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T-Mobile (VoiceStream) service in California and Nevada

T-Mobile (VoiceStream) service in California and Nevada

I just signed up with T-Mobile Wireless in California. They have some amazing limited time offers. I chose the very sweet 1000 anytime min/free Weekends,Long Distance & Roaming (with some limitations) $39.99/month "Get More" plan. I can use my old VisorPhone AS A PHONE on the service but there are several things VP users should be aware of.

T-Mobile started their service in CA and NV on Monday June 15, 2002 in an agreement to share cellular networks with Cingular (formerly PacBell Wireless). This means (hopefully) users of either service will have full coverage in the entire area of both services combined.

The shared usage is the probable reason why my VisorPhone indicates I am connected to the PACBELL network and ROAMING. Talking with a salesman, this may be a limitation of the VisorPhone display, and may not represent how the network sees my connection. Anyway, since Roaming in this service area is covered by my plan it should not effect my billing regardless. I'll know more when my email questions get answered.

The SIM chip from my old Cingular (PacBell) account will NOT work in the Nokia 3390 phone I got from T-Mobile. The phone display sez "SIM chip not recognized" when the old chip is installed. The Cingular SIM may be an older SIM technology (since the chip does look a little different) or this could mean that specific circuitry is included in the phones from T-Moble to detect the shared network settings.

With no luck, I briefly tried the settings suggested in the legendary "Visorphone/V-stream works without ISP" forum:
http://discussion.visorcentral.com/...?threadid=19305
I could not access my dial-up ISP or the "free" ISDN servie described. I never tried this before, mind you, because Cingular specifically won't allow data transfer without an exorbitant extra data access plan.
The T-Mobile data service (iStream) is supposed to be a full GPRS data service and as near as I can tell VisorPhone and Blazer don't support GPRS (Though you should not take my word for that!). Reading between the lines of the most recent postings on the "Visorphone/V-stream works without ISP" forum seem to indicate even VoiceStream is "turning off" the switches allowing dial-up data access through the voice line systems. Anyone who can actually dial-up an ISP in California using T-Mobile, or who has info on using iStream data access using a VisorPhone on T-Mobile, PLEEEEASE contact me!!! [email protected]

Here's something special about this new service in CA and NV that should be considered - each of the blocks of Phone numbers are brand new. It's possible to get REALLY COOL phone numbers!!!! The exchanges are governed by the 3 digit area code and the next 3 digit exchange but the last 4 digits are wide open! It's even possible with the wide "Home area" definition to sign up for a phone number in a distant exchange or even another area code. If you absolutely want your phone number to spell out "BIGDOGS" or something you probably can.

Your billing cycle is determined by the phone exchange you select, so ask about this before you settle on a number if you want to be billed on, say the 16th of the month.

So far, I'd say T-Mobile service is better than Cingular. Even with some bad reports about VoiceStream at least the VoiceStream website works most of the time. And the T-Mobile web site works better than either of the others. The T-Mobile help pages even have specific product help categories and FAQs for VisorPhone and Treo!

For world travelers, T-Mobile Broadband is the global wireless arm of Deutsche Telecom and has a powerful worldwide cellular presence and is pushing it's worldwide roaming capacity.

I hope you find this useful!
-Chris Loye

T-Mobile phones at Amazon $150 back!

I just discovered that Amazon.com has a tremendous rebate program on cell phones when you sign-up for a service. On the T-mobile plan there is a tremendous deal on the Samsung R225 -
cost: -$89.99
Rebate from Amazon: +$150
Rebate from T-Mobile: +$ 89
less coupon code +$ 5

Money back to you: +$154.01 !!!
(Good Phone Too! put the SIM chip in your visorphone and keep the R225 in the car for 911 calls!)

BTW: if you've established service with T-Mobile before, they won't authorize a new service until 3 months after you've canceled your old service. Within that 90 day period, all you can do is re-connect the old service agreement. That's MY sad story.

Connection to Earthlink using T-Mobile in CA

I've been able to connect to my Earthlink Dial-up ISP using T-Mobile in California with no Data access plan in place (just the way it was described for Voicestream).
Now this was limited to the NON-GPRS, 9600 Baud transfer rate but, hey, it's free!

It seems important to manually set the DNS Addresses in the Prefs/Network/Details screen. I got the earthlink DNS numbers from the page recommended on the Handspring site:
http://support.handspring.com/esupp...&ResType=il
AND
http://www.cewindows.net/wce/isp.htm

Had it, lost it, now what?

Well, I had two days of blissful experimentation connecting with Earthlink on my visorphone. I tried to connect to another ISP, got a Fatal Exception, had to reset my Visor, and now when I try to connect to Earthlink again, I see the "Error 0x0501" message.

OOOOO so close!

Roaming and Unlocking VisorPhones

A few notes for general interest.
I've been contacting all pertinent parties to see if I can "fix" the display of "PACBELL" and "ROAMING" on my VisorPhone when I connect to T-Mobile in Northern California. (T-Mobile shares cell towers with Cingular, who used to be PacBell.)

I actually have a new VisorPhone unit which I recieved from Handspring under warranty because the earpiece jack was shot (two units with this problem. I'm hoping three's the charm). The new unit still shows PACBELL and ROAMING so I know it's not an equipment problem.

