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Cellular Phones/Reactivating an at&t phone

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Expert: - 12/20/2009


Question
How do i reactivate a cell phone? Its at&t and i bought it from a pawn shop with no imformation about it.

Answer
You wouldn't actually be "reactivating" the phone. If you want to use this phone that you bought, you will need to go into an AT&T store and start up service with them. They will provide you with a SIM card and new service and you can use that phone if you would like. New service gives you a new phone also, however, and there are many that are free today, so if you get new service, they will give you a brand new phone that comes with a 12 month warranty. You can always use the phone you purchased as a spare. Once your SIM card is active with new service, you can put it into any AT&T branded phone and it will work (provided the phone doesn't say AT&T Wireless which is the old company prior to the Cingular acquisition that then changed the name to "at&t" in lowercase. I hope this helps. Thanks. DebiN

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DebiN

Expertise

I can answer questions on cellular phones, the physical device, the network, contracts, billing, ordering, porting and what to look for when purchasing cell phones. I am located in the United States. I am an expert on BlackBerrys, Treos, HTC devices and iPhones as well as cellphones and aircards. I have over 15 years of experience in both the wireless and wireline world with the carriers. I have a lot of knowledge regarding the wireless providers - their services, prices and policies, both GSM AT&T and T-Mobile) and CDMA (Verizon, Sprint/Nextel). I am very familiar with the individual devices and their specifications. I can also answer questions regarding BlackBerrys, iPhones and other PDAs, both Palm-based and Windows-based. I can troubleshoot most any problem someone is having with their cellular device or with the provider.

Experience

Over 20 years in the Telecom industry working for the carriers with individuals, small business, medium business and large corporations(Fortune 500). Also worked as a professor in Maryland for 10 years teaching telecommunications.

Organizations
I belong to several organizations

Education/Credentials
Master's in Telecommunications

Awards and Honors
Received several awards for papers that I have published over the years

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