Cell phone questions.

[shilala]

I have AT&T, Lisa and I run iphones. When we went to florida recently, I fell in the ocean with our iphones (and my camera) and had to get new.
When I did, it was cheaper to get two new lines to replace the phones. With the new lines I got two new sim cards and haven't used them.
Lisa would like to get rid of Vonage and her crappy router, so I'd like to pick up a phone, pop the sim card in it, and she can use one of those lines for her house phone.
The questions are these...
1.) What kind of phone do I need to get? Can I grab something on ebay?
2.) Will I just stick the sim card in and it'll work, or do I have to do some sort of activation process like Verizon?
3.) Can we port her Vonage number over being as we already have the sim cards and they have their own numbers? Neither one has been used yet. Strike that, they may have been in the new phones when we got them, but only for seconds. We haven't used them since, and didn't use them at the store, but the girl there may have.
Thanks, guys!!!

[Mugen910]

I'm not sure what you are asking? You got two new phone with two new sim cards? Did you get rid of your old cell phones and sim cards after the accident? Does this mean you'll be paying for 4 lines of service?

If you want a home phone then I'm not sure how a cell phone would take it's place. Do you want a number that is dedicated as your home number?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Mugen910

I'm not sure what you are asking? You got two new phone with two new sim cards? Did you get rid of your old cell phones and sim cards after the accident? Does this mean you'll be paying for 4 lines of service?

If you want a home phone then I'm not sure how a cell phone would take it's place. Do you want a number that is dedicated as your home number?

My bad, Bao. I used the two old sim cards in the two new phones. The old phones are junked. The two new sim cards are still in the bag from when we went to the store for the replacement phones.
So we're paying for 4 lines, only use two (with our two old sim cards/phone numbers), and have two fresh sim cards with new phone numbers waiting to go, and tons of rollover minutes to use them with.

On the home phone...
Lisa has Vonage. Ideally she'd like to port that number over to one of the two excess lines/sim cards we have. I doubt we can do that, but thought it was worth asking. The home phone is basically for the kids, and the cell phone would just take the home phone's place. One of Lisa's kids already has a phone, the youngest doesn't. She'll probably ultimately take the new "home phone" for her own, but I don't think Lisa feels she's old enough for a cell phone yet. It's going to be kept at home, stationary for the time being.

[Mugen910]

OK so yeah you can get either 2 more AT&T phones and pop those sim cards in and you're good to go. If you do not want an AT&T phone then find any cell phone Ebay/craigslist that is "Unlocked" and you can throw the sim card into that cell also. "Unlocked" means that the cell phone has been fixed from being used on only one carrier.

As far as porting your vonage number to the sim card..I have no clue if you can port one of those numbers to your cell, maybe call AT&T and ask?...I have a separate google voice number that is set up to ring to my cell so I give that out if I don't want to use my actual home number.

[kydsid]

1) You need a GSM phone, preferably unlocked or one that says it is ATT compatible. You need a phone that uses 900Mhz and 1800Mhz as that is ATT frequencies. But any quad band/world phone will support that frequency. But check just to be sure. Yes you can buy on ebay or anywhere really. For instance my phone is a a Nokia from Europe in quad band. I just put the sim card in and that is it. This does NOT include data phones/smart phones. That is another frequency issue but if she is looking for a blackberry or the like let me know I'll help with that but it gets more difficult beyound plug and play when you go beyound wanting voice and MMS in a phone.


2) No just put the sim card in see above.


3) I don't think Vonage numbers can be ported. You will have to ask Vonage first then ATT. But you can forward the Vonage number to the cell number.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Mugen910

OK so yeah you can get either 2 more AT&T phones and pop those sim cards in and you're good to go. If you do not want an AT&T phone then find any cell phone Ebay/craigslist that is "Unlocked" and you can throw the sim card into that cell also. "Unlocked" means that the cell phone has been fixed from being used on only one carrier.

