast cell search, and advanced receiver design.

Credit goes to webopedia.com & umtsworld.com.

UMA Overview

Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology provides access to GSM and GPRS mobile services over unlicensed spectrum technologies, including Bluetooth and 802.11. By deploying UMA technology, service providers can enable subscribers to roam and handover between cellular networks and unlicensed wireless networks...

»www.umatechnology.org/

Yes you can, but your phone would have to be tri-band, which means it works in 900/1800/1900 mhz frequency. To avoid additional roaming charges, you should also probably unlock your cell phone, and just get a local pre-paid SIM in the country that you are currently visiting.

SIM stands for "Subscriber Identity Module".

A SIM card is a small IC chip that the user inserts into their cell phone to activate it. The SIM card contains information such as your phone number, your provider, billing information, some phone settins, and usually they have some memory to store information about your contacts (numbers, email addresses, etc.)

There are two types of SIM cards: prepaid and postpaid. Prepaid is self explanatory: they are used with pre-pay phone carriers and minutes muse be paid for in advance. They can be re-charged by contacting the vendor you purchased it from.

Postpaid is the most common in the US. Typically your service provider will furnish you a SIM card with your phone for free upon activation. Some providers may charge a small fee for it.

You can buy either type of SIM card from various places on the web (do a google search), but bear in mind that postpaid cards will have to be programmed by your provider before you can use it.

Yes and No.

This is where unlocked/locked becomes important. If your friend has an unlocked phone, OR they use the same provider as you, then the answer is YES, your SIM card will work in their phone, your phone book should be available, and the call will be billed to you.

However, if your friend's phone is locked and they use Sprint and you use AT&T (for example), the answer is NO, it will not work.

When a phone is described as "locked", this means the phone is "locked" on to a specific provider's network and cannot be used with another provider until it is unlocked. In the case of a GSM phone, you will not be able to use another provider's SIM card in your phone until it is unlocked.

Maybe. It depends on the provider. Many providers lock their phones so they can sell them to you at a discount price, and want to make you buy service from them so they make their profit back.

Some phones can be unlocked using an interface program with your PC, others can only be unlocked by asking your provider very nicely. For example, you may try telling them you are permanently moving out of the country and will need to switch providers.

If you have a Nokia phone and would like to unlock it there are several possibilities.

If you are with T-Mobile and have been a customer with them for over 90 days you can contact them and have them generate an unlock code based on your IMEI.

If you are with Cingular your phone might be already unlocked, try a sim from a different company to verify.

If you're with AT&T or have a phone that's locked you can try using

»nokiafree.org/free-nokia ··· k-codes/ code generator. They support a lot of DCT3 and DCT4 phones. You MUST register with them to use the generator.

It's usually #1 or #7. Try #7 first.

If your phone is not listed on the site the alternative is to do it through a cable you can get from eBay. Or stop by at a local authorized reseller and ask them if they unlock phones. It might cost you about 10$ or more.

I unlocked both of my Nokia 6200s with codes from NokiaFree and both work like a charm :)

I've unlocked a coworker's E715 using this method

Possible models supported: Samsung Phone Model S100 and up. MOST SAMSUNG phone will work. Samsung SGH e100, e105, e700, e708, e715, p100, p400, p407, p408, s200, s208, s300, s307, s308, v200, v205, v206, x105, x426, x427..& more

Warning: IF IT DOES NOT WORK. DONT TRY MORE THAN 4 TIMES. IT CAN LOCK YOUR PHONE REQUIRING MAINTENANCE.

1. Turn off your phone, put in a SIM of a different provider.
2. At the wrong card message, type *#9998*3323#. A message will pop up telling you to press exit, so hit the right soft key. Choose number 7 (or 8 or 9 will work too, I think). Your phone will reboot and your SIM will work.
3. Type *0141# and then hit call. This will give you a message saying your phone is personalized.
4. Power down your phone and insert your SIM. Then power back up your phone.
5. At the SIM pass code prompt type 00000000, that is 8 zeroes. So that will totally UNLOCK your phone."

Current AT&T customers including former Cingular customers do have rollover minutes.

The telephone numbers are:
AT&T Wireless Customer Care 1 800 888 7600
AT&T Wireless Online Order Inquiries 1 866 391 0749
Consumer Sales 1 888 290 4613
Business Sales 1 877 882 5256

For GSM America plans there is no roaming on national plans, and roaming is included on local plans as long as you're in your local calling area, outside of the calling area the roaming rate is $0.79/min.

GoPhone customers are charged only $.25 for roaming on T-Mobile and Cingular (or others).

For those of you who want to use AIM on your phone here are the codes and shortcuts:

Simply go to the message section of your phone and create text message.

User sign On
Enter your screen name and password using the format screenname (space)password and send to... IMGO or 4646

User sign off
Write the word off and send to ... IM47 or 4647

Send a Message
Send a message to a buddy listed in your phone book. Each buddy has an associated code between 4601-4630. If you have a detailed phone book like the ones on the 3590, 6610 and 7210 you can add their buddy code under details to make it easier.

Get list of online buddies
Write the word buddy and send to ... IM50 or 4650

Get a list of AIM phone settings
Write the word list and send to ... IM53 or 4653

For those of you that have phones like the 7210 that has a Chat option under Messages this will be very easy to use once you get the hang of it. Simply go to chat and under phone number enter your buddy's 4 digit number. Enter your chat or screen name and then send your message. It will come up just like AIM!!

Just say the word and follow the friendly prompts to hear info that interests you. Or, for a shortcut, say the bolded keywords below to go directly to that topic. For example, to hear the weather, just say "weather."

SAY FINANCE

* Stock Quotes
* Market Updates
* Business News

SAY NEWS CENTER

* Top Stories
* Weather
* Traffic
* Business
* Technology
* Sports Updates
* Entertainment
* Time

SAY SPORTS

* Scores
* Updates
* Injury Reports
* Point Spreads
* Sports Trivia

SAY ENTERTAINMENT

* Movies
w/Ticket purchase
* Horoscopes
* Blackjack
* Music

SAY TRAVEL

* Flight Information
* Airlines
* Hotels
* Rental Cars
* Traffic
* Weather
* Directions

SAY MY FAVORITES

Get what you want fast. Once you've found the information, add it to your favorites.
SAY WAKE-UP CALLS

Arrange for wake-up calls to make sure you're up and on time.
SAY SHOPPING

* Amazon.com

Personally, i use the command MOVIES and get local listings.

Sorry, AT&T does not currently unlock any phones.

Your phone's email address is the following.

10 digit phone number@mmode.com

Note: @mobile.att.net doesn't work anymore. Was turned off recently.

Simply visit the New Cingular website or you may go directly to the Customer Benefits page.

They also have a Questions and Answers page that you may find useful.

Found this on AT&T's site.

Immediate Call Forwarding: Dial *21* plus the 10-digit number to which your calls should be forwarded and #. Press Send.
Busy Call Forwarding: Dial *67* plus the 10-digit number to which your calls should be forwarded and #. Press Send.
Call Forwarding No Reply: Dial *61* plus the 10-digit number to which your calls should be forwarded and #. Press Send.
Call Forwarding Not Reachable: Dial *62* plus the 10-digit number to which your calls should be forwarded and #. Press Send.

Try the GSM code

*31#+MDN

...with credit as submitted by dib22

You can check how many minutes you have used by dialing *646# and a few seconds later you will receive a free text message showing how many minutes you have used.

Prepaid users can check their minutes using *777#

Rollover minutes last for 12 months after you receive them.

For those customers that are specific to Cingular Wireless, you can reach Cingular's help forums at the following web address: »forums.cingular.com/cng

Yes! It appears they do now. You can check them here.

You can call *2 from your handset(it's a free call), or dial 1-888-211-4727 from a landline phone.

You can check your minutes by calling *4 from your PCS handset, please note that this will subtract minutes from your plan. A free alternative is logging into SprintPCS.com and checking your usage there. For users with PCS Vision, you can check your minutes by going to the "My Account" area.

Sprint launched their PTT service last November. The service is extremely competative, faster and more reliable than Verizon's, but not quite up to Nextel's service.

Send an e-mail to simunlock@t-mobile.com, with the phones IMEI, model number and reason for unlocking phone. They'll usually unlock it if you plan on going oversees and are going to use a pre-paid SIM card.

You have to be in contract and with T-Mobile for at least 90 days for this to work.

*** It has been noted that you may now need to go through Customer Care to get your phone unlocked.

Try dialing #646# for post paid customers, #999# for prepaid customers then send or call 611.

Latest News

said by T-Mobile Press Release:

---

BELLEVUE, Washington - 05/25/2004 T-Mobile USA, Inc. ("T-Mobile USA"), the U.S. operating subsidiary of T-Mobile International AG & Co. KG ("T-Mobile International"), the mobile communications subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG, today announced it has entered into agreements with Cingular Wireless LLC ("Cingular") to terminate their wireless network sharing joint venture and for T-Mobile USA to acquire 100% ownership of the shared networks in California and Nevada for $2.5 billion.

