Cell phone unlocking

[S!X]

I was thinking of buying a cell phone down here in florida. The ppl at best buy said that none of there phones will work in canada tho. One brother who works there said that they can be unlocked so that I could use it in canada. Does anyone here have expirience with this stuff? :ohmy: :frusty:

[lynx]

You have multiple standards in US and Canada, maybe the phones they sell in BestBuy aren't compatible with any of the standards used in Canada.


the lack of non-regional special telephone numbers for mobile services, means that the pricing system used elsewhere (calls cost more to make to a mobile, but are free to receive) cannot be used, and as a result users pay to receive calls, discouraging cellphone use.Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_phone)

Is that true? :blink:
Fuck that for a game.

[Spicker]

just get a GSM phone then unlock it and use it with rogers/fido

[S!X]

just get a GSM phone then unlock it and use it with rogers/fido

1: WTF is a "GSM" phone?
2: I dont know how to unlock it thats why im asking on here.
3: I dont want any contract bullshit cuz I probbly wont be using the phone 24/7.

[Peerzy]

1) Google
2) Google
3) Get a Pay As You Go phone.

[Spicker]

if you are "buying" the phone then u wont go on a contract

also right now i have a LG 535 brand new for $370 (use with telus)

[lynx]

1) Google
2) Google
3) Get a Pay As You Go phone.Don't know if things have changed, but up until recently Pay As You Go wasn't an option in USA/Canada.

[Spicker]

1) Google
2) Google
3) Get a Pay As You Go phone.Don't know if things have changed, but up until recently Pay As You Go wasn't an option in USA/Canada.
pay as you go/prepaid same thing :01:

[Virtualbody1234]

1) Google
2) Google
3) Get a Pay As You Go phone.Don't know if things have changed, but up until recently Pay As You Go wasn't an option in USA/Canada.
Sure they do. It's been around a long time from many providers.

The latest to join in to offer "Pay as you go" has been Virgin Mobile in Canada: https://www.virginmobile.ca/web/buyaphone.do

From Richard Branson's UK based Virgin : http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/TECH/09/28/explorers.richardbranson/story.branson.jpg

http://www.virgin.com/

[tesco]

1) Google
2) Google
3) Get a Pay As You Go phone.Don't know if things have changed, but up until recently Pay As You Go wasn't an option in USA/Canada.
We have Pay as you Go unless they got rid of that in the last...month. :huh:

[S!X]

I wanted to get a virgin mobile phone here cuz its alot cheaper.

[lynx]

Sorry, I didn't make myself very clear.

What I meant was that unlike the UK, you can't just get a PAYG phone and expect it to work anywhere. You still have to get it a sim card which is linked to an area, and if you use it outside that area you pay roaming charges, just like UK users do when going abroad.

So from that point of view, getting a PAYG phone (or more accurately sim card) for use in Canada is not the same as getting one for use in UK. The equivalent might be getting a PAYG phone for use in, say, British Columbia.

Unless that's changed very recently.

[Peerzy]

Sorry, I didn't make myself very clear.

What I meant was that unlike the UK, you can't just get a PAYG phone and expect it to work anywhere. You still have to get it a sim card which is linked to an area, and if you use it outside that area you pay roaming charges, just like UK users do when going abroad.

So from that point of view, getting a PAYG phone (or more accurately sim card) for use in Canada is not the same as getting one for use in UK. The equivalent might be getting a PAYG phone for use in, say, British Columbia.

Unless that's changed very recently.


If thats the case he could buy a SIMFREE phone (No contract & no PAUG in it) and then qwhen he gets back to Canada unlock it and buy a Sim card there.

[Virtualbody1234]

I wanted to get a virgin mobile phone here cuz its alot cheaper.
I really don't know if there is a difference between a Virgin mobile phone in the USA vs Canada. I do know that they don't have contracts and that you "activate" the phone online (check here (https://www.virginmobile.ca/web/activate.do)). When activating you'll have a choice of which area code to use. So I suppose the phone can be set to your region.

The best would be to call Virgin directly and ask them.

[S!X]

I wanted to get a virgin mobile phone here cuz its alot cheaper.
I really don't know if there is a difference between a Virgin mobile phone in the USA vs Canada. I do know that they don't have contracts and that you "activate" the phone online (check here (https://www.virginmobile.ca/web/activate.do)). When activating you'll have a choice of which area code to use. So I suppose the phone can be set to your region.

The best would be to call Virgin directly and ask them.

I did and they said no go. :dry:

[Tikibonbon]

Amazon.com has a whole section labeled "unlocked phones".

[S!X]

Amazon.com has a whole section labeled "unlocked phones".

Nice, I'll check it out. :D