I got a Sony Ericson cell phone from the US which obivosly only works with an AT&T SIM card. Is there any change that I can unlock the phone and use it here in Taiwan? Help is very much appreciated…
just buy a new simcard, like an IF-card.
Should work no problem.
Kenneth
[quote=“KenTaiwan98”]just buy a new simcard, like an IF-card.
Should work no problem.
Kenneth[/quote]If it’s locked it won’t work, that’s what ‘locked’ means.
I’m sure it won’t be that hard to find a little shop to do it, it can usually be done I think, but I don’t know of any shop that will do it. Maybe ask a few. I think you will also want to check the GSM bands, the USA uses a frequency that no other country uses.
Is it your phone? This probably isn’t very helpful, but AT&T should be able to do it, assuming you want to go to all the trouble of contacting them. I know that one provider in Australia would unlock the phone for you if you wanted, but it had to be specifically requested from them unless you officially shut your account. Others just didn’t lock the phone to start with.
AT&T in the US won’t unlock any phones. You’ll have to get it third party unlocked. You could probably find a shop in Taiwan that does it, but it’s hit or miss how good of a job they do. One shop my friend went to told him they could unlock it, but it would not be guaranteed, and the phone wouldn’t be guaranteed to not be damaged.
You can find places in the US, however, that will unlock it and stand behind their work.
So there is still hope. Thanks, I will try my luck.
basically there is two ways to unlock cellphones I know of…
for a lot of nokias and i think some others you can enter in a secret code…
most others you need to update the firmware, and since phones dont really have a usb connection you need a special tool to reload the firmware so that its not locked into one carriers sim
Just take it to a telephone shop and they will charge you a couple of hundred NT to fix it. Piece of piss.
i went to some cell phone stores, but they said, that this couldn’t be fixed. i suppose it can, but maybe is not legal?
It should not be illegal in Taiwan since phones here aren’t SIM-locked. Maybe it’s a phone for the US market only that wouldn’t even work here? What model is it?
AFAIK there is no such code for Nokia phones, there is only the PIN and PUK, the latter needed when you accidently enter the PIN wrongly 3 times. To unlock the phones you need a PC, data cable and some special SW.
all i know is, that it is supposed to work in europe and therefore taiwan too. i’ll try my luck tomorrow. thanks for all the information
I make no claim to the usefulness or otherwise of these sites ( I haven’t had time to check them out fully… ) but you may want to check out :
Yes, it should work, but if it’s locked to a certain provider’s SIM card, that means it only works as a roamer (with roaming rates) with the home market SIM. If you want to put in a local SIM and use local service, and it’s a SIM-locked phone, then it won’t work. The best is if you can find a local shop to do it, and guarantee their work, and guarantee not to damage the phone in the process.
AFAIK there is no such code for Nokia phones, there is only the PIN and PUK, the latter needed when you accidently enter the PIN wrongly 3 times. To unlock the phones you need a PC, data cable and some special SW[/quote][[/quote]
There are in fact a few secret codes for Nokia’s as I was in a Taiwan Cellular shop once and they showed me a phone with codes entered into it to unlock special graphics abilities, that produced extra pictures for the screen. I don’t know whether there are codes to unlock the problem with your phone however, but best of luck
Why don’t you try the shops located on the first floor of Lai-Lai (now closed) at XimenDing?
I recently bought a nokia 6600 and to my dismay, it was chinese. I went to the official nokia store at New York, New York but they said it couldn’t be changed.
At Lai-Lai, there are various stalls selling all kinds of cellphones. Most stalls said no but I found one that said it could be changed into an english one for a price.
My phone is now working perfectly in English.
I stand corrected. Seems things have moved on since I worked for Nokia … 
I tried scott02’s link and there are indeed codes for unlocking (new) Nokia, Siemens, Panasonic and LG phones.
Daring as I am I tried it with my (non-locked) phone and got the following response: “SIM not restricted”. Thus I assume it would actually have worked as described on the above website.
Great site, scott02! Thanks. 
A Taiwanese friend of mine asked around at Guanghua market. They said, they wouldn’t do it. Obviously they just want to sell a new phone and not help with an old one…gggrrrrr…
Well I just dug up an old “Orange” locked phone ( from the UK… had it a couple of years and thought it was no longer of any use… )… pretty cool website that I posted earlier - tried it out and managed to unlock the phone !
Ok, off topic but I don’t want a new thread here.
Motorolla V66 in Taiwan has voice dialing disabled. Is there anyway to activate this feature or is it just tough luck for anyone who bought this phone in Taiwan?
about unlocking Nokia’s. there are unlock codes.
Also if you really want to unlock your phone, you could try to look for a certain software in the net. I don’t guarantee that it will work and its not really that easy to find. The original copy i mean. If you’re willing to take the risk, then try looking for => WINTESLA
Google it. Then Google it again. I just hope you find the original one first cause the fake one’s just locks your phone up worst than how it was locked before you tried it 
Anyway from what i heard WINTESLA works for nokia phones, but also works for other cellphones too. Anyway this is an option you should take only if you don’t have anything else left under your sleeves. 