V3L: what is different about it from US V3?

The first one you bought was locked. Cingular could have unlocked it for
you. As to the packaging and items included, it is up to the the carrier
to determine what will be in the box. If a carrier is going to give the
phone away or heavily subsidize it, they want to give you as little as
possible so you'll buy the rest. Most people don't need much more than
the phone, battery and charger. In other countries, where people buy
their phones and service seperately, manufactureres bundle a lot of
value into a package to attract buyers and justify their prices.

As to features, again, the carriers select how they want their phones to
look and work. More features are typically available on non-carrier
supplied phones. The "Find" feature, as well as Video Camera, is now
standard on all new razrs and can be added to older ones.


> Recently I got a almost brand new (less than 50 minutes on the
> lifetime timer) black Cingular Razr from a dealer off ebay for a
> killer price (he was local to me here in LA and I wanted to pick it up
> same day). Well it didn't work with my AT&T SIM and Cingular was no
> help what so ever. I was lucky my boss wanted one so I sold it to him
> for the price I paid and looking on ebay I found another dealer who
> had brand new unlocked phones. I love this phone! It's Cobalt Blue,
> had a spanish user manual and came with a ton of stuff in the box
> compared to the 3 or 4 items the cingular one had (like a Motorola
> leather case, MPT 4 software, usb cable, Euro plugged charger but he
> gave me an adaptor, Handsfree kit and he threw in a car charger and
> holster for it on top of it!). It has "Find" search, video recording
> but what else is different about it? Can't find much on it in
> English, anything from anyone?
>
> Gabe

On Mon, 01 May 2006 18:53:34 GMT, "BruceR" <br@NOhawaiiSPAM.com>
wrote:

Thanks for the replies. What I should have said was Chingular REFUSED
to unlock the phone. They (the rep) stated "we don't unlock phones!".
When I told him at one time when I did have service and they unlocked
my Siemens for me once via email even, he stated "I doubt it and even
if they did, they no longer do it. He stated I would have to find via
the internet "some unlocking service" to do it. So either way I made
my boss happy with the Black V3. The new one, the V3L was only 20
bucks more than I paid for the V3 (like $180 for the Chingular). I
got an unlocked phone that worked with my At&t sim, he got his second
phone.

I downloaded the english manual from the Hello Moto site so I don't
have to rack my brain remembering spanish. So far my only quirk is
with the phone and Bluetooth. I turned my Bluetooth headset off
yesterday while at a function but my phone kept thinking it was on or
something cause when someone called, I could not hear them on the
phone. The Bluetooth light was flashing like the headset was on but I
was not even near it (I went outside to take the call when the phone
was ringing and I didn't have the headset anywhere near me. There
were a lot of other people there with cell phones so did it detect
their signal? I just turned off the phone and back on and all was
kosher.

Gabe

>The first one you bought was locked. Cingular could have unlocked it for
>you. As to the packaging and items included, it is up to the the carrier
>to determine what will be in the box. If a carrier is going to give the
>phone away or heavily subsidize it, they want to give you as little as
>possible so you'll buy the rest. Most people don't need much more than
>the phone, battery and charger. In other countries, where people buy
>their phones and service seperately, manufactureres bundle a lot of
>value into a package to attract buyers and justify their prices.
>
>As to features, again, the carriers select how they want their phones to
>look and work. More features are typically available on non-carrier
>supplied phones. The "Find" feature, as well as Video Camera, is now
>standard on all new razrs and can be added to older ones.
>
>
>> Recently I got a almost brand new (less than 50 minutes on the
>> lifetime timer) black Cingular Razr from a dealer off ebay for a
>> killer price (he was local to me here in LA and I wanted to pick it up
>> same day). Well it didn't work with my AT&T SIM and Cingular was no
>> help what so ever. I was lucky my boss wanted one so I sold it to him
>> for the price I paid and looking on ebay I found another dealer who
>> had brand new unlocked phones. I love this phone! It's Cobalt Blue,
>> had a spanish user manual and came with a ton of stuff in the box
>> compared to the 3 or 4 items the cingular one had (like a Motorola
>> leather case, MPT 4 software, usb cable, Euro plugged charger but he
>> gave me an adaptor, Handsfree kit and he threw in a car charger and
>> holster for it on top of it!). It has "Find" search, video recording
>> but what else is different about it? Can't find much on it in
>> English, anything from anyone?
>>
>> Gabe
>

