Cingular phones on T-Mobile service?

[Wolvereen]

I have a friend that can get hookups on Cingular devices. I am a T-Mobile customer (and want to stay that way). Can I use Cingular devices on T-Mobiles network?

I am specifically looking a PDA/Phone Combos. With T-Mobile I was going to ge tthe MDA. Will I loose any features etc. using another providers phone on a different network for which it was planned.

Any thoughts on the matter? Suggestions?

With Cingular phones I would probably go for the Cingular 8125 (QTek 9100 in EU) since it has integrated Wi-Fi. I really like the HP iPaq HW6515 but I don't think it has integrated Wi-Fi access...?

Thanks!

One more question (sorry I hope it's not too many)...

What's the differences between the:

1) T-Mobile MDA

2) CIngular 8125

3) HTC WIzard

4) HTC TyTN

THey look like they are all related in some way (from what I have found on Google).

Thanks!!

Edited August 14, 2006 by Wolvereen

[Dane]

I dont believe you can, I think you need an unlocked version of the phone you would want to use....If it was easy to like goto Cingular buy the phone and use it with anyone I'd be on the Nokia 6126 already :blush: .

If you can find an unlocked version of the phone, it should work.

[Wolvereen]

I know it will have to be unlocked, just curious what was needed/different beyond that?

[bangbang023 Veteran]

Nothing really. As long as it's unlocked, you should be fine to go.

[hifive]

It's easy to do phones on TMobile since they use GSM 1900 and basically every phone supports it. In contrast, it's much more difficult to find Cingular compatible phones since they use GSM 1900 and GSM 850 and not many phones support 850.

[myNando]

I used http://www.unlockitnow.com/ to unlock my Cingular-branded Sony Ericsson S710a phone so I could use it w/ T-Mobile.

[bangbang023 Veteran]

  Squibbles said:

It's easy to do phones on TMobile since they use GSM 1900 and basically every phone supports it. In contrast, it's much more difficult to find Cingular compatible phones since they use GSM 1900 and GSM 850 and not many phones support 850.

Cingular almost exclusively uses 850 now. That's the only band you'll get any good reception on from them. They were smart. TMobile, on the other hand, has been dense in sticking with 1900. 850 penetrates walls SO much better.

[Wolvereen]

Thanks for all your help! I really appreciate it as I nail down my purchasing decision!!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand the Cingular 8125 and HTC Wizard are essentially the same phone (just branding issues?).

I am a T-Mo customer, is there any reason I need to go with the MDA over the 8125? I am not big on the MDA's keyboard, and prefer the one on the Wizard/8125.

According to T-Mo, the MDA works on all 4 bands: http://support.t-mobile.com/knowbase/root/.../tm22037.htm#12

Same seems to be true of the 8125 too.

So am I right to assume that once it's unlocked that both phones should work exactly the same for each provider?

I just want to make sure that won't be sacrificing call quality or signal strength by getting a newer phone not sol dby T-Mobile direct..

Thanks

[vancity001]

If it's a quad band phone, there will be absolutely no loss in signal strength or cell quality. Unlocking is all it would need, and it would function as a regular T-Mobile phone

[kombolcha]

the MDA and 8125 are pretty much identical.

if you're going to go with the 8125, first thing i would do is upgrade your firmware to the non-branded version, that way you don't have to deal with any cingular crap loaded icons and such. you'll just have a normal looking PPC windows.

then you can try and get it unlocked at radio shack, they'll usally have to take it somewhere else and charge about $60 - $80.

after that you can go to howardforums.com and check out the t-mobile settings for SMS and internet usage. If it doesnt work after you get it unlocked.

as for signal quality.. you will get **** quality with ANY phone you use on t-mobile. their lease contract ended with cingular to use their towers and t-mobile is now renting some of the towers. not to mention they've doubled their messaging charges and no longer do the 1 year contracts (2 years now) and they also raised the charges for early termination fee... They also charge you $10 for phone replacements under warrenty, where it used to be free. i guess they gotta come up with some money for the rent on those antennas. their customer service is still great, but their service where it counts is ****.

[ahfunaki]

The Cingular 8125 and the HTC Wizard are the same phone.

If you get the 8125 DO NOT PAY TO GET IT UNLOCKED, you can do it yourself for free.

I highly recommend this site http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php for all the info you will ever need about the phone. Such as: unlocking the phone, firmware upgrades, tweaks and so on...

I own the phone myself and like it now that I have done firmware changes and such to it. I thought it was rather slow directly from Cingular...

Check it out...