Do Canadian cell providers accept unlocked GSM phones?

[Tik-Tok]

Sorry, I don't know anything about this kind of thing, as I've never had service with anyone but Telus, with CDMA obviously.

I'm down in Florida right now for a few weeks and am thinking of buying an unlocked phone down here, and just get a pay-and-talk gsm card (the type with temporary phone #) for while I'm here.

Can I use a phone like this in Canada? Or would it be useless when I get back?

[Carl64]

It will work, but you will have to get a Rogers/Fido SIM card. Not sure if the temp # will work or not because of roaming charges.

[H4LFY2nR]

I use an unlocked GSM phone originally bought in Hong Kong. And when I'm in the states for any longer than a few days its definitely worth buying a pay-as-you-go plan for $30 or whatever. As far as I know if it's an unlocked GSM, you can swap SIM cards and you should be good to go.

[TorqueDog]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
Sorry, I don't know anything about this kind of thing, as I've never had service with anyone but Telus, with CDMA obviously.

I'm down in Florida right now for a few weeks and am thinking of buying an unlocked phone down here, and just get a pay-and-talk gsm card (the type with temporary phone #) for while I'm here.

Can I use a phone like this in Canada? Or would it be useless when I get back? You can, but unless you are changing from Telus to Rogers/Fido when you return, you cannot use the phone.

The nice thing about an unlocked phone is that Canadian GSM providers don't have a hell of a lot of choice whether or not to allow them. The phone being locked is what determines what provider's SIM card will work and which ones won't.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by TorqueDog
You can, but unless you are changing from Telus to Rogers/Fido when you return, you cannot use the phone.

The nice thing about an unlocked phone is that Canadian GSM providers don't have a hell of a lot of choice whether or not to allow them. The phone being locked is what determines what provider's SIM card will work and which ones won't.

So, if I should make sure the provider I want to go to (IE Rogers) sells the phone I'm going to buy, and they will provide me with a SIM card when I get back to Canada, but I won't be able to swap phone numbers from my other Telus phone, to my new GSM phone?

[rage2]

You can use any unlocked GSM phone on Rogers or any GSM provider. The only thing weird about using a phone they don't support would be data settings, but I'm pretty sure things are set automatically by Rogers.

I have an Apple unlocked iPhone 3GS from Australia, which never had the Rogers settings, and it figured it out just like any iPhone.

When I was travelling, some countries SIM cards required me to call in and they sms me the settings to turn on data and MMS.

[tha_bandit]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


So, if I should make sure the provider I want to go to (IE Rogers) sells the phone I'm going to buy, and they will provide me with a SIM card when I get back to Canada, but I won't be able to swap phone numbers from my other Telus phone, to my new GSM phone?

you can get them to port your telus phone number to any provider, meaning you can keep you old number that u had on telus. for example if u sign up with fido, even on month to month term, they will give u a sim card and the option to buy a phone, although u can use your own phone and your number will stay the same.

In regards to the data settings, the iPhone has profiles for the carriers which it is offered by in any country currently, so as soon as you stick in a supportedsim card it automatically sets the carrier bundle/profile and applies the settings. Other phones however require you to manually input the carrier apn settings most of the time.