buying any cell phone to use with TMobile service

Just want to confirm what a guy at TMobile told me. He said I could
buy any phone and either have the phone mfg or TMobile give me an
unlock code so I can use it with TMobile as my cell phone provider.

Is this true? Is it free from the mfg? Last, does the mfg supply it
in a timely fashion or do they make you wait (supposedly I should be
able to get it from TMobile as well but who knows) ?

thanks in advance.

rob wrote:
> Just want to confirm what a guy at TMobile told me. He said I could
> buy any phone and either have the phone mfg or TMobile give me an
> unlock code so I can use it with TMobile as my cell phone provider.
>
> Is this true? Is it free from the mfg? Last, does the mfg supply it
> in a timely fashion or do they make you wait (supposedly I should be
> able to get it from TMobile as well but who knows) ?

Any unlocked GSM phone, or any GSM phone originally sold by T-Mobile, should
work fine. Can't answer the other two questions, sorry...


--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows
Apple Valley, CA
Resident of Southern California -
the home of beautiful people and butt-ugly traffic jams

Rob,

It's true. I've done it. the phone must have a SIM card. If it
doesn't, you can buy one
at a T-Mobile store for $15 or so, or on eBay for $10.

I found that the first 2 or 3 people at T-Mobile will say "you can't
do that."
But if you persist you will eventually be referred to the To Go
Department. They will again
say you have to go to a store and buy a SIM card or an new phone, even
if you have both. Keep telling
them it can be done, as you know someone who has done it. Eventually
they will cave
in and ask for the phone number of the phone you have. YOU WILL NEED
THAT NUMBER,
EVEN THOUGH IT IS NO LONGER IN SERVICE. BE SURE TO GET THE OLD NUMBER
FROM THE SELLER OF THE PHONE.

By the way, I happen to have a Samsung SGH x 495 T-Mobile To Go phone
that I'm
getting ready to put on eBay. Let me know (off-line) if you are
interested in it. Turns out our
vacation home doesn't have good T-Mobile coverage.

Ed
jag_manR*E__*M-0VE653@hotmail.com


<rob> wrote in message
news:ns7j52psieo9t4pgmkpa2a97deocf8od6l@4ax.com...
> Just want to confirm what a guy at TMobile told me. He said I could
> buy any phone and either have the phone mfg or TMobile give me an
> unlock code so I can use it with TMobile as my cell phone provider.
>
> Is this true? Is it free from the mfg? Last, does the mfg supply
> it
> in a timely fashion or do they make you wait (supposedly I should be
> able to get it from TMobile as well but who knows) ?
>
> thanks in advance.
>

rob wrote:
> Just want to confirm what a guy at TMobile told me. He said I could
> buy any phone and either have the phone mfg or TMobile give me an
> unlock code so I can use it with TMobile as my cell phone provider.
>
> Is this true? Is it free from the mfg? Last, does the mfg supply it
> in a timely fashion or do they make you wait (supposedly I should be
> able to get it from TMobile as well but who knows) ?
>
> thanks in advance.

The manufacturer doesn't provide the unlock code, nor does T-Mobile.

Some Nokia phones are easily unlocked. See
"http://www.peters1.dk/webtools/nokia/nokiaonline.php?sprog=en"