Purchase US GSM phone for use in Germany?

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

What confuses people is AWS because of the huge offset between its uplink and downlink frequencies, so neither calling it UMTS1700 or UMTS2100 or UMTS 1900 (which is approximately the middle between up- and downlink) gives you an idea of the actually used frequencies. And when youc call it UMTS1700/2100 people may think you refer to two different UMTS frequency bands.

Thank you both for clearing this up for me on the frequencies, and the good news that the phone will work!

So the only last confusion is the unlocking the phone!

I understand this to be the # code T-mobile gives you so you can use other carrier sim cards? Right?

[inquisitor]

Yes, that's right. It's simply a numeric code for which the phone will ask once you switch it on with a SIM card from another operator inserted.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

What you need to make sure is that your phone does not have a so-called SIMlock or netlock, which prevents your phone from accepting another SIM card or SIM cards from other operators respectively. Removing such SIMlock or netlock is called unlocking and has nothing to do with rooting or firmware modifications. Also unlocking does not impact its functionality on your home network, onto which it might be locked.

I now have all my answers! You have made my day!
Please disregard the next post, because it's been answered.