Question for all the cell phone gurus

[Automaggin2]

OK, So i lost my cell phone at school the other day (Motorola T720) and I need a new one, BUT I need to pay full price for a new one, and thats about 400-600 dollars. Now, I know you can get "unlocked" cell phones on ebay, can someone tell me how "unlocked" cell phones work? I rather pay 150 for a phone then 500

[pbzmag]

Unlocked phones are phones that are not locked to a certain provider. You can use them on any provider that uses the cells type of signal. In other words, if a company uses GSM and the phone is GSM, then you can use it.

[Cliffio]

what network is it

ive got a v60i for sale

[MarkM]

Be careful what the phone is advertised as...the reason is the american market has the same numbers for some models but in reality there are totally different phones. I am saying this from a european stand point. My last three phones have all worked on the american networks (and have been unlocked for any network use) but then I chose a phone each time that had the other bands built in, we in europe use sim cards and as far as I am aware this hasn't happened in the states just yet and even if you do have sim cards available you could end up buying an unlocked phone that is in fact a european model and useless to you as the charger units and the hands free units don't fit the alledged model number coupled with a possible sim card incompatibilty.

[pbzmag]

Originally posted by MarkM
Be careful what the phone is advertised as...the reason is the american market has the same numbers for some models but in reality there are totally different phones. I am saying this from a european stand point. My last three phones have all worked on the american networks (and have been unlocked for any network use) but then I chose a phone each time that had the other bands built in, we in europe use sim cards and as far as I am aware this hasn't happened in the states just yet and even if you do have sim cards available you could end up buying an unlocked phone that is in fact a european model and useless to you as the charger units and the hands free units don't fit the alledged model number coupled with a possible sim card incompatibilty.

There are markets in the US that have phones with sims. I had one since 98 and had no problems. You just need to make sure that the phone supports the bands in your area. I got an unlocked Erricsons R380 World cellphone off of Ebay and have loved it till a chip in the phone crapped out. I later found out that it was a common thing with this phone and they have discontinued it.

[PaInTbAlLeR476]

Same thing happened to me, actually my phone was just incredably bad, so what happened was, my dad was in need of a new phone(plan wise) but he didnt want a new one, so he kept his old phone, got the new phone(for me) and then just put his old phone number back onto his original phone, and upgraded the old phone to my number. As long as you talk to the company im sure you can get a new phone at the regular price.

[Automaggin2]

I'm on Verizon, not sure what type of network, i dont think its gsm, maybe cdma?


Cliffio, how much?