mobile phone unlocking.....

[sammysam]

i need to duy a new mobile as mine has been swimming-can i buy any one and then unlock it so i can use it with my existing contract sim? If so how do i go about it? Please help

[mumofmonSTARsOfBethlehem]

Mine was locked to orange and i had it unlocked so i could use my O2 sim. There is alittle shop near me and he downloads the software from somewhere and has hundreds of data cables, basically it justtakes a few buttons and a few minutes (and some money of course) and its done

[sammysam]

how much money?

[mumofmonSTARsOfBethlehem]

differs from shop to shop so i couldn't say.

cost me £10 about 8 months ago and that included a new sim as mine was mega old!!

[sammysam]

thats not bad at all
do you happen to know if all phones can be unlocked?

[mumofmonSTARsOfBethlehem]

not a clue!!

IS IT NOT WORTH SHOPPING AROUND AS MOST PHONES ARE AVAILABLE ON MOST NETWORKS (UNLIKE MINE WHICH WAS EXCLUSIVE (sorry hit caps) to orange. Or going to carphone warehouse and getting it sim free?

[Indith]

Yes you can easily unlock a phone though I would check what deal you can get on a new handset from your current network first as you can often get a loyalty discount.

Say you want model X

Your current network sells it at £50

Another network sells it at £35

But, because you have to buy it with a sim, you also have to buy credit, so it costs you £45. You then still have to get it unlocked.

So basically it isn't often worth the fuss.

Getting a sim free handset is usually more expensive since a provider selling it to you with a sim knows that they are then going to continue getting it money from you.

If you do buy a phone and want to unlock it, for most common phones just googling 'unlock' and the model number will give you the code you need.

[sammysam]

just read that if you use a phone not on the 3 network they can stop you contract but make you pay for the duration iyswim-is that true?
am ringing them as soon as dp gets home-had a nightmare of a day without my phone -try finding a working phone box abd enough change

[Indith]

I don't know, you'd have to check the small print of your contract.

The thing with contract is that technically the phone remains theirs. With pay as you go the phone is yours and you can do what you want.

[sammysam]

Indith-I rang 3 yesterday-and the conclusion is that they are picking the phone up tomorrow and will diagnose the problem and then tell me if they can fix it and if so how much it will cost. if they can't or they don't think it is economically reasonable then they will sell me a phone for £50......or at least that is what i understood

Anyone have any experience of this? How much might it cost? Can they rip me off? Dp says i shouldn't do it but at the moment i'm paying for something i need but can't use iyswim? and i need to sort it out asap!

[Indith]

Sounds pretty good. The great thing about there being so much competition between different networks is that it is always worth threatening to take your business elsewhere, pointing out that you could get a better contract with someone else, pointing out that you are currently paying for something you can't use and seeing how much they knock off!