If you're looking for information on Suncom replacement cell phones, you've certainly come to right place because LoveToKnow Cell Phones is loaded with all sorts of information on not only Suncom cell phones, but all the other options you have out there that you could have used with Suncom Wireless. Yes, it was possible to use mobile phones on the Suncom network that weren't offered by Suncom itself. How? What other Suncom replacement cell phones are out there? Read on to find out.
Suncom Replacement Cell Phones
As a bit of a background, Suncom Wireless started up in 1999 and offered cellular service to most of South Carolina and North Carolina, as well as selected areas in northern Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and southwest Virginia. They offered very low prices for unlimited calling and text messages, as well as an excellent variety of Suncom replacement cell phones if your handset happened to malfunction while you are on contract. After all, getting out of a contract can be a very expensive endeavor, so it is often better to to get Suncom replacement cell phone at retail price than to pay for the buyout.
Suncom Wireless no longer exists or operates, however. It was fully acquired by T-Mobile USA in February 2008, being folded into the parent company. All Suncom customers at the time became T-Mobile customers. T-Mobile USA is a a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany.
Locked and Unlocked Phones
Suncom operated on a GSM-based network, much like Cingular and T-Mobile. In this way, all you had to do is take the SIM card out of the back of your handset and place it into any number of Suncom replacement cell phones. And you were not restricted only to the phones that Suncom offers directly! So long as you had an unlocked GSM cell phone with the 1900MHz band (the only frequency that Suncom operates on and the a frequency compatible with T-Mobile USA as well), then it should have worked! This opened up worlds of opportunities for unique Suncom replacement cell phones that none of your other Suncom-touting friends may have had.
Caveat Emptor: Value and Service
In researching Suncom Wireless and Suncom replacement cell phones, a discussion forum and review board was discovered. In it, many negative things were said about Suncom Wireless and its customer service. On the one hand, they offered one of the best values in the industry with inexpensive and affordable cell phones as well as cheap calling plans, but forum members were quick to point out that "you get what you pay for." Here are a few excerpts from posts on LowerMyBills.com:
- "Their stock answer is that's not our problem you need to send it back to the maker of the phone. Its not thier problem. The manager in the Southern Pines store has been rude to me and my wife. They are great to sign up, but from that point on you are on your own and they do not care."
- "i got three phones for my kids at X-Mas. i thought i was getting a good deal. When i gave the phones to them they wouldn't pick up service anywhere. When i got the phones i was miss led on everything. i called Suncom and they told me it was too late i was stuck for two years during the contract."
- "i get really bad service -- as in, don't get calls for hours at a time -- in parts of Chapel Hill. Durham is slightly better. i would avoid it in North Carolina."
Suncom Cell Phone Selection
In terms of Suncom replacement cell phones that were immediately available through Suncom Wireless itself, there were many, many choices. Suncom had as many as 25 different handsets on its website, ranging in price from FREE to $450. As such, the expected features like integrated cameras and MP3 players ranged considerably.Here are a few examples of what they offered in their lineup:
- Samsung d406: A very basic clamshell
- Sagem my401: A budget minded bar phone with decent features
- Motorola PEBL: A fashionable slide-flip phone with a rounded design
- Sony Ericsson W710: A popular Walkman phone with excellent music playing functionality
- Danger hiptop3: Identical to the T-Mobile SideKick 3 in nearly every way
