a naive question for you

[Lucy]

Sorry if this sounds totally newbie of me, but, a friend offered to give me his Telus Samsung windows phone and I am on Rogers. Will this phone be able to work on Rogers? (if unlocked, as it is) I am currently using an android Motorola XT720 and was toying with the idea. Thank you in advance for your patience.

[Lucy]

Does this mean that each phone/mobile media device is only for the network it was released on? I really wanted to give the windows phone a try. My friend bought a new phone and I don't want to take it if it won't work on another network. Anyone?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

You need to find out if they use the same bands; I'm not in Canada, so I'm not sure, but they might share the same bands. Why not just pop your SIM card into his phone and give it a go?

[Lucy]

Thank you for your reply. I will do that. I was assuming, perhaps wrongly, that the networks lock the phone to their own. I will see if it that easy to just swap out the sim cards. thank you again.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Not sure how it works for you; I come from a place where it is illegal for carriers to lock phones to their network. At most I guess it won't work! Otherwise find out if there's a way to unlock the phone.

[Sven Johannsen]

Here in the US there are two basic realities. Sprint and Verizon don't use SIM cards, the phones are provisioned in hardware, they use CDMA, and swapping phones off of those networks is pretty much a non-starter. The other two, AT&T and T-Mobile, use SIMS, GSM, and generally you can swap a SIM from one carrier's equipment to the other's. BUT, the hardware recognizes the supporter of the SIM and won't use it if the phone is 'SIM locked'. When you power up the device with a 'foreign' SIM it will prompt you for an unlock code. If it doesn't prompt you, the device is already unlocked. You can buy unlock codes from on-line vendors, maybe find free instructions for some devices, and there are some cases where the carrier will provide you the code.

That last one is interesting. If you call tech support and speak nicely, with a plausible request, they may just help you out. I have done this, explaining that I am leaving the country on vacation, and would want to use a local prepaid SIM overseas. I was a good customer, had the plan for a while, and they provided me the code. I felt it depended largely on the mood of the CSA. Doesn't make much sense to me, since even if I put a T-Mobile SIM in my AT&T phone I have a contract with AT&T that I promise to pay them every month for two years, whether I am using their service or not, or I pay the ETF. So they get money regardless of what SIM I'm using. Maybe carriers just want to limit your exposure to the other guys clearly superior service. Seems sort of a defeatist attitude, in conflict with their advertising.

Once you have your AT&T phone unlocked and put a T-Mobile SIM in it, (or vice versa) you hit the next gotcha. Your voice will absolutely work. Data however is iffy. The two carriers use different frequency bands for their assorted data offerrings so you will likely be limited to Edge speeds, rather than 3G or better, when getting on a different carrier's network. If you can live with that, fine.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Sven, Lucy's in Canada; Telus I believe uses a HSPA network overlaid on a CDMA network. Both Rogers and Telus I believe use the same UMTS 1900 PCS bands (it's smaller providers like Wind that use the 1700/2100 AWS bands). The only hurdle present is if the phone is SIM-locked. I'm not sure if she confirmed the phone is unlocked though.

[Lucy]

Thanks for all the replies, the phone is locked to Telus, and I will look into getting an unlock code from one of the reliable unlockers in Canada, like horizon wireless or another in the US. I have traditionally been a Windows gal and have only been playing with android since January. I, for some reason, feel like I want to go back to windows. thanks again and will report back on my experience.

[Sven Johannsen]

Thanks for all the replies, the phone is locked to Telus.
Seriously, don't know how they are in Canada, but call and ask Telus about unlocking. Be sweet, be friendly, be reasonable. You never know. Worst that can happen is they say no.