Looking for Telus phone.. will any unlocked gsm phone work?

[RWD]

I am kind of new to the world of locked/unlocked phones.

If I purchase an unlocked gsm phone off of ebay can I just go to a Telus store and activate it? Can I use a rogers/bell phone? Does it matter where the phone is from such as from the united states?

[soupey]

telus and bell work on a different network (CDMA), they only take phones that were sold for use on their respective networks


fido and rogers use the GSM network which can use a variety of GSM phones...including other countries

so to answer your question, no - a GSM phone will not work on telus.

[RWD]

so as long as it is a CDMA phone it will work on Telus? Even a Verizon CDMA phone?

[azndragon1234]

i thought verizon uses sim cards...

[Strider]

Originally posted by RWD
so as long as it is a CDMA phone it will work on Telus? Even a Verizon CDMA phone?

no. Telus is kind of a nazi that way... they won't allow you to activate phones that weren't purchased through them directly!

[lint]

Originally posted by Strider


no. Telus is kind of a nazi that way... they won't allow you to activate phones that weren't purchased through them directly!

Bell is the same way. The only way to activate a non-Telus CDMA phone on the network is analogue, but you will lose all the digital features.

[spikerS]

Originally posted by lint


Bell is the same way. The only way to activate a non-Telus CDMA phone on the network is analogue, but you will lose all the digital features.

100% correct, you basically have a phone with the above example.

crappy battery life, no caller ID, no web browser nothing. all you can have is voice mail and message waiting tones. you can't even pick up digital signals.

[Mibz]

There are plenty of Telus phones on eBay, you shouldn't have a problem picking one up for cheap.