vB Easy Archive - Question bout Tytn and the term 'unlock/lock'

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Question bout Tytn and the term 'unlock/lock'
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Posted by: anthone

Im a TMO customer and right now they only have the MDA (HTC Wizard?) and I want to get Tytn. Ive heard of this term 'unlocked phones but never really bothered learning how it works.

Is it possible for me to buy Tytn and use it for Tmobile? I dont know the steps and how do I find out if the phone is unlocked or locked?
Can I get a phone and get it locked? Is this legal ?

Posted by: captainmicahp

The term locked means that there is a piece of software on a phone that allows it to work only with on carrier. For example if I bought a tmobile MDA and wanted to use it with cingular, this little piece of software would prevent me from doing so. If I take the steps to unlock a phone, it just means that I can use that phone on any companies network. So there would be no advantage to getting a phone locked onto a network.
If you buy a Tytn directly from HTC it will come unlocked, you can just pop you sim card in and away you go. The way to find out if a phone is locked is to put a sim card from another company in and if it doesn't work, than it is locked. ANd most importantly it is all legal to get your phone unlocked. In fact on Christmas day the Librarian of Congress (who is the official in charge of these kinds of things) said that consumers had the right to unlock their cellphones, so have no fear, unlocking is officially sanctioned as legal by the US government.

Posted by: anthone

Thank you for the brief explanation. What is the official HTC site and how much are they going for?

I found this http://www.phonesource-usa.com/cell...US-Warranty.php but is this unlocked?

are there any disadvantages for having an unlocked phone?

Posted by: captainmicahp

Quote:

Originally Posted by anthone

Thank you for the brief explanation. What is the official HTC site and how much are they going for?

I found this http://www.phonesource-usa.com/cell...US-Warranty.php but is this unlocked?

are there any disadvantages for having an unlocked phone?

any phone sold sold without a carrier logo is unlocked, but if you are going to use it in the US, cheapest way to go, is look on ebay or craigslist, or in the buy/sell/trade section of this forum and get an 8525 and then unlock it, unlocking is a simple procedure, that you can do from some commercial sites like imei-check.com, or for free if you go to xda-developers.com and look around over there for the info. the only real difference between the 8525 and the tytn is that the 8525 is missing the front facing camera which you cant really take advantage of in the US or on tmo.

Posted by: anthone

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainmicahp

Actually that is one thing I wanted to ask.. Can you atleast use the front camera to view yourself and use it as a mirror or take a picture of yourself?

Posted by: captainmicahp

yes you can use the camera that way, but if you can save a few bucks by getting the same device without one it is worth it. I had a nokia with a front facing cam, and with the exceptin of playing with a few times when I first got it, I never used the front facing cam, It is a mch lower resolution, probably just a vga camera in the front.

Posted by: anthone

Okay, you got me sold to it. Now how do I tell TMO that I have an unlocked phone and what I need from them in order for it to work?

my contracts done with them with sidekick 2 so Ive been looking at new phones.

Posted by: captainmicahp

you dont need to tell them anything, just take your sim card out of the sidekick and put it into any GSM phone and thats it. You just have to manually change the data settings from cingular to tmobile on the your phone, but that is very very easy and only takes two or three minutes. And you can find out how to do that with a quick google search. If you need extra help send me a PM and I can help walk you through it.