Cell phone help needed

So I received a cell phone, legally, from a friend who received a better model for a birthday gift. The new phone is an upgrade for me, but its for another carrier. Ive heard of people having a phone unlocked to work with any carrier. I know with some phones, this is tough or impossible (iPhone for instance), but apparently its just a software modification with the phone I got. Does anyone have any experience with this? Ive seen a bunch of youtube vids and several websites with info on this, but Im not sure who to trust. I guess if I trust you guys with advice about the brakes that stop my car etc, I can trust you with this, please help a newb...

What company are you with. What company was thus phone with. Does either use sim cards? Gsm? Cdma?

yes, both are GSM SIM card phones...Im with a local carrier in cincinnati, the phone Im trying to use is connected to ATT

Have you tried simply swapping the sim cards yet?

N Sperlo wrote: Have you tried simply swapping the sim cards yet?

This..

I'm hoping he didn't and smacks himself in the head, because otherwise, its off to see Apu at the kiosk in the mall. Maybe he can pick up some gold chains next kiosk down while he's at it.

I know you can take most prepaid go phones and throw an AT&T sim in them and they work great.

Yea, thats what we did when Wifey finally broke her blackberry. Practically gave that thing the military spec test. It would have passed. Made it four years.

lol, headsmack...i have not tried this yet...the phone is not with me right now, so I will try to just swap cards and see wha thappens. My local carrier used to be part of the ATT network, so maybe I will get lucky! Ive read that DIY phone unlocks can be trouble, so I guess if the swap doesnt work, I will just try a kiosk. Thanks for the help.

The swap should work. SIM cards are cool like that.

N Sperlo likes this.

i lold

BFTD...

In other news, I no longer wish to remain a customer to my current provider. I can go to T-mobile, and get SWMBO and Myself into a $100/mo plan with unlimited talk and text, and (semi) unlimited data (Semi meaning you get 2gb data at "high" speed each month, then it slows down after 2gb to a slower speed). That knocks the pants off any deal my current provider can offer. SO I figger there must be a catch...is T-mobile's coverage crap? poor customer service? dont pay your bill and Tony Soprano breaks your legs? I just want to get to know what I might be facing going into this thing. Any t mobile fans here wanna weigh in? Any TM haters? Please advise...

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: The swap should work. SIM cards are cool like that.

... unless the phone is provider locked. In that case you have to get it unlocked first.

The bit about iPhones not being unlockable is a myth that AT&T like to perpetuate, even though Apple will unlock it if the provider gives them the go ahead (I've got an iPhone 3GS with the provider lock officially removed that way). Of course, AT&T won't give the go ahead to unlock a phone...

isnt t mobile about to be bought by at&t? i heard that somewhere but dont know the truth about it as i am not with either of them.

AFAIK the "buyout" got put on hold, but I dont know much

Woa, lots of buyout info here:

http://support.t-mobile.com/thread/1340?start=225&tstart=0

I've been with Tmo for about a decade, and I can tell you these things-

I haven't really noticed a drop in coverage compared to most providers. I don't get as good reception in buildings, but where I work Sprint is the only one that even gets a signal. Customer service for me has been solid, other than the one time I got transferred all over frickin Bangladesh and had to explain to "Dan" that I already did all the soft updates to the phone and the handset really was fried and I needed a new one. In store, Tmo's guys have always treated me right, and domestic customer service has been rock solid. I'll be with them for the forseeable future, unless that stupid merger happens, because berkeley ATT.

I dropped AT&T for T-Mo.

The customer service is way better, prices on plans are better, phones are better (I'm an Android fanboi, and T-Mo does the least modification/locking down of Android phones), CS reps are better looking, etc.

Only issue I have is that their coverage isn't as good around here. With my AT&T phone, I had signal inside my office, not so with T-Mo.

Insofar as the buyout, the Feds have filed an injunction against it, Sprint's added their weight against it, and seven states have done the same. Basically all of AT&T's listed reasons to buy them out are being seen as BS, and they're being called on it.

ATT was getting pummeled in the actual data market anyhow. Their network got HOSED when the iPhone went online, and they've been trying to recover ever since. Who knew that having full internet capability was useful? Especially since it's easier to take my phone to the can than my laptop.

That's what i'm worried about.... i've been with T-Mo for a long time, and have never had one single complaint with them.

I think i'm about to jump ship to go with ATT, but i really haven't heard anything good about them in the last year or so, and their plans are only cheaper for me because i get a healthy discount through work. I think their data plans are berkeleying garbage though, and that really pisses me off.

T- mobile coverage sucks in Ohio. NE Ohio anyway and Michigan. I dealt with that crap for awhile. Drop calls every 5 min. It just sucks. Go Verizon

I was talking to AT&T today about bundling my enterwebs with cell phone, my T-mobile coverage is e36m3 around Springboro OH, Centerville is not so bad, but Kettering is puu as well. Once May get's here, I am switching over to AT&T

My Virgin Mobile coverage is pretty good in Ohio, even small towns. Not quite as good a Verizon but at least half the price.

Yeah, it'd take a lot to get me to go back to AT&T. I have a long-standing grudge with Verizon, they may have the best product in terms of their network, but they're downright evil.

I think I'd most likely go Sprint at this point should T-Mo end up going away. They were pretty miserable a few years ago, but I've heard that their new(ish) CEO has turned a lot of that around.