Thank you for that advice. I was afraid that I might have to take that route. With the time remaining on the phone there's probably still a decent chance to recoup some of my intial costs. Thanks!

tracfone and net10 are gsm phone but in diff format. if you have a unlocked gsm phone and put tracfone or net10 simcard in it, it's not gonna work. if you have a unlocked phone from tracfone or net10 and put your t-mo, at&t, or cingular simcard, it will work but on your screen still saying net or trac. when you use the phone with t-mo or at&t simcard inside that phone you still using you net or trac minute not the t-mo or at&t minutes. this happen to me when they put the tracfone on sale at walmart. i got the nokia phone and have it unlocked to www.unlock123.com

OK, from a newcomer a few questions--maybe somebody can answer:

1. I've been using for about 1/2 year Net10 with a Net10 Motorola V176 phone. No problems in general (except poor customer service), but I don't use up enough of my minutes which is building up too many minutes before I run out of service time. I do not use more than maybe $6 to $9 per month (60 to 90 min); in the winter even less. I can see myself pumping more in more minutes (=$$$) into it to extend service.

2. tMobile (TM) seems to have a better rate plan that would save at least $50 over the course of a year for prepay, most likely more. I can see myself using up those minutes.

3. I bought my V176 on eBay and then dropped a Net10 SIM card into it and activated it. The fellow from whom I bought the card says that all his phones are "unlocked."

4. I bought on eBay for about $6 a TM SIM card with something like a $10 credit on it.

5. My Net10 account is still active through mid-January with a current balance of about $40; I removed the Net10 SIM card, dropped in the TM SIM, and was told by the phone that the SIM was invalid or something like that. I put the Net10 back and the phone works fine.

So, my questions are:

1. Will I be able to use the TM SIM in this phone? If so, what did I do wrong? I do have an activation code for the TM SIM but did not use it since I didn't know where to begin. Once I activate the TM SIM, would I still be able to switch to the NET10 on the same phone?
2. How can I find out whether the phone is really unlocked? I'm asking b/c I will be in Europe where unlocked phones seem to abound and I could buy a local SIM card. Or not?
3. Can I try to sell the Net10 SIM with its remaining balance and somebody else can use it?
4. Or do I have to get rid of Net10 phone and SIM and start from scratch? If I were to do that, could I sell the NEt10 package to somebody else and would that person be able to change the phone number (to which I'm really not much attached).

Thanks for the help, and apologies if these questions were answered at least partly elsewhere. I looked around but didn't find any answers to these questions.