Expert: DebiN - 9/14/2009

Question
i have a att go phone and wanted to put the sim card  in an old cingular phone that isnt being used anymore.i put my sim card in the phone and used it some but did not get good reception but it did work. the battery needed replacing which i have now but i dont have reception with this phone like i did in my old phone. should i purchase a new sim card and just transfer my info over will i have better service. cingular is now owned by att correct ot do i need to get a cingular sim card. i did receive one phone call and made one or 2 and also something else was used in error so i know the sim card worked in the phone, i just could not get good coverage. thanks for your help. the cingular phone is a nokia 6102b

Answer
Please do not do anything related to your SIM card. There is nothing wrong with your SIM card and there is rarely a reason to replace a SIM card unless it is damaged or an older version, which is not the caes for you.

The reason that you are having issues with your Cingular branded phone is because of the radio antenna of the phone. Since you likely used this phone for quite awhile, the radio antenna can easily get damaged over time, i.e., crack, or basically wear out. Reception relates to the antenna, so if your reception (called "signal") isn't good, it relates to your phone itself. Cingular and AT&T are the same company and in actually Cingular has been at least partially owned by AT&T (actually SBC) for almost 5 years now.

What you need is a new phone. If the AT&T phone you were using was broken or damaged, then I would recommend purchasing a refurbished or new phone from AT&T directly, if possible. That is your best bet. I hope this helps. Thanks. DebiN