Cingular, you piece of old man flap

So, after finally deciding to upgrade my old-timey pos cellphone to a smart phone, posting for advice on same at SDMB, reading lots of reviews at CNET, etc., I zip over to Cingular’s webpage (since I already have a existing subscription with it) to see which of the top recommendations is available for my area. Bingo, Cingular 8125 it is!

I then call the local Cingular authorized dealer, identify myself (for discount), tell them what I’m after, confirm they have it in stock and tell them I will be over during lunch to pick it up. When I arrive, they have sold their LAST UNIT to some guy they THOUGHT was me, despite him having a different name. Assholes!

“Well, we can order you one” they say, forget it I say, there are about 20 other Cingular dealers within 50 miles so I will get one from them, so much for shopping local.

Soooo, I then proceed to call every other Cingular dealer within a 50 mile radius (according to Cingular’s website), Best Buy, Radio Shack and a few other outfits that carry Cingular products. NOONE has one.

Well shit, but np, I think, I’ll just order it off the Cingular website. Nope. CINGULAR DOESN’T HAVE ANY AND DOESN’T KNOW WHEN IT WILL. This is a fairly new phone, was just reviewed 2/06 by CNET, but not that new that it should be out of stock for the foreseeable future, I mean jesus it’s not the XBOX 360, what kind of unanswerable demand is there for a $400 cellphone???

So fuck you Cingular, you piece of old man flap. I’m calling Verizon. I’m sure they actually sell the cellphones they advertise.

Probably not though, stupid old man flap cellphone providers.

Yeah, let me know how that works out for you.

Old man flap? I’ve heard of meat flaps, but I don’t think those would show up on old men.

Seriously, what is “old man flap”? I’m a man and I’m getting old. Is this one more thing I have to worry about, right up there with incontinence and a swelling prostate?

Obviously, you have never met my life partner, or my ex. I’ll email you his phone number, if interested.

Buy the phone off the net and transfer the SIM chip yourself. It’s not hard, and you won’t have to deal with Cingular to do it.

Most non-Cingular sites I see seem to require a 2-year subscription for a decent price, think if I did buy the phone outside Cingular the new subscription would supercede my current one, or would I have two freakin’ phones? Pardon my ignorance.

FWIW, as someone who works in the cell phone industry, this may or may not work depending on the phones involved. I don’t work with Cingular products but I know our phones have had different types of SIM cards, and smart phones typically are the ones that have the new kind. The old phone’s card may not be compatible.

If you get the phone privately you will have two phones. You will not have to get a new subscription. You are not obliged to get a phone from a service provider, you can get one on your own and have them provide service to your phone. If the SIM chip is the same for the new phone as the one you have you can even transfer it yourself. Then you’re left with an old phone that you can do whatever you want to do with it. I changed ny sister’s phone this weekend. Now she has a camera phone and a spare beater if something happens. All we have to do is transfer the chip back in that case.

As fluiddruid said, though, make sure the SIM chips are alike. If they are you can get your phone at your leisure, tell Cingular to go to hell, and learn a bit about how cell phones work at the same time. All three of those points appeal to me. I don’t know about you.

Cingular has changed the kind of SIM they’re using a couple times over the past years. Still, the old one should oughta work, just not optimally. But what you can do is just buy one of the new SIMs (15 bux? 20 maybe?) from the Cingular store.

Speaking as an person who has put his phone in the washing machine and then two months later put the replacement phone in the washing machine, I can say from experience that buying the phones privately and switching the SIM cards works fine. Just make sure the phone you buy is either locked to Cingular or not locked at all (eBay is pretty good for this). I was with T-Mobile, but I believe they are both GSM.

Having detected the pattern I have now moved to a Verizon contract with insurance against being a dumbass.

Welp, searched the internet for a deal on a Cingular 8125, found one at wirefly.com, placed my order, wirefly.com then cancelled it about 2 hours later saying Cingular said I wasn’t due for an “upgrade” until 2/07. Fuck!!! I could not make the CS guy understand I wasn’t after an “upgrade,” just wanted to buy the GD phone retail, idiot. No go, apparently they can’t sell them that way. Renewed my phone search of authorized dealers, and so far no luck, no Cingular 8125s between Nashville and Birmingham. Did find some on ebay tho, am cautious about laying out $400 that way though. Damn, damn, damn saith Florida Evans!

I feel your pain. Went thru it with the 2125 (also a HTC product…HTC appears to be the new hotness.)

I wanted a new phone, Cing said I wasn’t eligible till Mar 2006. Then I get a letter in Dec 2005 that they’ll work me a deal to get off AT&T’s network. End up with a Motorola MPx220. THAT AFTERNOON I see the 2125 has been released. same price (less actually, and no rebate hassles) newer OS, twice the ram, better phone all around. But the Moto was bought in a retail store, and the 2125 is only available online…only, by the time I get back from returning the Moto…it’s not. Out of stock. no clue when they’re getting more.

I go back to the store. Can you help me? ‘Sure, we’ll reactivate your old phone.’ Three days later, the 2125 is available, I order it, call to swap everything over (I spent a good 6 hours on the phone between this and my wife’s RAZR.

So, the 2125 inexplicably lobotimizes SIM cards. They go to ship me a new one, neglect to include a return label, take a good 4 weeks to get THAT out to me.

I get a bill for:
1 Wife’s razr - 100 legit
2 Early contract termination fee $135 and system initiation fee $35 Wha?
3 a 2125 phone at $170 Uh, I returned it four weeks ago.
4 usual $65 monthly bill

Bading! $535 or so!

Call them up, pay all but the 170 (They’ve received it, but just haven’t credited me back.)

Now my wife gets constantly harrassed that the account is past due with all the usual doom and gloom that entails.

So. Great phone. Great plan. Super Duper Fuckin’ Crappy Customer Service.

(I had to thow the Fuckin’ in there…it’s the Pit, you know.)

I hear ya. I gave up and Ebayed a 8125 earlier tonight for $499, next day delivery. I rationalize it in that I didn’t have to reup with the Cingular douchebags for another 2yrs.

I guess I came too late to offer cellularone.com as an option. On that site, you get to pick the phone you want and the plan you want, although the downside is a required contract.
I plugged in my area code (cause I didn’t know yours) and chose Cingular as my carrier and one of the phones they allow you to choose from is a Cingular 8125.

Anyway, I hope your new phone is everything you dreamed of!