Phone unlocking

[stuart noble]

I'm probably not the only old geyser having an IPhone 3G donated to them
by their upgrading offspring. Unless it's dead easy to get my Orange
PAYG sim to work in it, I'm probably going to decline. Anyone used the
"rebel sim" solution?

 

[Paul - xxx]

I'm probably not the only old geyser having an IPhone 3G donated to
them by their upgrading offspring. Unless it's dead easy to get my
Orange PAYG sim to work in it, I'm probably going to decline. Anyone
used the "rebel sim" solution?

Whenever I've had to unlock a phone I've found google to be a great
help .. but I've not had an iphone to play with yet ..

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/
and
http://www.howardforums.com/content.php

are good places to start too ..

 

[andrew]

I'm probably not the only old geyser having an IPhone 3G donated to them
by their upgrading offspring. Unless it's dead easy to get my Orange
PAYG sim to work in it, I'm probably going to decline. Anyone used the
"rebel sim" solution?

The donor of the phone can probably get it unlocked before handing it
over. If it has been on a contract it is usually free. If it was
bought on PAYG, it will cost about £15. What network is it on?

They are usually locked to a network, not to a specific sim, so if it
was on Orange it won't need unlocking (although might be worth doing
anyway for future). If it is not on Orange, you might consider
switching your number to PAYG on the network that would work.

Once it will accept the SIM, it will just work. The only thing you may
have to manually change is that the data settings it installs
automatically will be for the special iPhone tariffs. If you change
those to the standard data settings for your network, it will use
whatever data options your sim has. More specific instructions depend
on the network.

Worth accepting even if you decide not to use it - worth at least £90
if you sell it to CEX!
http://uk.webuy.com/phones/product.php?mastersku=SAPPIPH3G8GB

A

 

[polygonum]

The donor of the phone can probably get it unlocked before handing it
over. If it has been on a contract it is usually free. If it was
bought on PAYG, it will cost about £15. What network is it on?

They are usually locked to a network, not to a specific sim, so if it
was on Orange it won't need unlocking (although might be worth doing
anyway for future). If it is not on Orange, you might consider
switching your number to PAYG on the network that would work.

Once it will accept the SIM, it will just work. The only thing you may
have to manually change is that the data settings it installs
automatically will be for the special iPhone tariffs. If you change
those to the standard data settings for your network, it will use
whatever data options your sim has. More specific instructions depend
on the network.

Worth accepting even if you decide not to use it - worth at least £90
if you sell it to CEX!
http://uk.webuy.com/phones/product.php?mastersku=SAPPIPH3G8GB

A

The final insult Orange delivered to me, before I left them, was wanting
to charge to unlock a phone that had been under contract with them for
several years.

Never will I touch them again.

 

[stuart noble]

The donor of the phone can probably get it unlocked before handing it
over. If it has been on a contract it is usually free. If it was
bought on PAYG, it will cost about £15. What network is it on?

They are usually locked to a network, not to a specific sim, so if it
was on Orange it won't need unlocking (although might be worth doing
anyway for future). If it is not on Orange, you might consider
switching your number to PAYG on the network that would work.

Once it will accept the SIM, it will just work. The only thing you may
have to manually change is that the data settings it installs
automatically will be for the special iPhone tariffs. If you change
those to the standard data settings for your network, it will use
whatever data options your sim has. More specific instructions depend
on the network.

Worth accepting even if you decide not to use it - worth at least £90
if you sell it to CEX!
http://uk.webuy.com/phones/product.php?mastersku=SAPPIPH3G8GB

A

Many thanks for the advice. I obviously need to find out what network
it's on for starters.
Why I need to cart something twice as big and twice as heavy around in
my pocket to make a phone call I'm not sure. The CEX option may yet come
to pass

 

[Brian Gaff]

Yes my thoughts as well, especially given that most of those phones seem to
have very poor sensitivity or signal output if you use them in your hand as
a phone. I'm waiting for the Ichop, a phone on one end that detaches and
the screen and other crap which can be joined if you are going away, say. I
don't need internet and christ knows what else if going to the shops!

