While there are many sites that want to charge to unlock cellphones so you can install an Italian SIM and use your own phone in Italy, there are also a number of sites where you can do this yourself for no charge. There are a variety of forums, including on US cell provider sites. My AT&T Nokia 6102i(Cingular-California)is discussed, for example, on a forum on the AT&T site (Wireless Forums from AT&T : Phone & Device Support : Nokia : Re: How to unlock Nokia 6102 cingular?). There I found a post that led me to http://unlock.nokiafree.org/dct4.php, along with a specific technique to use. The instructions were simple and I unlocked both my phone in seconds. Using Google I first found out how to get the IMIE (serial) number for my phone in order to enter it in the calculator. In my case I could do this through the keyboard on the phone, but the number is also printed on a sticker inside the phone.

In reagard to airtime prices, the cheapest I have found so far, thanks to a Slow Travel member, is through JahJah. They have a system that allows a caller to access you as if it is a domestic call, from either end of the pipeline. Rates seem to be about half what anyone else charges.

AT & T will give you instructions on how to unlock most ATT phones. Just email customer service. All I said to them was I wanted to use a local sim with my phone on trips to Asia and Europe. They responded in a day.

As will Tmobile.

And you can buy an unlocked phone (used) on ebay for $20, if you don't want get too fancy...

Interesting. The local office here said they would not do it and referred me to a company in Sacramento that they said would charge $40-50. Typically it seems to depend who you talk to and when. The fact that there are discussions in customer forums on their own web site about how to do it indicates there is some inconsistency. Guess the message to every one is "don't take 'no' for an answer and keep searching for alternative ways to get the job done."

I had thought about buying an unlocked phone, but thought it was more convenient (particularly for my somewhat technologically challenged wife) to be able to use a device that was already familiar in function and format.

I have a UK phone through Vodafone; and got them to send me instructions by email on how to unlock it.
Worked like a charm, and I was then able to use the phone with a SimCard bought in Italy on my last trip there.
No-one should be charging you to unlock a phone nowadays.

Just curious: has anyone managed to get AT&T to unlock an iPhone. I have tried three times with no success.

Vik

Tessmar
I just called AT&T customer service and told them what I wanted and why. They took some information and I received instructions via email in about 48 hours. No problem unlocking my Nokia.

ViK
I just Googled "unlock I Phone" and there appears to be lots of information out on the Internet.

Foot Notes

I have found AT&T's "customer service" to be quite unhelpful, which is why I Googled for alternative ways to unlock my phone. I did see some references to iPhone unlocking while I was out there but don't recall where. Try Googling "unlock iPhone" and check out what you find.

Footnotes
Glad you were successful with them. It really does seem to matter who you happen to get when you talk with them...but then I've found that to be the case with a lot of "customer service" units in a great variety of companies

For $40-50 you can buy a used, or reconditioned, or jsut older model RazR on ebay that comes unlocked, period. I bought one in 2006 to use with a global SIM that I bought from Telestial. no hassling with getting your service provider to unlock you US phone.

My daughter doesn't use her iphone when we travel. The dataplan charges are outrageous when roaming. We uses s the phone she had before the iphone with a Telestial SIM that I bought her.

http://www.n1wireless.com seemed to have very good prices on new and reconditioned unlocked phones for those who want to buy one

I called AT&T after I had my cellphone 90 days, they emailed me the unlock info in a day or so. The phone unlocked without a problem (Motorola Razr).

Guess what I just found on the Verizon website? This. My goodness! It's all there!

As I mentioned on the other current phone thread, I just got a new Verizon Renown.

