Unlocked Cingular GSM tri-band phone won't work in Italy

HI -

I am an ex-ATT/Cingular customer, with a Sony-Ericsson T610. At
expiration of the contract, I had my phone unlocked through some
merchant at ebay (4$). I'm now in Italy, and just tried my cell with a
SIM card from a local provider, that works on a friends' cell phone
(the SIM card is a bit old though). Unfortunately when I put it in my
cell phone, I can access the contents of the SIM card (addresses
etc...), but I keep getting "no signal" and "no network". If I put in
my de-activated ATT/Cingular sim card, it does pick up a signal, but
then of course it does not connect since the SIM is deactivated. Any
idea why my cell isn't working with the new SIM? It hasn't been
unlocked properly? Or there is still something in the memory of the
phone that tells it that it can't be used abroad (I didn't have
internatioal roaming activated from ATT/Cingular...does this
matter?).?????
Any comments/suggestions greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

Mauro

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Probably because the frequency used there is like most of Europe and
uses the 1800 Mhz, and your t610 doesn't support this band. You're
going to need a phone that supports the local GMS carrier's band.

On 16 Dec 2005 13:22:51 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

>HI -
>
> I am an ex-ATT/Cingular customer, with a Sony-Ericsson T610. At
>expiration of the contract, I had my phone unlocked through some
>merchant at ebay (4$). I'm now in Italy, and just tried my cell with a
>SIM card from a local provider, that works on a friends' cell phone
>(the SIM card is a bit old though). Unfortunately when I put it in my
>cell phone, I can access the contents of the SIM card (addresses
>etc...), but I keep getting "no signal" and "no network". If I put in
>my de-activated ATT/Cingular sim card, it does pick up a signal, but
>then of course it does not connect since the SIM is deactivated. Any
>idea why my cell isn't working with the new SIM? It hasn't been
>unlocked properly? Or there is still something in the memory of the
>phone that tells it that it can't be used abroad (I didn't have
>internatioal roaming activated from ATT/Cingular...does this
>matter?).?????
>Any comments/suggestions greatly appreciated.
>Thanks,
>
> Mauro

Bob wrote:
> Probably because the frequency used there is like most of Europe and
> uses the 1800 Mhz, and your t610 doesn't support this band. You're
> going to need a phone that supports the local GMS carrier's band.

The T610 is GSM 900/1800/1900 supporting both non-U.S. bands, and 1900
MHz in the U.S..

Either the phone is not really unlocked, or it has other problems, as
someone else posted. SE phones are not known to be the greatest phones.

Thanks to all for your replies; it turns out the apparently the sim I
had tried was too old (5 years or more), and it works great with a
newer sim (about 2 years old). I have no idea why of course, but the
problem is solved for all practical purposes.

Cheers,

Mauro