If some of this is already answered here in this forum in bits and bobs, PLEASE forgive me. I keep finding conflicting information so I thought I'd adress all my concerns here.
I am a Sprint user here in the United States. Their technology is the only one I have any experience with up until recently. I know they offer Treo phones and I REALLY want one. I live part of the year in England as well. I have an account over there with Orange (since Sprint is not offered.) and over there I have been using my friend's Treo phone while she is away. Their technology allows you to simply switch between phones by using a SIM card. The phone company doesn't care what phone you use, your account is linked to the card not the phone.
Is it possible to purchase a Treo phone, hook it up to my Sprint account and ALSO use it in England? SPRINT service doesn't cross over there at all do it will just be a dead phone with no signal until I put my UK SIM in there.
I've heard things about unlocking. Do I need to do this? What exactly IS unlocking?
Also, I am a MAC user, so that might be relevant.
Can anyone tell me if there is a specific TREO phone I need? Any and all relevant advice is certainly welcomed!!
Not sure what you may have heard, but I'm 99% sure you can NOT use a sprint phone in UK because it's not a GSM phone. Only phones that will work here and there are phones with T-mobile or Cingular which use a GSM network.
You can then get international service on the phone and use same number here and there or get the phone Unlocked (to be able to use on different network other than whom you purchased it from) by asking you carrier to do, very rare from my experience or online, so that you can use the phone in UK with Orange network.
Best option go to UK get phone from Orange, which I've seen come unlocked, and come here and get service from either Cingular or T-mobile. Hope this helps.