I've had a cellphone from around when they first were "born", back when phones were primarily for business use and not the trendy "cool" fashion accessories, cameras, videorecorders, mp3 players, etc that they seem to have become today. It's amazing how the design of phones has changed in less than 10 years and how ingrained they now are in our culture.
But......I really don't need a phone for the fancy schmancy stuff they do now. My old 6161 text phone, simply receiving and making calls is fine for me, and i use it less than 40 minutes a month, which is what my Cingular plan USED to cover. I pretty much only use it for emergencies or when my landline is tied up.
Cingular has done away with my $19.99 a month plan (40 free minutes) and have forced me to upgrade to $29.99 a month (with tons of minutes that i will never use & don't need), plus are also looking to slap me with an additional fee for having this older phone which is not GSM or whatever.
To avoid the extra TDMA fee I can upgrade my phone, but that comes with additional charges and requires me to get a 2 year contract.....and loads of features i don't want etc etc etc.
I really really hate paying for things i don't need, and don't use, and have been looking into various competing plans, pay as you go stuff etc, but my head is now swimming with options, none of them very attractive.
Are there any options, any plans, any ideas, for a cellphone + service similar to what i used to get? 40 minutes a month? $19.99? Able to use my old phone or give me one for free?
Looking at the "pay as you go" type plans they seem to be closer to what i need but make no sense. How does the name "pay as you go" apply to a plan that requires you to buy a set # of minutes in advance but EXPIRE them after a period of time? I am so confused.
Maybe I will just live without a cellphone. Like the good ole days.
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steva11 Posts: 1677
Phone Model: w810i/pearl
Service Provider: Rogers
Thu Aug 31, 2006 6:31 pm
for pay-as-you go, cingular does offer a $100.00 card that expires a year from purchase. that seems like it owuld fit you well. check it online here:
it would give you 400 minutes and if you use it a little less than 40 minutes a month, then it will last you approx. a year. easy, no hassle.
thanks very much for that info but i'm still confused!
where do you see that that gives you "400 minutes"?
how does that relate to their "best value plan" vs. the "simple plan" as listed on that page?
what other fees/charges are there?
can i use my existing phone? or will they require me to get a new one? and if so, what is that going to cost me?
my questions above are not directed at steva11 btw, and i realize that no one here should be expected to really know all the answers - that should be cingular
but i actually tried to find out about this stuff at a local cingular store but the employees there were 16 year old girls and i knew more than they did (which is pretty sad)
thanks again
slipkid Posts: 19
Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:09 pm
wait a minute - i think i understand (light bulb going off!!)
thanks steva11!
the "simple plan" listed on that page says it costs 25 cents per minute
so if i buy a prepaid $100 card, then .25 cents x 400 minutes = $100!
that is where steva11's "400" figure comes from
the costs runup get deducted from the card, not charged additionally (which is what i actually thought which totally made no sense)
and their "best value plan" says it costs .10 a minute, BUT they add a $1.00 charge for every day that you use the phone, but that gives you free minutes if calling another cingular customer
is this logic correct?
i have to ponder this some more, and try to find a decent cingular store that can answer my questions further (like other charges, can i use my existing phone, etc etc etc)
thanks again
steva11 Posts: 1677
Phone Model: w810i/pearl
Service Provider: Rogers
Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:32 pm
exactamundo!
you'll need to get a new phone. you can look at the phones online also, the stores may differ a bit in regards to cost and what's in stock.
everything you said is correct about the plans.
it seems fairly straight forward, but i'd read the plan terms and the terms of service which covers a little more.
slipkid Posts: 19
Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:47 am
I just wanted to give an update on this for anyone else in a similar situation trying to decide what to do.
I decided to take the advice above and switch from my current CINGULAR account to a CINGULAR payasyougo plan, plus upgrade my old TDMA phone to a GSM nokia 6030 via their website at the same time, and assumed/thought i could also keep my existing CINGULAR phone number.
But after a very long day yesterday with both visiting a CINGULAR store and being on the phone for over an hour with several people in various CINGULAR sales/support groups, getting conflicting information, wrong advice in multiple scenarios, spending tons of my time trying to do things via their website, going round in circles with things not making sense...........
