How to unlock your GSM Treo 650
By Peter Rojas 
posted February 6th 2005 4:08PM
posted February 6th 2005 4:08PM
Pissed that palmOne "fixed" the "pricing error" on the unlocked GSM version of the Treo 650? Nobody is happy that they boosted the price from of an unlocked Treo 650 from $599 to $699 just a couple of days after it went on sale last week, but if you have T-Mobile and don't mind your phone sporting a Cingular logo, more than a few people have written in (and posted in our comments) with the news that you can unlock the GSM version of the Treo 650 by entering the sequence *#*#1234# and then pressing the center D-pad button. Haven't tried this ourselves yet, so if you completely screw up your Treo 650 we can't help you, ok?
UPDATE: Might not actually work as well as well as we'd hoped, but like we said, we haven't tried this ourselves yet.
T-Mobile will NOT provide an unlock code. They are citing some "federal law" that the previous Cingular account info is needed for them to get the unlock code. Hence, for existing T-mobile customers, if you buy locked 650 from ebay, be ready to shelve out the $40 to the third party unlock artists.
I want to correct a slight mis-information I stated in my last post. I was wrong when answering Kamil's topic of changing the IMEI number. In fact it is possible to alter the IMEI, but this requires purchasing of an expensive machine to do so. Expensive meaning US$250+. Then you have to figure out how to operate it, and not mess up your firmware/phone. Unless you know what you're doing, or getting into othe business of servicing and unlocking phones, it's not worth the cost, aggravation, and pay someone to make this change. Most of us in this forum are concerned with just unlocking our branded phones, for free which can be done but under specific circumstances.
To address a few comments where others try to unlock a Cingular Treo 650 (or any Cingular) phone by asking TMobile for the unlock code since this is their provider.. Well, they are right, that TMobile WILL NOT provide (if they have it) the subsidy unlock codes of non-TMobile purchased phone because of regulations. Likewise vice versa between opposing companies. This is when you pay someone $25-$40 to unlock it for you. PS. Personally, I would never pay anyone over the internet, by email or phone call, to unlock a phone, but always to someone in person. Then you can at least ask them to prove it to you on the spot by placing a different brand SIM card to test.
So when you decide to go for any phone on eBay, make absolutely sure that the Seller is: reputable, and can prove to you that he is the original owner/purchaser of the phone (since only they can request for the unlock code from the provider). This means a copy of the purchase receipt. What seems like a good deal may not be worth the disappointment when you can't unlock it for free, and still need to pay $40.
Happy new year!
The unlock code from Adam Roth ( info@gsmphonesource.com ) worked on my Cingular treo 650 . Actually it only took 4 hours for him to send me teh code. Also his current rate is only 30$, and you can pay it through paypal.
The phone works fine now with a T-mobile card.
On the other hand T-mobile web does not work. It disconnects me after initiating the connection. The big attraction with T-mobile web is that it is completely free. ( I use it all the time on my other Motorola a630 - checking emails, news etc.) Does anybody know what else needs to be done to get teh web to work ?
Ok I fixed teh web isse too. Here is teh details
1. Go to the Prefs and select Network
2. Click modify and change the name of the connection to something sensible 'T- mobile' for instance.
3. Give the access point name as wap.myvoicestream.com
4. leave the username and password blank ( delete the values for Cingular )
5. Select GPRS for the connection type
6. Go to the browser ( Blazer )
7. In preferences take advanced and enable proxy with values
Proxy Serv. Address: 216.155.165.50
Proxy Port Number: 8080
8. clear cookies and cache
9 Disconnect and connect again
10. compared to the Cingular GPRS ( 1 cents per KB ) you will find this ( free ) to be very slow.