The deal with unlocked phones and saving songs as ringtones

In this installment of Questions and Answers, we tackle cell phones from abroad and setting downloaded songs as ringtones. Got a question you want answered? Submit it here. Got something to add to the answers below? Leave a comment.

I got a Samsung SGH-D500 and service in England, but it is locked for Stateside use. How would I get it unlocked, and what plans can I use with it? – Shy-lah

Since you got the Samsung phone in England, that means it’s a GSM cell phone. You can get service for it from either AT&T or T-Mobile. However, you may not have access to some of the features offered on AT&T and T-Mobile. This is the case with many unlocked cell phones. To get the unlock code for your Samsung phone, you can call AT&T, T-Mobile, or Samsung. One of those companies should be able to help you find the unlock code, which is needed to use service Stateside.

Why can’t my music on my phone be my ringtones? – Jim

That’s a great question, and you might like to know that you are not alone. Although many cell phones today play music, that doesn’t mean the songs you download to your cell phone can be saved as a ringtone. Frustrating, I know. The simplest answer as to why is because your cell phone just wasn’t set up to handle that. If you can’t do it easily — say, play a song, then click the Options menu where there should be an option to save the song as a ringtone, or when you’re saving a contact and assigning a ringtone, your downloaded songs appear as a ringtone setting — then your cell phone probably doesn’t support this feature. That said, if this is an important feature for you, consider getting a Sony Ericsson or Symbian-based cell phone next. Those models will definitely support the feature.