Well here is the unlocking FAQ that I've been preparing
It is a bit incomplete, but something is better than nothing. I will be adding information to it as time progresses and GSM matures in North America.

First of all,
What is unlocking?
Unlocking is a procedure by which you can make a GSM phone accept another provider's SIM card.

Why are phones locked anyway?
GSM by it's nature is a very "portable" technology, allowing you to change handsets in a flash. Because of this I can get a handset from company A, and a SIM from company B and be able to be a cell phone user in a snap. Usually phones are subsidized, which means you get them for less than they are actually worth in the market. It's a way for the provider to make it easier for you to come onto their network and become a customer. Since phones are subsidized, the provider of the services is putting a trust in you, the consumer, to not get the cheap phone from them, and then immediatelly jump ship and go to another provider, so phones are locked to prevent fraud.

But I bought the phone! How can it be fraud if I want to cancel my subscription and move on elsewhere? The phone is mine! I paid for it! Right?

Well sort of. You paid for it, but you also got it cheaper because you are
(1) A new subscriber
(2) In a plan
People who are with a provider and want to get another phone (to replace their current one) they must pay a higher price for their phone than the average joe that just became a customer. There must be some contract clause (although to be honest I have not read my contract through).


OK, it's locked, what are my options?
There are several options but we are going to focus on the (most of the times) free way of getting it unlocked from your provider. -- This is by far THE SAFEST way


I've seen person xyz on this board offering to do it for xxx amount, what's the deal?
There are people who have unlocked phones and are members of this board. I neither recommend not discourage talking to them about unlocking your handset. Just be aware that by "flashing" a phone, if something goes wrong, your phone is unusable.


I've seen "do it yourself" unlocking kits and instructions on the net, should I go for it?
Since you are reading this, chances are that you are a newbie to the world of cell phones. If you want to flash yourphone yourself, it's your choice since you paid for your phone, but be aware that the chances of damaging your phone are HIGH, so I HIGHLY discourage you from doing this!



OK!!! OK!!! I will do it the safest way. What to do I do for my provider?
Ok my friend, read on. From now on each post will be per company.








Thanks to everyone that made this FAQ possible!!!!

OK!
So you are a VoiceStream customer eh?
OK this is what you do.
You call customer Service from your cell phone (the number is 611).
You will get a Customer Service Representative. Tell him/her that you want to remove the subsidy lock from your phone. They will ask you why. Here are a few good reasons:

If you have a world phone like the Nokia 8890, the Ericson T28w, etc
* You are travelling to a foreign country (russia, greece, italy, france, england, etc) and you are planing on using a local SIM while you are there.


If you have a North American phone like the Nokia 8290, 3390, the Ericson T28z, etc
* Tell them that you are selling the phone to a friend using a non voicestream network
or
* Tell them that you are giving your phone to a friend in a non voicestream network.

Now the customer service rep will ask you the following:
* Your account information, like name, address, passoword etc
* The phone's IMEI (Usually found on the phones back side under the battery)
* The phone's brand (Nokia, ericsson, motorola, etc)
* What network the phone will be used on
---- If you are claiming to be traveling just tell them some network like Vodafone,T-D1, Orange, Cosmote,)
---- If you are telling them you are giving it to a friend/selling it tell them cingular.
* A number to call you back at (or maybe an email to email you the info)

HAVE ALL THIS INFO ON HAND BEFORE YOU CALL!!! -- it will make the procedure much faster.


Now from Personal Experience I know that
(1) Some customer service reps get defensive if you know more than them, so treat them like little kids explainin what you want down to the last morsle of information.
(2) If you claim you are travelling abroad, they will try to find teh provider in their list, but the last time I called they only had american providers in their list, so just convince them to add the foreign provider's name in the "noted field". -- some are kind (or have enough common sense) to do that.
(3) You might not be successful on the first try, dont be afraid to call back the next day and ask them again. Be courteous though. That will get you a lot further than being rude and obnoxious.


Finally once they get all the info, they tell you that it might take up to a week to do this and they will call you back to let you know know to unlock the phone.


