questions regarding cell phone carriers and certain limitations

[sw20>>s14]

just thought id ask since a lot of you seem to be more technologically savvy than i...

i have an AT&T plan (yes, i know, prehistoric) and ive been very satisfied with it for the most part...the original phone i received has finally started to crap out after four long years...im not much of a picky phone whore so my friend gave me a cingular motorola slvr L7...we figured since att and cingular merged, that the sim cards would work fine, but i had to unlock the phone anyways...no biggie...but now, after unlocking the phone, i cant go online, aim, or the cingular market to whore some ringtones...

i asked a friend that has worked at sprint and he told me that cingular obviously isnt going to recognize the att sim card and let me go online...i also took it to a cingular store and they told me that the settings are all off and that i would have to sent it in or something...

is there any way or procedure to make this "new" phone function 100% seeing as how att and cingular are basically the same thing now? i am also aware that in order to get a new sim card, you need to renew your plan, but i am content with my current one so thats not really an option...so basically, all the att customers post-merger were either forced to renew their plan, buy brand new phones for rape, or be stuck unlocking phones only for them to function at half capacity? that cant be right, there has to be a way to get around it since none of us att customers are doing anything wrong right? thanks for any insight...i want to go online and my damn ringtones, haha...

[s13rookie]

if you can make a call, the phone is fine. i have cingular ( at&t now) and i couldnt go online untill i purchased a media package. that may be your problem


edit: i also could no use AIM, or send txts untill i got the media package

[pbcstylez]

sucks to be you Brian! ive got a guy you can talk to, I just gotta dig up the archive for you

[Phlip]

go to http://www.cingular.com/support/
Click on "phone/device support" on the top right-hand side, then select your network ("former AT&T Wireless"), then manufacturer, and model, there will be instructions or a means to applying your settings over the air.
This is also why I get my Sony Ericsson phones from my homeboy who works for Sony Ericsson, THEY allow you to set those things up 50 million times easier from their own website... They acknowledge that there is a grey market, I am using a UK market phone that all of my settings work on now.

[azndoc]

I have T-mobile plan, but a Cingular phone, I can't do anything on it except talk and play golf. That's fine by me. Oh I can send and receive IM.

How did I sign up to T-Mobile and get a Cingular phone? That's why you don't go into chinese phone stores. LOL

[DUFFM4N]

ive got a tmobile plan that i enjoy just fine...$30/month for 800 minutes and free nights (Starting at 7pm w00t w00t) and free weekends....and i pay an extra $20/month for a "Data" plan that gives me unlimited text, email, AIM, internet browsing....old phone was a Sidekick 3...but now im using a Tmobile Dash which im enjoying a lot better then the sidekick3...a little bit more "classy", it runs Windows Mobile, records and plays video, Wifi, microsoft outlook, bluetooth and a bunch of other goodies

[SimpleS14]

Switch to VZW.....



I kid i kid (kinda)...well there are ways to hack the phone to change or unlock functions...but I can't say that on this forum. I suggest you check out this forum: http://www.howardforums.com