I inherited a Nokia N70 from my son. It was Optus branded but not locked to Optus. It worked fine with my Tesltra SIM card.

However, it annoyed me that it was crippled by having the firmware in the phone tied to Optus. A number of the keys were Optus Zoo specific, for example.

I was searching the 'Net for some info on the N70 and came across an article on "debranding' Nokia phones.

I downloaded the Nemesis Software Solutions software which allowed me to change the product code from Optus code to a generic Australian code. Then, by using the Nokia software updater (from the Nokia website), I downloaded the latest firmware updates for the generic Australian version (the Nokia software reads the model code and pulls down the appropriate firmware upgrade).

A quick update and, voila, the Optus N70 is now an unbranded Nokia N70 Music edition (albeit with a silver, not black, case).

This works with other late model Nokia phones as well.

It P's me off that if one buys an unlocked phone it is crippled by being tied to a service provider.

Problems? Well, only that the update wouldn't work on my laptop. The Updater lost the USB connection during the update and my Compaq Presario couldn't automatically re-establish the connection. I tried on the desktop and it was over in 15 minutes. On the laptop, I had tried for hours.

I don't like mobiles as much as PDA phones but this is 3G and it syncs to my address book in MS Outlook just like the PDA. Mobile phones are just too hard to use.