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Grrr, I am PO'd!!! Someone that is knowlegable w/ cell phones please help!

S

SirChadwick

Diamond Member
I live in the US and just purchased a Nokia 8250 from Hong Kong and it arrived today. The guy told me the phone was unlocked so I figured it would work here b/c it accepts a sim card. However, it doesn't work w/ my service provider. Any suggestions of what to do? Can I get it unlocked or what is up?
 
you can get an unlocked program...and an expensive cable...then its unlocked...but chances are your service provider still wont touch it...just check with your service provider...phones can be had dirt cheap that are programmed right and that you know will work well
 
Your service provider is a moot point if you have a sim card to put into an unlocked phone.

If you put the sim card in, and it doesn't work, then you need to go back and bitch at the guy who sold you a locked phone and said it was unlocked.
 
Originally posted by: SirChadwick
I live in the US and just purchased a Nokia 8250 from Hong Kong and it arrived today. The guy told me the phone was unlocked so I figured it would work here b/c it accepts a sim card. However, it doesn't work w/ my service provider. Any suggestions of what to do? Can I get it unlocked or what is up?
Click to expand...

Most likely because it's a dual-band GSM phone. You need a tri-band one.
IIRC Dual band has 800/1900 frequencies but the US operates on an 1800mhz band. Unless your phone supports 800/1800/1900 you're SOL. Just because it's a GSM phone doesn't mean it's guaranteed to work here.

You might want to do more research on this. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: brxndxn
Your service provider is a moot point if you have a sim card to put into an unlocked phone.

If you put the sim card in, and it doesn't work, then you need to go back and bitch at the guy who sold you a locked phone and said it was unlocked.
Click to expand...

not true...the basic voice service should work however sms/data probably wont....and if you happen to go off network you can forget about it having the right IRDB programmed into it....(Intelligent Roaming Data Base)...I see this everyday...people think that a phone is a phone is a phone...well its not true
 
Originally posted by: SirChadwick
So what do you guys advise me to do? Send it back to the guy on eBay i bought it from?
Click to expand...

i would...then look at your service providers ads...bet they have a comparable phone for around the same price...might even want to check online and see if a local store will price match...i know that alot of people bring in ads from amazon.com and we price match them
 
Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0
Originally posted by: SirChadwick
I live in the US and just purchased a Nokia 8250 from Hong Kong and it arrived today. The guy told me the phone was unlocked so I figured it would work here b/c it accepts a sim card. However, it doesn't work w/ my service provider. Any suggestions of what to do? Can I get it unlocked or what is up?
Click to expand...

Most likely because it's a dual-band GSM phone. You need a tri-band one.
IIRC Dual band has 800/1900 frequencies but the US operates on an 1800mhz band. Unless your phone supports 800/1800/1900 you're SOL. Just because it's a GSM phone doesn't mean it's guaranteed to work here.

You might want to do more research on this. 🙂
Click to expand...

Nokia 8250 is a dual-band 900/1800 MHz.
The GSM frequency mostly used in the USA is 1900 MHz, some areas have 800 MHz networks (some people call these networks 850 MHz).
In any event a 900/1800 MHz phone such as Nokia 8250 will not work in the USA.


 
Good luck sending it back 🙁 Maybe you can just cut your losses and sell it on eBay or something. There's a lot of 900/1800 phones on sale there that can't be used in the US. If you wanted the 8250 look you could rice up an 8290 to make it look like one. 😀
 
Originally posted by: boyRacer
Good luck sending it back 🙁 Maybe you can just cut your losses and sell it on eBay or something. There's a lot of 900/1800 phones on sale there that can't be used in the US. If you wanted the 8250 look you could rice up an 8290 to make it look like one. 😀
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm thinking about just eBaying it off! I'm sure someone will want it. I thought about upgrading an 8290, but it wouldn't have the cool blue lcd screen. That costs a little bit more to have installed and isn't really worth it to me. Thank you guys for your help!
 
Originally posted by: SirChadwick


Yeah, I'm thinking about just eBaying it off! I'm sure someone will want it. I thought about upgrading an 8290, but it wouldn't have the cool blue lcd screen. That costs a little bit more to have installed and isn't really worth it to me. Thank you guys for your help!
Click to expand...

Before you do that, try looking around here first to see if it really can be unlocked. They're switching servers at the moment so the page might time out.
 
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