| Author |
Message |
elmo01
Posts: 2198
Phone Model:
Samsung SPH-M510
Service Provider:
Bell Canada |
 
Wed Apr 12, 2006 7:06 am |
| FlyerTDL wrote: |
============
Just a quirky note though, perhaps someone else could explain this one to me:
When I went to change my mom's settings, the network selection list came up as:
"CINGULAR"
"CINGULAR"
"T-MOBILE"
I was able to figure out that the 1st, "CINGULAR" was the old AT&T b/c when that one is selected, it pops up saying "Home system selected," I assume this of course b/c it was originally a locked AT&T phone.
Anyone ever heard of or had any experience with this?
I was under the assumption the the "old" AT&T Blue towers were re-branded "CINGULAR" and the original Cingular Orange towers were "CINGULAR WIRELESS" ??? What gives? |
lots on a daily basis
I use the manual network search as a troubleshooting tool
CINGULAR alfa tag means the integrated network... combination ATT and new cingular with a new network identifier
CINGULAR WIRELESS alfa tag is the pre merger CINGULAR with the old CINGULAR network identifier...
with the CINGULAR WIRELESS alfa tag a pre merger (ATT) SIM may have difficulties connecting where a post merger (CINGULAR) sim will not
the woes of network integration... if this just started in your area it wont last long... usually less than a week... it has to be done tower by tower...
another note you *may* see USA410 on the screen... what that means is an integrated tower that is online but the alfa tag has not been loaded yet at the switch...
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FlyerTDL
Posts: 157
Phone Model:
Nokia 8260/6235i
Service Provider:
The New AT&T/Alltel-U |
Sun Apr 16, 2006 12:48 am |
BTW elmo, thanks for that info. But just so you know, the networks here have been doing what I talked about ever since they started switching the towers.
neek:
Concerning the iDEN/CDMA phones, I'll believe you on that, b/c after doing a little digging, I have seen rumor that they will be launching those soon.
Which I also agree with you about the whole GSM thing: | neek wrote: | | ...I've found the difficulties that Cingular experienced with the AT&T Wireless merger to be inconceivable, it feels to me the most forethought that was put into this was, "They're both GSM! It'll work!" |
You are quite right. The integration should have been much more seemless and subtle than it was/is.
You are also spot on about the advertising, you just don't say "more bars in more places" until you can prove it, and when they started that, they simply hadn't, they were simply celebrating a merger when nothing really had yet been accomplished.
About the whole phone book thing, I'll admit that was more of a pot shot at CDMA. That is just me preferring GSM b/c of it's flexibility in that respect, truly just personal preference/bias in that direction.
Which BTW, yes I have seen some rumors circling about CDMA "SIM" like cards. Apparently they are already in use in Red China, but most other CDMA carriers have shied away from it, or just are not ready to adopt it. They call it a "R-UIM", removable user identity module. See the following link:
http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA508696.html?spacedesc=Department s
Last edited by FlyerTDL on Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total |
|
elmo01
Posts: 2198
Phone Model:
Samsung SPH-M510
Service Provider:
Bell Canada |
Sun Apr 16, 2006 7:40 am |
FlyerTDL...
if you are having trubble connecting with you ATT gsm service.. your phone may have missed an update... rather than trying to explain this to the rep...
call customer care...
ask to have call forwarding and call wainting features removed from your service....
wait 1 hour...
call customer care again....
ask to have call waiting and call forwarding added to your service
this will generate an over the air (OTA) update to your phone number...part of this update is a new IRDB (intelliugent roaming data base) entry...this tells the phone how to deal with the new network
any connection probles after that point will be at the switch (ATT end...rare but possible... we generally know before you) or its time to get a new phone
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FlyerTDL
Posts: 157
Phone Model:
Nokia 8260/6235i
Service Provider:
The New AT&T/Alltel-U |
Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:32 pm |
OH, sorry, perhaps I didn't explain correctly.
My mom's phone has NO trouble connecting to the old ATT GSM network, she can connect to both Cingular and AT&T just fine.
What I was curious about was why on the manual network selection screen, when you go to browse for towers, why does the list on the phone comes up as:
"CINGULAR"
"CINGULAR"
"T-MOBILE"
Now I know that the 1st "CINGULAR" on the list is the old ATTWS Network, b/c when that network is selected, the Nokia flash screen comes up saying "Home network Selected" I assume that since the phone was origianlly locked to AT&T. BTW the phone is a Nokia 3590, if it helps any.
My question was this: If the old "AT&T" towers were supposed to be re-branded to broadcast with the cingular name, on the manual selection search, shouldn't the origianl cingular towers come up on the phone as "CINGULAR WIRELESS" and the old at&t towers come up as "CINGULAR"?
I believe that you answered my question in your previous post, but I just thought that I should clarify what I was saying. The phone does not have a problem connecting to either GSM network, AT&T's old network, or Cingular's old network, it will attach to either one just fine.
Thanks for you input though, I'll keep that in mind if the phone starts having issues. 
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