Cellular GSM Technology - 32k SIM Card

Author

32k SIM Card - The Truth?

Jonathan

2005-09-13, 2:14 pm

Greetings,

Thanks again to everyone who responded to my question concerning purchasing
a Motorola T720 (GSM) for use with Cingular. Yes, I did purchase the
phone - it was a good deal - but now I have a question concerning what I was
told by the proprietor of my local Cingular store here in town.

First off, he told me that he didn't carry the 32k SIM cards anymore so I
would have to find one on my own. That's no big deal - however, he also
told me that I would not get good service using a phone with a 32k SIM card.
He stated that the 32k card would not allow my phone to talk with all of the
towers on the Cingular network (specifically the towers they acquired
because of the merger with AT&T).

Was he telling the truth, or is he just blowing smoke at me in order to
convince me to purchase a new phone from him (and get sucked into another
contract, which I don't want to do)?

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

Cheers - Jonathan

RobR

2005-09-13, 2:14 pm

As I understand it, 64K SIMs do not improve your signal strength directly.
However, if your problem is that Cingular has better signal than AT&T
or viceversa in your area, then switching to a 64K SIM will allow
Cingular to tell your phone which of the two networks it should prefer.
As a result, your phone can be put on the strongest of the two
networks, therefore giving your phone a better signal.

"Jonathan" < Fire_Capt651@hotmail
.com> wrote in message
news:8aCUe.8419$Wd7.7614@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Greetings,
>
> Thanks again to everyone who responded to my question concerning
> purchasing a Motorola T720 (GSM) for use with Cingular. Yes, I did
> purchase the phone - it was a good deal - but now I have a question
> concerning what I was told by the proprietor of my local Cingular store
> here in town.
>
> First off, he told me that he didn't carry the 32k SIM cards anymore so I
> would have to find one on my own. That's no big deal - however, he also
> told me that I would not get good service using a phone with a 32k SIM
> card. He stated that the 32k card would not allow my phone to talk with
> all of the towers on the Cingular network (specifically the towers they
> acquired because of the merger with AT&T).
>
> Was he telling the truth, or is he just blowing smoke at me in order to
> convince me to purchase a new phone from him (and get sucked into another
> contract, which I don't want to do)?
>
> Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.
>
> Cheers - Jonathan
>

Dave C.

2005-09-13, 2:14 pm

John Navas

2005-09-13, 2:14 pm

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <8aCUe.8419$Wd7.7614@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net> on Sat, 10 Sep 2005
14:34:44 GMT, "Jonathan" < Fire_Capt651@hotmail
.com> wrote:

>Thanks again to everyone who responded to my question concerning purchasing
>a Motorola T720 (GSM) for use with Cingular. Yes, I did purchase the
>phone - it was a good deal - but now I have a question concerning what I was
>told by the proprietor of my local Cingular store here in town.
>
>First off, he told me that he didn't carry the 32k SIM cards anymore so I
>would have to find one on my own. That's no big deal - however, he also
>told me that I would not get good service using a phone with a 32k SIM card.
>He stated that the 32k card would not allow my phone to talk with all of the
>towers on the Cingular network (specifically the towers they acquired
>because of the merger with AT&T).
>
>Was he telling the truth, or is he just blowing smoke at me in order to
>convince me to purchase a new phone from him (and get sucked into another
>contract, which I don't want to do)?

He's probably just uninformed -- very few salespersons understand the real
difference in SIMs.

The Truth is that the *only* difference between 32K and 64K Cingular SIMs is
that the latter supports ENS *when* used with an ENS-capable device. Since
your T720 isn't ENS-capable, a 32K SIM will work *exactly* the same as a 64K
SIM.

An ENS-capable device (only available within the past year) with a 64K (ENS)
SIM can be manually Homed OTA (over the air) by Cingular Tech Support (not
Customer Care) to prefer either "orange" or "blue" which could be an advantage
for you if "blue" signal is better than "orange" signal in your area.

Regardless of SIM, your non-ENS T720 will be Homed on the "orange" (old
Cingular) network. It will have free roaming on the "blue" (old ATTWS)
network, but will select "orange" if there is any usable signal even if
there's a much better "blue" signal. (That's basic GSM operation.) So *if*
"blue" is better than "orange" in your area, then you may not get as good call
quality as an ENS-capable phone Homed on "blue", but you will still have
exactly the same network coverage.

The two networks are expected to be merged into a single network by sometime
next year, which will eliminate any need for or benefit from ENS.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

Mark W. Oots

2005-09-13, 2:14 pm

"Jonathan" < Fire_Capt651@hotmail
.com> wrote in message
news:8aCUe.8419$Wd7.7614@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Greetings,
>
> Thanks again to everyone who responded to my question concerning
> purchasing a Motorola T720 (GSM) for use with Cingular. Yes, I did
> purchase the phone - it was a good deal - but now I have a question
> concerning what I was told by the proprietor of my local Cingular store
> here in town.
>
> First off, he told me that he didn't carry the 32k SIM cards anymore so I
> would have to find one on my own. That's no big deal - however, he also
> told me that I would not get good service using a phone with a 32k SIM
> card. He stated that the 32k card would not allow my phone to talk with
> all of the towers on the Cingular network (specifically the towers they
> acquired because of the merger with AT&T).
>
> Was he telling the truth, or is he just blowing smoke at me in order to
> convince me to purchase a new phone from him (and get sucked into another
> contract, which I don't want to do)?
>
> Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.
>
> Cheers - Jonathan
See John's answer to this one....Copy it to your hard drive and paste it
into a response to the question when it comes up again in a couple of days.
It is the CORRECT answer to the question. ENS is for Cingular to use to
reduce network load NOT to improve reception, and if the phone doesn't have
ENS, a 64K SIM does zilch over a 32K.

