T-Mobile sidekicks...

I had one back in America -- a Sidekick ID, basically the most primitive of the T-Mobile sidekicks.  I really love the phone and the keypad.  Easy to use...

I went to my local T-Mobile store in the Derby City Centre and while some of the shop staff knew about this type of phone, they said that it was only released limited edition in the UK.

I still have my old Sidekick with my mom in the US, and I'm going to have her send it over.  I used it on T-Mobile in the US.  Do you think I'd be able to go to T-Mobile over here and get a sim card (not prepaid, but a plan...) for it and use it in the UK?

Has anybody ever brought an unlocked phone from the US to the UK and had it work?

Depends if it's a tri or quad band phone.  US GSM phones operate on different frequencies than most other places.

To work in the UK it'll need to support either 900 MHz or 1800 MHz.

To work in the UK it'll need to support either 900 MHz or 1800 MHz.

Preferably both for best overall coverage, although it will depend upon which U.K. network you are using.  T-Mobile and Orange use only 1800MHz, but Vodafone and O2 use both 900 and 1800. 

If this http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Detail.aspx?device=ab49893d-e81e-4065-ae87-ee2554ab2688 is the phone it is US dual-band only so no-go in the UK.

I have a sidekick 3 in the US, and I went through loads of trouble trying to find a way to bring mine to the UK. Unfortunately, you can't just have your mom send it to you and stick in a t-mobile UK sim card. I called T-Mobile UK and US and asked them both, and they are not the same network. Because of this, it's just as if your phone was from Sprint and you were trying to use a Cingular sim card. You have to get the phone unlocked.

What's even more unfortunate is the fact that you cannot unlock a Sidekick. Because the phone connects to the Danger servers for most of its applications (ie, using the internet, messengers, and texting, etc etc), some of the features would "break" if you unlocked it. They would not give me any information other than "Sidekick phones cannot be unlocked". In addition to that, if you try to google "unlock sidekick" or some other combo, you most often get results from message boards where person after person post something about getting a sidekick unlocked and loads of people telling them you can't, etc.

So unfortunately, you can't use one in the UK if it was originally a US phone. I wish it was possible, because I'd have mine with me here too.

Hiya

there is some good news -

you can get a UK T Mobile Sidekick!

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/coming-soon/

says out in November so maybe hound yer local T mobile shop for when you can get it.

Not too sure if it's specifications are as good as what you had in the USA, hound the T mobile shop about it!!

Oh, and sell off yer US sidekick on ebay there !

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Cheers Dennis for the info.

Wow, this sucks.  I'll look for what might come out in November.

I'm thinking about selling the thing on ebay, but I'm going to look around to see if any mates back home want to buy it off me -- as well, after I look at the average selling price.

I called T-Mobile UK and US and asked them both, and they are not the same network.

The T-Mobile name only appeared in the U.K. a few years ago.  T-Mobile U.K. is what used to be Mercury's One-2-One network.   Mercury -- since swallowed up by Cable & Wireless -- was the first commercial competitor when BT was privatized in the early 1980s.