Phone locked?

How can one tell if his or her phone is locked? Do you have to "know" by
virtue of how you obtained it?

I have a RAZR V3, and I've been unable to find anywhere that such info can
be obtained...


DustyB
San Jose

---

› See More: Phone locked?

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Thu, 3 Nov 2005 09:37:50 -0800,
"Dusty" <[email protected]> wrote:

>How can one tell if his or her phone is locked?

Try a SIM from a different carrier; e.g., at a dealer, or from a friend.

>Do you have to "know" by
>virtue of how you obtained it?

If you get it from a carrier in the USA, then it's probably locked.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

I'll try to be a PC as possible in my answer:

Did he or she buy said phone from a wireless dealer? specifically he
or she buy it from a T-Mobile or Cingular dealer or indirect? When he
or she bought the phone did he or she sign a contract for his ir her
service?

Is the phone he or she owns branded? That is, when he or she starts
up or shutsdown his or her phone does he or she see logos associated
with a specific wireless carrier such as T-Mobile or Cingular?

If his or her phone is working on the network he or she subscribes to,
why does it matter if his or her phone is locked?

Actually, the easiest way to determine if his or her phone is unlocked
is to put a SIM in it from another wireless carrier and see if his or
her phone starts.

On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 09:37:50 -0800, "Dusty"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>How can one tell if his or her phone is locked? Do you have to "know" by
>virtue of how you obtained it?
>
>I have a RAZR V3, and I've been unable to find anywhere that such info can
>be obtained...
>
>
>DustyB
>San Jose
>

G'day all;

Thanks to both of you for the swift reply. I wuz hopin' that there was
someplace in that morass of features and functions where one could go and
quickly see if such a "feature" is listed or enabled (or not).

"Bob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'll try to be a PC as possible in my answer:
Well, thanks, Bob. But you certainly don't need to do that on my
account...I'm a big boy...I can handle the truth...(;-o)!

> Did he or she buy said phone from a wireless dealer? specifically he
> or she buy it from a T-Mobile or Cingular dealer or indirect? When he
> or she bought the phone did he or she sign a contract for his ir her
> service?
I bought it from some on-line seller of that kind of product/service. I
believe service was included...or at least the selection of a service
provider.

In hindsight, if I hadn't been in the middle needing a more up-to-date
phone, wanting to flip the bird to Nextel, *and* having to get everything
done in order to go cross-country at that time, I probably would have just
bought it from M. I found a convenient vendor that promised that they would
transfer my number and bought it without much consideration for these rather
more prosaic issues... (I think this is the spot where one reflects that
they get too soon old and too late smart!)

I really didn't know that much about this underworld of phone info that I've
found here (BTW; thank you all very much). It was just a gadget that served
a specific purpose for us.

> Is the phone he or she owns branded? That is, when he or she starts
> up or shutsdown his or her phone does he or she see logos associated
> with a specific wireless carrier such as T-Mobile or Cingular?
Yep. I do. Cingular. Although it's just the word listed near the top left
of the screen. There seems to be no logo involved. However, on closer
inspection I found the word "Cingular" stamped on the battery cover. So,
I'd guess that it fits your description as a "branded" phone.

> If his or her phone is working on the network he or she subscribes to,
> why does it matter if his or her phone is locked?
It was a curiosity question. I read so much about folks wanting to unlock
their phones, and having trouble if they travel--esp. off-shore. Since I
intend to be doing that, I just wanted to find out what the status of the
phone was so I could be ready to either toss it or buy something else. As a
service, Cingular has been okay for me...so far. They seem to have better
connectivity than I'd had with Nextel--at least in the places where I've
been so far. I just want to be able to go to Asia and Europe w/o having to
jump through any hoops...

> Actually, the easiest way to determine if his or her phone is unlocked
> is to put a SIM in it from another wireless carrier and see if his or
> her phone starts.
Sure! I'm sure all you phone fanatics reading here have a handful of those
lying around...right? Unfortunately, the rest of us don't! (:-o)!

Anyway, thanks for getting back to me on this issue. Thank you!


