Can I buy a pre-prepaid cell phone in Germany?

Unlocked cell phone reception?

• my samsung sync recently got water damage and im looking to buy a new cellphone. i've been looking at getting an unlocked sony ericsson w580i, but im concerned about the reception. im reading conflicting stories that unlocked phones dont get any worse reception than ones you buy from your provider. on the flip side i read that if you get one not from your provider that it doesnt have some of the software on it and the reception quality goes down. i currently am with cingular. also, i have been residing in germany for the past 3 months while using a "stand in" phone (with my cingular SIM card) while mine is broken and i dont notice any major decrease in reception. could someone tell me how true this is - and if i buy a new cellphone here which is not from AT&T, will my reception be horrible?

• Answer:

  there is no difference from locked or unlocked to a provider