Using an unlocked Sidekick 2008 over here?

Megatron_X

My sister wants me to buy her a sidekick online, we live in Ireland so I obviously need to find an unlocked one. Will there be any drawbacks/restrictions to using an unlocked Sidekick in Ireland? (Meteor network specifically.)

Any help appreciated, I see an unlocked one on eBay, just need answers to this question.

Rsaeire

Megatron_X wrote: »

My sister wants me to buy her a sidekick online, we live in Ireland so I obviously need to find an unlocked one. Will there be any drawbacks/restrictions to using an unlocked Sidekick in Ireland? (Meteor network specifically.)

Any help appreciated, I see an unlocked one on eBay, just need answers to this question.

Once you confirm that it supports the GSM 900 and 1800 frequency bands, voice and sms should work fine; both GSM bands are used by Meteor and other mobile networks in Ireland. If your sister's looking to use 3G, then confirm that it also supports the UMTS 2100 frequency band. In saying that, the handset may only support one of the GSM bands mentioned, so coverage may be a bit patchy.

Regarding Internet and MMS, I would imagine there would be no great issue in setting up the handset to use both services, however, the menu system may be more complex than what is commonly found on a Nokia or Sony Ericsson handset, so it may take some work.

Megatron_X

Rsaeire wrote: »

Once you confirm that it supports the GSM 900 and 1800 frequency bands, voice and sms should work fine; both GSM bands are used by Meteor and other mobile networks in Ireland. If your sister's looking to use 3G, then confirm that it also supports the UMTS 2100 frequency band. In saying that, the handset may only support one of the GSM bands mentioned, so coverage may be a bit patchy.

Regarding Internet and MMS, I would imagine there would be no great issue in setting up the handset to use both services, however, the menu system may be more complex than what is commonly found on a Nokia or Sony Ericsson handset, so it may take some work.

Thanks for your help, it says it supports both those GSM bands, but all it says about Data Connectivity is this:
"High Speed Data ConnectivityYes (GPRS, EDGE)"

I don't really know the difference between GPRS, EDGE and 3G? Here's the link if you're interested:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Unlocked-Black-T-Mobile-Sidekick-2008_W0QQitemZ150377403870QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCell_Phones?hash=item23033115de&_trksid=p4999.c0.m14

Rsaeire

Megatron_X wrote: »

Thanks for your help, it says it supports both those GSM bands, but all it says about Data Connectivity is this:
"High Speed Data ConnectivityYes (GPRS, EDGE)"

I don't really know the difference between GPRS, EDGE and 3G? Here's the link if you're interested:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Unlocked-Black-T-Mobile-Sidekick-2008_W0QQitemZ150377403870QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCell_Phones?hash=item23033115de&_trksid=p4999.c0.m14

Going by the link, the handset should work fine. There's no guarantee that all services will work on the Meteor network, and they will no doubt tell you the same thing if asked, however, going by the specifications, there should be no major issues.

In addition, you'll find a quick rundown of the different mobile network acronyms below:

GSM = A type of mobile network that handles voice calls and sms and is often referred to as 2G; O2, Meteor and Vodafone each have a GSM network.

GPRS = An addition to a GSM mobile network than provides wireless data access for services such as Internet access and MMS and is often referred to as 2.5G.

EDGE = A faster, enhanced version of GPRS and is often referred to as 2.75G; only O2 and Meteor have EDGE networks in Ireland.

3G = A type of mobile network that handles voice and video calls and allows fast wireless data speeds; all four Irish mobile networks have a 3G network.

Megatron_X

After some more research, it seems that T-Mobile (the carrier it's locked to) uses a special network (not sure if it's the right word) or something for the internet data for the Sidekick that no one else uses. Great!

Rsaeire

Megatron_X wrote: »

After some more research, it seems that T-Mobile (the carrier it's locked to) uses a special network (not sure if it's the right word) or something for the internet data for the Sidekick that no one else uses. Great!

Do you know the name of this network? From reading the specifications on GSMArena, there should be no issue with the handset accessing data services on an Irish mobile network, as it supports both GPRS and EDGE; both of which are available in Ireland.

Megatron_X

Rsaeire wrote: »

Do you know the name of this network? From reading the specifications on GSMArena, there should be no issue with the handset accessing data services on an Irish mobile network, as it supports both GPRS and EDGE; both of which are available in Ireland.

From what I've read, they only connect to servers owned by a company called 'Danger' which is only accessible through T-Mobile supposedly. I could be/hope I'm wrong though.

Rsaeire

Megatron_X wrote: »

From what I've read, they only connect to servers owned by a company called 'Danger' which is only accessible through T-Mobile supposedly. I could be/hope I'm wrong though.

I know the name of the operating system on the Sidekick is called Danger, specifically v4.7 on the model you're interested in, so there may be something to what you're saying.

I'll have a look online and see if I can find some more information and let you know what I find.

Rsaeire

Okay, I found out the below with regard to using a Sidekick on a network other than T-Mobile, the only network that supports them, from here.

T-Mobile wrote:

International Sidekick Usage
Can I use a Sidekick with _______ carrier?
Can I use a Sidekick in _______ country?

The short answer is...no.

NEWS: You may be able to get a Sidekick at home! Check on the International Sidekick Carriers page

If you are not in one of the countries listed in the International Sidekick Carriers page, please keep reading.

The T-Mobile family of Sidekick devices is locked to T-Mobile USA. Due to several reasons, technical and legal, T-Mobile will not give out unlock codes for the Sidekick LX, Sidekick Slide, Sidekick 3, the Sidekick iD, any Limited Edition Sidekick, or any older Sidekick device.

Something that is very important to understand about the Sidekick is the server architecture necessary to support it. The Sidekick is unlike any other wireless device because it automatically (and securely) synchronizes with T-Mobile's servers, which allows you to be able to recover your information if something happens to the Sidekick and it has to be reset to fix the problem. This back-end hardware is proprietary (to Danger, in fact), and it must be in place for the Sidekick to work.

If you take away the data servers away, three things will happen to your Sidekick:

You will only be able to make phone calls and send text messages (no email, no Internet, no ringtone downloads, no games)
Your Sidekick will throw error messages at you all the time because it wants to connect to that data server and it can't
YOUR PHONEBOOK WILL LOSE EVERYTHING WHEN THE SIDEKICK POWERS OFF (except contacts saved to the SIM card). Also, text messages, and photos saved to the phone. (Photos saved to the microSD card are safe.)

If you take a Sidekick to a different carrier (if it could even be unlocked to do that), you would probably end up with the problems just above: No data and lots of error messages. It wouldn't be pretty.

Now, you just might be able to unlock your Sidekick without getting a code from T-Mobile, but be very careful--if it's not Danger or T-Mobile, it might not be legit. Once again, T-Mobile will not unlock Sidekick devices

What I've also found out is that voice calls and sms should work fine, as mentioned here, however, data access is not going to work, as noted above.

120_Minutes

by all means, go ahead and import a sidekick. as said above only voice and texts work on it. so you own a sidekick without the sidekick features, which is pointless.

on the other hand, there are a few sidekick style phones available here, the lg ks360 and the new samsung ping...