A few prerequisites
* You must be a customer for at least three months (although if you are a BIG spender I am sure they can waive this requirement)
* You must have no outstanding balance in your account (so pay all your bills on time!)
* You must be a voicestream customer! This means that if you bought the phone from ebay, or a friend, and you are not with voicestream, you cant unlock it! So be careful of what you buy!



Alternate route
An alternate route to calling customer support is to email them (from voicestream's web site @ www.voicestream.com ). In your email make sure to provide all the information that you would have given the customer service rep BUT don't be stupid! DO NOT under ANY circumstance emailed them your password! emails are insecure and someone might be looking in!!!!!!
include:
* Name, billing address, your cell phone number
* Your phone's IMEI
* Your phone's Brand and Model
* What you plan on doing (traveling or selling/giving to a friend)

Email them from the email that they have on file for you, it will make the email be more "authentic". This method may work, but it may not. The password might be vital info. You can email voicestream *after* you have called the Customer Service phone and *after* they have told you to await a phone call from them for instructions. Then you can email them and they will email you the instructions *for certain* (I did this)


Unpublished alternate route
Finally, some members on here have unlocked their voicestream phones by contacting the voicestream unlocking department directly at simunlock@voicestream.com . This method is quite successful as many members on this board have told me. Thanks for your input! :-)


In their instructions, voicestream offers a FULL set of instructions on how to unlock your handset, but instructions stubs for Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia phones are given at the end of this thread.

Edit: See Lilfuzbear's addition's at the end of this page.

For cingular Customers the procedure is almost the same as voicestream

You call customer Service from your cell phone (the number is 611, or from a regular phone 1-800-393-7267).
You will get a Customer Service Representative. Tell him/her that you want to remove the subsidy lock from your phone. They will ask you why. Here are a few good reasons:

If you have a world phone like the Nokia 8890, the Ericson T28w, etc
* You are travelling to a foreign country (russia, greece, italy, france, england, etc) and you are planing on using a local SIM while you are there.


If you have a North American phone like the Nokia 8290, 3390, the Ericson T28z, etc
* Tell them that you are selling the phone to a friend using a non-cingular network (say voicestream or Fido)
or
* Tell them that you are giving your phone to a friend in a non-cingular network (use voicestream or fido for example).

Now the customer service rep will ask you the following:
* Your account information, like name, address, passoword etc
* The phone's IMEI (Usually found on the phones back side under the battery)
* The phone's brand (Nokia, ericsson, motorola, etc)
* What network the phone will be used on
---- If you are claiming to be traveling just tell them some network like Vodafone,T-D1, Orange, Cosmote,)
---- If you are telling them you are giving it to a friend/selling it tell them cingular.
* A number to call you back at (or maybe an email to email you the info)

HAVE ALL THIS INFO ON HAND BEFORE YOU CALL!!! -- it will make the procedure much faster.

Common sense:
You might not be successful on the first try, dont be afraid to call back the next day and ask them again. Be courteous though. That will get you a lot further than being rude and obnoxious.

Second, I have been informed that you actually go through a few levels of customer service, which each level might ask you some of the same questions. Please keep your calm and have patience. It might take a while but you will get there.

Finally once they get all the info, they tell you that it might take up to a week to do this and they will call you back to let you know know to unlock the phone. This, as like in voicestream's case, is untrue. Usually they call you back within hours.


A few prerequisites
* You must have no outstanding balance in your account (so pay all your bills on time!)
* You must be a cingular customer! This means that if you bought the phone from , or a friend, and you are not with cingular, you cant unlock it! So be careful of what you buy!
* I am not sure how long you must be a customer, most people that I've talked to had beed a customer (in good financial standing) for at least two months. I think that if you are a big spender ou might be able to get it unlocked after a month of service but this is a big "if".

* BIG NOTE!!! : The phone has to be registered on cingular's network BEFORE you try to unlock it (even if you bought it from a cingular store!). So insert your cingular SIM in the phone and make a few calls and wait a few hours *before* actually calling cingular to unlock
*Also this means that if you buy a phone from , and you are NOT a cingular customer you cannot unlock it! so be VERY careful when buying handsets from !




In their instructions,cingular offers a full set of instructions on how to unlock your handset, but instructions stubs for Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia phones are given at the end of this thread.


