[kwlug-disc] android phone, anyone?

[unsolicited]

R. Brent Clements wrote, On 12/17/2009 6:54 PM:
> Apparently vendor-locked sim card phones are just that:  vendor
> locked.  The phone itself is not willing to play nice with foreign
> networks, regardless of the info on the card.   Heard a bell rep tell
> a customer that at the cost of a sale.  For the few GSM capable phones
> bell sells you seem to need to get the card thru them

I'm not clear which vendor you're talking about - the phone 
manufacturer, or the cell service provider.

Bell does GSM?

Everything I've happened across seems to say that if you have a GSM 
(Rogers/Fido) phone and go elsewhere, you pick up a local provider's 
(prepaid?) sim card, slap it into your phone, and get on with your 
day. i.e. local phone calls via local provider, rather than long 
distance with your own provider calling from your home service area to 
your current geographical area.