[Q] Locked phones? - General Questions and Answers

Hi. I know it is illegal to unlock phones in the United States now but it isn't in countries like India. I am planning to go to India soon so can I buy, lets say for example, a Samsung Galaxy S4 from Amazon for $200 with a AT&T contract and receive it at home and not activate the phone and then when I go to India and unlock it over there and then just use it as a phone to make calls over wifi? When you buy a phone online with a 2 year agreement attatched to it, do you have to fill out the contract details and everything while ordering it online or do you do that when activating the phone?

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prepaid sim cards for europe

I will be travelling next month to Germany and the Czech Repuplic and I would like to know where I can get a prepaid SIM card for my MDA-III/ Any suggestions?
check out prepaidgsm.net
there you will find out which carriers exist in the countries and what the prepaid packages are called. usually you can buy them in airports, or in major shopping areas where companies have company stores. You can also buy them from telestrial.com but you pay through the nose for the convenience to have the SIM before you arrive in the country
next question?
I know that my MDA III is unlocked, but what about other T-Mobile phones. They must also be unlocked, right? Do you know of any S/W or sources out there that will unlock TMobile phones? (ie Motorola)

Buying a Used Fuze, Have a Question

Hey guys, I'm new here and I had a couple of questions before I bought a used Fuze. Right now I have verizon and I am switching over to att because my contract is over.
1. I am scared to buy a used fuze because if I buy a used one from someone and it is stolen can it still be activated?
I know that if I buy a verizon phone that is stolen then it can't be activated.
not sure how you handle it in usa but in europe I never had to activate any phone
just pop in the sim and type in the sim code
heard about the aktivating in usa in relation to iphones
The thing is that I'm gonna sign a 2 year contract with att, I just wanted to know if I buy a used phone and it is stolen will I still be able to use it.
I am not going to take a chance on buying a stolen phone if I can't use it.
Get a phone you know for sure isn't stolen, make sure it comes with all the accessories and box and then you can feel safe.
Do not buy a phone if you know it is stolen, that is both illegal and wrong.
if you buy a stolen phone which have been reported stolen the police give
the IMEI number hardcoded in the phone to the operators to be added to their
block of service list in the country
and other countries the operators have a working relationship with
Ya ok, then the best thing to do is buy a new phone.
I was saying that if I buy a used phone and it is stolen then I wouldn't be able to activate it.
I didn't mean to say I WAS gonna buy a stolen phone, no no.
Thanks guys. Goin to get it in an hour!
if you're signing a 2 yr contract anyways, why not get a subsidized phone straight from ATT. up until a few days ago, wireless att com website had the refurbished Fuze for FREE w/ 2yr contract. just checked website now and it is out of stock. they go in-out of stock so call in and ask.
atlaswing said:
if you're signing a 2 yr contract anyways, why not get a subsidized phone straight from ATT. up until a few days ago, wireless att com website had the refurbished Fuze for FREE w/ 2yr contract. just checked website now and it is out of stock. they go in-out of stock so call in and ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a deal, I'll call them and ask about it. Thanks
Here in the USA we don't have the IMEI blocking service, even if the phone was stolen you can still use it. When my Blackberry was stolen I called AT&T to report it and all they could do was block my PIN from the device and not the device itself. It's not like Verizon or in any other country.
mbudden said:
Here in the USA we don't have the IMEI blocking service, even if the phone was stolen you can still use it. When my Blackberry was stolen I called AT&T to report it and all they could do was block my PIN from the device and not the device itself. It's not like Verizon or in any other country.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
verizon uses CDMA... if (for whatever reason) you need to change phones, you have to go through Verizon to activate the ESN(cdma version of IMEI) on the phone to tie to your Verizon account
for GSM, as long as the phone is unlocked, just slip the SIM card into in and the phone should work
one reason why i like GSM better: you don't have to do much to get a replacement phone

