Question about cingular phones/SIM card, etc....

ok so...I'm an alltel guy and I want cingular cause cingular is GSM-based (if you didn't already know) and all the new phones are GSM. So...I want this awesome Sony Ericsson phone and I'll have to buy it off ebay at retail price, since cingular doesn't have it in the stores.

I'm planning on getting a FamilyTalk (2 lines included) plan, and [i53dfe4099f]possibly[/i53dfe4099f] a 2-year contract.

[b53dfe4099f]Now here's my question[/b53dfe4099f] ok, so I want to buy two phones (at the uber-cheap 2-year price) and give one to my mom and sell the other to make some cash to put towards my Sony phone. What all would I have to do to "un-activate" a cingular phone? I hear that I would have to unlock it....but can cingular do that for me since I would be buying it from them or how does this work?? Is that all I'd have to do, to be able to sell it on ebay??

thanks and sorry for the long post...kinda urgent questions since my plan runs out in a week or so oops

You would be hard pressed to get Cingular to unlock it. They might, they might not. I believe you can buy a cable and do it with that.

Comp is right. Cingular used to unlock phones for people pretty easily, but due to people abusing it, they won't really do it anymore.

question #1 say I get one of their free phones....do they [ia8bac1c3f3]have[/ia8bac1c3f3] to activate it on the spot?? Or can I just take the phone straight home and sell it?

question #2 do cingular branded phones come locked out of the box? Would I be given a SIM card when I purchase the plan, or is it already in the phone?