Ann

This is not the "lock" we are concerned with. The Verizon info is basically a keypad lock that keeps someone from intentionally or accidentally dialing the phone. For example, keeps it from speed dialing a programmed number if a key gets pressed by a coin or pen while in your purse. Also prevents someone from dialing out on the phone if you lose it. The "lock" we've been talking about, on the other hand, is that US providers (and some others in other countries as well) set up the phones to prevent them from being used (by installing a different SIM chip) with another provider. It's basically a way to "lock you in" to their service. Most (all?) phones have this capability, and in the US all providers set them to "on" when they sell you the phone. In order, for example, to use the phone in Italy with a TIM or Vodaphone SIM card, this capability must be disabled or the phone will refuse to recognize the new SIM card. In most cases a relatively simple set of codes must be entered on the keypad (with the SIM card removed), but the providers, of course, are not necessarily crazy about letting you know how to do it-particularly if they have "given" you a "Free' Phone to take their service (the phones, in fact, are fee only in the sense a Gillette razor is "cheap." Over the years you will spend a small fortune on blades...or the cell phone service).

I know the terminology is confusing by using the same term for two different functions. Hope this helps clear up any confusion.

You know, tessmar, I think I did discover that when I was playing with the new phone -- but I forgot. I guess I was so exited to find that page that I didn't look into it enough.

Oh, well. I suppose I'll find a way when I need to.

Ann

Deviousness is the mother of mastering technology

Verizon offers a good deal to its customers on "borrowing" a global phone....

The promotion is called the Occasional Global Traveler (for travel less than 30 days)

No rental fee, no daily rate, no deposit. Verizon basically loans you a phone.

You pay $9.99 for shipping costs and $1.29/min usage fees.
For an additional one time fee of $4.99 (Global Bundle) the per minute usage is reduced to $0.99.
Text messages are $0.50 to send and $0.05 to receive.

Call Verizon at 1-800-711-8300 about 7 days before you travel and they’ll ship the phone to you in 3 days.
I’ve been scouring the web looking for a good deal on a global phone rental. This is THE best!

I'm not sure why you consider that a good deal. With AT&T you can use your own phone and pay $1.29 a minute with no plan or add their intl. plan for $4.99 a month and pay $.99 a minute. But most of the other prices on this post and from what I have researched easily drop the rate to half of that per minute with free incoming calls...at the simple expedient of unlocking your own phone and getting and Italy SIM card from T.I.M. or Vodafone. And you can drop that price even further, to around $.24 a minute by using Jahjah.

The American companies are not very attractive in regard to international use, and their "locked" phones and technology is behind much of the rest of the world...although their domestic prices remain attractive.

I think it's a great deal for 15 bucks + calls to have a phone ready to dial AND shipped to my home. Many Verizon phones are not global-ready and/or can't be unlocked. Mine is one. I'm not interested in purchasing another phone at this time. I don't have to give my credit card info and wonder about what charges will be added, I don't have to find a TIM, no re-load worries, my family will know what number to dial to reach me before I leave the country. I found no other deal out there that offered me the availability of a phone for this price. Sure, I can get the minutes cheaper but that would be greatly off set by the rental fees of any phone. Besides, there is no intention of having conversations via this phone. It's for reservations etc. I'm sure the minutes used will be few. Convenience and low cost sealed the deal, it makes perfect sense to me.

I agree that this is probably a good option for what your needs are. In general, though, my understanding is that the issue starts with a technological one at Verizon. I believe I read that they (as well as Sprint and Metro PCS and perhaps others) do not use GSM technology...therefore there is no way to use their regular phones anyplace else in the world. In addtion, some US vendors provide some models of their "free" phones (I personally think this is misleading advertising as the real cost is buried in the monthly charge for the service) that are "hard locked" in the hardware itself and cannot be unlocked.

For those considering any plan, try to consider how much you think you will use the phone on a trip of any given length. For example, if you only use it ten minutes a day,over 30 days you will pay $300 in use charges alone...more than enough to buy an inexpensive unlocked phone, a card, and pay for the use ($40 + $7 or so after air credit plus $150 in use charges even without Jahjah, a savings of at least $70 or so, or more than 25%). And of course, with many of the plans you load minutes up front so there is no open authorization on your charge card.

