I have long been an easy cell phone customer. I've always taken the free phone, just used it for talking and texting, paid my bill on time, and the carrier & I just left each other alone. Then something happened. I traveled abroad. I'm considering trading in my Pantech C530 for a smart phone. But before I take the plunge I want run some things past the braintrust here.
I am an AT&T Wireless customer and my first choice is the iPhone. However I need an unlocked phone, or at least one that can be unlocked. My understanding is Apple will not allow iPhones to be unlocked. Or is it AT&T? In any case, it can't (easily) be done. I can expect to spend time in Malaysia and Hungary for the foreseeable future and having a local number (i.e. a local SIM card) makes life much easier.
I have narrowed my choices down to a few Android handhelds and the Nokia N900. I'm not here to debate or discuss the merits of any of these platforms. I don't want to start a holy war. Here are my questions.
Various, non-authoritative, websites claim AT&T Wireless will unlock phones for customers who have been in good-standing for more than 90 days. Is this true? Does the 90 days start from when I first opened my current account or when I bought the locked phone? For the record they happily unlocked my Pantech phone that I had owned for about 15 months.
If I were to walk in off the streets with an unlocked GSM phone would AT&T Wireless necessarily support it? Would I still be able to buy a data plan assuming the hardware is compatible?
And finally... suppose one day I buy an iPhone to go with, say, my Android phone. What would happen if I swapped the SIM back and forth between the two phones, say iPhone on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Android the remaining days. Would AT&T Wireless care?