I contacted Cingular about "unlocking" the VisorPhone from any Service provider specific lockout (as I've read about for other cellphones). Cingular responded:

"I have consulted with our technicians and have been told that you do not need to have an unlock code. If there is a problem, you need to call 1-877-426-3777. "

So, it's not an "unlocking" issue.

I contacted Handspring and they informed me:

"Thank you for contacting Handspring Technical Support. We understand that you are having a network problem.

The two occurrences that you are describing are perfectly normal, in fact most users that are using Cingular service, will see PacBell and the roaming in display. There is no software available to change those type of functions."

So, it appears, the PACBELL and ROAMING may be a NON-issue. I'm waiting to hear from T-Mobile for an official confirmation of this.
-Chris Loye

T-Mobile in CA sez "Roaming" display is normal

I discussed the "PACBELL" and "ROAMING" display on my Visorphone when connecting to T-Mobile in Northern California. The tech checked my account and all the calls appeared as normal calls on the T-Mobile network. He also confirmed that Roaming would be covered under my plan in any event.

Also, I asked about my problems connecting to Earthlink ISP. The Data services tech confirmed that Voicestream/T-Mobile accounts have data services turned on automatically, and that a Visorphone can be used as a dial-up modem with no additional data services plan. He also confirmed that iStream GSRP services will NOT work on a GSM Visorphone.

The standard tricks didn't work re-establishing conncetion to Earthlink:
1. "clearing the location" of my cellphone on the network.
2. Resetting my account
3. Turning Data services off, then turning it back on again.

I've also tried all the local Earthlink conncetion numbers (all of which work from a conventional Windows Modem. So it appears my problem connecting is a T-Mobile network problem. They are looking into it.

Chris Loye

Connection to Earthlink, rebate Info and Staples Clearance of Visorphones

OK, here's the last two pieces to this saga.
After contacting Voicestream/T-Mobile Wireless Data Group, they were able to change somethin so that i can get dial-up access to earthlink prety reliably. In general, it seems like a good strong carrier signal is required for the connection to be made (3-4 bars on the visorphone). Again, this non-GSRP form of data service is included with the t-mobile/voicestream accounts so all it costs me is minutes during the week and is free on weekends. This is using the standard dialup info for earthlink. personally, I use manual DNS settings but the "Query DNS" setting also appears to work.

On the Rebate front, I sent in the rebate form for my new t-Mobile/Samsung R225 to Youn America in Minnesota and the formwork came back with a letter saying the rebate form wasn't included. Young America needs the T-Mobile rebate form to process the Rebate.
What was the WORST about the returned form though was that the Young America mail room had (intentionally or not) TORN OFF THE UPC CODE attachd to the form!!! They had even left the corner of that UPC pice of paper still under the edge of the staple!
I called Young America and a very nice, very frustrated customer service agent named Laurie told me how to handle the situation and mentioned that the missing UPC code had been reported by three people calling to her alone on that same day and suggested that heads will roll in the mail room.
Below is the alternative UPC validation procedure she recommended but if you are faced with this situation you should hear it officially from the Rebate company:

If the UPC code was not returned by the company,
Find the UPC code sticker on the cell phone itself,
carefully peal it off the phone,
COPY the sticker (you do need it on the phone after all)
and mail that copy of the phone UPC code with the Rebate formwork with a clear note explaining that the original UPC code had not been returned by the Rebate company and that you are doing this under instructions from the customer service agent you talked with. If possible, give the name of the agent and the time you called.

ALSO, Staples in my area is clearing out most of it's handspring stuff and selling their stock of Visorphones for $19.50 each with no service activation! Heck, it's worth $20 just to have a spare battery and headset! They also have cradles and cables for $9.50 each, even Memplug Compact Flash adapters and such for $9.50.
A BestBuy manager I talked with sez they will not be selling even the Treo series before the end of the year.

-Chris Loye

my VS account was converted to T-Mobile recently. i don't have data services but i am able to do the "free" ISDN connection. some observations on different GSM phones on VS/TMobile as discussed on this thread:

-in Vegas earlier this year, we had 2 VS phones. one said "Cingular" the other said "Pacbell". switched the SIM's and the respective phones said the same thing - so it must be in the phones.

-the VPhone is not subsidy locked. i guess none of the phone carriers thought it would be a big hit and didn't bother. good news for us!

-most GSM Nokia phones in the US are subsidy locked but it is easy enough to unlock them. i bought a 5190 from ebay as a backup phone, got a $5 cable (ebay too) and with tools readily available on the web, unlocked it (originally a Pacbell phone).

Re: Connection to Earthlink, rebate Info and Staples Clearance of Visorphones

quote:

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Originally posted by dcloye

ALSO, Staples in my area is clearing out most of it's handspring stuff and selling their stock of Visorphones for $19.50 each with no service activation! Heck, it's worth $20 just to have a spare battery and headset! They also have cradles and cables for $9.50 each, even Memplug Compact Flash adapters and such for $9.50.
A BestBuy manager I talked with sez they will not be selling even the Treo series before the end of the year.

-Chris Loye

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dcloye,

your mailbox is full, and i was asking you about those deals you found at staples. couldn't find any such deals locally - they didn't even stock handsprings...