Section Editor Joni Blecher, a.k.a. the Cell Phone Diva, wants to answer all your questions about cell phones, service plans, and wireless connectivity.
Send her a question!
Switching sides
Q: I broke my old Nokia, which worked perfectly for the last two years. I bought two new Motorolas (the
V60 and the
T720), which I subsequently returned because they don't work well for calls. My neighbor has AT&T, and her V60 has the same problem! Is there a basic, good-quality flip phone that works well with Cingular service? Or do I need to change services, as one dealer suggested? I just need a cell phone to make calls!
--diana25
A: Most likely, you don't need to change carriers. Chances are, your old Nokia phone probably worked on Cingular's TDMA service, whereas the new phones you tried work on the company's GSM network. There's a big push among some carriers to switch existing TDMA customers over to their expanding GSM networks. The problem is that, occasionally, the GSM networks don't offer the same coverage as the TDMA networks. That's not to say that they won't eventually, but it sounds like GSM service just isn't there yet for your area. Your best bet is to go back to Cingular and ask for a model that works on the TDMA networks, such as the
Nokia 3360. It's not a flip phone, but it does exactly what you want it to do well: make calls.
Speak to me
Q: My
Sanyo 4900 is dying and needs to be replaced, but it has been discontinued. Sprint tells me that its replacement model is in FCC testing. Do you know of any soon-to-be-released Sprint cell phones that feature a speakerphone?
--Matt
A: You should check out the
Hitachi P300 from Sprint. It has many of the same features as the 4900--and then some. Plus, it's a lot slimmer. The newer models that have a built-in speakerphone are all smart phones, such as the highly rated
Treo 600.
The carrier barrier
Q: I currently have the
Motorola T720i from T-Mobile, but I want a camera phone so that I can send pictures to all my family and friends, regardless of their carrier or manufacturer. Is that possible?
--Dae
A: Well, I have some good news and some bad news. You can send pictures from your camera phone to any e-mail address. However, you can't send images to just any phone. Unfortunately, many of the same problems that plagued SMS (text messaging) adoption here in the United States are being repeated in the MMS arena. Let me explain.
First, a phone must be MMS ready to accept photos. At this point, that's not a large segment of the cell phone customer base. Second, in order for your friend to receive the picture you sent, he or she has to have the same carrier as you. This was the case with SMS and again with MMS. I suspect this will change in time. Just as the majority of mobiles today support SMS and don't have the carrier barrier, the same will happen with MMS. The question is how quickly it will happen. From where I sit, it seems to be none too soon.
