Phone frustration

GAH! I am so, so, SO frustrated with this whole cell phone problem. My Android died last month, so after several weeks of research, trials (meaning I bought a phone off eBay, hated it, and resold it -- yay eBay), bandaging my current phone, I finally received the phone I loved last week.

Only problem: the phone is locked to a Canadian cell phone company (Fido), so it won't work when I put my SIM card in. Normally that's not an issue -- you can purchase an unlock code online for less than 10 USD -- but it's a problem when said unlock code doesn't work, which is what happened to me. (I got my money refunded.)

So, apparently the only way to get the phone unlocked is to call the cell phone company and beg for them to unlock it for you for a fee. However, there are all sorts of caveats, such as -- you have to be a current customer, the phone must be off contract or originally purchased at full price, etc. Being of the optimistic desperate sort, I called Fido. The guy who answered was very nice and said, "Well, since you're not a current customer, we can't do anything for you. But there is a trick -- I'm not supposed to tell you this -- but you can register as a customer for free and then say you already have a phone that needs to be unlocked, and they will unlock it for you. I can transfer you now."

SUHHWEEET.

Well, turns out I can't exactly do that. The next guy asked me for my SIM card number, and I said, "Uhh... I actually have an AT&T card at the moment." He said, "Nope, you have to have a prepaid SIM card, which you can buy in a store in Canada, or else I can't get you an account."

But... but... the nice guy told me I could just register... ahh damn. Noooooooooo...

So now I'm at a crossroads. I suppose I could purchase a SIM card online, use that to register myself with Fido, and then go from there... but at this point I'm ready to start banging my head against the wall, especially when my current phone is literally falling apart at the seams and I have this new, beautiful shiny phone I can't do anything with. :(