This is crazy, the landscape has obviously changed alot over the past few years. I remember when unlocked phones were a little-known concept and were almost considered fugitives on the run.

The concept of an unlocked phone, is that it retains all the traits of a locked phone (that you would get from your local GSM network provider, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.) yet it can be used with any carrier that supports its technology (this requires a SIM enabled phone which, if its worth its salt, it must be).

Why was I in the market, you ask? With my upcoming trip to Asia, and my following trip to Europe, I was speculating upon the idea of purchasing a NEW quad-band phone while in the Philippines, as mine has been locked to T-Mobile.

Unlock codes are different now, than they used to be. With the exception of a few very cheap Nokias, the unlock codes are now based on the phone’s IMEI number (a unique identifier to the phone) that the carrier encrypts and embeds into your phone after they purchase it from the manufacturer. In years past, once could do a quick search for “unlock code” and their phone model, and find a series of numbers and symbols to punch in (whether it worked or not, was always a gamble).

After hunting around for different candidates online, and checking out the many services that will offer to “unlock any phone for $30USD” I stumbled across a forum thread that said you could simply call T-Mobile, and if you had been in contract for more than 90 days (3 months) they would send you a code to unlock it within 24 hours.

I almost didn’t even try. I thought to myself “too good to be true”, “they would never do this”. But - I was feeling like I could take a “are you kidding me?” look from a stranger working at T-Mobile yesterday, so I popped in. I asked the inevitable question and sure enough, the policy was true! She told me I would receive an email within 24 hours.

This morning, I opened up my email inbox, and there were the blessed dozen numbers that would put the soul of my phone back in my possession, I gave it a try and sure enough, my phone is unlocked.

This is an amazing service…and perfect for traveling.

I can now call using my same cell-phone at local rates wherever I go!