Comments on: AT&T Is Open To Fake PR

By: MobHappy » Blog Archive » AT&T: Look How Open* We Are

MobHappy » Blog Archive » AT&T: Look How Open* We Are — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:13:56 +0000

[...] is, as Ricky at SMS Text News points out, the fact that you apparently have to sign a two-year contract to buy the friggin SIM [...]

By: SMS Text News » Archives » AT&T Is Still Confused On Contract-Free SIM

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:46:36 +0000

[...] when AT&T got ahold of Om Malik to ‘clarify’ that no contract was needed for the SIM-only deal, and wanted to check to see exactly how easy it was for Joe Blow to get. However, I don’t [...]

By: Jeb

Jeb — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:51:29 +0000

Funny how those things get left out. Maybe ATT listens more then we know.

By: Ben Smith

Ben Smith — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:14:27 +0000

Update: Om says AT&T say this was a mistake and there’s no contract lock-in: http://gigaom.com/2008/01/22/att-says-sim-contract-fiasco-a-mistake/

Way to turn a positive announcement into a backlash!

By: AT&T will sell you a SIM, without a contract, without a phone; Europe laughs

AT&T will sell you a SIM, without a contract, without a phone; Europe laughs — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:48:47 +0000

[...] Cadden says AT&T still manages to muck up MMS, but we have to be happy that baby steps are being [...]

By: AT&T’s SIM-only Plan Still Requires A Contract?

AT&T’s SIM-only Plan Still Requires A Contract? — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:01:28 +0000

[...] GSM handset you want. Note that this has always been possible in an AT&T store. Problem is, even without a phone subsidy, you still have to have a contract. While I seem to remember a 1 year contract being others, others [...]

By: Matthew Stevens

Matthew Stevens — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:32:13 +0000

With t-mobile you can now choose a flex pay option which gives you month to month service without a contract. Its not as convenient as prepaid is to setup but at least you have the option of the better rate plans and data options, especially since t-mo in the USA doesn’t offer any prepaid data outside of a sidekick.

By: Jeb

Jeb — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:07:53 +0000

The reason behind not selling SIMs so freely at the grocery store and such is security. They think that if you go into a cell phone shop that you will be honest and give them your real name and address. You are able to easily by top up cards at the grocery store here in the States.

One thing to keep in mind is that prepaid is looked down upon here, it is viewed as the poor man/poor immigrants means of having a mobile . I don’t agree with it but it is the way it is. So making SIMs and top up cards readily available is not the Telcos top priority, because they are not the big money makers.

By: Jeb

Jeb — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:04:02 +0000

I could be wrong but I pressed the sales guy at the ATT store last week and he swears that he can only do a 2 year contract.

By: Steve Haney

Steve Haney — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:53:04 +0000

At least they’ve taken this baby step. But the genie is out of the bottle. In the near future, monthly contract and pay-as-go SIMs should be easy to buy at a local retailer. It’s just a matter of time at this point.

By: PhoneBoy

PhoneBoy — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:16:08 +0000

@antoine of course you can. They sell them on eBay real cheap.

By: Antoine of MMM

Antoine of MMM — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:36:57 +0000

PhoneBoy; you can go month-to-month; purchase a pre-pay card and you get the SIM and no phone.

By: PhoneBoy

PhoneBoy — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:57:27 +0000

The minute I saw this press release where AT&T announced they were open, I was like “um, aren’t you already open?” The only real difference is:

a) Sales folks are allowed to admit you can use any unlocked GSM device you want–when asked.
b) You can buy a SIM on the website.

One point of correction: a 1 year contract is all that is required. Not a 2 year. Still would be nice to go month-to-month.

By: Antoine of MMM

Antoine of MMM — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:32:13 +0000

I agree, it s weird thing with this SIM item; I almost looked at this and smiled. Though, and techinically speaking, one could always go pre-pay with ATT and not pay on a contract to do just what they are marketing as being new.

By: Ewan

Ewan — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:46:38 +0000

Ricky, you can have ANY colour you want. ANY colour. We offer ANY colour — it’s completely your choice.

As long as it’s black…

By: AT&T’s SIM-Only Offer Defies Logic - GigaOM

AT&T’s SIM-Only Offer Defies Logic - GigaOM — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:42:51 +0000

[...] that you can sell on eBay and use the proceeds to defray the cost of, say, a new handset of choice? SMS Text News has a first-hand report on this SIM-only plan. Share/Send Sphere Print Previous [...]

By: Ricky

Ricky — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:51:21 +0000

Jared – I’ve had the same media package from Cingular/AT&T for 4 years (grandfathered MediaWorks) and two months ago, was able to send videos back and forth with no problems. I’ve not made any changes to my account, and they’ve simply started ‘adapting’ my MMS. There’s several threads all over the internet with similar situations. User makes no changes, it appears as though someone flipped a switch somewhere.

By: Jared

Jared — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:50:31 +0000

i think you can resolve this by calling them – i have an unlocked N95-1 on AT&T in MA, USA and i send/recieve video just fine. i had an issue once, and a call resolved it: i tried changing to a data plan with bundled SMS, but found that they’re AP ‘isp.cingular’ was, in fact, no faster than ‘wap.cingular’ and have the same ports available (ie VoIP could not connect over EDGE with either AP). i called and changed my plan back to unlimited data + 200 SMS as separate items and this made inbound videos, etc show up as texts asking my to goto a PC and browse the web to see the content. i called, and complained – they fixed it while i was still on the phone (hands free, i wasn’t going to hangup until it worked – i sent and received video with no issues)

so – the problem is likely that they need to manually enabled the content delivery for your account.
-jared

AT&T is stupid enough to cripple my MMS. They call it �MMS Adaptation�, and basically it means that if the receiving handset isn�t listed in their �supported handsets� list, the network assumes it is the lowest common denominator, which is somewhere along the lines of the Nokia 2610, which doesn�t support video playback, and only has 2MB of internal memory

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:41:29 +0000

I forst travelled to the US from Britain in 2001. I was here for 6 weeks (I live here now) and wanted to buy a SIM card so I could use my phone while I was here. I was shocked to learn that it was impossible to buy a SIM card – that I would have to buy a phone + contract instead. Ultimately it was cheaper to suck up the high call costs from my UK provider than it was to buy a ‘cheap’ local phone!

So now, almost 7 years later, it is possible – but since it still requires a contract, then it’s pointless. It would still be cheaper for a visitor to use his own phone from home, eating high call charges.