Who knows about cell phone unlocking?

[TitanDiddly]

I'm travelling to Korea tomorrow and I'll be there until December. My cell phone is an old Nokia stick phone(not GSM) and locked. I was thinking of purchasing a cheap unlocked GSM phone and trying to make it work in Korea. Does anyone know anything about this? Would I have to buy both the phone and the SIM card in Korea, or one or neither? I don't use a lot of minutes and I'm not worried about keeping my current number.

Any expertise is much appreciated.

My only expertise for your question is which forum to post it in -Anandtech Moderator DrPizza

 

[sisq0kidd]

Adee do!

From what I know (very little), you can't just take any phone to Korea and expect it to work even if it is unlocked. You need a world phone.

You can buy just the sim and minutes in Korea if you want.

 

[Howard]

See what frequency their networks use - should be 900MHz and 1800MHz. If so, you'll need a phone that supports those frequencies, or else your reception will be poor or even non-existent.

 

[Qacer]

I suggest visiting www.howardforums.com. Also, check out www.gsmworld.com to find out the coverage and operating frequencies for GSM countries. Frankly, just take your phone to Korea and find someone who can unlock it there. It maybe cheaper.

 

[Kelemvor]

Originally posted by: Qacer
I suggest visiting http://www.howardforums.com

Same here.

 

[SSSnail]

Most of Korea uses CDMA, good luck.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: SSSnail
Most of Korea uses CDMA, good luck.

Hey, my Nokia 6015i is "CDMA2000 1x" according to wikipedia. Maybe this will make my phone usable? I'm in Australia right now- I wonder if the unlocker lady here and unlock my phone for Korea. We shall see.