Of course, it does depend on the length of your trip, whether you will be in more than one country, etc. So my point is to try and compute out your needs as best you can and don't get "seduced" by a particular offer that might sound good but, based on what you really know before you go, may not be as good as it seems for your anticipated needs.

Actually Verizon does over phones to be used out of the united states..I am not sure how exactly it works but my friends who were just here had one..it was a samsung renown(I think that was the model name) and I think it had space for a local chip....but since I am not an expert nor am I very techie I can't tell you for sure how it works...but they do explain it somewhere on their website....

Becca, when you return, perhaps you could report on how well the Verizon plan worked for you. That would be very helpful for others who might be considering it.

One other thing to be aware of -- I believe with the Verizon phone you would pay for incoming as well as outgoing calls. With a European SIM, you don't pay to receive calls. But if you want the phone mainly for very occasional or emergency use, that would probably be okay.

Roz

Yes Roz, will report back. Verizon's plan likely charges the same for incoming and outgoing calls. The specialist I spoke with did not identify any difference between the two, he just said 1.29/min or 0.99/min. To keep in touch with home, well, we're more text message-ers. That's pretty reasonable too. My kids can text me all the messages they want at 0.05/text.

My plans for this phone include making dinner reservations and catching up with my traveling companions. There are 4 going and you just know 4 will not always want to do the same things. Also, I've been twice before, the others have not. They have plans to do some things that I've already done twice. Fine by me. I get to experience some SLOW TRAVEL! So we'll use the phone to make plans to meet up when everyone is good and ready vs. by the time of the clock.

Verizon has 2 models that are global phones, The Blackberry and the Samsung Renown. The rest of their phones do not support GSM.

Actually, I have a Verizon Motorola World Phone... and when I got it (about 9 months ago), I was told by Verizon that I could use it in Europe and a few other countries... but there are lots of countries where it will not work (Argentina being one of them) ... my phone has a SIM card and Verizon gave me the "unlock code" and told me I could put an Italian Sim in the phone and use it in Italy...I have not tried this yet... so don't know for sure if what they tell me is true.

These "world phones" are relatively "new" for Verizon... and I am not confident that their salespeople know for sure what the capabilities are.

Karen

My friends have the Renown and it worked just fine here in Italy....

For those of you in the New York area J&R sells an unlocked Motorola razr for about $100.

From what I can gather reading the Verizon FAQ on their "Global Phone' their current phones appear to accommodate both GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) capabilities. Without degenerating into a highly "geeky" tangent, GSM is (according to the association for the technology) "the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. Its promoter, the GSM Association, estimates that 80% of the global mobile market uses the standard." There is nothing I found in the FAQ which says how they handle a situation if your current Verizon phone does not have this dual capability (perhaps they forced all their users to upgrade some time in the past? Or maybe they loan you a newer model to use on your trip, temporarily programming in your current phone number?). There are also different procedures for using the phone in CDMA versus GSM networks.

I'm not a telecom guru so I don't know if the phone functions with equal capability (such as signal strength) in either mode. I do know that here in the states we had to switch from Verizon to AT&T when that network converted to GSM as the Verizon access to GSM towers here in the Sierras as well as in the San Francisco peninsula hills was too weak to be usable. But their approach certainly seems to have benefits in some cases of international travel, particularly to multiple countries where some of them are not GSM (the FAQ mentions Mexico, Canada, Israel, India, Brazil and China as being non-GSM).

From Verizon's web page http://b2b.vzw.com/internation.../plans_coverage.html
You pay for both incoming and outgoing calls

There are a number of web sites that sell unlocked phones for a lot less. Some of these are refurbished and of course there are risks in any approach (even new phones can fail or not really be unlocked when you think they are), but in addition there are several firms with either rental phones or phones for sale (unlocked of course) along with use plans, etc.

