Can I buy Cingular 3125 & use Vodafone SIM?

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It may sound like a silly question, but can I use a UK Vodafone Sim in a Cingular 3125?

Here's the story. I live in the UK and have a Qtek 8500, I simply love this phone - however, the Cingular 3125 is an updated version of this with a bigger 128MB ROM and a bigger 1100mAh battery, which would be ideal. I would love to be able to buy a European SIM free version of this phone - I have trawled the net and the bottom line from what I can tell is that this phone is only available from Cingular. So the only alternative is to buy a Cingular 3125 on Ebay.

My concern is whether it is compatible with GSM? The USA bands are different if I remember correctly, and presumably the phone is SIM locked. I don't mind paying to get it SIM unlocked as long as it will work OK in Europe.

Is this at all possible, and why the heck don't they sell this phone unbranded in the UK from either Qtek, imate, or Dopod?

(The other issue would be the charger being US, but I presume my Qtek 8500 charger will suffice)

Anybody know if I will pay customs or any tax to import this phone from the USA to the UK?

It is a quad band phone and I bought it so that I can use it with european sims. It should work. My other quad band phones from cingular worked, but they were all motorola. I guess I will find out in April!!

I don't know about the taxes.

@admisi,

As you suspect, a Cingular 3125 will certainly require SIM unlock to work with a Vodafone SIM (will need that for any SIM other than Cingular SIM). But as deecee52 notes, it is quad-band, which means it has all the the 900mHz+1800mHz goodness to work all over Europe (the other two bands in the "quad" are the US 800+1900). Just like your Qtek 8500 would work fine in US with SIM unlock and US SIM (all the StarTrks have 800+900+1800+1900 bands).

Your thoughts about the improvements in the 3125 are dead-on. I find that the battery life in my 3125 is fantastic, and it has a ton of available storage memory, even after all the extra junk that Cingular has put on it. When I go to Settings > About, it shows 52MB of available storage (and I have a number of apps installed, including PocketPlayer, Windows Live Search, Google Maps). But keep in mind that the beefed-up battery adds a few millimeters of thickness to a hump in the back, versus the sleeker Qtek/iMate/Dopod versions (doesn't bother me, I still find it plenty slim)...

All that being said - if you are not already doing so, you might want to keep an eye on "HTC Erato" (aka HTC S420, aka HTC StarTrk the Next Generation), which it is rumored that HTC will be rolling out starting next month. That is, if you want a new flipper with WM6, 3G HSDPA data, GPS, and FM radio capability (at least those are in the leaked specs - nothing officially announced yet)...

http://www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=727

Thanks for the info on that. Yeah, I clocked the HTC Erato a while back..looks like it's got it all (except WiFi)...

To be honest I'm a bit skeptical, all those goodies, 3G, even Built in GPS and only an 960mAh battery!!!!!Somehow I think there's gonna be power issues here.

^ Agreed - battery is my big question about the Erato too. 3G in particular - seems I always read things where people say their phone uses more battery when on HSDPA. Perhaps we will find we have to wait for someone to come out with an extended battery for the thing...