Mobile phone locking

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Did you know some countries in the European Union ban mobile phone companies from 'locking phones to their networks'. I think we need to do the same here in the UK as more of the mobile companies are using locking codes which only they can then unlock.

Now I've set the ball rolling on another forum and people are doing two things - firstly they're emailing their MEP's (there's an online website where you can do this), and secondly there's a suggested email people send to Ofcom.

Can I ask for thoughts if people would be prepared to do this here, or if anyone has other ideas around this?

vellum

fully support.

nobody wear the same shoes for 12 months, why the companies expect us to use the same phone everyday for 12 months? i would like to change my phone from time to time according to mood, fashion, etc, but want to keep the same phone number.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

I'll post what I've put in another forum and see what you think, it's a suggested email to Ofcom (but remove XXX and replace with your network name before sending the email).

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Dear Mr Gordon,

I am concerned that my current mobile operator, XXXXX, currently SIM locks my mobile telephone after the initial contract period, and requires an administration fee to be paid to unlock the phone.

I believe this administration fee is anti-competitive and is an unfair contractual term under European Directive 93/13/EEC, since residents of Finland, Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy are currently not subject to such a fee and can enjoy a SIM unlocked phone.

Please investigate if this fee is considered to be lawful under current European Directives. If it is deemed the UK is at a disadvantage when compared to other countries mentioned above, I would ask that all networks should remove any administrative charges when providing a SIM unlocking facility at the end of a minimum contractual period, or for all mobiles in the UK to be supplied lock-free.

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And email it to clive.gordon@ofcom.org.uk (this is the Director of Telecommunications and Competition Law).

Also, if you can, please visit https://www.writetothem.com and find out who your MEPs are. Include them all, and post the above message to them as well.

vellum

thanks, just use OH email to do it, will do another one from another computer at work. will also post on another site and hope more people will join in if you don't mind.

last time the network provider asked for £75 to unlock my phone or i will have to wait a couple of months when the contract finishes, it will be £15. so i waited and paid the £15 or the phone cannot be used.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

No I don't mind at all if you post this about, I hope people don't consider this to be spam because that's certainly not my intention, I'm just one person who's hacked off after I've had my mobile contract for one year, that's fully paid off any subsidy that the network gave me, so why should I pay a premium on top of this.

So please feel free to do what you can to help spread the word and make a difference!

4$£&*(£$&*(!

As an update, I got the email address for 3's CEO who have since offered to unlock my phone for free at the end of my contract. It hardly seems fair that we should have to resort to these lengths, so I hope others are spurred on to lend a helping hand to this.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

I've also received a letter today from my MEP saying they are going to look into this as they believe it sounds anti-competitive, so they are going to ask the Commissioner for Information Media and Society to look into it. If others would like to ask your MEP to consider doing the same, I'm sure it would help!