Mobal Phones - unlocking
 

Hi - we are traveling to Italy on Monday; I bought a Mobal $49 Nokia 1100; how do I know if it is locked or unlocked? I don't want to risk not unlocking it before we go and getting stuck having to use their minutes.

If you know somebody with a gsm carrier (I assume you're in the USA) that is T mobile US or Cingular or are on one of those carriers, use their sim card in your phone.

While the phone will not be operational in the USA as it doesn't have a US mobile frequency, the first thing the software in the phone looks for is if you sim card is authorized before it seeks to register on a network. So if the phone is unlocked, it will boot up and you will see something to the effect the phone is trying to register or you may see nothing. If the phone is locked, the first thing that will happen is that you will get a message unauthorized sim card. Since it is a nokia, you can download the nokia unlocking calculator enter the imei code and use as provider O2 UK and you should be able to unlock it for free..or when you get to wherever, they can unlock it for you for not very much.

My daughter tried to get her Mobal phone unlocked in Spain twice at 2 differnt phone stores and they guys could not do it, even for a fee. Hope your attempt is more successsful.

I canceled our Mobal acct because the price for the calls was so outrageous. I had 3 calls on my bill originating from Belgium and I didnt even use the phone there. Mobal would not take the charges off the bill...

OP - so best to try to unlock it before we leave for the trip, right? Once it is unlocked, we buy a SIM card in Italy - that's our new number, right? And then we buy prepaid phone cards for minutes?

Yes to your questions, klt.

I was unsuccessful at unlocking mine, but will try in Paris when we go. Quite a few other posters <i>did</i> unlock theirs.

Vox Luxemburg www.vox.lu are offering free incoming calls worldwide until 9/15. Check it out if you happen to be in Luxemburg. Even places like Mexico and Canada are included. The Lux. number can be reached from 15ct/min.