[Q] Questions about buying phone in the US

Hello there, I'm from Indonesia. This summer holiday (Jun-Jul mid) I'll have a trip to the US for the first time and beside that I want to buy a new smart phone.
1. I'm 15 yo and I won't occupied by my parents when in the trip, but I'm given a additional visa credit card by my parent which is issued in my country. Question is, can I use that CC to buy the phone without any additional info needed or what do i need to have/give any additional info/sth like that?
2. What retail stores are recommended there? The price, the service, the easiness for me? As I know there are so many retail stores in US. I'll be in major cities though, like LA, LV, Boston, NYC
3. Any recommended Android phone to buy? Actually I'm aiming for the SGS2 but looks like it won't have come to US when I'm there.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Flyer888 said:
Hello there, I'm from Indonesia. This summer holiday (Jun-Jul mid) I'll have a trip to the US for the first time and beside that I want to buy a new smart phone.
1. I'm 15 yo and I won't occupied by my parents when in the trip, but I'm given a additional visa credit card by my parent which is issued in my country. Question is, can I use that CC to buy the phone without any additional info needed or what do i need to have/give any additional info/sth like that?
2. What retail stores are recommended there? The price, the service, the easiness for me? As I know there are so many retail stores in US. I'll be in major cities though, like LA, LV, Boston, NYC
3. Any recommended Android phone to buy? Actually I'm aiming for the SGS2 but looks like it won't have come to US when I'm there.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here are some quick thoughts. In the USA, it is often cheaper to buy over the web. They will want to ship to the billing address of the cc to prevent fraud. This will prevent you from using your credit card with most mail order vendors. Is the CC in your parents name or yours? If it is in your name, you should have no problem buying at a retail store as long as you have your passport for identification. Will you be staying with relatives? Could they run the purchase through their CC (reimburse in cash via ATM)?
Most of the carriers in the USA use a different technology than the rest of the world. You need a GSM phone. AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM but use different frequencies for voice and data than most/all of Asia. So you are looking for a quad band phone that supports the frequency used in Indonesia. 2100? If you bought a prepaid T-mobile phone they would unlock it after 60 days and $10 in your account. (Or pay someone on ebay for the unlock code $10) T-mobile has some good prices but they only have a few prepaid android phones. LG Optimus T/Optimus One ($120) and the Samsung Galaxy S ($350) https://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx
You can also buy an unlocked phone that has been imported into the USA. If you buy a quad band phone, you could use it in the usa and in Indonesia. One of the major problems is that the vendors are almost all mail-order firms. If you are dealing with family, you could have them order it before you arrived so that you could have it right away. The Samsung Galaxy S2 looks like it is available via mail order for around $700-$800 USD with NO Warranty.
Explore3 said:
Here are some quick thoughts. In the USA, it is often cheaper to buy over the web. They will want to ship to the billing address of the cc to prevent fraud. This will prevent you from using your credit card with most mail order vendors. Is the CC in your parents name or yours? If it is in your name, you should have no problem buying at a retail store as long as you have your passport for identification. Will you be staying with relatives? Could they run the purchase through their CC (reimburse in cash via ATM)?
Most of the carriers in the USA use a different technology than the rest of the world. You need a GSM phone. AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM but use different frequencies for voice and data than most/all of Asia. So you are looking for a quad band phone that supports the frequency used in Indonesia. 2100? If you bought a prepaid T-mobile phone they would unlock it after 60 days and $10 in your account. (Or pay someone on ebay for the unlock code $10) T-mobile has some good prices but they only have a few prepaid android phones. LG Optimus T/Optimus One ($120) and the Samsung Galaxy S ($350)
You can also buy an unlocked phone that has been imported into the USA. If you buy a quad band phone, you could use it in the usa and in Indonesia. One of the major problems is that the vendors are almost all mail-order firms. If you are dealing with family, you could have them order it before you arrived so that you could have it right away. The Samsung Galaxy S2 looks like it is available via mail order for around $700-$800 USD with NO Warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I don't have any relative there. The cc is in my name, so no problem right?
Because of that I'm looking for concrete stores maybe such as BestBuy, Walmart or anything else but I don't know which one of them gives me the best one?
Oh, so altough I buy in stores like I said before, instead of in the carrier's itself store am I still forced to buy the "post-paid system?"
As I know they're able to give it away off-contract but with higher price and locked, right?
I think most of the new smartphones are using quad band so that's not a problem... Because I have a friend here using a Captivate and it is fully functional after he unlocked it to be able to use the SIM cards issued here.
Thanks.
Flyer888 said:
I think most of the new smartphones are using quad band so that's not a problem... Because I have a friend here using a Captivate and it is fully functional after he unlocked it to be able to use the SIM cards issued here.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will agree that most of the new smartphones sold outside the USA are quadband. Probably most smartphones sold by T-mobile and AT&T or are unlocked will be quadband and most likely support 3g frequency in your country. If the phone is associated with ANY other carrier, 90% of the time it will not support GSM.
PS I never bought from them but if you are in Chicago you could check out http://welectronics.com/gsm/Samsung/SAMSUNG_I9100-GALAXY-S-II-16GB.HTML In NYC - http://www.jr.com/category/office/cellular-phones/n/4294528936-4294605649/sort-by-salePrice-1/ One of the few places that you might be able to haggle on the price (Source: web posting).

[Q] Australian launch?

So I've heard that this phone number be coming to Telstra at some point, has anyone got any details on when the phone will be offically launched and available in australia, (through a carrier on contract, I know I can buy it outright from an online retailer)
Stav.

[Q] Bell Canada Galaxy S II has International Restriction on new customers

Hello everyone,
I'm currently in Canada and I would like to bring my Galaxy S II (in 3-year contract with Bell Canada) with me to China. I had an online chat with a sales rep about what I need to do to have it working in China without paying for roaming. She told me that I need to unlock my phone for $75 in order to get rid of the International restrictions that comes with any new customer's plan. I thought a phone has to be unlocked in order to take foreign sim cards. However, from my understanding of the sales rep's explanation, I CAN use my phone with a foreign SIM card with no problem, but I need to pay roaming afterwards. So what do I have to actually unlock in order to have my phone working in China (with local a sim card) without having to pay roaming?
Thanks.

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