Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Durham, NC
Posts: 78

How to keep a Cingular Number on new VP

Can someone who's been-there done-that, walk me through the process of maintaining a current mobile phone number on a soon-to-be purchased VisorPhone?

Goals:

1. Maintain my current phone number
2. Minimize cost

Current Setup:

1. Nokia 6190 GSM phone with SIM card setup with phone number 919-123-4567.

2. Service provided by Cingular. Calling plan is in Raleigh-Durham, NC. Current service inclueds SMS for which they're supposed to charge .25 per message over the first 25 msgs sent but they never have.

3. No, I have no idea when my current Cingular contract expires. But let's say its around 6 months from now. I have to check.

New Setup:

1. Want to purchase a new VisorPhone and the new low-low cost of $0.00 if possible. I see that I can buy the phone for the not-low cost of $299 (yeccche) and then just move my current SIM over.

2. Need SMS, Need Web Browsing, Need Email access. Would like the thing to be always-on but I understand that's just not avaible yet. At least with SMS I can setup my Outlook to ping me with a message header as new email comes in and then decide if it's worth dialing-up to check. I realize I need an ISP. Who's good? I've used Mindspring in the past. I think they're Earthlink now? Help.

I've called Handspring and they say they can't help me as they have pre-programmed SIMs from Cingular that they send out. But they gave me the number of Cingular and said they may be able to help me reprogram the SIM with the new number.

So now, I'm sitting on hold with Cingular and am not real hopeful... but maybe someday soon someone will answer the phone and actually have a clue about what I want.

Thanks, oh you gurus of Visordom!

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Noblesville, IN
Posts: 96

Please let us know how it works out -- my brother-in-law is in the exact same boat as you. (He even lives in Raleigh) He's interested in switching his current Cingular GSM phone over to the VisorPhone.

Brian Baker

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 38

I was told that you can just put your current SIM into the phone and your number and settings go with it.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 37

Yes, but you can only get the VisorPhone for free if you open a new account, not if you already have an account. So if you want to just put your current SIM in the VP, you'll have to pay the $299 for the VisorPhone, because you aren't activating a new account.

The whole point of offering free phones is to gain new accounts. Wireless companies couldn't care less about their current customers. They've already got you by the stones for at least a year, so why give you any freebies?

Of course, if they were thinking ahead at all, they'd realize that a year from now, when your contract expires, you're more likely to stay with them if they treat you well. But I guess they assume you'll stay with them anyway, as most people don't want to give up their cell phone numbers once people get used to being able to contact you there.

Let us know if Cingular lets you get away with this, because if they do, a whole lot of people are going to be pretty ticked off. Both Cingular and Handspring made it very clear to me (and many others) that the phone would have to be purchased at $299 if I wasn't opening a brand new account. That's why I got my VP on ebay for less than that.

__________________
mrjoec
www.mrjoec.com

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Conway SC USA
Posts: 92

It depends how you play the game. Get the VP and use your OLD sim. Then lower your NEW acct to the very lowest plan. Just play the game. VP is a A+

__________________
LARRY

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Durham, NC
Posts: 78

Ebay solved the problem

Well I took a tip from MrJoeC and just went to ebay to buy my VP. It hadn't occurred to me to look there despite the fact that I've used Ebay dozens of times. Go figure. I guess I just couln't get my mind around the idea of someone wanting to get rid of their VP. But sho nuff...

Anyway, I won an auction at $150 which seemed to be just about the going rate looking at closed auctions. I got the VP today, set it up and it worked great. I slapped in my current Cingular SIM and I'm communicating. Very cool.

Of course the only sucky thing about this whole process is that the day after I win the auction Handspring slashes price again on VP to $99. So I "wasted" $50. Oh, well. It figures. Same thing happens to me when I buy a stock. It frequently crashes right after I buy it.

Anyway... now the quest for a new case begins. Those Vajas look really nice. Anyone want a broken in EBcase?