An issue becomes one of what do you do when you get to Italy and find your supposedly unlocked phone doesn't work? Each approach you evaluate has a potential cost and a potential risk. For example, if you unlock your phone and the phone itself confirmed that it was now unlocked (or someone at your network said it is). But is it really? If you buy a SIM from a company here, is there any way to test it? Likely not. IF it doesn't then work in Italy how much of a hassle will it be to contact the company in the US and how will the problem get resolved, given that the phone is not one they supplied? If, on the other hand, you just buy a card in Italy, let's say at TIM store, according to other posts on the forum they will test it to be sure it works. What if it doesn't? Will they say the phone is the problem? Then what do you do? Each approach has some unknowns and I haven't yet heard of one that, through positive testing, makes it impossible that there will be no issues later. From years of software development I'm always a bit queasy about "going live" with something I can't test out in advance.

quote:

For example, if you unlock your phone and the phone itself confirmed that it was now unlocked (or someone at your network said it is). But is it really? If you buy a SIM from a company here, is there any way to test it? Likely not.

This depends upon who you currently have as a carrier. I currently have a pay as you go T-Mobile card. The SIM cost me $9.99. It is currently only 6.99 via the web. You can slip this in an unlocked GSM phone and test it. You could also do the same thing with AT&T with GSM support or Virgin Mobile.

I did this to test an unlocked phone I purchased and it worked fine here with my T-Mobile SIM and when I got to France with an SFR SIM. I also tested my French SIM here before leaving. I turned it on and surprisingly it found the AT&T network. I didn't try a call but it found a carrier. I also have a locked T-Mobile phone. If I unlocked it, I have friends who have AT&T and I could test it using the their SIM.

I don't think this will totally guarantee that it will work but I felt more reassured before leaving. The only other option to be absolutely certain it would work would be to purchase the phone in Europe. I'm assuming this can be done without a plan.

On a different related note - This is an example of the fees related to renting a phone here first - Vodaphone US International Cell Phone Rental. I thought it was interesting that they partner with Verizon. Verizon definitely has discounts for their customers who need International phone versus renting without being a customer. There are additional fees that could add up - Daily rental fee, delivery fee, fee to forward current number. They do have a free companion phone.

I assume the testing amounts to the instructions I accessed as part of unlocking my phone. The unlocking process is done with no SIM in place. The instructions indicated that, if the phone powered up when the SIM was installed, and assuming you got the proper message indicating the phone was unlocked, then the unlocking worked (the actual message does not use the term "unlocked", I think it says "restrictions removed" but don't recall exactly). Sort of an unsatisfying term, other than the phone does continue to work with its original AT&T SIM, so I suppose that a SIM is a SIM is a SIM and if it still works with the original one after the procedure and the screen says the procedure works, it passed the "test."

When I came to live in Venice I purchased an unlocked phone online. I never tested it in the states. I went to Vodaphone and bought a SIM. I had no problems. I then came to the states for a month and bought the T-Mobile SIM (pay as you go) on line...used it and never had a problem. Quite honestly I never even considered the fact that something could go wrong with what I bought.....I am going back to the states soon...I know neither of my unlocked phones will work there with Verizon, which is the company of my choice to have....so back to the drawing boards and I will buy an new phone there...

I think when you have worked in an industry and you know all the things that can go wrong in it it's easy to get more cautious than the general public. Mechanic friends can tell you all the design and safety flaws in a Toyota or a Dodge; software developers (like me) can tell you all the glitches and holes in programs and control systems (possibly including failures like Mars landers and DC Metro trains) computer security professionals (also me) can point to all the procedural miscues, oversights, and just plain stupid things people do that weaken privacy and security controls.