---

---

First, you must understand that Cingular and T-Mobile network sharing agreement is only effective in the NYC metro market, including north NJ, Long Island in the east coast and in California/Nevada markets in the west coast. Second, let's clarify that they certainly don't roam on each other or lease anything from each other in these areas. This is a Network Sharing agreement, which is a different concept that has never been done in the US before. That's why so many people are confused with this.

T-Mobile and Cingular decided to create a subsidiary called "GSM Facilities" or "GSM Factory". T-Mobile calls is one way, Cingular calls it the other way, but it is the same entity. This entity or subsidiary is in charge of maintaining and operating the GSM networks in NYC/CA/NV on behalf of Cingular and T-Mobile. So neither company interacts with the networks directly without going through GSM Facilities first. GSM Facilities is funded money from both T-Mobile and Cingular based on the minutes used by each carrier. If T-Mobile uses the network more than Cingular, then they have to pay more money to GSM Facilities.

The cell base stations/antennae used by these GSM networks are directly owned by GSM Facilities which as I said before is co-owned by both T-Mobile and Cingular as if two people were owners of the same house. The spectrum blocks used by these towers is also shared. T-Mobile uses the A and D 1900Mhz blocks in NYC and so does Cingular because they share the same channels. In CA, Cingular uses the B and F channels and so does T-Mobile. In reality, sometimes a T-Mobile user can be using a particular channel, and then later on, a Cingular user may be on that same channel. Besides all that, under the hood, calls on Cingular and T-Mobile are routed through separate switches because they have separate network switches located in different centers. The towers communicate with both Cingular and T-Mobile switches since they are separate. That's why Cingular gives out area codes and exchanges different than those from T-Mobile to their customers. Billing, of course is done separately.

If the agreement is broken, both companies will be returned their original assets. T-Mobile in NYC/NJ and Cingular in CA/NV.

Here's the difference between Roaming and Network Sharing:
1) Roaming is when there is no native presence of your carrier in a market or geographical area and they use another carrier's network to provide coverage. In this case, your carrier is not allowed to sell service in that area because they don't have a license for that area. Therefore, you cannot get an area code and exchange number that belongs to that area. Also, not all network services are guaranteed such as GPRS, SMS, Caller ID, etc.

2) Network sharing is when two carriers have a joint agreement to provide NATIVE SERVICE using the same base stations and towers. However, each carrier has licenses to sell service in that area and therefore you are able to get an area code and exchange belonging to that area. The area codes and/or exchanges offered are not the same for the other carrier sharing the network. All networks services are guaranteed to work in this area such as SMS, Caller ID, GPRS, etc.

Finally, when some of people claim T-Mobile is better than Cingular in NYC, they are not talking about coverage problems. They are talking about CAPACITY problems. T-Mobile has more calling capacity on its network than Cingular in NYC, and although the signal strength is the same (because they use the same towers), the ability for the call to go through is better on T-Mobile because they have more switch capacity than Cingular. This has nothing to do with adding more towers. It is exclusively internal. Also, this has nothing to do with priority. There is no such thing as T-Mobile having more priority than Cingular to use the towers. Both carriers have equal access to the towers and spectrum. They don't discriminate on who gets to use the towers first or who gets more tower spectrum since both carriers equally share the entire spectrum blocks they have licensed. It is all about Cingular's lack of call switching capacity which is INDEPENDENT of the towers, spectrum, or channels available.

Finally, there is no such thing as towers used exclusively by one of the two carriers sharing the network. Any tower that goes up is connected to the same network and therefore it will benefit BOTH carriers equally.

Credit goes to bobolito of »www.howardforums.com

If you want to setup your phone to access t-zones and WAP sites go to the T-Mobile Configurator and select WAP, you will then be asked enter your phone number and select your phone model. After you enter all your information you phone should receive a text message that says "OTA OK", power cycle your phone and your set!

Another alternative for Nokia users is to go to Nokia's website and run the wizard. You will get an SMS that will create a new entry in the GPRS settings menu and and prompt you if you want to use it.

Dial #225# for post paid customers, this feature isn't supported for pre-paid customers.

You can use "myemail.t-mobile.com" as the SMTP server to send email if your ISP does not allow you to use theirs.

