Travel Technology - Reliable online vendor for unlocked GSM phones?

I think some have been mentioned here before, but I'm not having any luck finding them with the search function.

I'm hoping to get the Sony-Ericsson K810i when it becomes available, and naturally I'd prefer to get it from a reliable vendor at a reasonable price (I know it'll be expensive--just don't want to pay more than I need to!).

Any recommendations?

My dad recently picked up a phone from importgsm.com. He didn't have any problems, but I haven't heard any other feedback about them one way or another.

I've used mobileplanet (when it was expansys), but I don't find them very
economical though.

I also see some phones on Newegg and tigerdirect. I like Newegg, but no experience with tigerdirect.

All of the above sites are ".com"

I like Overseas electronics, at www.welectronics.com

They'll usually have the newest phones in stock as soon as they hit the market.

http://www.expansys.com/

Probably not the cheapest but they have the phones and ship in a couple days.

I posted this in another thread, but I have had good luck with Telestial (www.telestial.com).

I posted this in another thread, but I have had good luck with Telestial (www.telestial.com).


I can't vouch for Telestial in terms of hardware/phones. The service we received when we purchased 5 pre-paid SIMs for Spain it was pretty sub-standard. They got 4 of the 5 numbers wrong on their paperwork (my ops mgr ended up having to call from each phone and use his caller ID). Of course they applied the pre-paid credits to the wrong numbers. Their paperwork indicated that we could purchase more credits online thru the service provider (Vodafone)...this proved to be undoable...not Telestial's fault per se but they did put it in their documentation. We never got the credits we paid for on our SIMs.

Expansys, we've had good dealings with them. We've bought from them while at trade shows for individual units (various I-mate devices). We ended up purchasing a couple hundred I-mate JAMs. They aren't cheap but we've had good experience with their product selection and no mis-representations. They dealt with customer service issues very quickly...one of our single purchases wasn't the correct tri-band version and was rectified quickly and efficiently.

I use simoncells.com on recommendations from here, never had a problem.

I use simoncells.com on recommendations from here, never had a problem.

Yup used them many times before. Never had a problem.
Also welectronics.com but i stopped by their stop in Chicago
and myworldphone.com

I like Overseas electronics, at www.welectronics.com

They'll usually have the newest phones in stock as soon as they hit the market.

I like this one too. I've suggested it a few times here on FT.

I drove past the shop on Devon in Chicago. It was an itty bitty place! And never any parking for blocks and blocks!

Tiger direct or Newegg also get them, but they may only be limited only to those released in the states per what their suppliers can acquire.

I think some have been mentioned here before, but I'm not having any luck finding them with the search function.

I'm hoping to get the Sony-Ericsson K810i when it becomes available, and naturally I'd prefer to get it from a reliable vendor at a reasonable price (I know it'll be expensive--just don't want to pay more than I need to!).

Any recommendations?

It may not meet your needs but I have purchased many unlocked GSM phones on Ebay with no problems at all.

Ditto on ebay.

No problems using http://myworldphone.com/ at all.

Except for the Motorola Pebl which came with a HK power plug, I haven't had a problem.

It may not meet your needs but I have purchased many unlocked GSM phones on Ebay with no problems at all.

do you recommend a particular seller on eBay? I have been looking at seller "mobilexl". I'm just looking at a simple Sony Erickson T610 based on recommendatins here - don't need anything fancy. Thanks.

The T610 is very very old, you should be able to get the T630 or K700 for little more, if any.

We bought two Aussie SIMs from a mail-order house in the Bay Area which arrived a couple of weeks before our trip last July. We bought new Motorola V551s on a Cingular plan from Radio Shack. We had been AT&T Wireless customers for several years before the merger. The guy at Radio Shack told us the phones were unlocked.

Lesson #1: I took his word for it and didn't verify this myself. All I would have had to do was to put in the Aussie SIM and turn on the phone and I would have seen that the phones were indeed locked. I thought to do this, but it was way too late for me to do anything about it.

First, I tried to get the unlocking codes from Cingular. The guy on the phone at Cingular said he would put through a work order and we should receive our codes in 5 working days. We're still waiting.

So, we left for Oz with locked phones. When we got to the hotel in Sydney, I logged on to telestial in the hotel business center. I paid ~$40 USD and the site said the codes would be emailed within 24 hours. We're still waiting. (Note: I used a web-based email account in order to be able to access it from Sydney.)

Finally, I looked in the Yellow Pages and found a cellphone repair service fairly close to our hotel in the CBD. I brought in the phones and they unlocked them in 20 minutes for $40 AUD each. Interestingly, there was no paperwork for the unlocking and they would only accept cash.

We plugged in the SIMs and the phones worked fine.

Lesson #2: If you do a lot of overseas travel, buy a unlocked phone from Ebay or one of the other sites people have mentioned. Then, buy a SIM in-country at the airport when you arrive.

Because my wife sustained an eye injury the day before she was to leave two weeks ahead of me on a business trip she had to cancel, we had to rebook her on a personal ticket through SFO versus LAX (my ticket). We had planned to use the phones to contact each other at SYD when we arrived and were going to use them to contact each other as we went our separate ways at a huge church-related conference at the Olympic Park. As it turned out, I missed on connection but she made hers and got to Sydney 24 hours before me. We would up leaving each other voicemails on our US cell phone numbers and then we would have to make an overseas credit card call to check on each other. Needless to say, by the time we paid for all these overseas calls and paid for three attempts to unlock the phones, we paid for a couple of cheap unlocked phones.

Lesson #2: Give yourself plenty of lead time to get set up before you leave.

I have used Sam Stores (http://www.samstores.com/) and been happy with the price and the service.