DustyB
San Jose

> On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 09:37:50 -0800, "Dusty"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>How can one tell if his or her phone is locked? Do you have to "know" by
>>virtue of how you obtained it?
>>
>>I have a RAZR V3, and I've been unable to find anywhere that such info can
>>be obtained...
>>
>>
>>DustyB
>>San Jose
>>
>

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Thu, 3 Nov 2005 10:35:22 -0800,
"Dusty" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Thanks to both of you for the swift reply. I wuz hopin' that there was
>someplace in that morass of features and functions where one could go and
>quickly see if such a "feature" is listed or enabled (or not).

Not in this case.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

"John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
....
>>I wuz hopin' that there was
>>someplace in that morass of features and functions where one could go and
>>quickly see if such a "feature" is listed or enabled (or not).
>
> Not in this case.
Drat!

Is there a downside to just using one of those unlocking services and
getting it unlocked? I'm not interested in leaving my service provider, so
what would be the difficulty or harm?


DustyB

>
> --
> Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
> John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Thu, 3 Nov 2005 12:19:10 -0800,
"Dusty" <[email protected]> wrote:

>"John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>...
>>>I wuz hopin' that there was
>>>someplace in that morass of features and functions where one could go and
>>>quickly see if such a "feature" is listed or enabled (or not).
>>
>> Not in this case.
>Drat!
>
>Is there a downside to just using one of those unlocking services and
>getting it unlocked? I'm not interested in leaving my service provider, so
>what would be the difficulty or harm?

The potential downside is having the phone lost or trashed.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

"Dusty" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> ...
> >>I wuz hopin' that there was
> >>someplace in that morass of features and functions where one could go
and
> >>quickly see if such a "feature" is listed or enabled (or not).
> >
> > Not in this case.
> Drat!
>
> Is there a downside to just using one of those unlocking services and
> getting it unlocked? I'm not interested in leaving my service provider,
so
> what would be the difficulty or harm?
>
>
> DustyB
>
> >
> > --
> > Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
> > John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>
>
>


unlocking your phone doesn't in any way add features or make the phone
better in any way. .it just allows you to use the phone on a different
network then you originally purchased the phone from.

what features are you looking to add???

"Aaron" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
....
>> Is there a downside to just using one of those unlocking services and
>> getting it unlocked? I'm not interested in leaving my service provider,
>> so
>> what would be the difficulty or harm?
....
> unlocking your phone doesn't in any way add features or make the phone
> better in any way. .it just allows you to use the phone on a different
> network then you originally purchased the phone from.
> what features are you looking to add???
Being able to travel to Canada, England, SA, Malaysia, Australia, and Japan
next month (regretfully only business) and being able to get/make calls w/o
having to fool around w/the darn thing...


TIA,
DustyB

"Dusty" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Being able to travel to Canada, England, SA, Malaysia, Australia, and
> Japan next month (regretfully only business) and being able to get/make
> calls w/o having to fool around w/the darn thing...

That phone won't work in Japan no matter how much you 'fool around with it'.

JL

"Johnnie Leung" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
....
>> Being able to travel to Canada, England, SA, Malaysia, Australia, and
>> Japan next month (regretfully only business) and being able to get/make
>> calls w/o having to fool around w/the darn thing...
> That phone won't work in Japan no matter how much you 'fool around with
> it'.
So what do you suggest?

DustyB
>
> JL
>
>

"Dusty" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Johnnie Leung" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> ...
>>> Being able to travel to Canada, England, SA, Malaysia, Australia, and
>>> Japan next month (regretfully only business) and being able to get/make
>>> calls w/o having to fool around w/the darn thing...
>> That phone won't work in Japan no matter how much you 'fool around with
>> it'.
> So what do you suggest?

Japan has neither GSM nor prepaid, so if you want to use a phone you'll have
to roam using a phone different from what you have, or borrow a local's.
You should be able to roam on the two UMTS networks there with a Cingular
SIM in a 3G handset (that you'll have to buy or rent), and it's not going to
be cheap.

JL