I know this topic has been done to death but I'm still struggling to figure it out. Hopefully, some of you will take pity on me. It must come as no surprise that the ONLY Fordorite that hasn't put her favorite travel photo on her computer as wall paper (gotta love that Dell logo) doesn't have the phone thing figured out.

OK, here's the scoop.

The cell phone my husband uses here in the US is a tri-band which has 900MHz which is compatible with what we need for our trip to Turkey. It currently has TMobile service which apparently can be used in Turkey for $1.99 a minute. However, we were thinking of getting a prepaid Turkcell card to put in the phone. (The phone will mostly be used for local calls, but I don't imagine they will be many. It will, however, give us peace of mind as we drive around the country in our rental car.)

Will it be relatively easy to switch from the American TMobile sim card, to the Turkcell prepaid sim card, and then back again to the TMobile sim card?

If so, here's how I imagine it would work.

1. Unlock the phone today which currently has the TMobile card.

2. Get a Turkcell prepaid card and have it put in the phone once we get to Turkey.

3. When we return to the US, put the TMobile sim card back in the phone.

Is this correct? Does the phone get locked after every SIM card is inserted? Is it the same unlock code for everything?

Do we have to worry about the current phone book on the phone if the numbers are stored to the SIM card and not the phone? Is this whole thing a dumb idea?

Where do I get the code for a Motorola V188? I seem to recall that someone listed a website where codes could be obtained for free, but I can't find it with the Fodors search function.

Thanks for your help. If there is something I forgot to ask in my ignorance, please let me know.

I can't help you but don't feel bad. I can't figure out how to work my cell phone at home in the US!

I figure if God wanted us to use cellphones he'd have provided us with our own antennae!

Once a phone is unlocked, it's unlocked. You won't accidentally "relock it" and it won't be locked just because you switch a SIM.

All modern phones can store numbers in either it's own memory or the SIM. If you store in on the SIM, then those numbers go with the SIM. You won't have the numbers when you're using the Turkish SIM, but you'll get them back when you reinsert the US T-Mobile SIM on it.

No, it's not a dumb idea.

Ask T-Mobile if they will unlock the phone for you.

Thanks everyone. I guess it is as easy as it sounds. Yesterday, we asked T-Mobile for the code to unlock the Motorola phone and they said they would email it within 24 hours. We'll see if it shows up.

A particular thanks to Patrick. It was getting a bit lonely all by myself in the tehcnology challenged section. But as the say, ignorance is bliss........