Cingular questions?

[greeniis]

I am eagerly anticipating the iPhone release, but currently, Cingular is not a carrier in my little town. Cingular is available in a city about 100 or so miles from me. I use my Treo 650 on the Sprint network, and have good reception and data connection.
Does anyone know if I could get a Cingular plan and phonne from the nearby city, and if it would then work in my town? The coverage maps on the C. website seem to show some reasonable coverage around me...
I know at some point I will have to talk to a Cingular rep (ugh...customer service), but was hoping someone here could give me some ideas.
I think that it would be cruel and inhuman to keep me from an iPhone for the duration of Cingular's exclusive contract!

 

[chris]

You are not alone. Apparently, those in Vermont cannot use Cingular. They'll be changing to AT&T by the time iPhone launches, but that won't affect coverage. I'm not sure if the iPhone is enough to impact their expansion plans. It's usually the other way around, with Sprint not having coverage. Personally, I'm a big fan of Sprint. I've had all of the major wireless carriers and Sprint was great. My wife has Sprint now and she has no problems (which is suprising). Coverage and stability of her Treo 700p has been great. She's already asking for the iPhone. Like many, I'll have to see how we can get out of the Sprint contract.

Keep your fingers crossed that Cingular/AT&T will expand.

-Chris

 

[greeniis]

I am very happy with Sprint, too. I have another year on my contract, but am eligible to upgrade in about two weeks, and have been seriously contemplating getting the Treo 700p. With the iPhone announcement, I was tempted to hold onto my 650 for awhile longer, but now I don't know. I'd like the extra "space" the 700 would give me. I know it is early yet, but it isn't sounding promising for me to get an iPhone right out of the gate.

What do you think, Chris? Should I go ahead and get my 700p, or is Palm going to respond SOON with some breakthrough new Treo?

 

[chris]

There are some nice improvements with the Treo 700p, but nothing major. It's an incremental upgrade, with the best feature being EVDO. If you do not have EVDO in your area, I'd hold off on going to the 700p. Some have experienced issues with Bluetooth devices disconnecting and many have complained of a serious lag when navigating the device. I haven't seen the BT issues, but the lag can be annoying. Palm has said they are aware of the issues, but no firmware update has been announced or released.

-Chris

 

[hcramer]

Bluetooth compatibility

There are some nice improvements with the Treo 700p, but nothing major. It's an incremental upgrade, with the best feature being EVDO. If you do not have EVDO in your area, I'd hold off on going to the 700p. Some have experienced issues with Bluetooth devices disconnecting and many have complained of a serious lag when navigating the device. I haven't seen the BT issues, but the lag can be annoying. Palm has said they are aware of the issues, but no firmware update has been announced or released.

-Chris

Does anyone know if the iPhone will be fully bluetooth compatible with the BMW 2007 3 series?

 

[chris]

Given Apple's history with BMW and the inclusion of Bluetooth 2.0, I'd venture to say "Yes". That is pure speculation on my part and I'm sure we'll have more information on car compatibility as we get closer to launch.

 

[Limatoones]

About the Cingular idea of getting a plan from a near-by town and using the "roaming" option or something similar in your "normally not covered by Cingular" area.
I would recommend against that.
I read an article recently that Cingular is going to be specifically looking for people who are trying to do just that. First, if your residence is in a "roaming" area they will not sell you the phone or their service. Second, if you somehow manage to get around that, they are going to be looking for people who are using their phones primarily in roaming areas. If it's determined that you have lied and are living generally in a roaming area there is a chance your service could be cut off.

Try this article for starters: Mobility Watch » Cingular Wireless

 

[Kabeyun]

Given Apple's history with BMW and the inclusion of Bluetooth 2.0, I'd venture to say "Yes". That is pure speculation on my part and I'm sure we'll have more information on car compatibility as we get closer to launch.

I'll agree with Chris. Even my Treo 650 which is not officially supported will duplex transmit (after resetting a couple of times!). However, as you can see on the list of supported devices, there are a host of shortcomings with non-Motorola phones. (Makes you wonder what the 'M' in BMW really stands for.) The most common is a failure either to voice-dial or to be able to access your phone's directory from the car. This is probably, in my technically naive opinion, a limitation of the device's Bluetooth HFP implementation.

Nonetheless, I anticipate that you'll at least be able to converse via your iPhone's BT headset, even if you have to manually dial from the phone.

-K

 

[sassybrendita]

I am eagerly anticipating the iPhone release, but currently, Cingular is not a carrier in my little town. Cingular is available in a city about 100 or so miles from me. I use my Treo 650 on the Sprint network, and have good reception and data connection.
Does anyone know if I could get a Cingular plan and phonne from the nearby city, and if it would then work in my town? The coverage maps on the C. website seem to show some reasonable coverage around me...
I know at some point I will have to talk to a Cingular rep (ugh...customer service), but was hoping someone here could give me some ideas.
I think that it would be cruel and inhuman to keep me from an iPhone for the duration of Cingular's exclusive contract!

You couldalways try. Cingular has a 30 day return/exchange policy as far as I know. So you could see if it works specifically where you are at and if the coverage is good keep it and if not return it and only pay for what you used. Just a thought anyway. I think it is different for every area so definitely contact someone about this first.

 

[Iceblinkluck]

where are you?

You couldalways try. Cingular has a 30 day return/exchange policy as far as I know. So you could see if it works specifically where you are at and if the coverage is good keep it and if not return it and only pay for what you used. Just a thought anyway. I think it is different for every area so definitely contact someone about this first.

Green you never say where you live....

 

[dino_russ]

You are not alone. Apparently, those in Vermont cannot use Cingular. They'll be changing to AT&T by the time iPhone launches, but that won't affect coverage. I'm not sure if the iPhone is enough to impact their expansion plans. It's usually the other way around, with Sprint not having coverage. Personally, I'm a big fan of Sprint. I've had all of the major wireless carriers and Sprint was great. My wife has Sprint now and she has no problems (which is suprising). Coverage and stability of her Treo 700p has been great. She's already asking for the iPhone. Like many, I'll have to see how we can get out of the Sprint contract.

Keep your fingers crossed that Cingular/AT&T will expand.

-Chris

Well either I hope they expand or Verizon and Sprint get into the iPhone as soon as the 2 year exclusivity ends with ATT! About the time the version 2 comes out with lots of more memory so I can get all my iPod stuff on it