Confirmation of Cingular Handset Unlock Policy for "World Phones"
David Efron wrote to confirm the Cingular handset unlock policy that we documented back in April:
I had an exasperating set of phone calls with Cingular which finally ended in confirming what you posted regarding the unlock policy. Domestic-only phones have locks, to prevent abuse of the carrier. They claim that any phone with 900 and 1800 bands will work when a foreign local carrier's SIM is inserted. The agent sent me a paragraph from their internal system confirming that fact, reproduced below:
All currently available GSM and GPRS devices that contain at least one International Frequency (900 MHz or 1800 MHz) are not locked. This means a customer can insert another SIM into these devices, for example a pre-paid SIM from a foreign carrier. If a customer does this, they will no longer be reachable at their Cingular number and charges will not appear on the customer's Cingular bill.T-Mobile, however, from which I switched, told me that their phones, even dual and tri/quad band, have to be unlocked, but that they would email the unlock codes on request, and that on return to the US the phone would remain unlocked with no need to re-lock it.
Thanks, David, for sharing your experiences with Cingular and T-Mobile with us.
Comments
David,
I too just confirmed the April post, and was curious has anyone actually physically _confirmed_ this to be the case. I dont know anyone with a SIM from a company other than Cingular, and I haven'y been outside the US since I got the Moto V400 phone from Cingular last week.
Again, here is the email I received:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:01:35 -0400
From: "Hester, Shellie"
To: "'wjones@clemson.edu'"
Subject: international roaming sim options
Parts/Attachments:
1 OK 24 lines Text
2 Shown ~107 lines Text
----------------------------------------
Mr. Jones this is the info that you requested about the Unlock codes on international roaming.
All currently available GSM and GPRS devices that contain at least one International Frequency
(900 MHz or 1800 MHz) are not locked. This means a customer can insert another SIM into these
devices, for example a pre-paid SIM from a foreign carrier. If a customer does this, they will
no longer be reachable at their Cingular number and charges will not appear on the customer's
Cingular bill.
Hope this is of some assistance to you.
Shellie Hester, Cingular Wireless Customer Service
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Eagerly awaiting reply,
Will Jones
Posted by: William M. Jones | July 26, 2004 12:47 PM
After trying to switch a Cingular T720 to AT&T, I believe we determined that these phones are DEFINITELY locked. Cingular tech support swears they aren't, but if it's not locked why did it say "Enter subsidiary code" when the AT&T sim was installed? They said it was because AT&T and Cingular SIM cards are different... um... ok...
Posted by: Eric | October 8, 2004 5:48 PM