Car Phone warehouse deals

stefano

I want to upgrade my handset, but I don't want to pay the exorbitant prices my network charges.
Just wondering: if I bought a PAYG phone with a sim and a top up, how long do I need to wait before I can put my contract sim in?

Herongull

You can put it in immediately.

However PAYG phones are "normally" locked to a network, so you need to unlock the phone before you can use it with a sim that uses another network.

Unlocking is often easy and cheap to do and sometimes you can do this yourself, but it is wise to know how you are going to unlock the phone and what it will cost before you buy it.

Some PAYG phones are actually sold unlocked (I don't know why). The Y300 sold by CPW is sold unlocked (or at least mine was and the people posting on hotdeals also received unlocked phones), so you don't need to unlock it.

Pop your old sim in and away you go.

grumbler

Herongull wrote: »

Some PAYG phones are actually sold unlocked

In fact most PAYG phones sold by CPW and other independent retailers are unlocked.

Herongull

Thanks Grumbler, I didn't know that.

My previous phones came from Orange and T mobile (ie directly from the network companies) so they were locked.

macman

You might of course do better by buying a SIM-free handset yourself, and then a SIM-only contract.

albionrovers

Question.
Does an unlocked handset not then lock into the provider of 1st SIM you put into it?

Neil49

albionrovers wrote: »

Question.
Does an unlocked handset not then lock into the provider of 1st SIM you put into it?

I've got an unlocked android phone (from Asda) and have switched sims many times without any problem (apart from data problems with Ovivo but that's another subject). This can be quite important if you want to use your phone abroad with a local sim.

I have read that some iPhones lock to the first sim but others on this board may be able to provide more information on that.

Tony5101

albionrovers wrote: »

Question.
Does an unlocked handset not then lock into the provider of 1st SIM you put into it?

It would seem that iPhones do this that are bought "Sim Unlocked" from places like CPW.
Note the difference - Sim Unlocked and Sim Free.

I think people may have fallen foul of this in the past. Buying what they thought was a completely unlocked sim free phone - only to discover otherwise.

As I understand it - this is a way for places like CPW to be able to bulk buy iPhones that are in the first instance, completely vanilla - in that they will work with any sim - but the first sim insertion then locks the phone to that network. No doubt - CPW get the phones a bit cheaper by doing it this way - as the end user then needs to pay (and ultimately Apple will get paid) a fee to remove this restriction.
Another revenue stream for Apple I guess.

albionrovers

Never include the word 'unlocked' in your description when selling an iphone via online market place then.

Herongull

AFAIK this is only a potential issue for iphones - unlocked PAYG Androids are the same as sim-free.

stefano

Well, my intention was to buy a PAYG Y300 on vodafone, with a PAYG sim, and put in my current vodafone sim only on contract. The person at CPW said that the actual cost of the handset is £120, but by locking to a network, the network subsidies the handset and sells it cheaper at £80. He then proceeded to mention that the network has a way of spotting if someone switches sim, through the unique IMEI number.
He may be talking porkies, but I am not sure.