Cell Phones

Getting unlocked prepaid cell phone

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  • Dec 28th, 2007 7:38 pm
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Member
Sep 12, 2006
220 posts

Getting unlocked prepaid cell phone

Hi everyone,

Can I get an unlocked cellphone online (tigerdirect for example) wich is unlocked and register it with any prepaid phone provider in Canada? Cellphones seems a lot cheaper online than at the carrier store. What should I look in the cell phone spec (not speaking of the options like mp3 or pictures, but GSM and things like that).

TIA


Yan
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Member
Dec 14, 2007
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YanD wrote: Hi everyone,

Can I get an unlocked cellphone online (tigerdirect for example) wich is unlocked and register it with any prepaid phone provider in Canada? Cellphones seems a lot cheaper online than at the carrier store. What should I look in the cell phone spec (not speaking of the options like mp3 or pictures, but GSM and things like that).

TIA


Yan
If its says gsm then you can only go with fido/rogers.
If its says cdma then you can go with bell/telus
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Sep 12, 2006
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boxingday wrote: If its says gsm then you can only go with fido/rogers.
If its says cdma then you can go with bell/telus
What about travelling in the US. Both are gonna work?
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PunkeyDoodles Corner…
If you are planning on doing a lot of travelling to the US, it is always recommended to pop into a Walmart or 7-Eleven variety store and activate a local paygo Pkg. They are quite cheap with a cheap-o phone and Sim card with a gimme amount of airtime credit to start with. Some of these require a week period to activate, so keep that in mind if your trip is a week long anyway.

Otherwise, GSM is able to roam on many many different networks. I think either Bell or Telus do NOT have roaming agreements...I forget which one...because-frankly I don't care.
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7-11 sells unlocked cells. try them out, whats the worst that can happem you dont like them? you can give the phone away or re=use the phone with another gsm carriers service like fido and rogers
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Sep 12, 2006
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Paolo wrote: 7-11 sells unlocked cells. try them out, whats the worst that can happem you dont like them? you can give the phone away or re=use the phone with another gsm carriers service like fido and rogers
That'll be great but i've not seen any 7 eleven in here in quebec... damn

But Petro-Can seems a good deal too. But Will it work if i get an unlocked gsm phone over internet and activate it with them? Or will I need to get a petro-can phone and then swap the sim?
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Sep 12, 2006
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So finally,

can I get an unlocked gsm phone and activate it with Petro-Can or will I need to buy a cell from them and then exchange the sims?
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YanD wrote: So finally,

can I get an unlocked gsm phone and activate it with Petro-Can or will I need to buy a cell from them and then exchange the sims?
I think petro phones are also unlocked, since they're both owned by the same company, Ztar Mobile. Give it a shot and lettus know
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Petro Cans are unlocked. Their SIMs also work in some Rogers locked phones.
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You can use an unlocked GSM phone with any other GSM provider (like Rogers, Fido, 7-11 or PetroCan ... the latter two running on the Rogers GSM network). Simply take the providers SIM and stick it in the unlocked phone.

The last time I checked CDMA providers (like Telus, don't know about Bell) will only allow THEIR phones to be activated on their networks. Example: If you buy an verizon phone, telus won't let you use it on their network.

7-11 and PetroCan don't sell SIMs, you have to buy the "package" (Phone, SIM, Number, etc) in order to get on their networks, however, you might be able to pick a SIM up from craigslist or perhaps the unofficial 7-11 wireless website (http://www.speakoutwireless.ca/)

7-11 is also running a special ($100 of airtime good for 1 year and a free phone) till probably around the end of this month. Buy the package. Pop the SIM into any GSM phone and sell the 7-11 phone. More info here: http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/show ... p?t=484786
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YanD wrote: anyone knows a good place to buy SIMs? RFD and ebay seems to only have Rogers and Fido.. No 7-11 or Petro
Last I checked, there are even Petro Canada and 7-11 Speak Eazy customers who are looking for REPLACEMENT SIMS, Ztar Mobile (their parent company) its official policy is NOT sell replacement sim cards, nor do they have a procedure in place to obtain one from them. sOME customers HAVE gotten lucky by complaining to the 7-11 attendant or the petro canada gas station clerk behind the counter, or soem have even gone as far as complaining to the Ztar head office and getting results.

Go ahead and see what they say.

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