Some of our Northern Nevada AT&T legacy GSM customers are happy with their existing plans, and because they are on the GSM network their service is not affected by the loss of old TDMA cellular towers. However, many legacy customers have phones on the fritz and upgrading to a new handset would mean losing their promotional AT&T rate plan. So many of you have been asking me, "how do we get around this?" Well there is a way, but I must warn any of you who take these steps they are at your own risk and we are not responsible for phones that may not work with old AT&T legacy SIM cards. The solution is buying an un-locked GSM phone. This can be done through ebay, which is the most risky way to go about it, or you can purchase unlocked phones through myworldphone.com. When purchasing an unlocked phone for the U.S. make sure that be phone is a quad band for best performance. Many of the unlocked phones that you will find will be tri-band, meaning they lack one of the cellular frequencies used in the U.S. This being either 1900, or 850. The best way to get the most out of your service (i.e. rate plan, phone, and coverage) is to upgrade to a new "cingular" branded phone with rollover minutes. Older AT&T plans do not have rollover, and some do not even have mobile to mobile. The new handsets are also set to work with the cingular (AT&T) towers more efficiently than unlocked world phones from over seas. Thus improving battery performance, and easing access to the web and text messaging. So if you want to get the most out of the cingular (AT&T) network than go with a new company branded phone. However, for those of you savvy enough, there are other alternatives to gaining access with your old settings.

This is a great feature and a good way to save text charges when you are in front of both you wireless phone and computer! You can send this type of message to any wireless phone using any carrier. From your email program (Outlook, GMail, Yahoo, etc), type the recipients 10 digit wireless phone number, then the @ sign, then the appropriate tag:

Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.com

Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com

Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com

Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com

T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net

The Reno-Gazette Journal has added a great new feature to there website. Now, you can get the latest news, traffic, sports, weather, and even Amber Alerts sent straight to your cell phone via Text Message. Normal Text Messaging rates will apply. With Cingular/AT&T service, pay per use is $.15/message. However, if you come in to one of our Reno, Sparks, Carson City Cingular locations, we can add a package to your account for as little as $4.99 per month for 200 messages per month. Log onto www.rgj.com/textme and sign up today!

If you have multiple services through AT&T (formerly SBC), you can come in to one of our Reno, Sparks, or Carson City Cingular locations and sign up for combined billing. Your Landline, DSL, and Cingular (now AT&T) will then show up together on one bill with a discounted rate on each. The depth of the discount will depend on the number and types of service. Just come in and ask the “The Unity Plan from AT&T.”

As part of the master plan to combine all services under one “Globe,” your former Cingular, now known as JC&C, will soon be able to sell all AT&T products. It looks like we will be starting with High Speed Internet (formerly known as DSL). This is a prelude to other items that will be combined to create U-verse. Transmission speeds for this new product are said to be guaranteed up 8 Megs and will be much less per month than its ISP competitors. Come into one of our Reno, Sparks, or Carson City AT&T locations to check it out.