Brian

 

[Steve Walker]

The donor of the phone can probably get it unlocked before handing it
over. If it has been on a contract it is usually free. If it was
bought on PAYG, it will cost about £15. What network is it on?

They are usually locked to a network, not to a specific sim, so if it
was on Orange it won't need unlocking (although might be worth doing
anyway for future). If it is not on Orange, you might consider
switching your number to PAYG on the network that would work.

Out of interest (although this supposedly doesn't apply to iPhones)
almost all phones provided by Carphone Warehouse are supplied unlocked -
which I only found out when I asked about unlocking.

SteveW

 

[airsmoothed]

Out of interest (although this supposedly doesn't apply to iPhones)
almost all phones provided by Carphone Warehouse are supplied unlocked -
which I only found out when I asked about unlocking.

SteveW

Every phone myself or anyone I know that has been bought from CPW has
been unlocked, mind you that doesn't include any Orange phones.

 

[Dave Liquorice]

Once it will accept the SIM, it will just work.

FSVO "just work". Several people yesterday complaining that their
iPhone based alarms didn't sound, again... Curiously the same
happened to another iPhone user the morning of the 31st.

 

[S Viemeister]

Loads of firms on-line will do this for a small fixed fee, you just
enter code on handset.

For an iPhone???

 

[Bob Eager]

Loads of firms on-line will do this for a small fixed fee, you just
enter code on handset.

For a lot of modern phones, it unfortunately isn't that simple. And in
any case the fee often exceeds the normal unlocking fee.

 

[Lobster]

The donor of the phone can probably get it unlocked before handing it
over. If it has been on a contract it is usually free. If it was
bought on PAYG, it will cost about £15. What network is it on?

Yep, my iphone was originally on a Tesco contract, and when that ended
Tesco unlocked it for free without a fuss, and I was able to move
elsewhere (on to a 100% free cashback deal ).

It was an odd 'unlocking' actually - ISTR it happened automagically
through some process which was initiated when I synched the phone with
iTunes

David

 

[Mark]

Yep, my iphone was originally on a Tesco contract, and when that ended
Tesco unlocked it for free without a fuss, and I was able to move
elsewhere (on to a 100% free cashback deal ).

Tesco is one of the few networks that will unlock for free (if you've
had the phone more than 1 year). Most networks will charge you.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking some articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.

 

[stuart noble]

Tesco is one of the few networks that will unlock for free (if you've
had thephonemore than 1 year).  Most networks will charge you.

To update this little saga....
O2 unlocked the phone online for free, so I now have my old PAYG SIM
in this shiny IPhone. For the moment I have disabled 3G and mobile
data because I imagine that could destroy a PAYG balance pretty
quickly. Is that right, and will using wi-fi hotspots be free? Such
elementary questions but I can't seem to find a straight answer. TIA

 

[John Williamson]

To update this little saga....
O2 unlocked the phone online for free, so I now have my old PAYG SIM
in this shiny IPhone. For the moment I have disabled 3G and mobile
data because I imagine that could destroy a PAYG balance pretty
quickly. Is that right, and will using wi-fi hotspots be free? Such
elementary questions but I can't seem to find a straight answer. TIA

For 3G, it depends on your tariff, as some include some data with the
top-up. 3 do one with a Gigabyte included every time you top up with a
tenner. Some Wifi hotspots are free, others aren't, but the paid for
ones are easy to spot, as the only page you can reach without paying is
the page demanding money from you. Unfortunately, sme of them don't
automatically redirect you there unless you're using Internet Explorer.

 

[Dave Plowman (News)]

To update this little saga....
O2 unlocked the phone online for free, so I now have my old PAYG SIM
in this shiny IPhone. For the moment I have disabled 3G and mobile
data because I imagine that could destroy a PAYG balance pretty
quickly. Is that right, and will using wi-fi hotspots be free? Such
elementary questions but I can't seem to find a straight answer. TIA

I have a spare Nokia which was locked to Vodaphone and on PAYG, before I
put its SIMM in my new phone . Bought a Tesco PAYG SIMM for 99p and
unlocked it via instructions found on the net. But I didn't want to
transfer my existing number to it, obviously.

 

[stuart noble]

Some Wifi hotspots are free, others aren't,

I see all Wetherspoons are