Finally today i (think) i know the real story thanks to a what seemed like a well informed CINGULAR rep - IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO KEEP MY EXISTING PHONE NUMBER!!!!!!!!!!
For any CINGULAR customer thinking of switching from a monthly plan to a payasyou go, you have to CANCEL your existing plan, then signup for a new payasyougo, and get a new phone number.
I do not know if this applies to other companies or not, but it does for CINGULAR. Although thus far one half of the CINGULAR reps that I talked to about this insist that I do not have to lose my number - yet none of those people can actually tell me how to accomplish that CORRECTLY. And that is because you can't!!!!
sigh
My next step is to go to T-MOBILE since they have a similar (actually better rate!) on their payasyougo plan, and see if they can take my cingular # into one of their payasyougo plans, or if this is an across the board thing with all payasyougo type plans, that those only assign new numbers?????? Whether I switch to T-MOBILE or not will depend on what phones they offer at what prices with their payasyougo plans, and then whether I can get decent reception where I need a phone with their service.
At this point I am resigned to losing my cellphone number no matter I do, although the whole thing makes no sense to me whatsoever. If any CINGULAR customer has ever switched from one of their monthly plans to a payasyougo and kept their cell# and can explain how to do it please let me (& CINGULAR) know how to do it.
Thanks.
steva11 Posts: 1677
Phone Model: w810i/pearl
Service Provider: Rogers
Tue Sep 26, 2006 3:50 pm
well, it's good to hear an update!
as far as I'm aware you are able to keep your # and it needs to be ported in by the porting dept.
if you port the # to t-mo, you can port it just as usual, so you wouldn't have to lose the number if you switch to t-mo.
hope it works out for you.
slipkid Posts: 19
Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:33 pm
steva11 wrote:
well, it's good to hear an update!
as far as I'm aware you are able to keep your # and it needs to be ported in by the porting dept.
if you port the # to t-mo, you can port it just as usual, so you wouldn't have to lose the number if you switch to t-mo.
hope it works out for you.
thanks steva11, you have been very helpful
at this point my head is spinning from all this & i am beyond fedup in dealing with CINGULAR; for every person there who says i can keep my number, there is another one who says that i cannot
the bottom line is that NO ONE, not even those who SAY it can be done, can actually facilitate getting it done
judging by my experience i must be the only person in the world who ever tried to switch from monthly ("postpaid" i think you experts call it) to payasyougo ("prepaid"?)
i have a longwinded explanation of my odyssey in the CINGULAR forum, under the title of "Changing to a prepaid network" (i did not start that thread, but it looks like i'm finishing it)
despite my wholly unsatisfactory experience with this at CINGULAR i would prefer to stay with them because i *think* they have better coverage in my area than t-mobile, but due to their own confusion they are not giving me any other choice
i will try calling t-mobile tomorrow and see if i can "port" my number to one of their prepaid plans
hmmm...just thought of this....perhaps the bizarre workaround solution of this whole mess for me is to go with t-mobile (provided they can port my number), THEN port it BACK over to CINGULAR since they (supposedly) can port numbers from other vendors (just not from within their own freaking departments)
i may be willing to try that - looking now i see that t-mobile offers the nokia 6030 phone that i want......so i could try them and if their coverage is ok i will just stick with them....but if not, then i could go back to CINGULAR as a new customer, sign up for their payasyougo, keeping my number along the way, and use my new GSM t-mobile phone (yes?)
the trick there would be finding out if the new phone from t-mobile could be "unlocked" or whatever to then work with cingular
jesus christ! this is way too complicated
slipkid Posts: 19
Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:14 pm
This is all straightened out now!!! See the other thread mentioned above. I am a happy CINGULAR camper again.
Jadall Posts: 389
Phone Model: Nokia 3300,Nokia n-gage, SEt290a
Service Provider: Cingular
Fri Oct 06, 2006 5:47 pm
yeah if you raise lots of h#ll you can get your number possibly ported no one knows how to do it.
