A friend of mine for 25 years who used to work for AT&T suggested using
either four 0's, six 0's or 1,2,3,4 to unlock it but I cannot even figure out how the darned thing works! There is no way to go up or down or back or nothing! Please help!

What exactly are you wanting to do? Are you trying to unlock the BlackBerry to simply be able to access email, phone, address book, etc? Or, are you trying to unlock the BlackBerry so that you can use it on a different carriers network?

Your friend is (barely) grasping at straws. Some phones come with a power on lock and the defaults were zeroes or 1234.

This is a SIM card lock. It is a unique code based on the specific BlackBerry.

If you try to SIM unlock a BlackBerry with the incorrect code five times (or some number like that) you SIM CARD LOCK IT FOREVER.

So be careful.

Yes to both! I have Cingular Wireless on a Nokia $150 phone...bought the Blackberry on EBay but when I got it, I found it was locked to ATT. Since they were merging I thought "ok no problem"...nix. Then, I went to Cingular, they referred me to a technician who told me it was not possible to unlock it. Then I asked my ex ATT friend, a project manager and engineer and she suggested those codes. The problem is that I have a hard time getting the darned thing to even put in symbols or capitals or anything! All I want is a phone, text messaging and the ability to hold up to 5000 names, phones and addresses, that is all. I do not need pictures, web browser, email or anything else. Do you suggest just giving up and going with Palm or is thee a solution to my problem with Blackberry?

OK - again - your friend is clueless about BlackBerrys.

What are you trying to do? Is the BB locked when you start it up (DANGER - BUYING BBS ON EBAY CAN BE DANGEROUS)?

If the BB is locked on startup and you don't have the password you are out of luck. Enter the password wrong 10 times and the BB will wipe out all of the data and reboot itself.

also, i don't believe you CAN unlock AT&T BlackBerries - they don't allow it

out of all the threads i've read and websites i've visted....i don't think it matters what carrier you have whether or not you can unlock your blackberry. i could be wrong though.

It does matter - especially if you are trying to get it unlocked for free.

T-Mobile and Cingular will unlock their BlackBerrys (under certain conditions) but no one will unlock an AT&T BlackBerry - even Cingular - for free.

Wirelessly posted (8700c: BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

In a case like this, if he is trying to carrier unlock the bb, paying for an unlock may be the only way to use it on your service.