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Unlocking Cellphones

carbonmotion

carbonmotion

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Hi, I'm in the middle of a 2 year cellphone contract and my cellphone got totally owned by a semi-truck (don't ask). Anyways, I need a new cellphone, but I don't want to buy one from the AT&T Wireless store at the stock price. The phone that I want is the Sony Ericsson T610. I heard I could go on ebay and buy an unlocked one or by one and unlock it myself... anyone with any experience on that?
 
I've got an at&t branded t637 laying around if you want it. I use it to charge the battery for my cingular-branded t637. How assinine is our cell phone industry? Totally.
 
Your still going to need a SIM card for the phone, correct? Hopefully the semi didn't own your SIM card in your phone...
 
iceTrX said:
Your still going to need a SIM card for the phone, correct? Hopefully the semi didn't own your SIM card in your phone...
Click to expand...

No the simd card is fine i tested it by plugging it in to my bros T610 triband euro phone
 
I dont know about over there but you can buy unlocked phones on the net or take one to any local market and someone will unlock them for a fiver (£5).

Try: www.expansys.com they ship to foreign lands.
 
Firstly, buying a phone from ANY mobile service provider is a bad idea, as sometimes the have a special version of the original OS installed that locks out certain features (eg: maybe there's a feature they want you to pay extra, and if the phone's OS wasn't altered, you'd get that feature for free 😱 ). Plus they'd be locked. Just go to a place that sells mobile phones without a specific plan attached to it and grab a T610. It may cost you an extra $50 dollars, but at least you know you can use the original OS, untampered with and all. Unlocking the phone wouldn't provide you with the original OS.

I have a Sony Ericcson K700i, and I bought it clean. 🙂
 
Abstract said:
Firstly, buying a phone from ANY mobile service provider is a bad idea, as sometimes the have a special version of the original OS installed that locks out certain features (eg: maybe there's a feature they want you to pay extra, and if the phone's OS wasn't altered, you'd get that feature for free 😱 ). Plus they'd be locked. Just go to a place that sells mobile phones without a specific plan attached to it and grab a T610. It may cost you an extra $50 dollars, but at least you know you can use the original OS, untampered with and all. Unlocking the phone wouldn't provide you with the original OS.

I have a Sony Ericcson K700i, and I bought it clean. 🙂
Click to expand...
all u need is bluetooth from my alubook 15
 
Just buy any unlocked phone on eBay that will take a SIM card. Pop your old SIM card into the new phone and your good to go. That's what I did for my ATT phone i got it on ebay
 
Market Place here

how does the market place here work? if I want to buy a phone from someone here is there some procedure or contract?
 
That easy?

Hey mac fan is it really that easy? i have the t637 and for some reason i cant send SMS messages and i took it to the cingular store and they told me it was actually the phone, and i do remember the lady just taking out the sim card and putting it on one of their phones and sending a text from that phone, damn i think i just answered the question my self.
 
Problem is it may not be just an extra $50.

I am with Fido/Microcell (now owned by Rogers) in Canada, and I just bought a T610 to replace my T68i which was getting old and worn. I paid $75 for it. To buy it at the regular price would be $300 from Fido or even more for the unlocked version. Had I chosen to cancel my current account and start afresh, I could have picked it up for $25.

The T610 is a nice phone but I would have maybe preferred the T637 if it were available cheaply... ah well.
 
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