US Blackberry in SA?

[Velenoso]

Evening guys,

I have a BlackBerry 8700c I brought over from the US. It's on Cingular. When I insert a South African Sim, it just simply does not recognise it. What is the problem here? I'm assuming it's blocked in some way?

Does anyone know if it is possible to somehow maybe update or flash it so it will accept SA sim cards?

Thanks in advance guys.

Edit: It says "Invalid Sim Card" on the screen.

 

[broken1]

America is still very into sim-locking their phones. My guess is that it's simlocked... there should be a way to unlock it. I would say try googling! Otherwise, goto a vodacare shop and ask if they might be able to flash the phone!

Good luck.

 

[Velenoso]

All I can find through google is people trying to sell the unlock 'codes' for around $25. Is this legit? I doubt it. I'll try take this thing to vodacom this afternoon...

 

[bwana]

My mom regularly uses her T-Mobile bberry here but we've never tried it with my sim.

What model do you have? Is it tri-band?

 

[Velenoso]

It's a BlackBerry 8700c. According to the manual, it supports GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900.

The thing is brand new never been used. I opened the box here in JHB and tried a Vodacom Sim. No luck.

 

[Velenoso]

Vodacom in cresta says its possible to flash it. I gotta either take to westgate or vodaworld. So im gonna head up there monday and see whats what.