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General discussion

Old Nokia 5165/AT&T Wireless TDMA network getting worse?

Oct 17, 2004 2:03PM PDT

How can I upgrade my phone without upgrading/extending plan? I have a Nokia 5165 on AT&T Wireless TDMA plan, lately poor reception, more dropped calls. I read that ATT is switching over to GSM and abandoning TDMA, but that GSM is not yet a good network/system. So I'm stuck - 9 months left on current plan, possibly bad phone, not willing to invest in new GSM phone and plan. Can I buy a TDMA phone for cheap, or even get a "loaner" from ATT to see if the problems are in my phone or with the network? And/or how can I cancel without penalty, since I really want to go to Verizon?

Discussion is locked

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Update RE:Nokia 5165/AT&T Wireless TDMA network getting wo
Oct 21, 2004 5:22PM PDT

Q. part 2:
Acc. to Consumer Reports the Siemens S46 and Nokia 3595 use GSM technology with TDMA as a backup, to help maximize coverage in AT&T?s networks. But they both are only average for voice quality. Any recommendations for similar multinetwork phones which have good sound quality/signal?

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Re: Old Nokia 5165/AT&T Wireless TDMA network getting worse?
Oct 22, 2004 9:44PM PDT

My wife had the same phone and was having the same problem. We both just use our phones for calls and don't need more features. AT&T told me the phones are designed to last only two years and we were at that point. They also told me the problem would get worse, but it wasn't their service. Doing some reaserch and talking to someone that worked on their system told me they were phaseing out the TDMA system and going strictily GSM. He told me if we got another phone the problem would still exist. Also, if you get a new TDMA phone and extend your contract or get a new contract, you'll find TDMA is now much more expensive than GSM. They kinda have you over a barrell. We just got a new GSM phone and contract with fewer minutes than we had before for about the same price as we were paying before. Good luck.

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Re: Old Nokia 5165/AT&T Wireless TDMA network getting worse?
Oct 23, 2004 6:55AM PDT

Hi:

What you are probably suffering from is the upgrading of towers for GSM. You must continue to complain. You must continue to talk to the technical staff. You must be prepared to let them know that unless they plan to move you to GSM without a contract, you will "make noise". Yes, we know that we are under a capitalism-first, citizens-don't-matter regime. However, making the report leaves a "paper trail"; within two weeks from serious complaints you will receive better service.

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Re: Old Nokia 5165/AT&T Wireless TDMA network getting worse?
Oct 23, 2004 6:59AM PDT

I have a 3 year old 5165 and works fine. Maybe the battery is bad?