Is Telus a good cell phone company?

Help me get the cell phone company to fix my phone before I turn into Russel Crowe

• Mobile phone frustration: How can I get my current phone to recognize a new network? I have a GSM phone, the Sony Ericsson t610. I got it last year with a one-year contract. At the end of the contract I got it unlocked and switched to a new service provider last week. This phone has all the features I want and need, and I want to keep using it, so I put the new SIM card in the phone. It worked, at first. This new company is a local operation that partners with other companies for nationwide service. When I put the new SIM in my phone, I was out of the local area where the company is based, and the network said "Roam 2," but I was assured at the beginning that there would be no extra charges because they are in the process of transitioning from CDMA to a GSM network. I drove back home a couple days ago, and as soon as I entered the local network, I had no signal. The phone does not recognize the network, it is like I placed it in a cement box. I have talked to two different customer service representatives at two different stores, and neither of them is competent enough to help me. The first guy tried to tell me it's a hardware problem. The woman I talked to tonight was rude and condescending to the point that if I was the sole account holder (I'm on a family plan), I would have cancelled the contract right there. Her attitude was that because I didn't buy the phone from them, it's not their problem. Now I know that my phone should work on the new network, that's the whole point of having a GSM phone in the first place. What can I tell them to convince them that they need to fix the problem? Is there anthing I can do to fix it myself?

• Answer:

  According to your post, you purchased http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_t610-405.php phone, which is a tri-band phone. My guess (just an assumption) is that you switched from T-Mobile to Cingular. T-Mobile uses the 1900 band, as does Cingular. However, AT&T, the company Cingular acquired, used 800/850. Your phone uses 900/1800/1900, which means that your phone can't be used on any infrastructure built by AT&T. If you had a quad-band phone, this wouldn't be a problem. Again, this is assuming you switched to a carrier that uses 800/850 in some areas of Indiana, which according to http://www.wirelessadvisor.com./checkzip.cfm?zip=46201 site, is true.