Wasn’t told new phone needed code

In March ’04 I purchased a new Motorola V-400 “World Class” phone and opened a new Cingular line to use it. (My existing Cingular phone would not work with the new GSM services.) The new phone was purchased for use on a trip to Sweden planned for early April.

I received assurances from the sales personnel and from a Cingular person that the phone was ready to use in Sweden and that nothing more need be done to use it. It was explained to me that there would be a (reasonable) roaming charge in Sweden.

When I arrived in Sweden, I was unable to connect to any cellular network. This was a problem because I had to meet a granddaughter in Sweden and we were counting on using our cellular phones to find each other. Although we did make contact by land line, the problem did not go away. When our son-in-law went into a coma following unplanned surgery, our relatives could not reach us via the cellular phone. They eventually contacted us via our granddaughter and we returned for his death.

When I visited the local cellular phone sales outlet after returning to the U.S., they did not know why the phone did not operate in Sweden. Store personnel called an internal service center and learned that a code had to be entered by Cingular before the phone could be used overseas. No one brought this up when we discussed using the phone prior to the trip. I then had to call the Cingular service center and have the code entered. (The code does not go into the phone but into some database that says to accept calls to that number.)

I e-mailed Cingular with a complaint but received no direct reply. I e-mailed a local newspaper columnist that had just discussed use of the Cingular service overseas. The coding was news to him. The columnist e-mailed Cingular and did receive a reply, which he forwarded to me. It said that when I ordered the phone and service, I should have asked to have the number “provisioned” for international use for my specific dates of travel. Hard to do if no one knows the code exists.

When my next service statement arrived, I found a new $5-per-month charge for international service. When I questioned that, I was told that the international service would reduce the roaming charge. I had not asked for that. While discussing the charge, I was told that a separate code has to be entered for each country I want to use the phone in.

Be warned. If you plan to use a Cingular service outside the U.S. or Canada, make sure the service is provisioned or coded for the countries you plan to visit and the dates you are traveling.

Also note there is no way to check that the phone will work in the foreign country until you get there.

Discuss the roaming charges and sign up for international service if you anticipate enough calls to justify the monthly charge.

If I were starting over, I would purchase one of the $50 phones for another cellular service which has no monthly charge when not used and which has a per-minute charge comparable to the Cingular roaming charge.

HARRY F. CHAPELL
Maynard, MA

ITN sent a copy of the above letter to Cingular Wireless (Glenridge Highlands Two, 5565 Glenridge Connector, Atlanta, GA 30342) and received no reply.