Can anyone unlock the Nokia 1600b from Speakout | Phone/Device Issues and Features | Consumer forum

Please consider registering
guest

sp_LogInOut Log In sp_Registration Register

Register | Lost password?
sp_Feed Topic RSS sp_TopicIcon
Can anyone unlock the Nokia 1600b from Speakout
December 23, 2007
6:48 pm
Chrissy
Guest
Guests

Has anyone managed to unlock the Nokia 1600b that comes with Speakout (or know of a place that can do it?) I'm using my old Rogers phone with my Speakout SIM, so now have a useless Nokia. Would like to unlock it so my mom can use it with her Fido SIM.

I live in North Vancouver, BC.

Thanks!

December 23, 2007
8:37 pm
Bylo
Guest
Guests

The Nokia 1600b that's sold by 7-11 SpeakOut is already unlocked. I've bought two of them and use them with SIMs meant for overseas. (The phones won't work overseas because they're set to NA bands but I can place and receive calls on them while in NA.)

Have you put your mom's Fido SIM into the 1600b and tried it?

February 21, 2008
11:40 am
Recent Convert
Guest
Guests

Hello,

Been with Fido since their early days and just bought a Speak Out 1600 with the intent of porting the number over and relasing FIDO back into the wild...

Since I travel extensively (have close to a dozen SIM cards in my travel pouch - all using the non North American GSM bands), I need a phone which is 'global' and unlocked.

Doing my research on 7-11, the Nokia 1600 users guide says that it operates on the following GSM bands;

GSM 850
GSM 1900

GSM 900
GSM 1800

Can anyone confirm that they have actually used a 1600 outside of North America?

The previous post says that the phone is set to NA bands. Does this mean my phone is a newer model which is quad band, or has Nokia 'locked' the transmitter to only operate on the 2 bands used in NA? If that is even possible.

thanks.

February 21, 2008
12:36 pm
Bylo
Guest
Guests

the Nokia 1600 users guide says that it operates on the following GSM bands;

GSM 850
GSM 1900

GSM 900
GSM 1800

You've misinterpreted the manual. It's either/or, not both. The 1600b works on 850/1900 only while the 1600(a?) works on 900/1800 only.

AFAIK Nokia does not make a quadband version of the 1600. If you need a quadband phone you will have to obtain one from other sources.

February 21, 2008
1:06 pm
Recent Convert
Guest
Guests

thanks.

makes sense when the 1600 a / b is added to the equation.

unfortunately, the manual doesn't distinguish between the a and b models.

Next trip I take the 1600 along to verify. Seems weird they would provide a 110/220V charger and make two dual band phones...

February 21, 2008
1:56 pm
Bylo
Guest
Guests

Seems weird they would provide a 110/220V charger and make two dual band phones...

AFAIK all phones, including the locked CDMA models that Bell and Telus sell, come with 110/220VAC adapters even though the phones themselves are useless outside Canada and US. It's probably cheaper to make one type of adapter for all phone models than have separate ones for 110 and 220VAC. It probably also saves a lot of 110VAC-only chargers from getting fried when people take them overseas.

February 22, 2008
12:56 pm
Recent Convert
Guest
Guests

Hey Bylo,

Thanks for the info. The single charger makes sense eceonomically

At the risk of taking this thread in an entirely new direction, doesn't it make sense to combine the 4 different GSM bands onto a single chip as well? Or is there a technical reason for separating them.

How do the quad band phones differ? Are there 2 separate RF chips, one for NA and one for non-NA bands, or are all 4 bands combined on one chip?