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Old May 18, 2012 | 8:31 am
  #5  
cordelli
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Easton, CT, USA
Programs: ua prem exec, Former hilton diamond
Posts: 31,801
Originally Posted by LowlySpartan
I am going to Europe in a few weeks for my honeymoon and need to have a cell phone to get in touch with some friends we're meeting out there.

Can I just buy a cheap T-Mobile Pre-paid cellphone here and then buy a sim card once I get to europe? Maybe something like this Nokia 1661 Prepaid from Walmart?
Can you? Yes, that's what I do.

Is it that easy? No.

The phone has to have the right bands to be used in Europe, which is not that much of an issue with t-mobile phones, many of them do. You would need to get it unlocked, either by finding somebody to do it for you for a few bucks or have T-mobile do it for free. However, T-mobile has conditions as to when they will unlock a prepaid phone, so if you don't meet those conditions (see this thread - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ile-phone.html ) like having the phone activated for at least 60 days, they won't unlock it for you.

The Nokia 1661 would work in Europe as it's a quad band phone, but you would have to get it unlocked first.
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