>I bought a Nokia E62 phone from eBay. It was locked to the Cingular
> carrier. I had done a bit of research (not nearly enough!!!) and
> found that you could get an unlock code for it, if you provided the
> IMEI number to any of a number of "phone unlocker" businesses on the
> internet.
>
> After I got the phone, I did exactly this. All of them indicated that
> they were not able to unlock the Nokia E62, even though they listed it
> on their websites as a phone that they could unlock. (incidentally, I
> don't think they refunded my money after telling me this)
>
> I have acquaintences at Nokia, who I then hit up, and they told me
> that this particular phone could not be unlocked by Nokia, even if I
> gave the hardware to an engineer.
>
> As a last resort, I called up Cingular and asked for the unlock code,
> explaining that I bought the phone from eBay, and that I was stuck in
> a service plan with T-Mobile. They didn't really seem to care why I
> wanted it, however. They were perfectly content to give me the unlock
> code. However, they couldn't give it to me immediately (for this one
> phone), so I gave the support person the IMEI number, my phone number,
> and my email address. She indicated that it would take 3-5 days.
>
> However, I got the email in just a few hours.
>
> Now... the instructions that they gave me DID NOT WORK. I eventually
> unlocked the phone, but had numerous problems. Here is the correct
> procedure for unlocking the Nokie E62, after you have the Subsidy
> unlock code.
>
> 1. Power on the phone, WITH a CINGULAR smart chip in it. You cannot
> unlock this phone without a sim card, nor can you unlock the phone
> with any other carrier's sim card -- at least I was unable to, and the
> only other person that I've met online who unlocked the phone insisted
> that this step was necessary.
>
> 2. Get to the cingular "idle" screen. The phone I bought had the
> idle screen turned off. If you don't automatically get an idle screen
> -- a screen with no menu -- you need to turn it on in the phone's
> settings.
> a. You are supposed to click on the little swirly icon to the left
> of the wand to get into the "Menu." But I had to depress the wand to
> get to the "Menu" screen.
> b. navigate to "Settings" and click on it.
> c. navigate to "Config" and click on it.
> d. navigate to "Phone" and click on it.
> e. navigate to "Idle Screen Mode" and click on it.
>
> 3. The remainder of the instructions were fine. From the idle
> screen, the only keys on your qwerty keyboard that work are 0-9, *, #,
> +, p, and w (you don't have to type any of the shift keys).
> a. Dial #
> b. Dial p
> c. Dial +
> d. Dial the 15-digit all-numeric unlock code that you received from
> Cingular
> e. Dial +
> f. Dial 1
> g. Dial #
>
> 4. As soon as you type that last "#" key, you get a message
> indicating that the smartchip restriction is off. If you type a "#"
> key and nothing happens, then you're not in the idle screen and/or you
> don't have a cingular chip in the phone. Don't worry; you didn't
> waste one of your "5 tries before permanent lock." You'll get a
> message indicating that something didn't work, if you waste a try.
>
> 5. Turn the phone off.
>
> 6. Remove the Cingular SIM card.
>
> 7. Insert whatever SIM card you now want to use.
>
> 8. Turn the phone on.