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[telecom] Where, oh where, will my next phone come from?

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?

Reply to
John Mayson
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I believe the FCC requires that, for whatever phones *can* be so unlocked.

I believe it starts from when you acquired the locked phone.

Speaking not for AT&T WS but from my T-Mobile experience: yes; and yes.

I suspect not -- I've done the analogous thing with two compatible handsets and a T-Mobile SIM without raising even a mumble from T-Mobile. One handset was an old VoiceStream (now T-Mobile) Nokia device that T-Mo had unlocked; the other was an old AT&T WS (now Cingular) Motorola device that Cingular had unlocked.

None of the above is definitive, of course, but *may* be indicative.

Cheers, -- tlvp

-- Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP

Reply to
tlvp

Sometimes. Some of their phones aren't even locked when you buy them.

Yes. I've done it.

In general no, but if you move your SIM that often you will probably find that the contact pads wear out and it starts going flaky on you.

iPhones may be a special case, since AT&T has special plans for them.

R's, John

Reply to
John Levine

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 16:01:03 +0800 John Mayson wrote:

Reply to
Joseph Singer

|On Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:01:03 -0400, John Mayson wrote: | |> 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? | |Speaking not for AT&T WS but from my T-Mobile experience: yes; and yes. | |> 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? | |I suspect not -- I've done the analogous thing with two compatible handsets |and a T-Mobile SIM without raising even a mumble from T-Mobile. One handset |was an old VoiceStream (now T-Mobile) Nokia device that T-Mo had unlocked; |the other was an old AT&T WS (now Cingular) Motorola device that Cingular |had unlocked.

I've read many complaints online that T-Mobile checks the handset's serial number to determine what type of phone you are using to see if you "should" be paying more. In particular, my understanding is that if I were to acquire an unlocked Android phone and swap in the T-Mobile SIM from my current WM-based smartphone, T-Mobile would soon cut off my data service because data on an Android is supposed to be more valuable/expensive.

Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com

Reply to
Dan Lanciani

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