Nokia :: 5000 Bought In China, Need To Use For T Mobile

I have a Nokia 5000 that I bought and used in China for a couple years with no problems and now I am back in the U.S.

I have since signed up for AT&T with an iPhone but had a free card for T Mobile prepaid I would like to add to this phone.

I called today and gave them the activation, sim #, IMEI #, etc. and everything went well BUT the cell phone does NOT see the network. I can't make any calls and when calling my new number from another phone it goes straight to voicemail.

Does T Mobile require a special phone to use their prepaid service? I was under the impression that you could use any phone. Also I was under the impression that this phone is NOT locked because in China 99% of people DON'T use contracts but rather just buy prepaid minutes anywhere you go. And this is exactly what I did - just add minutes every few months.


I also thought that if your phone is locked when you put in a SIM card it will basically not let you access the phone. Mine does not do this. I can still access all features. It's just that there is no service.


Any ideas on what I can do to fix this situation? I am definitely not that educated on cell phones, unlocked, hacking them, etc and this phone is not worth my time going to too much trouble. But if it's at all possible, I would like to get this to work as a backup.