E-MAIL route
Cingular also has an email way of getting the unlock codes, just like voicestream.
All you need to do is email simunlock@cingular.com with all the above information -- IMEI, phone number, your name, phone kind and model and in general all that you would have been asked if you called then, and they will send you an email with the unlock code and instructions.

May 19th update: I have been told that the above email doesn't work for a few members who have tried to unlock their phones this way. YOu may still try it to see how lucky you are


Edit: Thanks to schukey, scandal8290 , lazarus, and all who provided info on cingular

As of this writing AT&T GSM is very young, and AT&T is in the process of changing its networks from TDMA to GSM. My area doesn't have AT&T GSM yet, and there are few users (that I know of) that are in AT&T GSM and have actually unlocked their handset with AT&T.

More information will be forthcoming.

If you have more info, please contact me via PM.

I have been hearing several rumors about fido, which I figured I would publish, and a few pieces of advice as well.

First :
here are the rules/conditions for unlocking FIDO phones:
There are 3 ways to have your handset unlocked for FREE from FIDO. The conditions are:

a) The client must have their handset activated for a minimum of ONE year to receive a
FREE unlock code.

b) If the client is moving to the US, after 6 months of service Fido will unlock the handset
free of charge. This requires the client to deactivate his/her account to qualify. If service
is reinstated within 90 days of deactivation, a charge of $245 will be appended to the
clients new account. This prevents customers from taking advantage of the FREE unlock
system.

c) If the client has generated a minimum of $100 revenue per month for a minimum of 6
months; or has 5 lines activated on their account for a minimum of 6 months, FIDO will
unlock their handset for FREE.

Second thing I have heard is that FIDO actually has locks 1 and 2 enabled.

Lock 1 is the provider lock (i.e. you can only use it with FIDO)
Lock 2 is the Network lock (i.e. you can only use it on FIDO/microcell networks -- no roaming)




-- if you have information please contact me via PM --

More info will be published as info comes in


----thanks to-----
yourmom and obsidianic

As of this writing Rogers GSM is very young, and Rogers is in the process of changing its networks from TDMA to GSM. There are few users (that I know of) that are in Rogers GSM and that have actually unlocked their handset with Rogers.





More information will be forthcoming.


If you have more info, please contact me via PM.

OK,
In ericsson Handsets press the following key sequence:
> * < < * < *

The > meand right arrow
and < means left arrow

Now this reveals a "secret" service menu.

When you are here, navigate your way to where it says SIMlock (in my phone this option is under the "Services info" selection) and select it. Now, the "Network" will show a locked padlock icon next to it if your phone is locked.

Select "network" (if it's locked it's selectable) and you will be asked for a code. Here is where you input the code that your provider has given you.


CAUTION!!!!!!

If you enter the wrong code multiple times (I think 3 times, but I am not sure since it's been a while since I unlocked my phone) your phone will be LOCKED FOREVER!!!!!! (the only way to unlock it will be by flashing it!)

Unlocking Nokia phones:



1. press #

2. press *** which will now show p

3. press **** which will now show w

4. press ** which will show +

5. enter the code which you obtained from your provider

6. press **

7. press 1

8. press #

You should now get the message "SIM restriction off"

Your handset will briefly recycle and you will be back in business with a handset with no SIM restrictions, allowing you to use your phone with a SIM card from any provider

Any Motorola with foreign sim in the handset, should display "enter special code now" put in

code and press the 'ok' button. If it says "please wait to enter special code" that is exactly what

you have to do BUT with the phone on. If the battery is low plug it in. Then you have to wait

until please wait reverts back to enter special code now. It may only take 5 minutes or could

be an hour....(it's an anti fraud device in case someone stole the phone and was trying different

numbers ...the more tries the longer the wait.)

All phones sold by T-Mobile are locked for use by T-Mobile sim cards only. To unlock your handset, you must meet the following criteria.
-Customers must have at least 90 days of continuous active monthly service.
-The account must have a current balance of less then $100.00.
-The name on the request must match the billed party name.
-Handsets purchased through e-bay, garage sales, pawnshops, etc. must still meet these requirements.