One of my clients purchased a Blackberry Bold from T-Mobile while traveling in Europe. She was able to put her T-Mobile USA SIM card in it and use it (voice only) while in Europe. Now she is back in the states and would like to switch from her existing T-Mobile 8800 to the Bold. Normally, I would just use the switch device wizard, especially since its the same carrier. However, since it is a device not officially supported in US, and I don't know if the device is locked to the T-Mobile Europe network, what do I need to worry about? Do I need to have the device unlocked? Should we just try to use the switch device wizard and see what happens?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me, and please let me know if you need any other information.

Thanks!
Tim

Welcome to the Forums!! We are here to help! It is the same company, but not the same carrier. There are quite a few differences between T-Mobile Europe and T-Mobile U.S.
To start off to see if you have an unlocked device, go to Options>Advanced Options>SIM Card. Type in mepd. If network is "Disabled", then it is unlocked. If it is "Enabled" you need it unlocked. Contact Horizon Wireless Online. They are a sponsor of the forum and are always a great help around here.
On T-Mobile U.S., you won't have to "worry" about anything. There will be no Browser or MMS capability because T-Mobile doesn't have a service book to support the Bold. Also, since the Bold doesn't support T-Mobile U.S. 3G bands, you can turn off the 3G radio by going to Options>Mobile Network and selecting 2G mode instead of 2G & 3G.
You will be fine using the Switch Device Wizard. You will not damage anything by doing so. Let us know if you have any more questions, we are here to help.

Hmm. That is what I was afraid of. Its almost certainly not unlocked, and a 3g phone with no 3g capability, no browser, and no MMS capability is somewhat worthless... Oh well. I guess I will have be the bearer of bad news.

Thanks for your help!

Have you checked if it was unlocked or not? It is really cheap and easy to do.
T-Mobile U.S. isn't going to have a 3G BlackBerry for quite some time. We only have 3 3G devices that are compatible and alot of cities still don't have 3G coverage yet anyway.
You can always download Opera Mini to cover the Browser problem.
No MMS sucks, but they can always e-mail the photos. (Kinda sounds like an iPhone..)

It is fairly easy to get the Browser and MMS working on T-Mobile USA with an unlocked Bold.

HowTo: Get All Features (WAP Browser, MMS) Working on T-Mobile USA with Unlocked Bold - Page 5 - BlackBerry Forums at CrackBerry.com

I feel like I have posted this link about 10 times here in past few days, maybe we could put the info in a sticky here for all the people using unlocked Bolds?

all bolds being released don't have common 3G reception ? so an AT&T bold has a different 3G radio from a Vodafone or T-Mobile Europe bold ?

Brian, you are the man!! You just made my month! A fully functional Bold on T-Mobile U.S. Woooooooohhhhoooooooooooooooo!!!

That link needs to be a sticky without a doubt!!