> Thanks for the replies. What I should have said was Chingular REFUSED
> to unlock the phone. They (the rep) stated "we don't unlock phones!".
> When I told him at one time when I did have service and they unlocked
> my Siemens for me once via email even, he stated "I doubt it and even
> if they did, they no longer do it. He stated I would have to find via
> the internet "some unlocking service" to do it. So either way I made
> my boss happy with the Black V3. The new one, the V3L was only 20
> bucks more than I paid for the V3 (like $180 for the Chingular). I
> got an unlocked phone that worked with my At&t sim, he got his second
> phone.

That's an AT&T attitude from the Cingular rep. There should be no reason
to unlock a phone that you own. I had an AT&T rep (working for Cingular)
refuse to unlock an AT&T Seeman's phone and gave me some BS about you
can't use other carriers phones on other networks. I tried to get away
from Cingular when I bought my RAZR, but the rep at TMob was too dumb to
figure out how to get around my Credit Card block and I wound up staying
with Cingular. Their customer service has sure changed since the merger.

jf

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

In <Xns97B741F4EAC191234abcde@198.186.190.225> on 02 May 2006 11:22:41 GMT,
jack flash <1234@abc.de> wrote:

>> Thanks for the replies. What I should have said was Chingular REFUSED
>> to unlock the phone. They (the rep) stated "we don't unlock phones!".
>> When I told him at one time when I did have service and they unlocked
>> my Siemens for me once via email even, he stated "I doubt it and even
>> if they did, they no longer do it. He stated I would have to find via
>> the internet "some unlocking service" to do it. So either way I made
>> my boss happy with the Black V3. The new one, the V3L was only 20
>> bucks more than I paid for the V3 (like $180 for the Chingular). I
>> got an unlocked phone that worked with my At&t sim, he got his second
>> phone.
>
>That's an AT&T attitude from the Cingular rep. There should be no reason
>to unlock a phone that you own.

The reason is that you get a hefty subsidy on the phone, so while you
technically own it, the carrier doesn't recover that subsidy unless you
actually continue service, and so typically locks the phone until that's
assured. This is why it's called a "subsidy lock".

>I had an AT&T rep (working for Cingular)
>refuse to unlock an AT&T Seeman's phone and gave me some BS about you
>can't use other carriers phones on other networks.

Don't want the lock? Don't take the subsidy -- buy an unlocked unsubsidized
phone from the carrier or on the Internet. TANSTAAFL.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

Notwithstanding that, and the reps uninformed attitude, both TMo and
Cingular will unlock phones after 90 days of service if you ask Customer
Service. The subsidy lock does little to lock one into a contract - the
contract itself, with the $200 ETF, is motivation enough. There a re
legit reasons for unlocking. Perhaps a trip overseas is planned where
using a local SIM will be the better option or maybe the free or
discounted phone is no longer needed because a better phone was
purchased outright from somewhere.
When I left ATT for TMo a few years ago it was because, as a very long
time customer, they insisted on making me sign a new 2 yr agreement and
charging me a $35 activiation fee to switch to GSM from TDMA when I
bought my own v600 from Hong Kong (with no subsidy from ATT!). I called
TMo and they welcomed me with a 1 yr agreement, no activation fee and a
free v300. Not needing the v300, I sold it on ebay (still locked to TMo
& advertised as such) for $225. Unlocking that phone to use on another
network would have been nice and not affected TMo's ability to collect
the ETF if I jumped ship early.


