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5:17 pm
October 22, 2008
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Even though Rogers owns Fido, Fido SIMs cannot work in Rogers-only phones and vice versa.
If Speakout phones are locked to Rogers, then it means that people with Fido cards cannot use them straight out of the box.
Also, if you happen to buy a phone/sim package from 7-11, but plan on using your own GSM phone while selling the Nokia that came in the package, you will receive a lot less money for it - if you'll be able to sell it at all.
So, ideally, Speakout should either keep the phones unlocked, or lower the prices to something similar to locked pre-paid phones in the US. Doubt either is going to happen, cause every other cellphone service provider in Canada is happy selling their phones at the same high price.
8:40 pm
Speakout is getting worse and worse I see...
PCM went downhill as well...
I will wait until there will be another 100$ and free phone. Until then, I won't switch to speakout, especially since it seems they hint they want to reduce the expiry time as PCM did
11:34 am
Yes the Nokia 2760 can be used with Speak Out or Rogers (I use Rogers in Canada) but to use on, say, AT&T in the US the phone must be unlocked.
Unlocking can be done in Ottawa: I paid $30 so the total cost of the phone was $80 and I was not asked to buy a $100 card.
6:06 pm
Big Ang said:
Even though Rogers owns Fido, Fido SIMs cannot work in Rogers-only phones and vice versa.
If Speakout phones are locked to Rogers, then it means that people with Fido cards cannot use them straight out of the box.
Also, if you happen to buy a phone/sim package from 7-11, but plan on using your own GSM phone while selling the Nokia that came in the package, you will receive a lot less money for it - if you'll be able to sell it at all.
So, ideally, Speakout should either keep the phones unlocked, or lower the prices to something similar to locked pre-paid phones in the US. Doubt either is going to happen, cause every other cellphone service provider in Canada is happy selling their phones at the same high price.
i tried Fido sim card in a SO phone (1208) and it worked fine.
6:11 pm
noway1234 said:
Does anyone know, can I buy a $75 and $25 (equals $100), and get the deal ?
i just bought a phone (half price) and managed to get them to split the voucher into $75 and $25, the manager wouldn't do it but when i said i would go to a different 7-11 he changed his mind.
6:18 pm
October 22, 2008
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Andy,
The reason a Fido sim can work in a Speakout phone is because that Speakout phone is unlocked - it can use any sim.
It won't work the other way - you will not be able to use a Speakout SIM in a phone that is locked to Fido. Why? Speakout SIMs are programmed the same way as Rogers SIMs and you can't use a Rogers SIM in a Fido phone. Yeah, I know, they're the same company, but Rogers keeps them separate.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Some people have seen that the newest Speakout phones are locked to Speakout/Rogers. Which is fine if you're going to use the phone with Speakout service. If you're not, or if you were going to sell it or something, then you're screwed.
1:55 pm
Big Ang,
the Nokia 1208 was bought new from 7-11 9 months ago and didn't go through any unlocking procedure, i just bought a 1661 and i will try it with Fido sim tonite. hope it isn't locked.
9:42 pm
Speakout should either keep the phones unlocked, or lower the prices to something similar to locked pre-paid phones in the US. Doubt either is going to happen, cause every other cellphone service provider in Canada is happy selling their phones at the same high price.
<hr /
I was in Buffalo today and see that Target is carrying the Nokia 1661 locked onto T-Mobile at $19.95. That is the kind of pricing I would like to see for locked phones. And with T-Mobile a $100 voucher gets you 1,000 minutes good for a year!
11:17 am
I was in Buffalo today and see that Target is carrying the Nokia 1661 locked onto T-Mobile at $19.95. That is the kind of pricing I would like to see for locked phones. And with T-Mobile a $100 voucher gets you 1,000 minutes good for a year!
a friend who lives in Portland told me he just picked up a Pay-as-you-go phone for $30 and it came with 300 minutes of airtime, cheaper than our monthly plan
here in Canada.
last year i was in Hong Kong and bought a sim card for HK$60 (less than $10 Cdn) and it came with 600 minutes of airtime.
Pay-as-you-go plan here is perceived as lower usage plan, emergency only, i don't think the providers will lower its cost to threaten their monthly plans.
11:19 am
andy said:
Big Ang,
the Nokia 1208 was bought new from 7-11 9 months ago and didn't go through any unlocking procedure, i just bought a 1661 and i will try it with Fido sim tonite. hope it isn't locked.
too bad, the new nokia 1661 is locked.
3:41 pm
Is there any phones sold by SO that are now unlocked? Is there a way to check before you sign on the line?
5:28 pm
October 14, 2008
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It doesn't look that way. It seems that SO are locking their phones from here on out. Since SO is a prepaid service, there is never anything "to sign on the line"
6:39 pm
I just bought the 1208 and it's unlocked. Maybe it's old stock.
This is a not bad deal when you consider that people are selling Speakout SIMs on this site for $30. That's what I paid and I got a phone thrown in for free (if you want to look at it this way.)
10:29 pm
Not a big deal if Speakout locks their phones.. You can't use speakout in the U.S. and The phones are not working in Europe, since only dualband. So what's the point of complaining. The only reason Speakout would lock their phones is to increase sales of phones for people moving from Speakout to Rogers or Fido. Many people don't know where and how to unlock phones, or are scared or it's not worth doing with cheap phones. By the way, Speakout might be doing this because, as you indicated, they plan to shorten expiry to 90 days instead of 1 year. That way they can control people switching cards. Small deterrent.
11:27 pm
October 22, 2008
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I think you're overthinking this.
Speakout locks their phones so that people don't buy them just for the subsidized phone. They want to make sure that when people want to become a Speakout customer they are able to find a phone. It costs Speakout and 7-11 more than $60 to sell us a Nokia 1208, and just think of how much they're losing when they give them away during their free phone promo. If they're selling their phones at a loss, they want to be able to make up the money when people become customers.
However, when cell companies are able to lock their phones, they should HOPEFULLY be able to offer them at a lower price. Maybe Speakout is just preparing themselves for when the new cellphone companies start up?
5:28 am
polo said:
Not a big deal if Speakout locks their phones.. You can't use speakout in the U.S. a.
You can use t-mobile or whatever in the US with an unlocked phone (pennies for a sim card) So it IS a big deal to some of us.
Luckily I got a couple of unlocked 2760's but I would have liked the option of another new unlocked from SO.
7:15 am
March 15, 2008
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Luckily I got a couple of unlocked 2760's but I would have liked the option of another new unlocked from SO.
The most important part is the SIM. Now that you have them you can buy unlocked GSM phones from a wide variety of sources with the features you want.
10:58 am
If the phone is locked can't you just get it unlocked? Won't it work the same just the extra step+cost or am I missing something?
12:03 pm
March 15, 2008
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If the phone is locked can't you just get it unlocked?
It depends. Some phones are very hard to unlock, especially the Nokias that are used by some US prepaid companies. I have no idea if SO's Nokias are equally hard to unlock.