CallerTunes is a new service that lets you play song, celebrity voice, and comedy clips for callers instead of the ordinary "ring, ring" they hear today, until you answer.

You can go to »www.callertunes.com to get information.

for those that didn't know. If you want to change your xxxxxxxxxx@tmomail.net to a user name instead here ya go:

Log into T-Mobile.com by going here: »my.t-mobile.com/

After you log-in, click on "Communication Tools" at the top.
At the white box in the right, click on "Change my phone's e-mail address"

****Update**** (thank you for the tip!)

To change your T-mobile phone/email address with an alias rather than your 10-digit number @tmomail.net, you now access this feature from: My T-Mobile account, top center of the page has a link called "MobileLife" which will open a sub menu, you choose the "E-mail and Text Tools", then a link at the bottom of the page "change email address". You can change your email alias there (current as of Dec. 8, 2011)

Deneral Tips for new T-Mobile customers as of 6/5/04. May not apply to pre-paid service. Policies are subject to change but for now...

Your Price Plan allows you to use up to "X" number of minutes per month. Any leftover minutes expire and you are issued new minutes monthly. If you exceed the amount of minutes in your "bucket" of minutes you will then be billed a per minute charge for the "overage". It is your responsibility to keep track of your minute usage.

Dial #646# and send the call to get a free text message showing your minute usage. Notice the time/date listed - if you have made calls after that time, they are not counted in the usage listed. T-Mobile (TMO for short) does not offer real-time usage. Usage is normally delayed from a few minutes to several hours. But if you a roaming on a partner's network that usage may be delayed for weeks. Learn your Price Plan and how many Whenever minutes you get monthly.

Not all plans include Free Nights, Free Weekends, or Free T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile. If you do have free weekends and the message says "used 30 whenever minutes and 40 weekend minutes" disregard the weekend minutes. They are given for those plans that do not include free weekends. If you have free weekends just pay attention to the number of whenever minutes used. The Sidekick and some handsets can't use #646#. Try dialing 611 SEND then at the prompt press 1 to hear your minute usage. Or register for MyTmobile.com where you can see your minute usage online.

If you call #646# on the first day of your new billing cycle it may not reflect you got your new minutes until mid-day. But be assured you get new minutes at midnight on the first day of your bill cycle.

IF you have Free Unlimited Nights you must hang up and restart your call at 9:00pm or after for it to be free. And if you start a call by 6:59am the whole call is free even if you talk past 7:00am. Weekend calls are calls that BEGIN between Saturday night at midnight thru Sunday night at 11:59pm

Customer Care is open 24/7. Call 611 from your handset (FREE CALL). If you are having a problem with your handset or service, call from another phone so troubleshooting can be performed. The number is on the back of your bill: 1-800-937-8997.

Many problems can be fixed by simply powering your handset off, then powering it back on. Always try this, then test your handset again, before calling Customer Care. Also you should do this daily to prevent echo and other problems. New York City customers should do this twice daily.

TMO bills for connected calls from SEND to END. Calls are rounded up to the next minute. So if you call a friend and their answering machine picks up in 30 seconds, and then you end the call, that will be a 1 minute call.

If you REJECT a call it will count as a 1 minute call. If you just let it ring and then forward to voicemail on its own then it will NOT count as a 1 minute call or appear in your call detail. You have 500 additional minutes for those type of forwarded calls (called Conditional Call Forwarding). But, if you should exceed 500 minutes then you start using your bucket of whenever minutes or if out of minutes are billed as overage and then it will appear on your call detail. It is highly unusual for most people to run out. Calls forwarded during you free periods (if any) don't use up your 500 Conditional Call Forwarding minutes. A forwarded T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile call is no longer counted as a T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile call.

You can also Unconditionally Call Forward [forward all calls option]your calls to a different number but that uses straight minutes from your plan. If you need to temporarily forward your calls it is usually best to Conditionally Call Forward them [forward when not able to take calls, forward when busy, forward when not available option].

You use minutes whether you MAKE or RECEIVE a call.

Calls to "toll free" numbers use minutes. They are not "free", they are just free of toll charges.

If you have a 3000 minute Regional Plan you have a Home Calling Area (HCA). Find out what states are included in your HCA. If you use your phone outside of that area you pay .49 per minute roaming charge to make or receive a call. If the number you call is long distance from where you are standing then you will also pay an additional .20 a minute long distance fee. If you are in your HCA and you call to a state outside your HCA then you pay a .20 a minute long distance fee. Prices to other countries vary. Canada is .20 a minute. Mexico is .29. Smart Access accounts are blocked from calling Mexico.

