I'm not particularly worried about the eBay aspect

Suit yourself, but for the same money or even less you can buy new or refurb'd, unlocked GSM phones with a warranty and in Canada from places like:
http://www.puremobile.ca/
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/appl.....&Nav=|c:1809|&Sort=4
http://factorydirect.ca/catalo.....p?cat=3520

John said:

I'm not particularly worried about the eBay aspect, it's being able to actually use the phone that concerned me.

It seems from the responses that all I have to do is sign up with SO or PC and transfer the SIM card across.

Sounds simple.

Thanks for the help.

Yep, as long as it's an unlocked phone that uses the North American bands (850/1900mHz) you'll be fine. One of the phones I use with Speak Out used to be a Cingular (AT&T) Wireless phone before I unlocked it. It's works great.

It seems from the responses that all I have to do is sign up with SO or PC and transfer the SIM card across.

Sounds simple.

Thanks for the help.

What are the pitfalls of buying an unlocked GSM four band phone on ebay and then signing up with PC or 7-11?

1. You can't sign up with PCM or SO without buying a phone from them (which comes with their SIM.) You can of course, move that SIM to another unlocked GSM phone. You can also buy individual SIMs from sellers here.
2. The phone you buy from eBay could be stolen (and if its IMEI is in the right database, may not work on those carriers who check.)
3. The phone you buy from eBay could have been used in a criminal act (and you could get a visit from the cops.)
4. The phone you buy from eBay could be defective (or not unlocked or not quadband.)
5. If it's a used phone then the battery may no longer hold anywhere close to a full charge.

So, since lots of things could go wrong, as others have said, make sure you trust the seller.

I will not do business with a seller who has a lousy feedback rating. If his/her feedback is good (usually over 99%) then the people who have bought from that seller before me have been happy with their auction.

A seller's great feedback increases your chance of a great transaction.

Speakout customer service will not be of help if you are having trouble with your phone. However, any trouble in regards to the service they should be able to help as before.

You will have to manual set the voicemail number on the phone yourself.

Of course, buying anything on Ebay will have it's risks, but 99% of the time it's fine.

3G is the latest type of cellphone service. That particular phone you saw probably does not use 3G (many current phones don't) so if your service provider ONLY has 3G then you would have a problem. Speakout uses the Rogers network in Canada, and although Rogers does have 3G, it also has all the older networks as well, since the vast majority of their customers' phones are not 3G capable. In other words, you'll be fine.

One phone on ebay says do not try to use it will a 3G sim card. What is that and does 7-11 or pc use that card?