Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Update on AT&T Closed Cell Phone Network
On a whim today, I put my AT&T SIM card in my old unlocked Blackberry, just to see if it could make and/or receive calls. This is the same phone that previously worked on the AT&T cellular phone network, then mysteriously became unable to operate as a phone around December 1. At the same time, two brand new unlocked Motorola V3 phones also refused to work with AT&T service. At first AT&T insisted that all three phones were defective, then later stated that they had shut their cellular phone service to unlocked phones. Perhaps they changed their minds? I guess this will remain a mystery.
Friday, December 14, 2007
AT&T Blocks Unlocked Phones
UPDATE DECEMBER 14, 2007
After replacing a brand new unlocked Motorola V3 [GSM] phone with another brand new unlocked Motorola V3 [GSM] phone, I put my wife's AT&T SIM card in it, and had the exact same result as in my previous post. The phone would send and receive text messages, but could not make nor receive phone calls. I spent about an hour with a very helpful person in AT&T Technical Support. He very patiently tried numerous experiments to attempt to coax telephone service out of the new unlocked phone. After trying everything he could think of doing, he escalated the issue to Engineering for resolution. I could expect a call within three business days. Before hanging up, I asked if AT&T had started blocking unlocked phones to prevent fraudulent access. He thought that would not be necessary, because AT&T has to program the SIM card with their customer's account information to work in a compatible cell phone. No phone -- AT&T branded or unlocked compatible -- without a valid account and SIM card would be able to use AT&T wireless service.
Less than an hour later, my wife received a call from AT&T explaining that AT&T DOES NOT ALLOW UNLOCKED CELL PHONES ON ITS CELL PHONE NETWORK, in order to prevent fraudulent access. Unfortunately, paying AT&T Wireless customers no longer have freedom of choice. Caveat emptor.
After replacing a brand new unlocked Motorola V3 [GSM] phone with another brand new unlocked Motorola V3 [GSM] phone, I put my wife's AT&T SIM card in it, and had the exact same result as in my previous post. The phone would send and receive text messages, but could not make nor receive phone calls. I spent about an hour with a very helpful person in AT&T Technical Support. He very patiently tried numerous experiments to attempt to coax telephone service out of the new unlocked phone. After trying everything he could think of doing, he escalated the issue to Engineering for resolution. I could expect a call within three business days. Before hanging up, I asked if AT&T had started blocking unlocked phones to prevent fraudulent access. He thought that would not be necessary, because AT&T has to program the SIM card with their customer's account information to work in a compatible cell phone. No phone -- AT&T branded or unlocked compatible -- without a valid account and SIM card would be able to use AT&T wireless service.
Less than an hour later, my wife received a call from AT&T explaining that AT&T DOES NOT ALLOW UNLOCKED CELL PHONES ON ITS CELL PHONE NETWORK, in order to prevent fraudulent access. Unfortunately, paying AT&T Wireless customers no longer have freedom of choice. Caveat emptor.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Did AT&T/Cingular Disable Unlocked Phones?
Recently, I purchased a new unlocked GSM cell phone for my wife to use on the AT&T/Cingular wireless network. After inserting her SIM card, the phone recognized the Cingular network, and displayed five bars. As long-time Cingular customers, we expected the phone to recognize the network and make and receive calls. Unfortunately, it was unable to send nor receive phone calls. It was, however, able to send and receive text messages. Thinking that AT&T needed to enter the phone's IMEI number, I brought the phone to the local AT&T Wireless store. They looked at the phone and verified there was no problem with the account, and suggested that I call their technical support to resolve the problem, after mentioning that they had received many calls about unlocked phones being able to send and receive text messages but unable to send/receive phone calls, due to a recent network change.
After I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with AT&T customer service and technical support, provided IMEI number, swapped SIMs and power cycled several times, they made some changes on their end, all to no effect. When I mentioned the network changes cited by the local AT&T store employee, the customer service rep stated that he had no knowledge of any such change, and stated that tests they conducted on their side indicated that I had a defective phone.
Today, on a hunch, I put my wife's SIM card in an old unlocked Blackberry that had worked the last time I tried it a couple of months ago. Guess what? Same symptoms as the new "defective" phone -- it would not make nor receive phone calls!
Is anyone aware of a change to the AT&T wireless network to disable unlocked phones? As hard as it is to build customer goodwill and easy as it is to destroy it, one would think that they would not intentionally do this to their paying customers. As always, comments are welcome.
After I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with AT&T customer service and technical support, provided IMEI number, swapped SIMs and power cycled several times, they made some changes on their end, all to no effect. When I mentioned the network changes cited by the local AT&T store employee, the customer service rep stated that he had no knowledge of any such change, and stated that tests they conducted on their side indicated that I had a defective phone.
Today, on a hunch, I put my wife's SIM card in an old unlocked Blackberry that had worked the last time I tried it a couple of months ago. Guess what? Same symptoms as the new "defective" phone -- it would not make nor receive phone calls!
Is anyone aware of a change to the AT&T wireless network to disable unlocked phones? As hard as it is to build customer goodwill and easy as it is to destroy it, one would think that they would not intentionally do this to their paying customers. As always, comments are welcome.
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