> The reason is that you get a hefty subsidy on the phone, so while you
> technically own it, the carrier doesn't recover that subsidy unless
> you actually continue service, and so typically locks the phone until
> that's assured. This is why it's called a "subsidy lock".
>
>> I had an AT&T rep (working for Cingular)
>> refuse to unlock an AT&T Seeman's phone and gave me some BS about you
>> can't use other carriers phones on other networks.
>
> Don't want the lock? Don't take the subsidy -- buy an unlocked
> unsubsidized phone from the carrier or on the Internet. TANSTAAFL.

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

With all due respect, it's a misconception that the ETF is sufficient to
recover the subsidy. The reason for the subsidy lock is that the carrier has
given you a valuable item with only your promise to pay. But for the lock,
you might keep the phone, and skip out on both the contract and the ETF. This
is why carriers are willing to unlock the phone once you have established a
good payment record on the new agreement.

As for your experience with ATTWS (not AT&T), you could have gotten a one year
contract, and might have been able to get the activation fee waived with a bit
of polite persistence.

In <_6M5g.4126$yM.3404@tornado.socal.rr.com> on Tue, 02 May 2006 16:52:10 GMT,
"BruceR" <br@NOhawaiiSPAM.com> wrote:

>Notwithstanding that, and the reps uninformed attitude, both TMo and
>Cingular will unlock phones after 90 days of service if you ask Customer
>Service. The subsidy lock does little to lock one into a contract - the
>contract itself, with the $200 ETF, is motivation enough. There a re
>legit reasons for unlocking. Perhaps a trip overseas is planned where
>using a local SIM will be the better option or maybe the free or
>discounted phone is no longer needed because a better phone was
>purchased outright from somewhere.
> When I left ATT for TMo a few years ago it was because, as a very long
>time customer, they insisted on making me sign a new 2 yr agreement and
>charging me a $35 activiation fee to switch to GSM from TDMA when I
>bought my own v600 from Hong Kong (with no subsidy from ATT!). I called
>TMo and they welcomed me with a 1 yr agreement, no activation fee and a
>free v300. Not needing the v300, I sold it on ebay (still locked to TMo
>& advertised as such) for $225. Unlocking that phone to use on another
>network would have been nice and not affected TMo's ability to collect
>the ETF if I jumped ship early.
>
>
>> The reason is that you get a hefty subsidy on the phone, so while you
>> technically own it, the carrier doesn't recover that subsidy unless
>> you actually continue service, and so typically locks the phone until
>> that's assured. This is why it's called a "subsidy lock".
>>
>>> I had an AT&T rep (working for Cingular)
>>> refuse to unlock an AT&T Seeman's phone and gave me some BS about you
>>> can't use other carriers phones on other networks.
>>
>> Don't want the lock? Don't take the subsidy -- buy an unlocked
>> unsubsidized phone from the carrier or on the Internet. TANSTAAFL.
>

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

BruceR <br@nohawaiispam.com> wrote:
> Notwithstanding that, and the reps uninformed attitude, both TMo and
> Cingular will unlock phones after 90 days of service if you ask Customer
> Service. The subsidy lock does little to lock one into a contract - the
> contract itself, with the $200 ETF, is motivation enough.

The Subsidy unlock code is all that forces you to get a contract with that
carrier. without it, you could buy the phone and not get the contract.
That's why Cingular will give you the unlock code shortly after entering a
contract.

They won't unlock someone else's phone so that it will work on their
system, because it is up to the lock owner to release the lock.

With Motorola, I don't think Cingular could unlock someone else's phone.
They don't seem to have the codes temselves, and forward your IMEI to
another party to retrieve the code, which, presumably, is only available to
them for a phone that is listed as being locked by them.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5

John Navas <spamfilter0@navasgroup.com> wrote:
> The reason is that you get a hefty subsidy on the phone, so while you
> technically own it, the carrier doesn't recover that subsidy unless you
> actually continue service, and so typically locks the phone until that's
> assured. This is why it's called a "subsidy lock".

They provided my unlock code early into a 2 year contract.
Once you are in contract, there is no need for the subsidy lock.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5