Unlocking a cell phone

no, you shouldn't need to purchase any code to unlock the phone.  I don't know how the process works, but a friend of mine has done it at no cost several times.  It's possible that he used codes or info that someone else paid for, but I don't think so.  I'm assuming it needs to be unlocked because it is not a phone from your service provider?

Correct

Balckberry 9550

I've looked in some other forums and some people claim they were able to get codes from their providers.  I wouldn't have thought that would be the case, but I suppose it's worth a shot.

I also ran across the below:

http://freeblackberryunlock.info/

I can not attest to the safety of this site or the download.  Be careful.  This is just what came up on a quick search.

Outside of that, can't be of much more help.

Yes, but it is the only Canadian owned company left up here, so I feel I need to support them.

http://freemyblackberry.com/

This is legit - I used it on several corp phones when we switched carriers. Free - you wait almost a day. Pay, it's instant.

When you get the code, you need to enter it rather quickly.

Once entered, it's unlocked and you can switch it over.

This only works on units that use SIM cards. Some older units have the sim basically soldered into the phone.

Isn't that like calling the police to find a local drug dealer for your next fix?

not really.  he is using his phone for it's intended use.  They have just as much at stake as if someone gave him a phone that was on his network.  I understand what you are saying, but I don't think there is anything illegal or underhanded about unlocking a phone.

Phones are usually locked by the service providers.  The idea is to make sure customers buy the phone and use their service, instead of buying a bunch of their phones (e.g. while they have promotions) without services and selling them off in after-markets.  

For users who travel frequently and who usually get a different SIM card for a different country, but still want to use the same phone (e.g. I routinely get a prepaid SIM when I travel to Hong Kong, so that I can have a local number, instead of paying for international roaming),  the cell phone owner can request their primary carrier to "unlock" the phone so that a non-primary carrier's SIM can be used. 

Peby:  If your son is the previous owner of the phone, he can request the unlock code from the carrier.  It should be free.  Once unlocked, you can use any SIM card from any carrier.  

T-mobile gives unlock codes to the phones you own.  Only requirement is you didn't request another unlock code within 90s prior.  This is, again, to prevent people from buying a ton of cheap phones, request to unlock, and sell them off in after-markets. 

Hi,

     There are many ways to unlock a cell phone, but unlocking using code is very simple and also safe!!! Many online sites and service providers offer these codes!!I unlocked my blackberry bold using unlock codes. I purchased the code from Classicunlocking.com , they offered perfect codes at reasonable price!!!By specifying your phone's manufacture, model, country and network, you'll be able to get the codes!!

Thanks, but I did manage to get the code (for free) from freemyblackberry.com as khyron suggested.

I saw the OP got it working, but this works every time:

Call your carrier. Say you're going somewhere in the world where they don't provide service, and want to use the phone. They will walk you through unlocking it - for free. I've done it a few times. They just dont' like to advertise that