I chanced into a good deal about 2 1/2 years ago - Radio Shack was pushing the Sony Ericsson TM506, highlighting its ability to tether to the web using software from the Sony site. The speed is not bad, and the price great. For under $90, I have unlimited phone and text and 2G of web before it slows down. Technically unlimited but after 2G, it's pretty much text only. Shelled out an extra $10/mo. for 5G. Just in time for my trusty TM506 to die.

No problem, I bought the aforementioned Equinox/TM717 almost a year ago, recommended by the savvy guys at Howard Forums. One guy there was an amazing source of info on my first SE phone. These guys know their way around cell phones. They say the TM717 is a decent phone but that you need to debrand it in order to get rid of annoying TMobile gimmicks and limitations, and, most of all, to tether to the web.

I might have waited too long as these guys seem to have moved on. In these posts here:

T-Mobile The OFFICIAL Sony Ericsson Equinox Thread (Ask questions HERE!) - Page 20

the wizard known as jet1000 talks about getting and using an A2Uploader file. The link he gives is to a SE club in Russia. Other sources for downloads for A2Uploader aren't working.

This is the stuff that makes me feel like an old curmudgeon on the high tech stuff. I had a feeling that the debranding procedure would be a tricky one. Anybody here a whiz kid on the stuff?

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

i just bought a tm506. i am going to try the same thing. i have not found a2 uploader yet but i have not tried too hard as i am waiting for my data cable to show up. I've got your back.

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

debranding=jailbreak/rooting?

De-branding? Must be a CA thing. Its called unlocking (to work on any carrier) and since the popularity of the iphone, jailbreaking means the modification of software. And what the heck is 5G? 4G is not even technically out yet!

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

I took the 2g to be 2gb of data/mo, not carrier speed.

I had been following the tech-savvy guys ( but I am usually 3 years behind the curve) and bought myself and my 11 year old daughter old WinMo Motorola Qs on Page Plus (Verizon) that cost only about $3/month for minimal usage AND can be tweaked to use Verizon Quick2Net data which is available free and unlimited. The bad news is that its slow.

That was plenty good enough for me , but of course my daughter's friends didn't approve of her 5 year old $6 Moto Q, so I was looking into smartphones that she wouldn't be embarrassed to have w/o further delaying daddy's already late retirement.

I started looking into Tmo's $30 4G 5GB /100min talk/unlimited text deal and figured that would be perfect for her, so I bought the TM506 to see how good the signal was at the house etc.

Well, she laid the guilt trip on me before experiments could be concluded and we stumbled upon a cherry Exhibit II for $50 last night. Fired it up and looks like all we can get is EDGE (2G) here in the sticks, at least on that phone. I am going to swap the sim card into the TM506 ( to use as backup, or to see if it has a better radio)and see what happens, then will try to "debrand" it if I can find all the files.

Like CMAC2012 says, certain phones become hot commodities for a period and get a lot of attention by dudes who are much smarted than I- but then they move on and the trail sometimes get cold. I had that problem with the Moto Qs, as well.

Anyway, "debranding" when it come to the Sony-Ericssons is a bit similar to rooting an Android. It eliminates the bloatware and adds back features than carriers like Tmo put on the phone- or leave off, such as tethering and FM radio.

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

The TM506 is a cool phone. The Equinox is supposed to be better but this one has more T Mobile crap on it than my 506 - hoping to fix that.

Check out Howard Forums. I linked to it in the OP. The jet1000 guy knows SE phones. The TM506 thread has much good info. Probably been awhile since any of those guys posted there but the info is plenty good. I'll bet most every question you might have will have been asked there already.

For example, on my TM506, I was frustrated that I couldn't find the wait function, very useful for checking your credit card accounts, you have the phone # and then type in a "w" (motorola) and enter your credit card # so you could call the info number and hit the continue key when they ask for your CC#.

jet1000 told me that the TM506 has a pause or p function. You hold the 7 key down and it turns from a 7 to a p. Gives you about 5 seconds. You put in enough for the particular bank and you're good to go. I searched the owner's manual again and found no mention of the "p" function. But this guy at Howard Forums knew all about it.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K