As far as porting your vonage number to the sim card..I have no clue if you can port one of those numbers to your cell, maybe call AT&T and ask?...I have a separate google voice number that is set up to ring to my cell so I give that out if I don't want to use my actual home number.

One more question, brother.
The phone I get from ebay...
I know that Verizon phones don't have sim cards. I should look for an At&t or unlocked phone, got that. Is there a designation like GSM or something I should look for? What do they call phones that take a sim card?
The iphone is the first phone I ever had that involved a sim card, so I have no frame of reference.
Thanks, brother!!!

[shilala]

Originally Posted by kydsid

1) You need a GSM phone, preferably unlocked or one that says it is ATT compatible. You need a phone that uses 900Mhz and 1800Mhz as that is ATT frequencies. But any quad band/world phone will support that frequency. But check just to be sure. Yes you can buy on ebay or anywhere really. For instance my phone is a a Nokia from Europe in quad band. I just put the sim card in and that is it. This does NOT include data phones/smart phones. That is another frequency issue but if she is looking for a blackberry or the like let me know I'll help with that but it gets more difficult beyound plug and play when you go beyound wanting voice and MMS in a phone.


2) No just put the sim card in see above.


3) I don't think Vonage numbers can be ported. You will have to ask Vonage first then ATT. But you can forward the Vonage number to the cell number.

Thanks, Jason. That answers the question I was typing while you were typing.

[CheapHumidors]

Hey Scott,

Selling customers new lines so that they can get cheaper phones is a practice called "churning" and the people that did it will probably get in significant trouble if you tell AT&T. The reason they do it is because they get higher commission (much higher) and can therefore discount the phone more for the consumer.

AT&T uses a system which should allow you to just pop your SIM card into any compatible phone and have it work (as long as the phone is either programmed for AT&T or it's "unlocked" to work with any carrier).

As for porting the number over, yes you can do that. You'll need to call AT&T customer service and have them help you with that. They should be able to replace one of the existing contract lines with that number.

My last job was training T-Mobile sales reps, so I know a fair bit about this )

Let me know if I can help further!

[Mugen910]

Originally Posted by CheapHumidors

Hey Scott,

Selling customers new lines so that they can get cheaper phones is a practice called "churning" and the people that did it will probably get in significant trouble if you tell AT&T. The reason they do it is because they get higher commission (much higher) and can therefore discount the phone more for the consumer.

AT&T uses a system which should allow you to just pop your SIM card into any compatible phone and have it work (as long as the phone is either programmed for AT&T or it's "unlocked" to work with any carrier).

As for porting the number over, yes you can do that. You'll need to call AT&T customer service and have them help you with that. They should be able to replace one of the existing contract lines with that number.

My last job was training T-Mobile sales reps, so I know a fair bit about this )

Let me know if I can help further!

The porting issue Scott has is taking a Vonage number to his AT&T number...can that be done?

[CheapHumidors]

Originally Posted by Mugen910

The porting issue Scott has is taking a Vonage number to his AT&T number...can that be done?

Don't see a reason why not. AT&T customer service will tell him when he calls, but typically whether its VoIP or cell or land lines I've never had trouble porting them.

Mind you, I haven't worked in the cell industry in a few years, but it never used to be a problem.

[Mugen910]

Originally Posted by CheapHumidors

Don't see a reason why not. AT&T customer service will tell him when he calls, but typically whether its VoIP or cell or land lines I've never had trouble porting them.

Mind you, I haven't worked in the cell industry in a few years, but it never used to be a problem.

Good to know..thanks.

[shilala]

Thanks Bao, and thanks cheaphumidors man with no name!!! You guys were both a huge help.
Lisa thanks you, too.

[CheapHumidors]

Do I have no name? Whoops! My name is Sam

[shilala]

Originally Posted by CheapHumidors

Do I have no name? Whoops! My name is Sam

Thanks, Sam!!!