cell phone question

cfleck

cfleck

tired
here is my situation. cingular (my current provider) offers the siemens s56 phone. i might want it. if i buy it from someone other than cingular, can i still use it on their network by putting my sim card in?

i've heard answers to both sides, so i'm wondering if anyone has had firsthand experience with this or some real evidence that it will work.
 
Why not call Cingular and ask? Chances are they'll charge a moderate fee for activating the phone, even though they won't have to do much of anything. You're usually better off buying from the network in most cases.
 
i plan on dumping them, unfortunately it doesn't make sense to do so before the end of my current contract which is another 10 months.
 
Ask them whether that phone is locked to work only with cingular. Some countries allow the tieing of the phone to a particular operator, some consider it illegal. If it'd be locked, the unlocking fee ranges around 10-40 $ (and would probably void your warranty in case it would be done by others than the mobile operators).
 
I've had the s56 for three months now through cingular, they had a promotion where it was free if i signed up for a year. Anyway, though it had by far the most features of any phone plus bluetooth for under 50 bucks with the best keypad it has quite a few shortcomings. Horrible battery life need to recharge every day sometimes twice a day. Reception is lousy, never have had more than 3 out of 5 signal meter arrows, anywhere in any big city and I travel a lot. Doesn't work overseas(if you don't travel no biggie) Doesn't have any normal ringtones(poly are cool but at work i can't have an ambulance siren whaling) Screen is very low res for color hard to read at times, impossible out in the sun. Screen dims way to soon and no way to change 5 sec dim. Because of poor reception have lousy internet connection inside of house must use bluetooth/internet outside to work, though has worked in some homes that are made of wood/hay. Can't change the startup cingular logo. Lacks games has tennis but resolution so poor its garbage. Though i wouldn't trade it in, I'm cheap and they didn't have anything better for free. I'll upgrade when new phones come out in june/july(in my area cingular doesn't charge for upgrade only price of phone if i still have 6 months or more on my contract) Overall it's a good phone for the money with bluetooth, speakerphone and many other bells and whistles.
 
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