Recycle your old phone abroad

KevinTC

A little realized fact is that phones from Britain will work abroad with a locally bought SIM card in it, sometime phones might require unlocking but that is usually quickly done.
This I've found is useful when abroad cause I'll take an old phone with me, buy a local SIM, and TEXT my new "holiday" phone number to my friends and family back in UK. This also makes my local calls abroad MUCH cheaper.
If you are good at haggling when abroad you can get the SIM card for free by selling the phone to the phone dealer and renting it back for the holiday duration. It works well because many UK phone models are often "premium" one in some foreign countries e.g. West Africa (All stops from Sierra Leon to Nigeria,) Tunisia, Turkey ...I'm recycling to those who want it!
Also note cosmetic damage and dud batteries are often repaired cheaply abroad because many places have the FULL manufacturers refurb kits - very expensive here - about £15 installed + spare battery and charger on Nokia 6670 in Tunisia 3 years ago! Done in a shop that had refurb kits and batteries for just about any phone on the planet.

also note...

EVEN PHONES LOCKED OUT BY UK NETWORKS WILL OFTEN WORK ABROAD!