Expert: DebiN - 11/15/2009

Question
If I were to get a Sidekick on Ebay and it is unlocked, but i have at&t carrier, would it work?
I really like the quality and price of them on Ebay and i have been wanting one for a while so i was wondering if it would work when i bought it. thanks!

Answer
The Sidekick would work with your SIM card so that you could access the AT&T voice network provided that the device was a quad band one (there are some models that are only tri-band). However, you will not be able to use text messaging or any data (internet) feature of the device. The reason is that Sidekicks use a Sidekick server (only T-Mobile has the servers) for messaging and data. Even if someone who has T-Mobile service and a T-Mobile SIM puts it into a Sidekick, it will only work for data and messaging if they pay for a Sidekick data plan. AT&T's data plans won't work with the Sidekick, so there is no way around this. My advice to anyone who doesn't have T-Mobile service is not to buy a Sidekick. There are many better devices out there to use. As an AT&T subscriber, if you want a good Smartphone, you should consider the Tilt or the Jack or if you just want a full keyboard, there are a lot of new phones that now have full keyboards or if you really want an all purpose device, the iPhone. The Sidekick and the Tilt are made by the same company, if that helps to know. I hope this helps. Thank. DebiN