Thread: The secret of what unlocked means

Ok, so I just moved back to Canada after living in Florida for about three years.
I called Verizon to get my phone unlocked, which they did and Verizon gave me the unlocking code, in the hopes that I would switch to one of the Canadian carriers, i.e. Telus, Bell Mobility or Rogers. Apparently what unlocked means is the ability to use your phone overseas, not your data plan and not in North America. So, my options now are to keep my Florida area code and pay the additional charge for a North American plan or get a new Storm 2 with Bell or Telus and a two year contract.
So beware, unlocked doesn't mean what you think it does.

Just go on ebay and buy an unlock code for 1.89. You can then use VZW phone on any GSM network including data. You will not get 3G though. Only EDGE.

Originally Posted by gordtm

Apparently what unlocked means is the ability to use your phone over eases, not your data plan and not in North America. So, my options now are to keep my Florida area code and pay the additional charge for a North American plan or get a new Storm 2 with Bell and a two year contract.

Thats a load of old "£$%

Use either the unlocking people on here or give me a shout and get it unlocked.
Then come back and tell everyone the problems you are having, it will be like it says "Activation required" at the top of the screen and you wont be able to do one or two things, but there are ways to fix it so it works in another country.

I know because I unlock for people and loads of Verizon phones come south to the Caribbean. I have had to learn the hard way and while not 100% successful i am 98% successful ...

And I don't give up easily nor do I listen to carriers who know a nice little earner when they see one.

Originally Posted by Madasafish

Thats a load of old "£$%

Use either the unlocking people on here or give me a shout and get it unlocked.
Then come back and tell everyone the problems you are having, it will be like it says "Activation required" at the top of the screen and you wont be able to do one or two things, but there are ways to fix it so it works in another country.

I know because I unlock for people and loads of Verizon phones come south to the Caribbean. I have had to learn the hard way and while not 100% successful i am 98% successful ...

And I don't give up easily nor do I listen to carriers who know a nice little earner when they see one.

But I went to Bell and Telus and they wont even try and transfer the phone. So what am I supposed to do?

Buy an unlock code on ebay. Unlock your phone. Call Bell or Telus. Open an account and tell them you already have a phone and all you need is a SIM card and a new phone and data plan. They should be able to assign you a phone number and mail you a SIM card.

Originally Posted by gordtm

But I went to Bell and Telus and they wont even try and transfer the phone. So what am I supposed to do?

Chalk another one for Bell and Telus. Thats the d*mn problem with so few carriers in Canada!! Have a few choice words for them but they'll only threaten me again with loss of service.

You may have to go through telus Gord, as far as I know, Bell does not have the SIM card in they're storms

Originally Posted by dbone15

Buy an unlock code on ebay. Unlock your phone. Call Bell or Telus. Open an account and tell them you already have a phone and all you need is a SIM card and a new phone and data plan. They should be able to assign you a phone number and mail you a SIM card.

This is so frustrating, I went to Bell and Telus. They said that since my phone is on CDMA they cant just replace the sim card. It only works with Verizon.

Originally Posted by gordtm

This is so frustrating, I went to Bell and Telus. They said that since my phone is on CDMA they cant just replace the sim card. It only works with Verizon.

I get a lot of Verison phones here to unlock for people. After its unlocked you do have one or two challenges to carry out as well but I have them written down so can easily follow them again, and the phone works fine on non CDMA networks.

Your carriers may say they can't do anything with your phone but it will work. What have you to lose?
You either pay for a new phone as well as a contract, or you get it unlocked, carry out the few simple actions to make it work, and get a new SIM card..... I know what I would do.

If you get that phone unlocked, which is really cheap, and carry out one or two more things for an ex CDMA phone you can have it work on normal networks (Yes, Verison is NOT normal!!! LOL) with Edge and GSM etc etc etc. We only have Edge here but its fine. I stream YouTube and run apps etc with no problem and get no data or voice problems.

Really if we listen to the carriers all the time, we wouldn't even put hybrids on our phones or change the OS... Now that would be silly wouldn't it lol

If memory serves me right bell and telus are both CDMA carriers so unlocking would be pointless gordm

Agreed, you would need to go to Rodgers as they are GSM.