Dell Streak Locked into At&t, and the hype dies….already
So when you buy a new device you usually get two options. One you can pick up the phone at a considerable discount and sign a contract that usually extends for about two years or your other option in most cases, is buying the device without a contract with the carrier. Assuming the technology that makes it go vroom is the same i.e., At&t to T-Mobile, Verizon to Sprint you can potentially unlock the device and use it on the carrier of your choice. Unfortunately this seems to not be the case with the over sized Dell Streak.
“Lionel at Dell” has tweeted some considerable sad and not really surprising news. Basically what hes saying is that no matter if you get a Dell Streak under contract with the discount, or you ponied up almost 600 bucks, you are locked into At&t regardless. Sounds cool huh? Pair that with the fact that this Dell Streak runs Android 1.6 and you can almost bet this device will not really get too far. Lionel’s post reads “Lots of folks are asking about the $549 version of #dellstreak. To be clear, it will not be unlocked. It is SIM-locked to AT&T.” When the Dell Streak was posted on the manufacturers website for sale at full retail, the hype began as the idea was at that price it should be completely unlocked, but it looks like we won’t be so lucky.
This is truly a sad day for the Dell Streak as it would most likely be a hot selling unit if not for these restrictions. In reality, we can get over the 1.6 OS, but locking this massive tablet phone to the notorious At&t is simply not a good idea. I would bet this is At&t keeping it “all in the family” but damn it Dell!
Not sure if any of you care, but does this change anything for you? Were you interested in a Streak? Are you still?
Tags: streak, tablet, dell, AT&T
I’m a very un satisfied at&t dell streak customer cell the streak is great. As for att that’s a different story. They say you can keep your unlimted data if you already had it but removed it from my wifes phone and will not put it back on. At&t has the worst customer service I have ever experienced
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I agree with you 100%. Android 1.6 is a small negative. The fact that it is locked to AT&T is a deal breaker for me.
To me, the very point of a tablet / massive phone like the streak is having access to a fast network. Both Sprint and T-Mobile have introduced ’4G’ on their networks, which is not true 4G but is a lot faster than 3G). AT&T is still trying to speed up its 3G and charges 40 bucks more.
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I agree, I will never use the AT&T network but would buy the Streak if it was on Sprints network. What a shame that the folks at Dell would shoot themselves in the foot like this. Guess I’ll have to keep my current phone and wait for Sprint to bring a pocket tablet to market.
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Dell you suck for locking in with at&t. I never bought an iPhone because of that fact. Should have made the Streak an any and all cell network phone, worldwide. I mean with a device that big, there is plenty of room inside for numerous network radios, sim slot and SD card. When will you manufacturers finally figure it out? That this is the way to sell the most of one particular model of cell phone. Make it available to Everyone, DUH!!
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this is really a heartbreaking story because i am in the market for a new phone and i want the Streak as much as the next guy but i am not going to buy it. if they are going to charge around 600$ for me to buy it outright and not give it to me unlocked then i will have to pass.
AT&T sucks. my family has Verizon and i am not going to start up an expensive at&t contract just to get this phone. i will have to wait until something comes out that is equally good that will work on any network or at least Verizon so i can add the phone to the family plan. it seems that verizon should make it easier for people to get a verizon sim card that can be activated easily that can go into non verizon phones and work with no problem.
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totally got psyched for this phone, im die hard sprint customer who only buys htc phones and ONLY windows mobile, after seeing this phone running android i wanted to buy it. to bad for dell thats another sale lost.
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They just lost a potential customer. It needs to be Verizon enabled and it would have been a slam dunk!
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I would buy the Dell Streak today if it were on Verizon. I just chatted with Dell and they have no info on any updates to carriers. When I asked about the unlocked version they didn’t tell me it couldn’t be on other networks. Love that honesty.
I have an iPhone for the past 3 years and AT&T for 7. AT&T service went from ok, to bad, to terrible. I think the Edge network was faster than the 3G.
I’m in the Detroit metro area.
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I was very interested in this phone and would has honestly forked up the money to buy it however… at&t… really? c’mon Seriously. There service is really not that great. It has gotten better… I am a die hard sprint carrier my sis has at&t and hardly ever has service whenever she goes out of town. I dunno at this point i am not convinced that at&t service is good enuff to pay this kind of money for a device that will only work if i am in a big city: Atlanta, cali, fla, ny and maybe tx. good luck with this one dell
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Dell Sucks… I have been waiting for last few months to get this baby, but seems the guys at dell are not serous with their phone biz. I fell sorry for them, and i will get myself Droid X…
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Too bad. Would buy it today if it were on Verizon Netework. Have AT&T now and though service has gotten better, it is still not good.
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I was interested and an X Die hard iPhone user. But after three and a half years of
sucky service and a high bill, I jumped onto sprint with the EVO 4g, I will have to say nice transition and awesome bill. Sprint does have the best deal financially and I have
had so far a pleasant experience with customer service, However the one flaw they do h
do have is that they charge you 5.00 a month to tell you you cannot go over a certain dollar amount. They set the limit then charge you for it? dumb huh. Anyway was thinking
of getting it and using the two but guess not. I will never go back to AT&T, no matter
what phone. I will settle. To bad dell thats another sale you lose.
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