I am currently in a two year contract but I want a new phone. Can I buy
a "Go" phone and put my current SIM in that phone and continue using my
current plan?

On 8 Jun 2006 15:04:37 -0700, lahrens@gmail.com wrote:

>I am currently in a two year contract but I want a new phone. Can I buy
>a "Go" phone and put my current SIM in that phone and continue using my
>current plan?

Absolutely!

I actually had to do that: my nokia phone 6102 broke at the hinge, I did not
have insurance and nokia said cingular may give me a loaner phone while it
is being fixed...


Guess what? If you have insurance, you could get a loaner phone, but if you
don't you don't get a loaner phone.

so, I called Cingular and said I wanted a go phone, and nonchalently, I
asked "If I get a go phone, and put my sim chip in there - say I didn't have
fully charged battery, will I be able to have my contacts & phone number? "

They said yes, so I bought the 6030 (only until my 6102 gets fixed), so I
got it and poped my sim into the 6030 and lo and behold, it works... Since
I'm waiting for my 6102 to come back from getting repaied, I'm using this
prepaid phone until it comes back...

So, yes it does work


"Harry" <zzz@zzz.com> wrote in message
news:4dah82dhp04q7mikl14uqku0t986p6uuqp@4ax.com...
> On 8 Jun 2006 15:04:37 -0700, lahrens@gmail.com wrote:
>
> >I am currently in a two year contract but I want a new phone. Can I buy
> >a "Go" phone and put my current SIM in that phone and continue using my
> >current plan?
>
> Absolutely!

Harry wrote:
> On 8 Jun 2006 15:04:37 -0700, lahrens@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> I am currently in a two year contract but I want a new phone. Can I buy
>> a "Go" phone and put my current SIM in that phone and continue using my
>> current plan?
>
> Absolutely!

I wonder how long until the carriers close this loophole. The prepaid
phones are generally sold below cost, with the idea that the airtime
costs will make up for it.

Verizon sells their InPulse phones at low prices at Target (when they go
on sale) but these phones can be used on any Verizon MVNO as well.

It seems that phones that are locked, are locked to the network, not
they type of service, even if it's prepaid or an MVNO.

SMS wrote:
> I wonder how long until the carriers close this loophole. The prepaid
> phones are generally sold below cost, with the idea that the airtime
> costs will make up for it.

Loophole? If you buy the prepaid and use up whatever prepaid minutes
come with it, Cingular doesn't make a penny more than if you use it as
a cheap replacement for your (broken) subsidized phone.

Cingular should leave things as they are, because one of the great
attractions of GSM is the ability to swap out phones on a whim, and to
get phones your carrier might never offer.

tg.

tom glaab wrote:
> SMS wrote:
>> I wonder how long until the carriers close this loophole. The prepaid
>> phones are generally sold below cost, with the idea that the airtime
>> costs will make up for it.
>
> Loophole? If you buy the prepaid and use up whatever prepaid minutes
> come with it, Cingular doesn't make a penny more than if you use it as
> a cheap replacement for your (broken) subsidized phone.

Yes, that's the problem. They don't get to sell you a non-subsidized
replacement phone at a high price, and they don't get you to sign a
contract extension for a subsidized phone. You're buying a subsidized
phone with the expectation that the subsidy will be made up with the
purchase of airtime.

SMS wrote:
> tom glaab wrote:
>> SMS wrote:
>>> I wonder how long until the carriers close this loophole. The prepaid
>>> phones are generally sold below cost, with the idea that the airtime
>>> costs will make up for it.
>>
>> Loophole? If you buy the prepaid and use up whatever prepaid minutes
>> come with it, Cingular doesn't make a penny more than if you use it as
>> a cheap replacement for your (broken) subsidized phone.
>
> Yes, that's the problem. They don't get to sell you a non-subsidized
> replacement phone at a high price, and they don't get you to sign a
> contract extension for a subsidized phone. You're buying a subsidized
> phone with the expectation that the subsidy will be made up with the
> purchase of airtime.


The actual cost of the phones must be very low. They maybe sold at cost,
rather than below cost. And instead of telling them to close the
loophole, why don't you tell them they should sell people a replacement
phone at a reasonable price? So maybe this is an unspoken intended
purposes to encourage people to start using GoPhone and then switch to a
postpaid plan.

l e o wrote:

> The actual cost of the phones must be very low.

New low-end phones cost the carrier around $40 wholesale.

> why don't you tell them they should sell people a replacement
> phone at a reasonable price?

Hey, I agree with this. I think it's very unethical that they have those
fake high prices, but they do so in order to get people to sign new
contracts for a big discount. It really hurts people that need a new
phone in the middle of the contract. Few people realize the workaround
of buying a prepaid phone and sticking a postpaid SIM into it (or the
CDMA method of simply changing the SID of the phone on-line).

> So maybe this is an unspoken intended
> purposes to encourage people to start using GoPhone and then switch to a
> postpaid plan.

Yes, they would like people to switch to postpaid, as it is much more
profitable. But they don't want existing post-paid customers to get
around the whole phone upgrade/contract renewal scam.

I've done that with T-Mobile on occasion.

<lahrens@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1149804277.306591.302180@i40g2000cwc.googlegr oups.com...
>I am currently in a two year contract but I want a new phone. Can I buy
> a "Go" phone and put my current SIM in that phone and continue using my
> current plan?
>

>"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
>news:448a22eb$0$96921$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net.. .
<snip>
> Hey, I agree with this. I think it's very unethical that they have those
> fake high prices, but they do so in order to get people to sign new
> contracts for a big discount. It really hurts people that need a new phone
> in the middle of the contract. Few people realize the workaround of buying
> a prepaid phone and sticking a postpaid SIM into it (or the CDMA method of
> simply changing the SID of the phone on-line).
>
You don't change the SID, youi change the ESN.
SID=System ID. The location. The ESN=Electronic Serial Number.
The ESN tells the system that your phone is valid

Andrew Sisson
VX 8100 on VZW since 1993
X497 on Cingular since 2006