Cingular Finally Gets With The Program
I can’t believe how estatic I was when I found that that the latest SIMs that Cingular is now shipping actually enables the dreaded “Network Selection” menu. The new SIM is called a “3G” SIM because it says that on the actual SIM card. Since Cingular still operates two seperate networks in my area, and my Nokia 9500 always wants the weaker network as the default, having the ability to choose what network I’m on is critical.
The downside to this SIM is that it doesn’t actually work on the Nokia 9500. The “feature” as Cingular has implemented it requires an ENS-capable phone, which means it must be a phone sold by CIngular within the past year or so. Unfortunately, it means my Nokia 9500 won’t be getting that feature since it is not an ENS-capable phone.
The ability to choose which network you connect to is important in two key areas: if you live in a fringe area like I do or if you Internationally roam and expect to be able to use GPRS. In the latter case, while voice roaming is permitted on more than one carrier, GPRS roaming is only through one carrier usually and the only way to ensure you are connected via that carrier is to have manual network selection enabled on the phones. Now if they’d only make it so it didn’t say “Cingular” for all the different networks.
Oh well, I’ll take what I can get. I ordered two more 3G SIMs for my wife’s phone and the test phones I use.
