11-10-2009, 02:55 PM
dk62 wrote:
[quote=Ombligo]
buy a basic T-mobile pay as go phone at Target, Wal-mart, etc. You can get one for $20 and it may even have a free $25 in minutes card included.
That will not work - the phone will remain locked to T-mobile network and there is no leverage to ask for unlock code.
That, and some of the basic T-Mobile phones only have the US frequencies. (See dk62's post about quad band phones.) If you had one of these you would get no signal in Europe even if it was unlocked.
T-Mobile has historically been better than AT&T about unlocking phones. I think they will normally unlock a phone once you've had it 2 months, and I have heard of people getting a new T-Mobile phone unlocked after explaining that they were about to go abroad. AT&T has typically made you wait a year.
Good luck.
- Winston