Put wrong sim card in phone

jma21

OH got new phone and couldn't get sim card to work so tried his old sim in it. He thinks he never switched it on but isn't sure and I told him he shouldn't put the old sim in as its from a different provider so he took it out. The new sim took 24 hours to activate but isn't showing on phone as activated so have been told its either a faulty sim or the phone may have been locked to another provider (I'm thinking it may have locked to the old provider because of what OH did with the other sim!) I now have to take it to a store to get them to test an active sim card on the new network to see if the phone works, to establish whether it's the sim or the phone. My question is this: what happens if the phone has locked to orange? Will they know he's put the other sim card in and therefore messed up the phone himself? Will they be able to unlock it? Will I be charged? Can I act ignorant and say there's never been another sim in the phone as far as I know? How can I tell if it's been locked to the other provider?
Hope someone can advise!

withabix

Putting a Sim into a phone will not lock it to a provider.

T_T_2

withabix wrote: »

Putting a Sim into a phone will not lock it to a provider.

It will if it is an iPhone from a third party provider like carphonewarehouse.

d123

T_T wrote: »

It will if it is an iPhone from a third party provider like carphonewarehouse.

To clarify, it is the first sim inserted that causes the lock (subsequent sims don't have an affect on sim lock), and this only applies to CPW sold "sim free" phones.

How their scam is allowed to continue where they advertise and sell the iPhone as sim free (and at full Apple unlocked sim free price) that then locks the first time a sim is inserted is a mystery.

withabix

T_T wrote: »

It will if it is an iPhone from a third party provider like carphonewarehouse.

Can you post some evidence for this, as it would be illegal for a service provider to lock a Sim Free phone to their network?

Emy1501

Have read that CPW pay as you go phones are locked to the first sim entered but nootm sure how true this is.

I suspect though that if the OP plays dumb the provider will unlock it or lock it back the correct network if thats possssible

d123

withabix wrote: »

Can you post some evidence for this, as it would be illegal for a service provider to lock a Sim Free phone to their network?

Emy1501 wrote: »

Have read that CPW pay as you go phones are locked to the first sim entered but nootm sure how true this is.

It only applies to iPhone sales at CPW, even though they advertise as "sim free" their small print says

Do you sell unlocked phones?

This includes all our SIM free phones.


One exception is iPhone, which is initially unlocked, but locked to a network as soon as a SIM is inserted.

http://selfhelp.carphonewarehouse.com/SelfHelp/request.do?view()=c{ede583e0-1fa9-11df-4872-f20203001e3d}

Edit
I see they have added a disclaimer on the iPhone 5 sim free page as well, perhaps too many complaints?

iPhone will lock itself to the network of the first SIM card that is used in the phone. Subsequently attempting to use it on any other network, for example by replacing the SIM card, may mean it becomes permanently unusable. SIM free iPhones can only be used with a UK-network SIM card, and will not accept foreign SIM cards

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/APPLE_IPHONE5_64GB/HANDSET

Buzby

They're only telling part of the story. My SIM free iPhone 5 did NOT lock itself to the first nano SIM inserted, and I would be mightily hacked off if this was even suggested.

Only if the phone has a network subsidy will it be auto-locked, not if purchased as. SIM-free purchase.

NFH

Buzby wrote: »

They're only telling part of the story. My SIM free iPhone 5 did NOT lock itself to the first nano SIM inserted, and I would be mightily hacked off if this was even suggested.

Only if the phone has a network subsidy will it be auto-locked, not if purchased as. SIM-free purchase.

That's what you'd expect, yes, but I assume that you bought your iPhone 5 from Apple and not from the Carphone Warehouse. The Carphone Warehouse uses the same stock of iPhones for all networks, so its stock is half SIM-locked, i.e. it will only accept a SIM card from a supported UK carrier and it will become SIM-locked when that SIM card is first inserted.

Guys_Dad

Emy1501 wrote: »

Have read that CPW pay as you go phones are locked to the first sim entered but nootm sure how true this is.

I suspect though that if the OP plays dumb the provider will unlock it or lock it back the correct network if thats possssible

Definitely not true on the 3 phones I have bought from CPW. None of them Iphones as I have a bit more sense.

d123

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Definitely not true on the 3 phones I have bought from CPW. None of them Iphones as I have a bit more sense.

As per the links from CPW, this locking to first sim ONLY applies to iPhones bought from them.