I suspect everything will really be fine with my plans regarding unlocking my phone and buying a SIM in Italy. After 30 years in some pretty complex projects my mind is just naturally tuned to playing "what if" games

For the past two years, at least, Verizon has offered what it called a worldwide phone for its subscribers who needed international GSM capability in addition to its own standard CDMA technology. I thought about getting one the last time re-upping my Verizon contract allowed me to select a new phone at significant discount. The prices ranged from free (basic CDMA only) to several hundred dollars for the dual-technology worldwide models. I took the free phone for use in North America, where I spend the vast majority of my time, and later bought an unlocked quad-band GSM phone from eBay for about $25. It has served me well and I have sent it on holidays with traveling friends too (it has been to UK twice, Belgium, and Slovakia without me).

A friend who leaves for Spain and France this week has opted for the new Verizon arrangement that essentially replaces your local phone for the time you are in GSM territory, up to 21 days. It shuts off service to your phone and transfers your number (with voicemail and contact list, etc) to the loaner, and you pay only a FedEx fee of $10 plus per minute rates on the loaner. When you return, the loaner goes back and Verizon restores service to your original phone.

Per-minute rates are high, 99 cents, but if you only use it once a day to make reservations or confirm a meeting place with friends, the total cost for 2 weeks could be under $30, which my friend though good value for the convenience of taking her own phone number with her and having the charges appear on her usual Verizon bill.

quote:

I suspect everything will really be fine with my plans regarding unlocking my phone and buying a SIM in Italy. After 30 years in some pretty complex projects my mind is just naturally tuned to playing "what if" games

I worked in software technical support so my mind works similarly. I did the testing because a friend gave me my current T-Mobile cell phone since he was switching to a Treo. He said it was 'unlocked'. I had a hunch he didn't really know what 'unlocked' meant so I tested it by putting my friend's AT&T SIM in it. Sure enough - no carrier but it worked fine with my T-Mobile SIM. He thought 'unlocked' mean no SIM.

I did end up having a little bit of a problem with the actual phone. I lost the volume on my unlocked phone. I can only hear the caller if I put it on speaker phone. I didn't use the unlocked phone much before leaving so my issue was more using an unfamiliar phone.

Good thinking
Although everyone around me has AT&T I can at least test by putting a neighbor's SIM into my phone and seeing if I can access his number (service with other carriers is almost non-existent, including Verizon, which is why I suspect that there may be an issue with at least some of their dual CDMA/GSM phones). The part I can't test is what will happen with a non-AT&T SIM (that is unless I can find someone I know in the San Francisco area who uses another carrier)? But thanks for the idea

Just bought two new ATT phones yesterday. Came home and called ATT. Within minutes they were unlocked. Very simple process. She had me put in my Italian sim to accomplish the unlock. If you don't already have a foreign sim, ATT will give you the unlock code so that as soon as you do get one, you can follow the very simple process. It's pretty hard to mess up unless you don't input the code numbers properly.

This is the 3rd set of phones we have done this with--always successfully.

Perhaps my error was in talking to the local AT&T retailer rather than calling in to AT&T. However, I found the following information on an AT&T user forum within their own web site. I think, once again, answers often depend on the luck of the draw on who you get to talk to. If it was universally true that AT&T would provide unlocking for anyone with a simple phone call, I have no explanation for why their own web site is full of instructions from users on how to do this without them.

http://forums.wireless.att.com...kia&message.id=42422

"Click here to download a Windows-based unlock calculator that will allow you to unlock your Cingular-branded Nokia 6102 with the following settings:

* Nokia
* DCT4 (expert only)
* IMEI: (enter *#06#)
* U.S.A. (must be country of the carrier phone is locked to)
* Cingular - Pacific Bell Wireless (must be the carrier that the phone is locked to)
* MCC+MNC: 31017000 (must be MCC+MNC of carrier phone is locked to)
* Asic 2
* T-Mobile 32802

NOTE: If you decide that you would like to unlock your Nokia per the instructions from the provided link, you will only get five attempts to unlock your phone. Remove the sim card from the phone and enter in only the first code (ends with +1#) with no spaces in between. If you do enter in five incorrect codes, your phone will not be damaged, but the phone will remained locked. If this happens, you would more than likely have to get your phone unlocked by a third-party".

