3800 cell phone question...

with the new phones out now that use SIM cards... can you just get any phone out there and swap SIM cards and it will work? or are the phones themselves network specific??

here is what i mean... I have a phone now with tmobile. It has a SIM card in it. I was told that if I wanted a new phone, all they would have to do is swap the sim card and the new phone would work...
I want to buy a different phone. but I dont want to get one from tmobile... I want one of those new Razor phones, but they are sold by Cingular (i think...).

I have heard of phones being "unlocked"... does this mean they can be used on ANY network??

If I get one... can I use that phone on my T-mobile network??
 

power

Member
Jul 26, 2008
27
0
Originally posted by 12secGTP@Jan 19 2005, 09:30 AM
with the new phones out now that use SIM cards... can you just get any phone out there and swap SIM cards and it will work? or are the phones themselves network specific??

here is what i mean... I have a phone now with tmobile. It has a SIM card in it. I was told that if I wanted a new phone, all they would have to do is swap the sim card and the new phone would work...
I want to buy a different phone. but I dont want to get one from tmobile... I want one of those new Razor phones, but they are sold by Cingular (i think...).

I have heard of phones being "unlocked"... does this mean they can be used on ANY network??

If I get one... can I use that phone on my T-mobile network??
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the sim card works only on T-mobile phones. if you buy a new phone you just have to take the sim card from your phone and put it on the new T-mobile phone.


the phone that are being unlocked means.....you could have your T-moble # and got to any provider and tell them you want your same # to your new phone. it will take about 2-3 days depends on your provider. like t-moble.... it will take 1-2 days ...... sprint and AT&T will take about 3-5 days they give more problems to change #'s Verison and U.S cellular will take about 2 days to do it.


if you get a diffrent provider like Cingular you cannot use your T-mobile sim card every provider have a diffrent system and net work.


hope this helps. :)
 

mybluegtp

TCG Elite Member
Nov 9, 2008
3,868
0
Burbank
Originally posted by power@Jan 19 2005, 10:08 AM

the sim card works only on T-mobile phones. if you buy a new phone you just have to take the sim card from your phone and put it on the new T-mobile phone.


the phone that are being unlocked means.....you could have your T-moble # and got to any provider and tell them you want your same # to your new phone.  it will take about 2-3 days depends on your provider. like t-moble.... it will take 1-2 days ...... sprint and AT&T will take about 3-5 days they give more problems to change #'s Verison and U.S cellular will take about 2 days to do it.


if you get a diffrent provider like Cingular you cannot use your T-mobile sim card every provider have a diffrent system and net work.


hope this helps. :)
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That makes sense. :) I knew someone that worked at a phone place and was very helpful. I dont see him anymore cause he disappeared I tried calling him but his phone change. Hope he gets in touch soon. ;)
thanks for the info. :D
 

rjaz gtp

TCG Elite Member
Feb 10, 2008
1,011
0
Naperville
Ok I totally know what you are asking and here is the scoop...

For instance I have Cingular GSM so I have a SIM card in my phone right now. Technically, your SIM card can only work with phones from your Cellular provider... (Cingular Service only works on a Cingular phone) So if you bought a regular T-Mobile phone off of E-Bay and had Cingular service it would not work...

There is though what they call UNLOCKING phones and this is pretty cool. If you want you can find certain websites that you can get the codes to unlock your mobile phone so that anyone Cellular provider SIM card can work with that phone. I had a Nokia phone that was a Cingular phone and was able to get the code to unlock the phone. When a phone is marked "unlocked" that means that any Cellular SIM card can work in that phone. So for instance lets say my buddy has T-Mobile he can then put his T-Mobile SIM card in my "unlocked" Cingular Nokia phone and his service works flawless.

I have tested my Nokia phone with both an AT&T and T-Mobile SIM card and both worked perfect. So if you are with T-Mobile you can purchase any phone that has the SIM capability, but the phone MUST BE UNLOCKED or it will not work...

So if you can find a "unlocked" Motorola Razor on E-Bay then snag it and your T-Mobile service will work...

Hope that helps ya!

