can I use a cingular phone for t-mobile?

hey so i want to get the motorola SLVR L7 phone that cingular sells but i have t-mobile.... i was wondering if i buy this phone off ebay and it says it is unlocked or used for cingular, if it will work for T-Mobile too? i mean can i just swap sim cards and everything will be okay? is that what the GSM network thing means? im not too good with understanding how cell phone companies work together/network.
can anyone explain if this would be possible?

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Originally Posted by tomgrm

hey so i want to get the motorola SLVR L7 phone that cingular sells but i have t-mobile.... i was wondering if i buy this phone off ebay and it says it is unlocked or used for cingular, if it will work for T-Mobile too? i mean can i just swap sim cards and everything will be okay? is that what the GSM network thing means? im not too good with understanding how cell phone companies work together/network.
can anyone explain if this would be possible?

If you buy an unlocked/unbranded phone, it will work on any GWM carrier.

If you buy a Cingulbar-branded phone it can be unlocked and will need to be before it will work on T-Mobile.

A phone for sale on eBay with Cingulbar branding might be unlocked or might not, you need to know this before you buy it. If it is locked to Cingulbar, you will need to know how you are going to get it unlocked.

From what you've said in your post, it sounds as if you are looking at a locked phone. You need to be careful.

if it is locked, how do i get it unlocked? do i take it to cingular, T-mobile or do i do it myself? if i do it myself, are there instructions somewhere?

Originally Posted by tomgrm

if it is locked, how do i get it unlocked? do i take it to cingular, T-mobile or do i do it myself? if i do it myself, are there instructions somewhere?

Cingulbar probably won't help you because you are taking their equipment to TMo.

TMo probably can't help you because they don't have Cingulbar's subsidy codes.

You can't do it yourself without the unlock code. You can go to Google and query unlock codes and an assortment of links will pop up. You can PayPal money to these guys and they will send you a code that may or may not work to unlock your phone. I had two AT&T Wireless phones a couple years back. Sent money for unlock codes and got one that worked and one that did not. It's a gamble.

Another option is just buying a TMo phone from or going to an independent site who will sell you a phone that is guaranteed to be unbranded and unlocked. I use cellularconcepts.com - Home.

You could get it unlocked but you would end up having to pay who ever unlocks the phone a lot of money and at that point it might not be worth it for you.