In theory calling voicemail from your handset uses minutes unless during your free period. Having the free T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile does not guarantee calling voicemail will be a free call although do to a system issue some customers do receive this benefit. You may call voicemail from another phone and avoid using your minutes by dialing your own mobile number and letting the call forward to voicemail. When the greeting plays press the "*" key and enter your password when prompted. The default voicemail password is the last 4 digits of your mobile number You should change this to something more secure.

TMO has some roaming partners like Cingular, AT&T, Western Wireless, etc. If you travel to an area where TMO doesn't have their own service but has a roaming partner your handset will automatically register on their system so you can make/receive calls. You can not register on their system in areas where TMO doesn't have an agreement. If you have a Regional Plan you can make/receive calls from them at no additional cost as long as you are within your HCA. If you are on a Nationwide Plan your HCA is the 48 states plus Hawaii, but NOT Alaska.

There is no charge to pay your bill with a credit card or electronic check payment. Do it online at T-Mobile.com, by using the automated system (611 from handset or 1-800-937-8997), or with a Customer Care representative. Payments post within two hours normally. If service is suspended for non-payment it will restore within two hours if you have paid the necessary amount.

You also can set up automated monthly payments on T-Mobile.com or with a Customer Care rep. You will still get your bill and have time to look it over. If you have any disputes call Customer Care. If not your current ballance will automatically be deducted from your credit card or checking/savings acct 3 days before the due date printed on your bill.

Peak=Monday-Friday daytime 7:00am-8:59pm
Off Peak=Monday-Friday nights 9:00pm-6:59am
Weekend=Saturday & Sunday

For a call to be a T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile call on a Nationwide Plan you must be "on network" (not on a roaming partner's network) and the other number must be a T-Mobile customer (they don't have to be on-network).

For a call to be a T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile call on a Regional Plan you must be "on network" (not on a roaming partner's network) and in your HCA and the other number must be a T-Mobile customer (they don't have to be on-network) and in your HCA.

Not all plans include Free Nights, Free Weekends, or Free T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile. Check the details of your plan before assuming you have any of these free calling periods. If you don't have them and want them call Customer Care.

Go here »compass.t-mobile.com/ and type in the address or intersection that you want to check the coverage for.

For each one sent, it costs $.15 (fifteen cents)

for each one recieved, it either goes against your allowted text messages or $.10 each.

Dial #MSG# (#674#) and press send.

T-Mobile now shows 850mhz roaming on it's coverage tool.
»compass.t-mobile.com
850mhz coverage requires a handset that supports it. For more info regarding that, check out:
»www.t-mobile.com/morecoverage

Yes, you can now.
After you login, click on "profile" at the top. (Next to your name)
Select a line. You can now choose what permissions for the line.

Yes!
Sign up at »my.t-mobile.com

You can call T-Mobile customer care and ask them by calling 611 on your T-Mobile phone or 800-937-8997 on any other phone.

You can manage your MyFaves by going to this address on your phone's wap browser.

http://my5.msg.t-mobile.com/my5emu2/wap/manage.cmd
 

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Most phones will allow you to load a web address via a text message. Send yourself a text message here with the web address in the field. (must have "http://" part). When you get the text message, scroll down to the address and select it. Bookmark it for later use if you want.

SENDING PHOTOS FROM YOUR COMPUTER TO YOUR CELLPHONE AND BACK

1. First you have to take 2 pictures with your cellphone camera and send them to your cellphone number for T-Mobile to properly set things up.
-After you shoot the pictures, each time it will ask you if you want to send to My Album, which is the default, so Hit Options--->Send To--->Phone Number and type in your cellphone number, ok.
-Hit send and they will go to the T-mobile site, you will later receive 2 Picture Messages from the T-mobile site with each photo.
-Hit view and if you can see the photos that you sent, you are set up and ready for step 2.

2. On your computer, open your email program and attach the photo that you want to send to your cellphone. In the recipient field, type in "your cellphone number@tmomail.net"
-After awhile, you will receive a picture message alert on your cellphone. Hit View and you should see the photo that you sent from your computer.
-You can now hit Options--->Save Content--->Picture, it will now reside in the My Downloads section of your phone Images.