The
click here" link in this particular post takes you to a site at http://unlock.nokiafree.org, which then downloads a calculator to your computer that you use to preform the unlock-likely similar to the process AT&T walked you through (this site id for Nokia only, but there are others for other brands). The result of inputting (another invented word out the merry world of IT) the information is a 15 digit number that you then enter into your phone, which then displays a message indicating that the restriction has been removed. Power it off and then put in the SIM and you're done.

quote:

Originally posted by tessmar:
If it was universally true that AT&T would provide unlocking for anyone with a simple phone call, I have no explanation for why their own web site is full of instructions from users on how to do this without them.

Just to confuse people who have lost their instructions, probably.

There's no reason to make this any harder than it has to be.

Call provider to get instructions to unlock a phone you bought from them, or buy an unlocked phone on ebay or elsewhere.

Insert italian or other SIM, make phone calls, save money.

That's it!

As someone who hasn't unlocked a phone yet, I also find it daunting. I have learned a lot from Tessmar on how to do it for his carrier. US cellphone customers don't get instructions on how to do it because the carriers do not want us to easily change carriers. They make it difficult on purpose. They lock us into contracts along with locking our phones. Calling their help usually means a long wait and who knows if you will get your question answered or everything you need to know.

I think it is great to know it is easy but until you do it the first time - I know I'm going to be very careful, do a lot of research and ask questions. That is what this forum is for.

Tessmar, I don't know if this was your situation or not, but I recently switched AT&T providers in my area. Apparently the provider I had been using for several years was licensed by AT&T to sell their contracts as an authorized retailer, and I found their assistance and service to be rather spotty.

Just a mile down the road is another AT&T provider, only this is one of the authorized AT&T dealership stores. I just this past month made the switch to this store, and the difference in customer care is like day and night.

I wonder if situations like this have anything to do with the many issues that arise with AT&T local support? And it also makes me wonder how many of the phones that are purchased at AT&T authorized retailers are actually phones that you would find at the AT&T dealership stores. Or if it would make any difference at all? Yes, it can indeed be frustrating.

The same situation in Canada: we cannot get our cell phone providers to unlock phones; this is how they keep us enslaved to their "price plans" for periods of two or three years. The only places one can get phones unlocked here are the little private stores, the electronic products equivalent of Dollar Stores. And then, they can't restore the phone to original settings and you have to go begging to the provider to get the phone restored.

It seems to me the European markets are more open. I will check this when I will take a 3G GSM cellphone I don't use anymore on our trip to Romania and try to find a local store who will install a Romanian SIM for the month we will be there.

Our cell phone provider has just increased the user fees for our GSM phones abroad. We are being gauged compared with other countries.

really, really--with ATT all you need do is call their Customer Care at 1-800-331-0500. They will totally walk you through it. Marta, nothing to be afraid of. It is very simple and takes only minutes. At the end your phone says it is now unlocked.

I think that all the "how to" sites are not current info.

Now I'm thinking to buy an inexpensive phone. Found one on e-bay but I need more info because I really don't understand. This is the deal...I want internet access, for looking up restaurants, finding my way from A to B etc. It just seems having internet access would be so handy. But how is this accomplished in Italy? I know I'd have to purchase a TIM and load minutes but how do you get the internet? I feel so behind-the-times!

Jane, was there a specific option you selected when you called Customer Care? And you just asked them to walk you through unlocking your phone? Do you have a standard phone plan? No push back on helping you?

Becca - it would be best if you started a new thread with your question. If you post a new question asking about internet access using your phone in Italy, our members will be able to help you better.

While it may be true for-some-carriers-and-some-phones-and-some-customer-service-contacts-some-of-the-time that the process is "simple" or "easy" or "just for people who forgot the instructions" it is also clear by the activity on this thread that for many it is neither simple, mindless, nor straightforward.

