Mixing phone networks?

[awa355]

A real dumb question here, but I'm going to ask it anyway.

A mob phone from the Vodaphone shop, ( or 2degrees) if a Telecom sim card is fitted, should it connect to the Telecom network? or is it wired for Vodophone/2degrees networks only?

The wife has two 2degree Samsung Galaxy phones from Noel Lemmings. I have slipped my Telecom sim card into one of them, everything seems to functioning except texts and ph calls bring up the message " not registered on network".

Do I need to get a 2degrees sim card?

[pete376403]

At one time phones were locked to only work on their own networks. Uncertain if this is still the case.
Google "phone unlocking"

[AllanB]

YEs. In most cases they are locked to their network to stop you picking up a good phone cheap from the competition.

I like my Samsung phones.

[scracha]

YEs. In most cases they are locked to their network to stop you picking up a good phone cheap from the competition.

I like my Samsung phones.

Not true. Very few phones in New Zealand are locked. It's more to do with frequencies.

Telecom XT is WCDMA 850 (there's some 2100(?) channel in the bigger city centres). Skinny piggyback on Telecom network.
Vodafone is WCDMA 900. 2 degrees mostly piggy back on Vodafone networ.k.

Most places on planet earth use WCDMA 900/2100. So many of the vodafone mobiles don't work on Telecom's network (city centre 2100 mhz zones aside) even with a telecom sim.
However, because they have to roam OK overseas, most (all???) of the Telecom mobiles can work on vodafone's network with a vodafone sim (i.e. most support wCDMA bands 850/900/2100...also 1900mhz as I think that's used in the USA by some carriers).

Usually SMS gateway, voicemail number etc is obtained from the SIM card. However, quite often I find I have to manually enter internet settings.

HOWEVER: Most skinny mobiles seem to be locked to their network.

Some of the Android phones actually support the different frequency but the baseband part of their firmware prevents it communicating properly. By and large, Brazilian stock ROM's are fully compatible with Telecom XT's network and quite often a good choice as Telecom are happy to sell expensive Android phones but can't be bothered to upgrade their android versions.

[Gremlin]

As scracha says, it's normally about frequencies. I remember the Nokia E71 for example, came in 3 versions (E71-1, E71-2, E71-3) and each one had different frequencies. The ones Vodafone sold were not compatible with the Telecom XT frequencies.

Basically, it depends on the specific phone. Just because another of the same name does work, it's not guaranteed another will.

Phones can also be locked, and they can be unlocked as well (depending on the phone). I've heard Skinny does lock their phones.

Once you're actually certain the phone hardware can communicate, then, if you want data functionality you'll probably still need to enter the APN for the relevant network, basically the gateway where the phone gets data from.

[-df-]

if its locked, just flash a new unlocked rom from http://www.sammobile.com/ under firmware - Flash via Odin (just google it).

That will only help if the hardware supports the other freq though.