No Nokia handsets sold by operators in Japan are unlockable*).
So the ones you saw on the store must be the Nokias from abroad. That
makes me wonder why they looked mysterious to you.
*)Completely changing the firmware to foreign ones (like writing 6630
firmware to 702NK) will of course remove the sim lock, but it's not easy
and expensive.
As far as I know unlocking is cheaper in the market than with the
operator, so I guess they won't be out of business just because of
better announcement..
Pada Tue, 19 Sep 2006 12:43:57 +0900
si Gerhard Fasol <fasol@eurotechnology.com> bilang:
> This is all history - but I did ask at one of the rare NOKIA shops in
> Tokyo
> how to use the unlocked phones in Japan and where to get the necessary
> SIM cards from. They were very cryptic and mysterious about it and
> did not
> clearly say which mobile operators sell the SIM cards, which could be
> out into the NOKIA phones which they were trying to sell for about
> YEN 50,000 or YEN 60,000 in unlocked condition.
>
> I decided not to buy one of these unlocked NOKIA phones in Tokyo.
>
> However I did buy a prepaid NOKIA phone in Liechtenstein (a small
> European country between Switzerland and Austria - for those who have
> not been there yet I recommend to go there - its very beautiful),
> from the
> official shop of Liechtenstein's official Mobile Phone Company, and
> it was not locked at all.
>
> In the UK I found out recently, Mobile Operators have the regulatory
> obligation to unlock prepaid phones on request (and payment of a
> fee) - however the mobile operators are very shy talking about this.
> Actually, the UK regulator even had an enquiry about why the mobile
> operators are so shy to inform customers about this service, and
> abut this consumer right to get the prepaid phones unlocked by the
> operator. If this was better announced, it would put all the black
> market
> unlockers out of business.
>
> Gerhard
>
Arnold P. Siboro (asiboro@maltech.jp)
"A lie can travel half-way around the world while truth puts on its shoes."
-- Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
Received on Tue Sep 19 09:05:29 2006