Quantcast

unlocked phones

buildyourown

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
How does the whole unlocked phone thing work?
I'm stuck on ATT for at least 2 years. Overall, I have been very happy with the service in Seattle. My plan is grandfathered in and cheap and I like that I can get ala cart data for $15/mo.

However, I want a Droid. I know I can't get a Verizon Droid as they are CDMA.

If ATT is GSM, how are people getting iphones to work on verizon?

I'd like to just buy one retail or on ebay and make it work with my ATT sim card. Is this a posibility? Not too keen on any of the Android phones ATT currently offers.
 
CBJ

CBJ

year old fart
Mar 19, 2002
12,874
4,214
Copenhagen, Denmark
My boss just got HTC Mozart which is really nice but with no contract you pay a lot for the phone. All euro phones will work even with 3G as ATT uses the same frequency as the phone companies. A really nice Android GSM phone is the HTC Ledgend I really do not understand why its not sold in the US. It the phone I would get if I wanted to run Android.
 
IH8Rice

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
you can get a iphone to work on verizon??
how can you when its a different cell phone band? i thought you could use it with Tmobile with no problems
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,875
24,457
media blackout
buildyourown said:
How does the whole unlocked phone thing work?
I'm stuck on ATT for at least 2 years. Overall, I have been very happy with the service in Seattle. My plan is grandfathered in and cheap and I like that I can get ala cart data for $15/mo.

However, I want a Droid. I know I can't get a Verizon Droid as they are CDMA.

If ATT is GSM, how are people getting iphones to work on verizon?

I'd like to just buy one retail or on ebay and make it work with my ATT sim card. Is this a posibility? Not too keen on any of the Android phones ATT currently offers.
Click to expand...
A) they're not

B) they're connecting their iphone to a verizon mobile hotspot via wifi.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,875
24,457
media blackout
also, an "unlocked" phone is just when you buy the phone outright, without signing up for service from any particular carrier. It's more expensive because you lose the subsidy by not signing up for or renewing a contract.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,875
24,457
media blackout
the only verizon droid phones i'm aware of that *might* work on at&t are the droid pro and the droid 2 global (they are world phones and have gsm antennas, not sure if the frequencies are the same). the gsm antennas are not enabled by default i believe. Not sure if they would be enabled on an unlocked phone.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,875
24,457
media blackout
buildyourown said:
So if I buy any full retail GSM phone, I can snap my ATT sim card in it and I'm good to go?
Click to expand...
yup. here's the correct definition of unlocked, and will also answer your question:

All GSM band cell phones sold by cellular service providers at a discounted price are locked to that carrier. A locked phone will only recognize a SIM card from that particular carrier. If the cell phone is unlocked, it will recognize a SIM card from any GSM service provider. This is done so that the service provider can make a profit from monthly service payments.
Click to expand...
 
buildyourown

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
CBJ said:
Just remember that an unlocked T-mobile specific phone will not run 3G on ATTs network.
Click to expand...
I'm figuring that out. It looks like I can get a Droid (milestone) as long as I get a Canadian one. It doesn't look like any of the nice HTC phones will play nice with NA 3g.
 
reflux

reflux

Turbo Monkey
Mar 18, 2002
4,617
2
G14 Classified
OT: My girlfriend works for Sprint and is a firm believer that many end users are fools for signing up for 2 year contracts. Prepaid FTW.
 
HAB

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
I'm going to Australia in a few months. If I have an old iPhone 2G that I got for free, if I can successfully unlock it, I'll be able to use it over there, yes?
 
reflux

reflux

Turbo Monkey
Mar 18, 2002
4,617
2
G14 Classified
HAB said:
I'm going to Australia in a few months. If I have an old iPhone 2G that I got for free, if I can successfully unlock it, I'll be able to use it over there, yes?
Click to expand...
Should work without issue. Be warned about excess ($1k+) roaming and data charges if you don't have the appropriate international or Australian plan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom