Anyone buy their S2 from Bell and unlock it for Telus?

[monsterduc1000]

Hi,

My Moto Milestone is dying on me (screen goes bonkers all the time now with "ghost touches") and since Telus does not have a version of this phone yet, I was wondering if anyone has bought the phone outright from bell (or a bell distributor), unlocked it and used it on the Telus network and had any issues. I will be looking at doing this very soon as my milestone is driving me crazy (never again moto, only a year and a half old), but was wondering of anyone else's experience on this.

 

[Blue1k]

I have. You can see my guide to root and unlock the Bell version for free. Works great. It is in the root section of this forum.

I got lucky. Bought it in the bell store from a guy who was upgrading and needed cash fast. Score!

I did notice that the data connection has less latency if I remove the proxy and port settings in the telus apn.

Only issue is I can't set my voicemail number. Work around is to dial my own number to access voicemail. Not a big deal but would be nice to fix this. Still working on this.

 

[RoRo1990]

I have the bell galaxy s2 on rogers works fine only issue I have is I can't change the voicemail #

 

[monsterduc1000]

...I did notice that the data connection has less latency if I remove the proxy and port settings in the telus apn.

Only issue is I can't set my voicemail number. Work around is to dial my own number to access voicemail. Not a big deal but would be nice to fix this. Still working on this.

Do you just call Telus to get the settings? As for the voicemail, wouldn't you just be able to add the voicemail number to your contacts?

 

[Blue1k]

No I just set it up. Been doing this for a while now and memorized settings. Lol
Settings are listed here on forums or I can post them

Yes you can save your voicemail as a contact but you can't assign it to 1 speed dial or have it dial automatically when you get a voicemail notification

 

[Skylinedgtr]

Awesome! Does it work correctly with HSDPA speeds on the Canadian Telus network?

My DHD has decided to take a turn for the worst

 

[kiiat]

you can't walk in and just buy the phone from a bell store.

however, i've heard of people going to virgin mobile, getting the phone on a monthly contract, cancelling after 1 week, paying out whatever they make you pay for cancellation fee and then unlocking the phone to connect to the telus network.

if you manage to just walk in and buy the phone without signing up for anything, tell me where and what you did/said to get it!

 

[monsterduc1000]

Visions electronics and Wireless Wave were both willing to sell me the phone outright without a contract in Alberta. You can also buy it unlocked from newegg.ca

 

[RoRo1990]

you can't walk in and just buy the phone from a bell store.

however, i've heard of people going to virgin mobile, getting the phone on a monthly contract, cancelling after 1 week, paying out whatever they make you pay for cancellation fee and then unlocking the phone to connect to the telus network.

if you manage to just walk in and buy the phone without signing up for anything, tell me where and what you did/said to get it!

I know a Bell employee who sold me the galaxy s2 for $453 yes that includes taxes and it was brand new and off contract. Called networking my friend

 

[Blue1k]

Awesome! Does it work correctly with HSDPA speeds on the Canadian Telus network?

My DHD has decided to take a turn for the worst

I get around 7 megs down and 2.5 up. Pretty happy

 

[cwepruk]

I did it on Rogers. Ordered through Virgin Mobile, cancelled after one week (no charge IIRC since it's within their 14 day policy).

I typically get between 2-4 mbps on Rogers in Edmonton. Virgin was 5-7.

 

[andromatix]

it's a bit of a 'hit and miss' regarding the purchase of the GS2 without a contract for full price at a Bell retailer...some stores do it, others don't....to be sure, just go to Best Buy or Future Shop, they usually have no problem selling you the device full cost at a non-contract price....


I did pay the premium about a month ago and got mine unlocked from the U.S. at a well reputed seller that I have used repeatedly...easy as pie....put in my SIM, all worked...even the Vx mail was pre loaded and all....

I'm still loving this amazing piece of tech....

 

[SpicyTacoto]

Just bought both an S2 and an HTC Sensation from Best Buy outright (no contract). I'm taking a couple of days to play with each and decide which one is right for me. Very tough decision! These are both fantastic devices...but very different. I like them equally for opposite reasons! No idea how I'll ever choose!

 

[kiiat]

i just did this last week. my work-around (without having to sign up for an acct) was get the phone through someone who already had a bell phone/acct. basically, you just buy the phone and the only thing that changes is the type of device listed on the account. in this case, it was my husband's acct. currently he uses a torch for work; the device now listed on his acct is the s2 but he's still using his torch just fine and i walked out with my phone

btw, i called nearly every future shop/best buy/bell store in my area and they all said no to buying a phone out-right. it was only when i went into a corp bell store and had a little chat with the sales rep that he told me about this 'method'.

i used the tutorial to root/unlock the phone that user Blue1K put together and it worked like a charm. http://androidforums.com/galaxy-s2-...lock-root-bell-galaxy-s2-step-step-guide.html

love this forum!!

 

[Puccagirl]

i just did this last week. my work-around (without having to sign up for an acct) was get the phone through someone who already had a bell phone/acct. basically, you just buy the phone and the only thing that changes is the type of device listed on the account. in this case, it was my husband's acct. currently he uses a torch for work; the device now listed on his acct is the s2 but he's still using his torch just fine and i walked out with my phone

btw, i called nearly every future shop/best buy/bell store in my area and they all said no to buying a phone out-right. it was only when i went into a corp bell store and had a little chat with the sales rep that he told me about this 'method'.

i used the tutorial to root/unlock the phone that user Blue1K put together and it worked like a charm. http://androidforums.com/galaxy-s2-...lock-root-bell-galaxy-s2-step-step-guide.html

love this forum!!

My SG2 is Bell.. but I've been a bit apprehensive to root the phone so far. Have you had any issues with the phone since rooting it?

 

[Blue1k]

My SG2 is Bell.. but I've been a bit apprehensive to root the phone so far. Have you had any issues with the phone since rooting it?

None. I recently tried a new firmware from Europe (KH3) with the intention of flashing the Bell modem but so far it has been a HUGE improvement. At first I noticed a bit more heat than usual but a few reboots seems to have fixed this.

-Cell reception is the same with a very noticeable improvement in GPS locks (used to take about 2 min-now takes 5 seconds from cold)
-Now able to edit voicemail number add in my Telus voicemail access number
-New battery savings feature added about 4 hours of battery. Now have about 14-16+ hours with solid use (along with a few of my own tweaks).

 

[RoRo1990]

None. I recently tried a new firmware from Europe (KH3) with the intention of flashing the Bell modem but so far it has been a HUGE improvement. At first I noticed a bit more heat than usual but a few reboots seems to have fixed this.

-Cell reception is the same with a very noticeable improvement in GPS locks (used to take about 2 min-now takes 5 seconds from cold)
-Now able to edit voicemail number add in my Telus voicemail access number
-New battery savings feature added about 4 hours of battery. Now have about 14-16+ hours with solid use (along with a few of my own tweaks).

can you send me a link to kh3 when was it released cause it also takes forever for the gps to lock and i cant edit the voicemail #

 

[kiiat]

My SG2 is Bell.. but I've been a bit apprehensive to root the phone so far. Have you had any issues with the phone since rooting it?

not at all. the phone works perfectly.

the only thing is that i'm not sure how updates would occur since typically if we were on the bell network i'd think that we'd get a push so i'm guessing when updates are avail, we'd have to manually d/l them.

other than that, no problems what so ever. i LOVE this phone!