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quetwo
That VoIP Guy
Premium
join:2004-09-04
East Lansing, MI
| The most open, huh? They apparently have never seen what T-Mobile or Alltel have been doing for YEARS. AT&T (Cingular Orange/Gold) has repeatedly prohibited people from bringing GSM phones from other carriers onto their network, and have forced people into special programming on their phones (to essentially lock them to their network). They also prohibit many of the applications Google is talking about -- such as open and unlocked browsers. Mind you, if you talk to the right person, you can often get overlooked, but I personally have been in the situation where a CSR has demanded that I get an AT&T sponsored phone in order to keep my account open.
T-Mobile and Alltel pretty much don't care, as long as your SIM card is theirs. I brought over my phone from Europe and had no problems with T-Mobile at all. In fact, I still use that phone today. | |
|  satellite68
join:2007-04-11
Louisville, KY | Re: The most open, huh? Still using the SIM card I purchased from T-Mobile in 2001 on my new Samsung SGH-T219. It's nice to migrate effortlessly from phone to phone. | |
| | amejr999
Eric
Premium
join:2001-01-13
Fair Lawn, NJ
clubs: | Re: The most open, huh? T-Mobile will give you a phone unlock code pretty much just by asking. | |
| | | | | | | DannyZ
Gentoo Fanboy
Premium
join:2003-01-29
Erie, PA | Re: The most open, huh? yep, and T-mo will even unlock a prepaid with no fill-ups every 90 days for each line you have on contract... | |
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quetwo
That VoIP Guy
Premium
join:2004-09-04
East Lansing, MI
| Re: The most open, huh? Just because the phone work dosen't mean they don't support them, or endorse them. When you call customer service (for something non-related to your phone not working), have you ever been given a hard time about the phone you are using? I have, and have documented this. Mind you, this was back in the Cingular days, but the I'm sure the policies haven't changed -- only the name and PR. | |
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verolom
join:2002-03-23
Eagleville, PA
 ·Comcast
1 edit | Re: The most open, huh? why would at&t support a phone you bought and are using on your own? has at&t ever chopped up the capabilities of any phone they have provided you? has verizon? can you actually browse the web on an at&t phone? what about a verizon one?
i have three gsm sets that i can swap on the same sim every other minute, two are at&t provided, one is unlocked, they all fully always work. i use two of them as a dial-up bluetooth modem. try that with most verizon phones. so much for evdo. try swapping contacts, pictures, mp3 files with a verizon bluetooth phone. good luck. | |
| | stufried
Premium
join:2003-10-13 | ATT has at least acquiesced in my Nokia E61 being on their network. It is noted and when I was on a Blackberry plan, they worked with me to get the Blackberry Connect software working. | |
| | 
George_Still2
@pa.us
| Yeah, I guess that is why in my area when ATT Wireless sold to Cingular all users here were told they needed new phones.
Then when Cingular became ATT they were told they will be required to receive new phones again....
Meanwhile I laughed the whole time on T-Mobile... | |
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C0deZer0
Oc'D To Rhythm And Police
Premium
join:2001-10-03
Davenport, FL
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Re: The most open, huh? said by sharksfan3  :said by George_Still2 :
Yeah, I guess that is why in my area when ATT Wireless sold to Cingular all users here were told they needed new phones. Wrong. said by George_Still2 :
Then when Cingular became ATT they were told they will be required to receive new phones again.... Wrong. Try Truth. They do that shit here too, and I've witnesses who would confirm my testimony. | |
| | | wierdo
join:2001-02-16
Tulsa, OK
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
·Teliax VOIP
1 edit | said by George_Still2 :
Yeah, I guess that is why in my area when ATT Wireless sold to Cingular all users here were told they needed new phones.
Then when Cingular became ATT they were told they will be required to receive new phones again....
Meanwhile I laughed the whole time on T-Mobile...
You are correct about the first part, but the second part is a misunderstanding on your part.
Even then, what I said was correct wasn't entirely true. To get a Cingular plan, you required a Cingular SIM, which required a new phone, since all the AT&T phones were locked and Cingular claimed to not have the unlock codes.
If you wanted to stay on the ATTWS plan, there was no issue. There are still plenty of customers on ATTWS plans, btw. | |
| wierdo
join:2001-02-16
Tulsa, OK
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Teliax VOIP
| As someone else said. Horseshit. Only occasionally do I use one of their phones, yet they always fix my service problems.
Perhaps if I was stupid enough to call them up about a problem with a phone they don't sell expecting them to fix it, they might have given me a problem. Since I only call them to discuss service problems, I've never had any questions, regardless of the phone or where it came from.
Hell, I used TDMA phones they didn't sell, and they didn't care.
They were very stingy with the unlock codes for a while, but that's got absolutely nothing to do with what devices they'll let you use on their network.
Perhaps if you took a look at their developer's site sometime to see the massive list of devices they are willing to actively support, the list that goes far beyond what has or is generally available from them you might not say such misinformed things.
Not that they're the second coming of Christ or anything, but it's not exactly unexpected that there is at least one moron of a CSR working for them. One who probably previously worked for Sprint, given that attitude. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| said by quetwo :AT&T (Cingular Orange/Gold) has repeatedly prohibited people from bringing GSM phones from other carriers onto their network, and have forced people into special programming on their phones (to essentially lock them to their network). Wrong.
said by quetwo :They also prohibit many of the applications Google is talking about -- such as open and unlocked browsers. I was able to install MiniMo, Opera, Google Maps, Pocket Yahoo and iGuidance on my HTC 8525.
said by quetwo :Mind you, if you talk to the right person, you can often get overlooked, but I personally have been in the situation where a CSR has demanded that I get an AT&T sponsored phone in order to keep my account open. I find it hard to believe that AT&T would want to give up paying customers.
said by quetwo :T-Mobile and Alltel pretty much don't care, as long as your SIM card is theirs. From what I've read, and I could be wrong, Alltel does not use SIM cards as they are a CDMA carrier like Verizon and Sprint, which also do not use SIM cards.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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Piggie
I Actually use Windstream
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Orange Springs, FL
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
 ·Windstream
| Re: The most open, huh? I use Alltel, they don't use SIM cards as CDMA doesn't use SIM. They don't lock anything on their phones. They will attempt to activate any Alltel phone you have that has GPS and doesn't have a balance or reported stolen. CS wise I am very happy with them after dealing with the huge so "wonderful" big boys.
Piggie :@)
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| Speedstream 4200 Modem - 3m/384 plan | W98-W2KSP4-XPSP2 - All AMD | Buffalo WHR G54S with Tomato 1.13 | 3 downstream switches feeding 6 total clients (no wireless) | Including the Data port on the side of my neck | | |
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