Phones differ...and according to some of the research I've done some of them, possibly some of the "free" phones that some vendors offer-are "hard locked" and cannot be unlocked.

From their web site, Verizon apparently uses CDMA. A CDMA phone will not work in Italy, but will, apparently, in China. Only their dual CDMA/GSM phones (likely the latest models with all the bells and whistles) can be used in la bella paese, so if a user has an older or cheaper model they have to "borrow" a GSM version from Verizon to use there. I believe that neither Sprint nor Metro/PCS use GSM. There may be other providers that also do not.

AT&T does indeed use "authorized agents" as well as their own direct sales outlets-and the information not only varies between these types of retailers, but also between two stores within each type. The answers you get from "Customer Service" often depends on who you happen to get (I verified this again by asking the "unlock" question of one agent at AT&Ts 800 number and then calling back and getting someone else. One said they could not provide the information, while the other gave me data that was incorrect-they gave me the procedure to lock the keypad-this type of confusion is not uncommon with these departments and not limited at all to AT&T).

Part of the reason for the inconsistency might be that I have an older, "free" phone that is no longer a current model, but it serves my needs and the information on the web sites and vendors I accessed to find out how to unlock it is current data, not outdated "how to" stuff.As an IT professional it was weird enough to discover that the manual for the phone does not contain specifications on its frequency bands...but at least I could find the information on AT&Ts web site.

Yes, it seems the phones sold over the web by AT&T may differ from the ones in the retail stores which may also differ from those in the "authorized" agent locations. In addition the hardware changes much faster than the information dissemination regarding product support...and often by the time the latter gets out the product is no longer offered so in effect there is no support.

All of these contribute to making the experience of solving the cell phone problem for a trip to Italy cover a broad spectrum from "piece of cake" to "dazed and confused." The approach I used and reported on was simply one way to solve the problem that worked for me and therefore might be helpful to others who might run into some of the same problems I had.

If you type "unlock cell phone" into Google you'll get at least 903,000 hits. On the first page alone I counted six companies listed that seem to be making at least part of their living out of unlocking phones. This might be the easiest approach for "technologically challenged" folks. The problem for me was that none of them or any others I found could provide the codes for my make and model without sending the phone in, which was why I tried the approach mentioned in this thread, which worked.

quote:

Originally posted by Doru:


It seems to me the European markets are more open. I will check this when I will take a 3G GSM cellphone I don't use anymore on our trip to Romania and try to find a local store who will install a Romanian SIM for the month we will be there.

The difference is in Italy we pay for our phones up front. The 3g Iphone (not the latest S) starts at 500 Euro.

Either way somebody pays.

quote:

Originally posted by Nick z: The difference is in Italy we pay for our phones up front. The 3g Iphone (not the latest S) starts at 500 Euro.

Either way somebody pays.

Thanks, Nick. I am impressed then with our market. Phones, even 3G or 4G, start much lower here than 500 Euro. This kind of price would be paid here for the absolute top of the line telephones when one doesn't sign up a slavery contract. Once you agree to be a slave of that provider for 2 or for three years, the cost of the phone drops dramatically.

My wife changed a month ago her older model for a Motorola K1 KRZR which costs CAD260 before taxes, for only CAD25 and the renewal of her call plan for two more years.

Having used on a number of occasions a TIM phone provided by the owner of the apartment in Rome where we usually stay, what I thought -and to this I was refering in my remark on seemingly more open market in Europe- is that the charges for long distance/international calls seemed less expensive by far than those we would pay using our own GSM phones.

I have approached the "locked" problem different ways:

One phone was from T-Mobile. After 3 (I think) months, I sent an e-mail asking for the unlock code. They sent an e-mail with the code and instructions, which worked just fine.

For another phone, I searched the internet for a vendor that would sell the phone model that I wanted already unlocked. It arrived, and was unlocked as advertised.