3. To send a photo to your computer you need to send a Picture Message to your regular email address.

4. Wallpaper Limitation: A minor annoyance is that the "Stretch Fit To Screen" option is only available when using photos taken by the cellphone camera and not available when you are using a downloaded photo from your computer. You will get a white margin on top and bottom when using a photo in landscape orientation and white borders on the left and right sides with a photo in portrait orientation. I was able to work around this by cropping the photo into a square orientation, which fit the screen better, before sending it from my computer to the phone.

Thanks to njb52 for this information!

Depends. All Sprint, Verizon, U.S. Cellular, and Alltel phones will NOT work on t-mobile. T-Mobile uses 1900mhz gsm (and 850mhz roaming). The phone has to be unlocked (if from At&t or from a different provider) and support at least 1900mhz. (and 850mhz for better roaming). Just insert sim. That's all!

Any old T-Mobile phone can be used with T-Mobile. Just put in the sim card! No calling them is needed.

You need the data drivers disk for the data ready(digital)phone. Hook the cable up and turn the phone on. Windows should see it as an external modem. If not go to Add Hardware. Choose Standard 19.2K modem from list. Close out when done. Open up Dial Up Networking and choose "make a new connection". Name it Verizon Mobile if you want. Choose your 19.2k external modem from the list. Your settings for the connection are:
User name- qnc
Password- qnc
Phone number- #777
You get this data/web service for free. You do not pay for anything but the minutes used the same as talking. The service is turned on for everybody that is with Verizon. The qnc network is great since it connects in less than 6 seconds. You can also use any dial up provider you want. Just enter the name, PW, and number the same as you do on your desktop.

There are a couple of ways to check your minutes. One way is the dial #646(#MIN) on your handset to get your minutes. Another way is to dial #226(#BAL). You can also check it online via »www.verizonwireless.com and login to my account or register. This method is free of any charges.

You can email your phone .mp3 or .mid ringtones or .gif/jpg/png backgrounds by sending an attachment to your phone number @vzwpix.com (2025555555@vzwpix.com).
It costs 25 cents per message (unless you have a picture messaging plan) plus airtime. It takes about one minute of airtime to recieve a picture message with a single photo or graphic and 160 text characters.

Phones that are capible of doing this are the LG VX6000, VX6100, VX8300, LG VX8600, Audiovox 8900, and RAZR V3m.

MOTOKRZR K1m (note: songs must be LESS than 20 seconds to be used as a ring tone)

The wallpaper tab is one of the neatest features of BitPim. Drag and Drop (or right click and Add) any JPG or BMP on this tab, and it will automatically resize the image to fit the display and show you the image and update all of the appropriate .map files (indexes that tell the phone what files are available). Please note that if you allow BitPim to re-size your file, it will do so while maintaining the aspect ratio of the picture. This often times results in white space or borders around the image. If you want to size the image yourself, it should be 120 by 98 pixels (for the LG VX4400). If you are within 10% of that size, BitPim will not adjust the size automatically.

This is a great site found, with info on everything you ever needed with your LG VX6000 phone.
»home.nycap.rr.com/stopcb ··· 000.html

First and foremost - before you make any changes - write down the existing value of any field you are about to change!

Final note: Verizon will not support you if they identify that you have changed these settings!

Making the changes: Enter the "hidden" Services menu by selecting Menu - 0. This will prompt you for the "Service Code". The service code is "000000", the select 9 - WAP Settings. We will need to add WAP Proxy #2 for our new service. Enter 1 - 4 and enter the IP address for the WAP proxy services you wish to use (the recommended one is 207.232.099.109 and port to 9201). To enter the ".", use soft button two to change the entry mode from 123 to Symbols. Press OK when you're finished. Next we need to add the port number mentioned above. Enter 2 (Port Setting) then 4 (Link2-Port1) and enter the port number (9203). Press OK when you are done, then press END to exit back to the main screen.

Start the browser. It will fail! Do not be alarmed! Hold down the "0" key and the browser will launch a menu. Choose 6 (Advanced) - 2 (Homepage) and write down your current homepage. Go back to the Advanced menu and choose 3 (Set WAP Proxy) and switch it to number 2. You may be prompted for a homepage at this point, or you may be sent to the default OpenWave page. Re-enter the Advanced menu and change your homepage. (I recommend »www.tagtag.com, but there are others you can pick from).

Restart your browser and you are good to go!

• Power on your Verizon Wireless phone
• Dial *228 then hit the SEND key
• Press option #2, to update your phones roaming capabilities
• When completed a confirmation message will be displayed



* Verizon recommends performing this update every 3 months.