Mark

Jonathan

2005-09-13, 2:15 pm

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who replied to my post. Truly, helping is what
groups like this are for, and I very much appreciate the assistance I have
received here.

I also contacted Motorola and Cingular customer support and got the same
answer from both of them - the fact is a 64k SIM card will work in my T720G
phone but I will not receive any added benefit from it not even extra space
for phone book entries). Cingular even informed me that if they have a
customer who has an older 32k SIM that goes bad, their standard answer is to
send them to a local franchise and have them install a 64k card in its
place.

For what it's worth, I did purchase a brand new 32k SIM card for use in my
phone, and I will have the local Cingular store program it. I can't really
tell if the proprietor of the store actually knew this information and was
just trying to push me into buying a new phone, or if he honestly didn't
know. Either way, he talked himself out of my purchasing a new card from
him at $35.00 and instead I got one for $6.00. His loss.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Cheers - Jonathan

"Jonathan" < Fire_Capt651@hotmail
.com> wrote in message
news:8aCUe.8419$Wd7.7614@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Greetings,
>
> Thanks again to everyone who responded to my question concerning
> purchasing a Motorola T720 (GSM) for use with Cingular. Yes, I did
> purchase the phone - it was a good deal - but now I have a question
> concerning what I was told by the proprietor of my local Cingular store
> here in town.
>
> First off, he told me that he didn't carry the 32k SIM cards anymore so I
> would have to find one on my own. That's no big deal - however, he also
> told me that I would not get good service using a phone with a 32k SIM
> card. He stated that the 32k card would not allow my phone to talk with
> all of the towers on the Cingular network (specifically the towers they
> acquired because of the merger with AT&T).
>
> Was he telling the truth, or is he just blowing smoke at me in order to
> convince me to purchase a new phone from him (and get sucked into another
> contract, which I don't want to do)?
>
> Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.
>
> Cheers - Jonathan
>

Tropical Haven

2005-09-13, 2:15 pm

>
>The question is moot. You should be using a 64K SIM in the Motorola T720
>(GSM) on the Cingular network. Why would you even bother to look for a 32K
>SIM? If Cingular told you that the T720 wouldn't accept a 64K SIM, then the
>Cingular salesman LIED. We both used 64K SIMs in ours. -Dave
>
>
>
>
Actually, because the T720 doesn't support ENS, it won't make a
difference if your SIM is 32k or 64k. He may have been confused about
ENS not working in the T720, thinking it was the entire 64k SIM.

TH

Bill Kraski

2005-09-13, 2:15 pm

Tropical Haven wrote:

> Actually, because the T720 doesn't support ENS, it won't make a
> difference if your SIM is 32k or 64k. He may have been confused about
> ENS not working in the T720, thinking it was the entire 64k SIM.

If I understand what's being said, then, I should be able to get my old ATT
V180 (which had a 32k SIM) unlocked & switch my new Cingular 64k SIM to it
without any damage to either the phone or the SIM. Or am I missing
something? It certainly would make my life saner for those times when I'm
going somewhere a camera phone isn't allowed.

Bill K

matt weber

2005-09-15, 2:48 am

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 14:34:44 GMT, "Jonathan"
< Fire_Capt651@hotmail
.com> wrote:

>Greetings,
>
>Thanks again to everyone who responded to my question concerning purchasing
>a Motorola T720 (GSM) for use with Cingular. Yes, I did purchase the
>phone - it was a good deal - but now I have a question concerning what I was
>told by the proprietor of my local Cingular store here in town.
>
>First off, he told me that he didn't carry the 32k SIM cards anymore so I
>would have to find one on my own. That's no big deal - however, he also
>told me that I would not get good service using a phone with a 32k SIM card.
>He stated that the 32k card would not allow my phone to talk with all of the
>towers on the Cingular network (specifically the towers they acquired
>because of the merger with AT&T).
>
>Was he telling the truth, or is he just blowing smoke at me in order to
>convince me to purchase a new phone from him (and get sucked into another
>contract, which I don't want to do)?
>
>Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.
>
>Cheers - Jonathan
>
He was having some fun at your expense. All the size on the SIM
determines is how many phone numbers, and SMS messages can be stored
in it. There are some issues with some very old SIM's (5 Volt),
because few current phones support 5 Volt Sim's, however at this
point, most 5 Volt SIMS are long past their design life, if you walk
into a service provider store with one, it will generally be replaced
without charge. Most 5 Volts SIMS are 2kb anyway.

The function of the SIM relative to the network is to provide an ID to
the service provider, No more, and no less. So whether it has 0kb or
100gb makes no difference to the service provider, all they care about
is the ID on the SIM.

Anything else is strictly optional features. So bigger SIM's allow
more SMS messages, and phone book entries, period, end stop. The
storage capacity is unrelated to the ability to connect to the
network, period, end stop. I was actually using a 5 Volt SIM until a
couple years ago. I asked my service provider to replace it so I could
use a newer phone. They were only too happy to copy the contents into
a new SIM, disable the old SIM, and enable the new one on their
system.

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