Hello Everyone:   I am thinking about purchasing a Nokia 8890.  I recently have activated a one year contract with Pacific Bell and have sold my phone an Ericsson T28 World due to the various problems I had with that phone.   I now have plans to purchase a Nokia 8890.  I can purchase it from a local dealer here in California, for $640 (Including tax), but I believed the phone is sold locked to the PacBell Network.  I have seen various sites, such as: http://www.ustronics.com/nok88worphon.html , and other auctions on EBay that sell the phone for around the same price, if not more, and it is unlocked. I am not sure if Pacific Bell releases unlocking codes for the Nokia 8890, but they did for my Ericsson T28 World.   Is there any advantage to buying a phone unlocked, then having buy it locked, and having Pacific Bell release an unlocking code?  Let's say I buy the phone locked, and I unlock the phone via PacBell, and I get an authorized replacement from Nokia, would the replacement be a PacBell unit (locked to the PacBell network) or would it be generic, and unlocked?   In the same case, lets say I purchase an unlocked phone, and have Nokia authorize a replacement, would it be locked to any particular network?   Ericsson has replaced my T28 several times due to problems, with new units.  If a Nokia user was experiencing problems with the handset, would he/she be able to get a replacement directly from Nokia.   Is there any way I can purchase a direct from factory (sealed) Nokia 8890, that is unlocked, and newly manufactured, (hopefully with the latest firmware).  I have seen several auctions on EBay that claim to sell factory sealed and unlocked units, but I've come to wonder how would one get their hands on such a unit. Kind Regards, Rishi Mirpuri Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/

I bought my 8890 from Melon (www.melon.com) for $570.  It was a brand new handset in a factory box.  The labels on the box indicated that it was a Pac Bell phone, but it was unlocked.  This leads me to believe that Pac Bell sells their 8890s unlocked, and I think other people here reported the same thing. I don't know what Pac Bell's unlocking policy is, since I'm not their customer, but you definitely should get an unlocked phone, so that you can use any prepaid SIM while traveling abroad and thus avoid paying ridiculously high roaming rates. I'm not answering other questions because I don't have the answers...

  Is there any way I can purchase a direct from factory (sealed) Nokia 8890, that is unlocked, and newly manufactured, (hopefully with the latest firmware).  I have seen several auctions on EBay that claim to sell factory sealed and unlocked units, but I've come to wonder how would one get their hands on such a unit. I got mine from a wireless dealer in NY.  It didn't have any carrier markings on it.