« Treo 650, Take 2 | Main | Creepy Crawlies »
October 6, 2005
The ongoing saga of the Treo 650
Had an email exchange today something like this:
From: Dan Berger
To: Todd Schmitt (Cingular Rep)
Subject: AT&T Sim w/ a Cingular Receipt, Plan, and Bill.
Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 09:05:51 -0700
Hi Todd;
About a year ago, when I started working @ XXX, I visited a Cingular store, signed up for a Cingular rate plan and purchased two Nokia 3200 phones (one for me, one for my wife).
Yesterday I purchased a Cingular Treo 650 from a colleague who had decided it was too much phone for him.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the SIM in my current Nokia phone is an AT&T SIM and won't work in the new phone.
I'm writing to find out how to go about getting the new phone unlocked to accept my current AT&T labeled (but sold as Cingular) SIM. Please understand - when I say "sold as Cingular" I mean to the last detail - the receipt says Cingular, the bill has always said Cingular, I had no idea that my GSM service would have any tie to AT&T.
Porting my number to a new SIM is not acceptable, as I both lose my phonebook as well as lose my backup Nokia phone - something I expect I'll need given the less than stellar reliability of the Treos.
You can reach me via email at this address, or by phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX (W) or XXX-XXX-XXXX (C).
The courtesy of a prompt reply is appreciated.
Thanks.
--
...Dan Berger
His response, as predicted, went something like this:
From: Schmitt, Todd
To: Dan Berger
Subject: RE: AT&T Sim w/ a Cingular Receipt, Plan, and Bill.
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2005 12:09:16 -0700
Dan,
While the Cingular purchase of AWS has closed the billing and provisioning systems have not yet merged, will be complete early next year. The Cingular devices and SIM cards are not compatible with AWS legacy SIMs and devices and visa versa. It is possible to source the unlock codes through 3rd parties but we do not support unlocking the devices and especially the SIM cards due to legal and fraud restrictions.
It is possible to migrate your service over to the Orange billing platform but would require approval through XXX to do so.
Thanks,
Todd Schmitt
Sales Executive
Corporate Markets Group
Cingular Wireless
To which I responded:
From: Dan Berger
To: Schmitt, Todd
Subject: Re: AT&T Sim w/ a Cingular Receipt, Plan, and Bill.
Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 12:56:36 -0700
Hi Todd;
The "Cingular" phones were purchased at the Cingular store in Chino, CA approx 1 year back. There was no mention of "Cingular Orange" vs. "Cingular Blue" - and I had no reason to suspect my Cingular identity wasn't portable across the Cingular service and network.
The "legal and fraud" explanation for not unlocking devices holds no water - I have a device with your brand, a relationship with your company, and due to your back-office incompatibilities and gratuitous customer-lock-in techniques I am unable to use my Cingular device with my Cingular plan.
In years past, getting multi-mode GSM devices unlocked for international travel was commonplace. I can accept having to sign up for a contract and guaranteeing carrier revenue in return for a subsidized phone price, but at the end of that contract, the phone has been bought and paid for, and the vendor should unlock it.
The refusal of carriers to liberate devices - bought and paid for by their customers - is purely motivated by greed. There is growing sentiment that this is an anti-competitive practice worthy of a class action suit. It should be obvious which side of this debate I'm on.
I'll unlock the phone, at my cost, and I assure you that the moment my plan is no longer paid for by my employer, my wife and I will be terminating our relationship with Cingular.
I appreciate your response, and understand that this isn't your decision, as Cingulars representative, I request that you communicate my displeasure through the appropriate channels.
--
...Dan Berger
So I paid someone who's ebay username is "unlockcellular" a whopping $25 for access to a "do-it-yourself" unlock kit. Followed some fairly straight-forward instructions, and within about 10 minutes, viola - unlocked Treo.
Posted by dberger at October 6, 2005 8:24 PM
Comments
I think the word that describes those folk is "Asshats."
Posted by: Titus at October 6, 2005 8:35 PM
So, you want to share those unlock instructions, or are they unit-specific?
Posted by: Hendel at October 9, 2005 3:41 PM