Bt the way this is not what "unlocked" means...that is just wanting to keep your number and switch service after your contract is up...
the phone that are being unlocked means.....you could have your T-moble # and got to any provider and tell them you want your same # to your new phone. it will take about 2-3 days depends on your provider. like t-moble.... it will take 1-2 days ...... sprint and AT&T will take about 3-5 days they give more problems to change #'s Verison and U.S cellular will take about 2 days to do it.
 
Originally posted by power@Jan 19 2005, 10:08 AM

the phone that are being unlocked means.....you could have your T-moble # and got to any provider and tell them you want your same # to your new phone.  it will take about 2-3 days depends on your provider. like t-moble.... it will take 1-2 days ...... sprint and AT&T will take about 3-5 days they give more problems to change #'s Verison and U.S cellular will take about 2 days to do it.

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Isn't this called number porting? Not unlocking?
 

GTPj

Regular
Nov 10, 2008
423
0
Chicago
ok.....here is the deal. I have the Razr phone myself. If you have t-mobile GSM you can use it with the Razr. The reason being is that the Razr for cingular is unlocked which means any SIM card that is GSM (t-mobile, att, ect...) will work. I have tried this with my other phone, the v400 its unlocked and branded to cingular, when i had at&t service. All quad band GSM phones through cingular will be unlocked.
 

GTPj

Regular
Nov 10, 2008
423
0
Chicago
the phone that are being unlocked means.....you could have your T-moble # and got to any provider and tell them you want your same # to your new phone. it will take about 2-3 days depends on your provider. like t-moble.... it will take 1-2 days ...... sprint and AT&T will take about 3-5 days they give more problems to change #'s Verison and U.S cellular will take about 2 days to do it.


what unlocked means is that you can use any GSM carrier with any GSM phone. But from what i know only cingular offers unlocked world phones. They have to be quad band and not tri band GSM. The v551, Razr, V400 are all unlocked. if i go to the meeting i can slip your card into my phone to see if it works but it should. ;)
 

DaytonaPrixMI

Regular
Dec 3, 2008
363
0
Alright let me clear this up since I work for Cingular. First of all you can take your sim card and technically put it in any GSM phone. The phone does need to be unlocked, but you also need to make sure it works on the proper Mhz. For example: T-Mobile uses 1900, Cingular and ATT use 850/1900. You do not want to buy a phone that works on 900/1800 those are for Europe.

As for unlocking phones, there is a good chance I can do it for you, I have some special software that works on many phones. Also, I believe the Razr comes unlocked because it is a quad band(World Phone). I am not totally sure since I have not taken any of my friends sim cards and put it in my Razr, but I know my other Motorola phones were unlocked from factory. But Motorola is the only one that will send phones from factory unlocked, it is not dependent on a Quad band.

If you take your number to another carrier it has to be transfered in 3 hours unless stated otherwise. It is monitored and determined my a government department.

And finally don't buy the Razr. It is a waste of money. I own it and it sucks for reception, doesn't really do a whole lot, and drops a lot of calls. THis is because it has an internal antenna, flip phones are too compact for this design and when they do it reception suffers.

Also if you get a phone that is from another carrier, you may not be able to access the internet and other features that your provider gives you, because many of the settings are integrated into the OS of the phone and can't be changed.

Any questions feel free to ask!
 

GTPj

Regular
Nov 10, 2008
423
0
Chicago
Sucks that your Razr isn't that good. Mine is awsome great reception, no dropped calls. Best phone i've had yet. It doesn't have video recording but i don't care about that. Bluetooth is great, the screen is huge, the phone is alittle wide but its fine. I would not buy it for anything more than $300, $250 if you can. Yes the Razr is unlocked.

If you go to Howardforums.com there are settings that you can use to get on the internet if you get a different phone.
 

JNGTP94

Regular
Jan 1, 2008
160
0
Ignore me if this was already said, didnt take the time to read the replys lol...

A phone CAN be unlocked so that you can just swap ur existing sim card into it, i personally have never done thins.

www.howardforums.com is all about phones lol ive been spending some time over there recently since i bought my v551 currently working on makin my own ringtones :D . check it out and do some searches im sure ull find something
 
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