Hello all,

I just bought 3 quad band motorola v551 mobiles for three members of our law firm heading out to Bangkok. These phones were released in the USA approximately 2 weeks ago. They work on EDGE technology rather than GPRS (I couldnt explain what either of these terms mean in detail)

Taking into consideration that in general, the newest mobile phones make their debuts in asia far earlier than in USA, does anyone have a solid answer regarding the abilities of cell phone sellers in BKK (MBK) possessing the ability to unlock these phones yet.

I also purchased three Motorola bluetooth headsets for these phones and although I dont see any technical issues with operating bluetooth due to geographic location, are there any statutory limitations regulating the use of Bluetooth and/or the frequency it operates on? If I am not correct, I believe I read even wi-fi is "technically" not legal, or maybe just that no legislation exists regarding wi-fi usage.

As always, those with genuinely helpful advice are greatly appreciated

Winston H Cary

Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, LLP.

Legal Clerk

International Trade Practice

I've had a couple of phones unlocked by Thai technicians, there's a good chance that someone can do this for you, just try your luck at a few stalls in MBK. They will probably charge you a bit, unless you are buying something from them.

I don't know about the legalities of bluetooth in Thailand but the reality is that everyone sells bluetooth headsets and nobody gives a rats arse, don't worry about it.

I've seen several people with Bluetooth headsets here in Bkk. I doubt it is a problem. WiFi is all over BKK ... don't know why you think there is any legality issue.

My NEC525 was unocked on USA before I came over. But I could not get it unlocked here on the previous trip because NEC is not a popular brand here. But Motorola is a leader here along with Nokia, so my guess is that once the V551 codes are known, MBK techs will be the first to know.

Call this guy ... he did my NEC525. He will know if the code is out.

Marcus Cellular 9230 International Blvd. Oakland, CA. 94603 NEC unlock (510)569-4600

About 6 months ago, I had the firmware on my motorola v66 completely replaced by a guy on the top floor of MBK, removing weird T-Mobile modifications to the WAP/gprs setup and adding the ability to view Thai language SMS messages. It took us a little while to explain that I knew the phone was already unlocked. I was mildly impressed that he did this while retaining all my phonebook entries (I had many stored on the phone, rather than the SIM). I cannot remember how much he charged, but I know I had set my personal limit at around 400 baht since I had only paid about $12 US for the phone in the first place (taxes after the full T-Mobile rebate)...

This probably means he has the full motorola service software package, but you would need to present the phone in order to find out whether he has codes and firmware for that model. We went to one of the counters that looked promising and they ran off and dug up someone from another counter who had the right tools for motorola.