the 960i in america

Hey guys first post here...
I just got back from london and i came back with a brand new 960i that i got for free (dont ask how). I was wondering if anyone had any information on when this phone might come out in america or if i would be able to use this phone in any way here in this country. Any advice will be great.

TY

I don't know about when the phone might come out, but the phone should be usable in America as it has Tri-band supporting GSM frequencies 900/1800/1900 plus 3G UMTS 2100. The American GSM range uses the frequencies 850 and 1900 megahertz and since this phone supports the 1900 range, you should find that it operates fine in the America. Don't forget, this phone may be locked to an English network, so be sure to have it unlocked so that you may insert your desired providers SIM card into it .

TY for responding. Sorry that i am such a newb at this whole cell phone business but how or where would i go about to unlock this phone because it is so new? Also once it is unlocked does that mean any sim card would work in it or only certain providers?

TY

It's ok, don't worry about it - we all start somewhere . You can get the phone unlocked in various ways. The easiest way would be to visit your local phone store (more success with a 3rd party one rather than your operator themselves). It's a fairly simple process to carry out and will not take very long. To save you the hassle of searching, I should add though that NO places that are going to unlock a newish Sony Ericsson phone for free. Expect to pay around the fee of $10 - 30 depending on where you get it done. If you don't like the idea of a high street retailer, you can find quite a few decent results by googling 'W960i unlocking', including 'over the air' unlocking, which basically involves you doing it yourself (not as hard as you may think).

As for the network side of things, yes, unlocking the phone means to enable it to be used with ANY SIM card. Once unlocked, your phone will be able to be used on any network of your choice .

It might already be unlocked if you're lucky. A way you can check this is to see if firsty, there are any network logo's on the phone's actual casing - if there are, it's pretty likely it's locked. Another way to check is to have a look on your phone's main menu and see if there are any operator branded icons on there - for instance, if there's an internet icon on there titled along the lines of let's say 'Verizion Home', then it's probably locked. If you're honestly not sure, just insert a different networks SIM card. If it's unlocked, then phone will work as normal. If it's locked, the phone will read 'Invalid SIM', 'Incorrect SIM card', or something similar. If you need any more tips on unlocking, you know where to come .

hmmmmm