Brand New Blackberry from any Carrier. Troublesome?

Hi All,

Please correct my understanding about this matter if I'm not correct.

I understand that whenever you buy an unlocked brand new blackberry which is come from any carrier, actually the pin is already registered with that carrier. If you are going to use it but you are in a different country away from the carrier (whom your pin already registered with) you will be in trouble because it depends fully on the policy being implied by that carrier whether they want to help you release the pin (for you to use in your own carrier) or not.

Need opinion from you guys.

No. You have this all wrong. Forget about the registration of the
PIN. If you travel, simply buy a SIM card in your destination, swap
it out for your original and go about your business. That is after all
one of the chief reasons for getting the phone unlocked in the
place.

Originally Posted by amazinglygraceless

No. You have this all wrong. Forget about the registration of the
PIN. If you travel, simply buy a SIM card in your destination, swap
it out for your original and go about your business. That is after all
one of the chief reasons for getting the phone unlocked in the
place.

You took my statement of understanding above wrongly my friend. I am talking about the handset not a sim card changing.

I completely understood what you meant. Once the phone
(handset) is unlocked ALL carrier restrictions go out the window
and you are free to use the phone (handset) on any GSM carrier
with no issues. You do need to swap out the SIM card to make
that happen.

Only GSM phones can be unlocked. If the phone is unlocked it can be registered with any carrier- but you need to have a SIM card from the carrier you want to use. You won't get in trouble for doing this as long as it's YOUR blackberry...if you buy a used unlocked Blackberry you need to make sure the PIN is released from the carrier it was being used on before in order to register it with YOUR carrier.

This can't be done with CDMA phones because their "Sim" is built-in in effect and that's how it connects to the network and therefore can't be swapped out.

That help? If you need it clearer PM me.

So, if you guys search this forum board about someone who bought a brand new At&t (for example) from ebay or somewhere only to find that the pin already registered, what would you say?

As far as I know, carriers sell bb in bundling with their service plan let say for a specific period of time where you must be attached to their service.

What if the handsets (brand new ones) from that carrier by a chance exported outside the country where the company resides, and why did I find this messages poped up once when I tried to register to bb web client:

"The information you have provided is not valid for this service provider"?

Explanations please.

1) If the PIN is already registered you can have the original owner
contact their carrier or log into the BIS account and release it. Simple.

2) Yes contracts are for specific time periods. If you cancel before
the contract is up the carrier can /will charge you a an
ETF (Early Termination Fee). This has nothing to
do with unlocking or use. If you buy an unlocked phone you can use
any SIM you like. Many people do this at the end of their contracts or
when a new device come out that suits them better.

Furrther, if you buy it from EBay or a private seller there is no contract
issue if you are just taking the SIM from one handset that has an active
account and installing it in the new phone.

3) The export issue I know nothing about, but I have taken my
phone out of the country on a few occasions, bought a SIM
card, used it and simply replaced my original when I left.

Yup- It's reliant on the SIM card. The PIN is what interacts with the BIS or BES service, the SIM card is what chooses which network that interaction goes over.

If you're talking about a Blackberry you own then check the following:

1- make sure it is in fact unlocked. Search these forums for instructions on how to do this.

2- make sure the seller released the PIN. They need to call the carrier they used the phone on before and make sure that it's no longer registered with that service, and that they delete their BIS account.

3- make sure you have a new SIM card from the carrier you want to use. So if you have an AT&T phone, and the above two check out, but you want to use it on Vodaphone UK- you need to go to Vodaphone UK and get a SIM from them. Simple signing up for a plan with them won't do it- the hardware that supports their network needs to be there- the SIM.

4- THEN you can go to the (for example) Vodaphone UK BIS page and register the PIN to create a new account.

All that needs to be done to use a Blackberry from another carrier- but it's not illegal or "gonna get you in trouble" or anything like that- you just need to make sure you fullfill all the requirements.

Now if you're talking about simply using it while travelling you'll want to make sure it's unlocked and you can use a prepaid SIM to use voice and text- data can't be used Pay as you Go at the moment. So for example:

I have a Rogers Blackberry Curve that's unlocked, I don't release the PIN or cancel my account with Rogers cause I use it while in Canada, but when I go to the States I don't want to be charged roaming. So when I go to the States I buy a prepaid SIM card from Tmobile and pop it in my phone. I get a US phone number with my SIM, and I can't use data, but I can use my curve as a regular phone to text and make calls on a Pay as you Go basis.

Sorry for the double post...but I just re-read your posts and I think what you MAY be having a hard time getting your head around is the "brand new" part. You keep sliding it in there...which is why I'm beginning to believe that you bought a "Brand New" curve from Ebay that has actually already been used on another carrier. If that's the case then you got had unfortunately- but you can still use the phone following what I said above. A truly brand new phone would not be pre-registered with a carrier...somebody has to register it.