T-Mobiles sells the Nokia 1661 as a starter pre-paid phone in the United States. It’s really cheap (less than $20 at Wal-Mart). I bought a couple just for the SIM cards on a recent trip to the US. I used the SIMs in unlocked iPhones while on vacation.The Nokia 1661 phone itself is decent, so I decided to try and unlock it for use with Canadian carriers (such as the 7-11 SpeakOut service). Hey, free phone, right?
Well it turns out that there’s no 3rd party unlock available for the T-Mobile Nokia 1661. I did have some success using a SIM emulator chip that I bought on eBay, though.
It doesn’t matter if you can unlock it with other tools or not, though, because T-Mobile is actually a decent mobile carrier. If you call them and ask, they’ll send you an unlock code. How easy is that? There’s even a 1-800 number to call from Canada (so you won’t use your T-mobile airtime by dialing 611 while roaming on Rogers).
You need to find your IMEI number — It should be on a label under the battery. Copy it down carefully. You can also find it by pressing *#06# on the phone.
Call T-Mobile. Tell them you’d like to SIM-unlock your phone while travelling to Canada. They’ll ask for your IMEI number and an e-mail address, and submit a request. A few hours later you’ll receive an e-mail with instructions.
E-mail from T-Mobile unlocking Nokia 1661
Follow the instructions and enter the unlock code. Simple.
Then you can use any SIM you want in the phone.
A 7-11 SpeakOut SIM in an unlocked T-Mobile Nokia 1661
