I have and e61 with a Rogers voice plan, but not data plan. It is unlocked and I use Iskoot, fring, mobivox to access my skype account. As long as I can connectd to a WLAN wifi connection, I can surf the net, get e-mail and so on. I would imagine that you could do all that without getting a voice package but there are advantages of getting even a basic one, for 20 dollars a month...the one being that some services like require you to have a mobile phone number.

I would try to see what you can do without a voice plan.

Make sure that if you do get a voice plan, go to a private dealer who sells the plan and unlocked phone.

The e61 is a great machine and I am quite pleased with it. It is really a computer that you can make phone calls with.

okay heres wat i want, ull probably be making fun of me cause this would be my first cell phone. Ive benn reading about the nokia e61 having wifi technology as well as its ability to connect to the internet thru a mobile network. Would a unlocked e61 (ebay, do u know a better place to buy one?) work in CO usa, cuz its a foreign phone. Im not even sure how cell phone service providers work. I really dont want to be in a contract but would like always accessible internet access so I can use a new program for these phones and a few others called iskoot which allows the phone to connect to skype with skype rates, any help would be apprieciated.