Updated Mobile Unlocking Article discussion
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For those with EE, I just spoke to them about traveling to the states, and wanting my phone unlocked and they said (in a nutshell) that...
1) It would not be possible as my phone was < 6 months old so still belonged to EE
2) If it was, it would cost around £40 and would take 6-8 weeks to unlock
3) My best cause of action was to get a 2nd hand phone on ebay...
really... ebay? :mad:0 -
For those with EE, I just spoke to them about traveling to the states, and wanting my phone unlocked and they said (in a nutshell) that...
1) It would not be possible as my phone was < 6 months old so still belonged to EE
2) If it was, it would cost around £40 and would take 6-8 weeks to unlock
3) My best cause of action was to get a 2nd hand phone on ebay...
really... ebay? :mad:
Or buy an unlocked phone from say amazon or maybe Carphone warehouse if they do sim free phones.0 -
Correct about 6 months: http://ee.co.uk/help/getting-started/joining-ee/unlocking-your-device.For those with EE, I just spoke to them about traveling to the states, and wanting my phone unlocked and they said (in a nutshell) that...
1) It would not be possible as my phone was < 6 months old so still belonged to EE
Rubbish on the second count. The phone is yours from the start. Unless it's iPhone you can pay other companies to unlock it.
EDIT: I stand corrected: EE contract...EE own the phone for the first 6 months!
Yet another bunch of lies. £8.99 and ~10 days according to the above link.2) If it was, it would cost around £40 and would take 6-8 weeks to unlock
Not really. It's up to you where to buy it, but ebay is possibly the cheapest place. Don't forget that the phone has to be at least tri-band to work in USA.3) My best cause of action was to get a 2nd hand phone on ebay...
really... ebay? :mad:
A lesson to learn: don't waste time on calling useless and incompetent CS unless it's unavoidable.0 -
I have a Note 4 on EE, 10 working days (or more if they are incompetent) is too long so I went hunting for the cheapest code site. The cheapest I could find was fastgsm.com at $25 which works out at £16.27 - as stated it took a couple of days but the code worked fine. I still haven't had an email about it but you can login to the site to check.
Paid with PayPal so there might have been some protection (?), and via Halifax Clarity for a good $ price.
Some other site was a tad cheaper but wanted my phone number, I can't see why, I don't want to land up on a PPI list!0 -
If the Vodafone representative is out there please could you help me out with this?!
I've been trying to get Vodafone to unlock my iPhone 5. I got the handset free when I signed up to a 2 year pay monthly deal in Dec 2012. In theory they are happy to unlock it for free but keep rejecting my application because there is no record of the handset on my account so they can't verify my phones imei number.
They asked for proof of purchase so I forwarded the confirmation of purchase email I got from them when I bought the phone (no other paperwork was supplied). This was, apparently, not good enough as it did not state the imei number of the handset.
I have now dealt with about 10 different people over the phone, on live chat and by e-mail. I either get referred to somebody else who is unable to help me or told that they will sort my problem out and then they don't. It's driving me crazy! :mad:0 -
I bought a Samsung mobile phone under a pay-monthly contract from EE recently. I'm travelling abroad in the near future and would like to use an overseas SIM card while outside the UK.
I'm aware that EE will only unlock the phone after 6 months of the contract start date, but that is not convenient for me. Can anyone please tell me what would happen if I were to get one of those shops on the high street to unlock the phone for me anyway before the 6 months has passed?
For instance, would the phone continue to work as normal?0 -
Not sure if this applies to every phone but today I tried unlocking my Samsung Galaxy S3 on a Virgin mobile pay monthly contract. The contract is within a few months of ending and Virgin have offered an early upgrade.
I'd tried a Vodafone sim and it didn't work so I called the CS number from my Galaxy..
The very helpful man told me that since 2014 the mobile companies had agreed not to permanently lock the phones. All I had to do was perform a factory reset and the phone would then relock itself to whatever network sim was next inserted,
Not the same as being sim free or unlocked but still allows the phone to switch networks.
I tried it and can confirm that my phone then worked with a Vodafone sim and didn't work with a VM sim. I also did the factory reset again and it now works with the Virgin mob sim again and rejects the Vodafone one.
A bit of a fiddle and one loses the stuff saved on the phone. So save contacts to the sim card and back up your data to a memory card or 'the cloud' (if you trust 'the cloud').
And of course you have to take the original sim card out before the factory reset as it just gets reregistered when the phone restarts and you're locked back in!0 -
Hi all,
I just bought an Xperia Z5 from eBay, in the full knowledge that it was locked to O2. I'm aware of O2's unlocking policy for PAYG phones (must be owned for 12 months; the phone is only one month old), so I know that unlocking may not be possible - although an O2 sales rep I talked to did advise taking it to an unlock shop.
Anyway, I followed the instructions found at Sim-Unlock to check whether the phone could be unlocked. Here it gives you a code to tap in to reach the 'SimLock' menu. The article then says if 'X' is on 'Network' and value is 0 then the phone cannot be unlocked. The value is 0, but there is no 'X' to be found next to any of the menu items. Is this a good thing? I have no idea. Any help is appreciated.0 -
I have the original 'noahs ark' phone is there a way I can unlock it for free,
TIAI
MOJACAR0 -
Please can anyone out there help?
I bought a secondhand (one month old) Blackberry Priv knowing that it was locked to EE off eBay. I contacted EE directly and after paying the required amount received an unlock code with simple instructions and the warning that only a single entry would be possible.
After inserting my sim and entering the code, the handset was not unlocked. I re-contacted EE and was told to try again, albeit in a different format. Still 'locked'! I had been using an MVNO sim (not a sim from a major carrier: Vodaphone, EE, O2) and this would not work with an unlocking code. Two further attempts later under EE instruction and the handset is permanently locked to EE they tell me, as do Blackberry themselves.
After contacting the Ombudsman, Citizens Advice and escalating the issue through the ranks of EE, I have been told that nothing can be done at all to unlock the handset.
This is a brief overview of the story from over a 6 month period and any assistance would be hugely appreciated.
BEWARE, unlocking can sometimes be a NIGHTMARE0
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